Admission
Students are admitted only in the fall and the deadline for receipt of all application material is December 1. This is not a postmark date. The deadline also applies to application material required by the SDSU Office of Admissions and Records. (Do not send material to UCSD at this time.)
1. Students must meet the general admission requirements for both universities, these include: (a) a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university; (b) a GPA of at least 3.25 in the last 60 semester (90 quarter) units attempted; (c) good standing in the last institution attended; (d) a minimum GRE score of 550 verbal and 550 quantitative and a score approximately in the 70th percentile on the Advanced Test in Psychology.
2. Acceptance to the doctoral program requires high verbal and quantitative GRE scores as well as a strong overall grade point average. Averages for students admitted to the Program since their inception is as follows: verbal 611, quantitative 661, subject test (psychology) 665, and overall GPA 3.63. If the overall GPA is less than 3.0 and/or the verbal and quantitative scores are less than 550 each, you may want to reconsider applying to this program. While we do not rely exclusively on these scores to determine who our successful applicants will be both are good indicators of academic aptitude.
3. Students whose undergraduate degrees are in subjects other than psychology should have a minimum of 18 semester units, or 27 quarter units, in psychology courses, including physiological psychology, statistical methods, psychological testing, abnormal psychology, personality, social psychology, and an experimental laboratory in psychology. Advanced courses in perception and learning are desirable as are courses in biology, mathematics, linguistics, and other related areas (e.g. medical physics, and computer sciences). Students will be given a screening test in statistics prior to the beginning of classes.
4. The policy of the program concerning students with advanced degrees (M.A., M.S., Ph.D.) is that they enter the program at the same level as all other students. Any student has the right to attempt to waive a specific class requirement. Such waivers must have the consent of the instructor and approval of both Program Directors. This program does not have a "respecialization" curriculum for Ph.D.s from other disciplines or other areas of Psychology who now wish to secure clinical training.
Disabled Applicants Please Note: If you have a disability that requires some type of assistance, you may call the San Diego State University Disabled Student Services Office at (619)594-6473; TDD at (619)594-2929 for information on available resources. It may also be important for you to be aware that classes are held at both universities which are located in different parts of the city.
The Joint Doctoral Program is bound by the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct set forth by the American Psychological Association (APA, revised, June 1, 2003). In addition, we are bound by other ethical and professional principles promulgated by APA that are listed in the references in our Student Manual. Please note that these standards are considered to be academic as well as ethical standards. Any breach of any part of these principles is grounds for dismissal from the program without further qualification regardless of course work, research or other academic achievement.
