Admissions

Application Requirements

Application (redirects to the Office of Graduate Admissions)

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General Information

The Department of Psychology does not have specific course requirements for admission to its doctoral program. We review the entire folder of applicants to assess their promise for teaching and research careers. Courses taken, Grade Point Average, Graduate Record Exam scores (Verbal, Quantitative, and Analytical), letters of recommendation* and statement of purpose are all considered. The Department of Psychology places considerable emphasis on research training. Therefore, students who are admitted have often been involved in independent research as undergraduates.

* Please note that we only accept letters of recommendation that are submitted through the online graduate admissions application system.

We accept students who hold undergraduate degrees as well as those who have both undergraduate and master's degrees. An undergraduate major in psychology is not required; applicants from other backgrounds are admitted. All applicants should have
sufficient foundational knowledge and research experience to allow them to go straight into graduate level course work and to conduct research.

Number of Applicants Admitted per Year

The department currently accepts about 10-15 new graduate students each year. Minority students are particularly encouraged to apply, and all applicants are given careful consideration. Typically, 2-4 students are admitted in each of the major sub-areas of the department: Cognitive, Developmental, Neuroscience, Affective Science, and Social.

Graduate Admissions for 2016-17

The deadline for submitting an application for 2016-17 academic year is Tuesday, November 24, 2015, 11:59pm Eastern Standard time (8:59pm PST).  PLEASE NOTE: THE GRE MUST BE TAKEN BY THE NOVEMBER 24th DEADLINE. The scores do not have to be received by the application deadline, but the exam date must be prior to November 24th.

Official Transcripts can be mailed to:
Admissions Committee
Department of Psychology
Stanford University
Jordan Hall, Building 420
450 Serra Mall
Stanford, CA 94305-2130

For Electronic version: psych-admissions@lists.stanford.edu

Once you have submitted your application, you can check your status in the Psych Check List section of CollegeNet. The ETS scores are pulled to CollegeNet directly. However, it is done weekly and can be delayed due to various technicalities. As for the transcripts, receipt status is entered manually and can take 6-8 weeks to do so. Please note that your application will be reviewed even if your application is marked incomplete.