Overview - Graduate Program


The Department of Psychology offers both Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Psychology. Areas of specialization in graduate training include cognitive psychology, social-personality, industrial-organizational, quantitative psychology, animal cognition (jointly with zoology), and developmental psychology.

The programs of graduate training in the department are designed to produce experimental psychologists who are capable of assuming positions in academia, as well as industry and government. In a rigorous but cooperative and congenial atmosphere, high-quality research psychologists are trained to contribute to the body of knowledge of scientific psychology, as well as to disseminate and apply psychological knowledge.

Moreover, the Department has an exceptionally high placement record. OU graduates have been consistently placed in academia, private sector, and government positions.

Doctoral Level Training

In general, the Department of Psychology seeks graduate student applicants who aspire to doctoral-level training. Many of these applicants apply directly after completing their undergraduate degrees from universities across the nation. These graduate students are awarded master's degrees after making appropriate progress in our graduate academic training program (i.e., after successful completion of required coursework and their master's thesis) on their way to completing their doctoral degree. Some students who have completed master's degree programs elsewhere also are admitted. In such cases, the student's transcripts are reviewed and transfer credit is authorized for courses deemed comparable to ours in context and quality. The amount of coursework that is transferable is evaluated on a course-by-course basis.

Masters Level Training

While most of our graduate training programs emphasize doctoral-level training, we do accept applications for master's degree-level training and have welcomed many such students, especially in our Industrial/Organizational training program. Often these students do well and many apply later for admission to our doctoral training program. With the introduction of our new specialty in Industrial/Organizational Psychology such applications and admissions have seen an increase. However, masters-level-only students constitute a relatively small proportion of our total graduate student enrollment. Master's degree-only students are typically not extended department teaching assistantships, although in recent semesters we have been fortunate enough to be able to support almost all of our graduate students, including many at the master's level.


More information about our graduate programs, graduate assistantships, and/or admission procedures may be obtained by contacting the chairperson of the Graduate Admissions Committee for the department, or by calling (800) 522-0772, extension 4512, or e–mail: kpaine@ou.edu. Also, for complete application materials, including application and letter of recommendation forms, see the Application Information section.

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