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School Psychology

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Applications due December 15.

Please note.  Our application deadline has been changed to December 15 for admission to our program for the next academic year (2009-10).

If you applied to our program and are invited to interview, you will be asked to come for a full day on during February, 2009.  Date to be determined.

Our application process is competitive and we receive many more applications that we can accept each year.  Please note the Department of Psychology and our School Psychology program admits only full-time students.  We strive to provide assistantship support to all of our students.  Please see below for important application procedures.  We encourage students with cultural and individual diversity to apply to the program. 

To apply for admission to our program in school psychology, be sure to have the following completed and turned in by December 15:

  1. Complete the online application form at http://www.xap.com/applications/niu_graduate_school/apply.html and send your fee of $30.
  2. Send three letters of recommendation.  The graduate school has forms for the individuals who write your letters to complete at:  http://www.grad.niu.edu/apply/index.shtml.
  3. Send your official transcripts of all undergraduate and graduate work.
  4. Send your Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores to NIU.
  5. A statement of your career goals is required and is included as part of the online application.
  6. On the Graduate School application, note that you are pursuing the M.A. degree even if you are interested in the Ph.D.  You will work toward your M.A. first so that is the degree to indicate on the application.
  7. All of the above materials should be sent to: The Graduate School, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL 60115-2864.

For strongest consideration for admittance into NIU’s program in school psychology (both Specialist-level and PhD track) candidates typically:

Students with strong credentials are invited to interview with one of our faculty by phone or in person. Students are notified of our admissions decisions as they are made.  Assistantship decisions are made following admissions decisions.

APA Required Disclosure of Education/Training Outcomes and Information Allowing for informed Decision-Making to Prospective Doctoral Students

In order to provide prospective doctoral students with relevant and important information about our program the following data are provided: (a) time to completion, (b) program costs, (c) internship success rates, (c) attrition rates, and (d) licensure and certification rates.  All of these data are based on the past 7 years and on doctoral graduate students only.

Time to Completion

The average number of years to graduate our program with a doctoral degree 6.4 years and the median time to graduation was 6 years (n = 14). 

Number of years to graduation

n

%

<5

2

14

5

2

14

6

4

29

7

3

21

>7

3

21

Program Costs

Please see the table below for current tuition and fees for NIU graduate students.  It is important to note, however, that the majority of our students obtain assistantships.  In fact, during the past 7 years, all doctoral students that have requested assistantships have obtained one from the Psychology Department.  Assistantships are either Research Assistantships (RA) or Teaching Assistantships (TA) and are either half-time (10 hours per week) or full-time (20 hours per week.).  All students with an assistantship obtain a full tuition waiver (students still have to pay fees) and receive a stipend of $640.18 per month for a half-time and $1280.36 for a full-time assistantship (based on 07-08 assistantship rates). 

Fall 2008/Spring 20099

# of Hours

DeKalb Campus (per hour)

 Tuition, In-State*

 1 - 12 hrs

$254.00

 Tuition, Out-of-State*

 1 - 12 hrs

$508.00

 Activity Fee*

 1 - 12 hrs

$1.73

 Athletic Fee*

 1 - 12 hrs

$16.19

 Facilities Fee*

 1 - 12 hrs

$30.36

 Services Fee*

 1 - 12 hrs

$17.48

 Course Delivery Fees

 1 hr or more

Only off-campus

courses $50.00

 Technology Surcharge

 6 hrs or less

$50.00 per semester

 7 hrs or more

$100 per semester

Internship Success Rates

Internship Data

n

%

Those who obtained internships

15

100

Those who obtained pain internships

15

100

Those who obtained APPIC member internships

3*

20

Those who obtained APA accredited internships

3*

20

Those who obtained internships conforming to CDSPP guidelines

NR

NR

Those who obtained two year half-time internships

0

0

Note. NR = Not Recorded

*Please note that typically our students choose not to apply for APA-accredited internships for various reasons (e.g., location, want a specific school-based site, etc.).  In the last 7 years only three students applied for an APA-accredited internship and all three obtained one that year.  In addition, many of our students obtain their first choice for an internship in other high quality internship settings.

Attrition Rates

Year of enrollment

# Enrolled

# Graduated with a doctorate

# Still currently enrolled

# No longer enrolled

2002

6

3

3

0

2003

2

2

0

0

2004

1

0

1

0

2005

2

0

1

1

2006

2

0

2

0

2007

1

0

1

0

2008

3

0

3

0

Licensure and Certification

One of 14 program graduates from the years 2003-2008 have become a Licensed Psychologists (7%).   Fourteen of the 14 graduates are Certified School Psychologists (100%).

For further information about graduate study in school psychology at NIU, contact:

Michelle Demaray, Ph.D.
School Psychology Program Director
Department of Psychology
Northern Illinois University
DeKalb, IL 60115-2895
e-mail: mkdemaray@niu.edu