PhD Program Overview

The Department of Psychology and Neuroscience has four areas of specialization:

Our doctoral training in Clinical Psychology subscribes to the clinical scientist model and provides sound, rigorous training in clinical and research methodologies. 

Doctoral training in the areas of Developmental Psychology, Cognition & Neuroscience, and Social Psychology allows our PhD students to work on a wide range of research topics, using a diverse array of methodologies. Many faculty are affiliated with more than one area, and there are numerous collaborations across areas of the department. This means that graduate students can receive training that cross-cuts traditional subdisciplines within psychology and neuroscience. Prospective applicants are encouraged to explore the web pages of faculty and their lab groups from across the various areas to find out more about the variety of questions being addressed in our labs, and to identify a fit with their research interests.

The Psychology doctoral program offers optional concentrations in Quantitative Methods and Developmental Psychopathology. Psychology doctoral students with neuroscience interests can also receive a Specialization in Neuroscience through the interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program that is based in the College of Liberal Arts. 

Research 

The Psychology doctoral program combines coursework with high-level research experiences that culminate in a doctoral dissertation. Students work closely with faculty members to develop a research specialty and address novel questions. For more information on the range of Psychology research laboratories, visit our Research page.

How to Apply

To apply, submit Temple’s online graduate application along with an application fee of $60. 

All College of Liberal Arts candidates must have completed their bachelor’s degree in a related field before applying to a graduate program. However, in the past, students without a related bachelor’s degree have performed well in the program. Therefore, an applicant’s entire application package will be considered. A master's degree is not required but all PhD applicants must meet the requirements for admission. 

To learn more about graduate program requirements, dates and deadlines, GRE requirements, and additional admissions requirements, please refer to the Psychology Graduate Bulletin. Official electronic transcripts must be sent to psychologyadmissions@temple.edu.

Application Deadlines

• Fall: December 1 for all Psychology and Neuroscience PhD programs other than Clinical Psychology
• Fall: November 15 for Clinical Psychology PhD program

Financial Support

The Department of Psychology and Neuroscience is committed to ensuring that doctoral students are funded for five years as they progress through the program. This funding is typically in the form of a part-time assistantship that provides a stipend in return for services as a teaching assistant or research assistant. The amount of the stipend is determined by the contract between the university and the Temple University Graduate Student Association. The nine-month academic year stipend for 2023-2024 is $25,000. This stipend comes with full tuition remission as well as health benefits for the student.

The College of Liberal Arts provides additional funding for research over the summer at the end of the first year of the doctoral program. After the first year, summer support is not guaranteed but often comes through support from faculty grants or summer session teaching. In addition to the stipend support, there is funding available from CLA for advanced students to attend workshops related to their graduate training (e.g., coding workshops, neuroimaging workshops/boot camps, statistical workshops).

Doctoral students are encouraged to apply for external awards that can support their studies, such as F31 grants from the National Institutes of Health or Graduate Research Fellowships from the National Science Foundation. Each year, a number of our students are successful in securing these prestigious awards. Partial support for student research also comes from competitive departmental awards such as the Shipley Research Prize and the  Bersh Award.

Careers

Individuals earning PhD degrees in Psychology have moved on to a variety of interesting and fulfilling positions. We have been consistently successful in placing our graduates in the types of positions they were hoping to obtain. Currently, it is typical for most individuals with newly earned Psychology PhD degrees to go on to postdoctoral research positions, and this holds for our students. Many of our graduates secure prestigious postdoctoral positions where they bring their skills and knowledge to the highest levels. Many of those students then obtain faculty positions at well-known institutions, where they carry out cutting-edge research in diverse areas from behavioral neuroscience to clinical science. Other students obtain research positions in various industries.