Admission Requirements
Strong undergraduate performance—particularly in junior- and senior-year psychology courses—is a primary consideration for admission. Test scores, research and applied experience, and letters of recommendation also play a role in the decision-making process. Because our programs draw many more applicants each year than the number of openings, the Department of Psychology has established the following admission requirements and guidelines:
- 12 semester credits (three to four courses) of psychology work
beyond introductory psychology are required, including at least
one course in Introductory Statistics or Introductory Psychological
Measurement.
- For the clinical science program, a course in abnormal psychology is required.
Although an applicant’s grade point average (GPA) and Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores are considered in conjunction with all other information in the applicant’s file, the following guidelines have been established:
- For the clinical science program, it is desirable, but not required, that an applicant
have at least a 3.5 GPA and scores of at least 600 on the verbal
and quantitative sections of the GRE.
- For all the other programs, it is desirable, but not required,
that an applicant have either a GPA of 3.0 and GRE scores of
at least 600 on both the verbal and quantitative sections or
a GPA of 3.3 and scores of 500 or greater on the GRE verbal and
quantitative sections.
- Although not required, it is recommended that applicants also provide the GRE Subject Test (Psychology) score.
Transfer from other graduate programs at the
University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota graduate students who wish to transfer into
the Department of Psychology must meet the same deadlines and complete
the same application materials as other applicants. The same admission
requirements apply to students seeking admission by transfer.
International Applicants
Please visit the How to Apply section for information about the Test of English as a Foreign Language and the Test of Spoken English.