Clinical psychology

Doctoral Degree Program

Graduate opportunities

In the Clinical Psychology program at the University of North Texas, you're our first priority.

We provide educational and training opportunities that give you a breadth and depth of knowledge to become a competent clinical psychologist in academic, research or practice settings.

The rigorous curriculum for the Doctor of Philosophy degree offers broad and general training. Core courses address the foundational knowledge and functional skills needed for professional practice. Our clinical courses and practica are grounded in theory and informed by empirical research.

In addition to the broad and general training, you can also enroll in courses focusing on forensic psychology or clinical neuropsychology.

The doctoral program is accredited by the American Psychological Association's Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation (750 First Street, NE; Washington, DC 20002-4242; telephone 202-336- 5979).

Outstanding research opportunities

Faculty members are active researchers and recognized experts, earning awards and grants from national and international organizations. They reflect and instill in our diverse student body the program's core values of respect for the individual, a commitment to excellence and a genuine integration of science and practice.

We expect you to be active in research with one of the department's research advisors upon entering the program. We believe a mentorship climate is conducive to close faculty-student collaboration and effective modeling of the scientist-practitioner paradigm. This allows you the flexibility to change major advisors and research teams.

The commitment to excellence is revealed in the quantity and quality of research that our program conducts. A recent study of the American Psychological Association's 234 accredited programs ranked our program:

• 14th nationally on its number of publications in the most influential assessment journals
• 6th nationally on its impact as measured by its citations in the leading assessment journals (A second index for measuring impact, the h-Index, places the program 5th nationally.)

Exceptional clinical opportunities

The UNT Psychology Clinic offers professional services to the campus and surrounding areas while providing supervised training to our students. One of the largest training clinics in the country, the clinic includes dozens of assessment and intervention rooms with digital recording for use in supervision, training and applied clinical research.

The training provided to students in the clinic is of the highest caliber. Students trained in this setting subsequently perform extremely well on the professional licensing exam, as evidenced by the program's ranking of 5th nationally on its adjusted passing rate.

After completing intensive clinical practica spanning both assessment and therapy services in the clinic, students are placed at competitive external practicum sites throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Clinical training culminates in a required, one-year competitive internship at the national level.

Attending UNT

Admission requirements

Admission to the program isn't determined by one criterion or quantitative measure of achievement. We assess your training needs and goals with how well you fit with our faculty members' research areas and clinical expertise. Motivation, aptitude and self-awareness are highly valued, as are communication, research and scientific writing skills.

You must meet the specific admission requirements for the Toulouse Graduate School, which are outlined at the graduate school website. Other requirements are:

• Bachelor's or master's degree in psychology or a related field (If you have only a bachelor's degree, you can receive a master's degree in the program en route to the doctoral degree.)
• Minimum 3.0 GPA on all undergraduate work or a 3.5 GPA on the last 60 undergraduate credit hours
• Minimum 3.5 GPA on all graduate credit hours if you have a master's degree

Additional information about admission criteria and the application process is available at our website.

Degree requirements

The doctoral degree program requires a minimum of 90 credit hours beyond the bachelor's degree and includes a one-year supervised clinical internship.

The maximum amount of transfer credit for appropriate master's degree work is 30 credit hours. Students entering with a master's degree or equivalent may transfer a maximum of 12 credit hours beyond the master's degree with approval of the clinical committee.

A breakdown of the course work is:

• 12 credit hours of required general core courses
• 29 to 30 credit hours of required clinical psychology courses
• 6 credit hours of electives
• 6 credit hours of remaining graduate-level psychology courses or in a minor field outside the Department of Psychology

Remaining credits are distributed across clinical practica and research experiences.

Financial assistance

Information about financial assistance for incoming students is at the graduate school website or the financial aid site. In addition, you may apply for department funded teaching assistantships, research assistantships, fellowships and part-time clinical externships during your doctoral studies.

The psychology department seeks to provide at least partial support for most doctoral students. Competitive scholarships are available from the graduate school and other sources. To become eligible for these awards, students are expected to enroll in 9 to 12 credit hours each regular semester.