Student Information
How You Learn
All clinical graduate students in our program are exposed sequentially to course work, research, and practicum training that is graded in complexity and evaluated on the basis of cumulative success.
The basic course requirements include standard courses in:
- Experimental design
- Univariate and multivariate statistics
- Clinical assessment
- Behavior pathology
- Psychotherapy and advanced therapeutic interventions
- Professional issues and ethics
- Various foundation courses which provide broad and general education in the social, developmental, biological, and cognitive/ affective bases of behavior.
- History and diversity
Completion of the core curriculum enables advanced students to develop specific interests by drawing upon faculty expertise in laboratory and clinical mentorships. Clinical students ultimately complete up to four years of supervised practicum training prior to application for a fifth year clinical internship prior to graduation. Students must also complete both a Master's thesis and Ph.D. dissertation. Roughly half of our clinical Ph.D. students complete their degree in five years with the overall average in our program being about 5.5 years.
Teaching Assistantships
First and second year students are awarded part-time (16 hrs/wk) graduate teaching assistantships (GTAs) which pay roughly $1,249 per month for incoming graduate students and $1,509 for those who assume GTA duties who have already earned their M.A. degree. Our third and fourth year external practicum placements all pay at different rate. We have had long-term success, however, in placing almost all of our third and fourth year external practicum students at sites that do pay wages comparable to those earned through the GTA. While our program does have a long record of stable practicum placement funding for third and fourth year clinical students, we cannot assure the full funding of rotations years in advance for prospective students.
Student Organization
Graduate Resource Alliance for Students in Psychology (GRASP) will actively promote, encourage, and engage in the open discussion and dissemination of current and classic field-relevant literature among all student-colleagues at all levels of graduate training in psychology at the University of North Dakota.