Undergraduate Major Requirement
Students without an undergraduate major in psychology or neuroscience are welcome to apply, and will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. If they are offered admission, they will be informed about any additional courses that would need to be taken at UWM (in addition to the required graduate coursework) to fill gaps in training.
Required Application Materials
All applicants will need to submit transcripts from each undergraduate and graduate school attended, a reasons statement, three letters of recommendation, and a non-refundable $75 application fee.
GRE scores are not reviewed and do not need to be submitted.
Before applying, please read the PDF document Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences Graduate Admissions Brochure.
Major Professor
All graduate students must have a major professor (advisor) to oversee their progress and to supervise their research. It is therefore important that potential major professors be considered very carefully during the application process. In the graduate school application, you will indicate your preferred major professor. If you are admitted, every effort will be made to honor your first choice of major professor, however it is not always possible to do so.
Most students in the clinical doctoral program choose clinical faculty as advisors; however, some students combine study and research in a non-clinical specialty with the clinical program and may choose a major professor from the non-clinical faculty. Similarly, most students applying to the neuroscience doctoral programs choose advisors
within the neuroscience program, but may choose an advisor in the clinical program if appropriate for their research.
The department also has a Director of Graduate Studies who advises students about courses and programs of study.
Application Numbers and Review Process
Students work in close association with their major professors and we maintain a 5:1 ratio. Given this, the department has room for approximately 85 graduate students total, with about 12 new students admitted each year to the doctoral programs (clinical psychology and neuroscience) selected from 350+ applications. Our doctoral program is very competitive for admissions. The average college GPA of students admitted to the clinical psychology program is 3.78, and the average college GPA of students planning to focus on neuroscience is 3.55.
Our terminal master’s program in health psychology admits 3 to 4 students per year selected from 50+ applications. e terminal M.S. program.
We evaluate an applicant’s entire record. The admissions committee examines GPA, courses taken, research record, and letters of recommendation (three letters are required). Please note that we will NOT consider GRE scores in our application review process.
Additional information about our review process for applicants to the clinical psychology program will help you gauge your competitiveness for one of the available seats.
Deadlines
Application deadlines are December 1 to begin the following fall for the PhD Programs. We do not accept applications to start in the spring semester. For the Neuroscience program, late applications may be considered under some circumstances. Before submitting a late application, contact the Neuroscience Admissions Chair (Dr. Caitlin Bowman, bowman2@uwm.edu) to inquire and include your potential faculty mentor(s) in your inquiry.
Application review for the MS program in health psychology begins in late January. Applications are accepted through March 1 but it is recommended that students apply by January 1 for optimal consideration.
Admissions decisions are sent between March 1 and May 1.
Open Houses & Application Fee Waiver
The UWM Graduate School typically offers an in-person open house in October or November each year. Refer to the Graduate School Open House page. Historically, the Graduate School has paid the application fee for prospective students who attend the open house in-person and follow all instructions on the fee waiver document.
There is also typically a virtual information session in fall each year as well for those who cannot attend in person.
International Applicants
International students should consult the UWM Center for International Education (CIE) for more information.
Interviews
Applicants to the doctoral program who are finalists being considered for admissions will be invited to a required interview. These typically take place in January or February. About 25 to 30 applicants will be invited for a virtual interview day.
The goal of the Interview Day is to simultaneously (a) evaluate your fit within our program/labs, and (b) give you a sense of what it’s like to be a graduate student, living and learning in Milwaukee.
Following our evaluation, applicants who are no longer being considered will be notified as soon as possible. However, we maintain a secondary list of another 20 to 25 applicants who remain under consideration in case we determine that additional applicants should be interviewed. These applicants will be notified once our final acceptances have been received and they are no longer in consideration.
Already Have a Master’s Degree?
Students admitted to the doctoral programs who already have a master’s degree in psychology or neuroscience that included an empirically based master’s thesis are exempt from the requirement of having to earn the MS at UWM as part of the doctoral program. Students admitted with a master’s degree in psychology or neuroscience that did not include a thesis must complete a thesis and earn the MS at UWM before being advanced to the doctoral program. In many cases, students admitted to the doctoral program with master’s degrees in psychology or neuroscience are allowed to waive some of their UWM coursework based on courses they took in their master’s programs.
Time Limits
Students in the doctoral programs must be full-time; no part-time study is allowed in the doctoral program. If needed, the MS must be completed within three years of starting the doctoral program (by March 10 of their third year for most favorable consideration within the teaching assistant priority system). The PhD must be earned within seven years of starting (exclusive of the internship year for clinical students).
The terminal master’s program in health psychology has a time limit of seven years for earning the MS and does allow for part-time attendance.
Application Form
The application is completed through the UWM Graduate School.
Contact Info
If you have any questions, please contact us at uwmpsych@uwm.edu.