Since we would not have that piece of data from everyone, we do not consider the GRE Psychology Subject Test, even if the score is sent to us.
Admission to our doctoral clinical psychology program is highly competitive (see admissions data). Most students who are admitted have a bachelor's degree in psychology, although we'll consider students with outstanding records who majored in other subjects. In addition, students who do not have previous research experience will not be competitive. This is because we expect students entering the program to be ready to start working on their master’s thesis and/or other research projects under faculty mentorship in their first semester.
Each year, we receive a large pool of applicants. We invite our top-ranked applicants to attend an open house, with a goal of approximately eight new students starting the program each year. We follow the policy for graduate school offers and admissions outlined by the Council of University Directors of Clinical Psychology.
Applications are due Dec. 1. You'll be notified of our decision by April 15. If accepted, you'll begin the program in the fall. We make assistantship decisions after admission decisions. Our graduate assistantships include monthly stipends and instructional tuition waivers.
We admit students to work with specific faculty members. In your statement of purpose (i.e., personal statement), please specify which faculty member(s) you are interested in working with and why.
Accepting new students (fall 2027):
Not accepting new students (fall 2027):
You may also ask to work with other department faculty or Julie Crouch, director of the Center for the Study of Family Violence and Sexual Assault.
Please note: the ability to work with faculty members outside of the core clinical faculty depends on funding and faculty interest. If the initial match is not satisfactory, you may work with another faculty member.
You'll apply to the program through the NIU Graduate School. The online application includes a $60 fee and the following materials:
Unofficial transcripts are accepted, but you'll need to submit official copies if you're admitted.
Required if you received a degree outside the United States. Read more about international admissions.
Also commonly referred to as your statement of purpose or personal statement. This statement should outline your preparation for graduate study in clinical psychology, as well as your goals for graduate school and beyond. It should also explain why you believe the program at NIU can best help you meet those goals, including an indication of which faculty member(s) you are interested in working with. Our program is committed to training students who are prepared to contribute to research and clinical practice in our diverse society. We encourage you to include in your statement how your background and experiences fit with this program goal. The clinical faculty has decided not to dictate a word limit for this statement. Please use the space you need to share what you think is important for us to know. However, recognize this is also a writing sample, so sharing your story succinctly will be viewed positively.
The CV is an academic resume providing information beyond your work experience. You may find this article by the American Psychological Association helpful in identifying what to include in your CV.
Names and email addresses of three people who agreed to write letters of recommendation (preferably psychology instructors or research supervisors who know your potential as a Ph.D. candidate). By listing them in the application system, an email will be sent to them, instructing them how to upload their letter to your application. Inform them of our deadline and submit your application with ample time for them to upload their letters.
The clinical faculty employs a comprehensive approach in the evaluation of applicants' admission packages, considering all materials when making decisions. Applicants who may exhibit relative weaknesses in one area may find those weaknesses compensated by strengths in other areas.
We are happy to have limited funds to provide a fee waiver to competitive applicants from marginalized racial/ethnic populations. Ten applicants will be selected based on their competitiveness. Please complete this survey to apply for the application fee waiver. You will be asked to upload your CV in Word or PDF format as part of the survey. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. All applicants will be notified of decisions about fee waivers by Nov. 15 or until all waivers have been given, whichever comes first. Please do not submit your application/pay your application fee if you are applying for the fee waiver until you have heard from us.
Applicants holding only a bachelor's degree should indicate on the application their intention to pursue the doctorate. If admitted, you will earn the master's degree, but you are being admitted to the Ph.D. program. Our program does not offer a “terminal” master's degree and, as such, there is no option to apply to an M.A. program in clinical psychology.
In addition to the Graduate School application, complete the supplemental application survey indicating that you are specifically interested in the program. This is necessary for application review.
Though not required, we strongly encourage you to submit a writing sample to clinicalpsychologyadmissions@niu.edu.
In mid-January, after applications have been reviewed, select candidates will be invited to attend a virtual open house, which will be held synchronously on Monday, February 8, 2027. This event will allow applicants to meet with faculty and students and learn more about the program and the broader university. Interviews with specific faculty will also be scheduled from Feb. 8-11, 2027.
Since we would not have that piece of data from everyone, we do not consider the GRE Psychology Subject Test, even if the score is sent to us.
Yes, you should submit a CV as part of your application. This will be used to help understand the experiences you have talked about in your personal statement. It does not replace the information you provide in your personal statement that describe the experiences that have helped prepare you for graduate school, but can complement it. This should not be in the form of a standard business resume. If you are not familiar with what is included in a CV, please review this webpage from APA.
Writing samples are not required, but are encouraged to be submitted. Writing samples should be an example of writing related to the science of psychology and could be a full empirical paper or a literature review. Some writing samples that would work well are a paper you wrote for a psychology course, a senior honors thesis or capstone project, or a manuscript you were a primary author on.
We require all students to take the core clinical coursework, so that we can be confident in your training. This includes the didactic coursework (e.g., adult psychopathology, theories in psychotherapy) as well as the applied practicum. However, graduate level coursework in statistical and foundation courses (e.g., developmental psychology, social psychology) will be reviewed after admissions and often can fulfill these program requirements.
If you completed a master's thesis based on an empirical research project in psychology (any area of psychology), you will be considered for admission directly to our Ph.D. program. Those with a M.A. outside of psychology or those with an M.A. in psychology but without an empirically-based thesis should apply to the M.A. program (see below about this process). After acceptance to the program, students who have already completed a thesis based on empirical research will need to have the director of clinical training and their research mentor review their thesis to determine if additional training is needed before proceeding to working on candidacy exams for the doctoral program. At times an additional research project is required to ensure research skills have been developed that are comparable to students completing their thesis from our program.
No, we only admit students whose goal is to earn a Ph.D. in clinical psychology.
While previous clinical experiences may help prepare you for some aspects of our clinical psychology program, as we review applications we are more focused on the research experiences that you have had. Thus, providing specific information about clinical hours is not needed.
Students who have no research experience typically are not seriously considered for our program, given the need to be able to start working on your thesis project in the first semester of graduate school. Competitive students usually have more than one year of research experience in psychology. Furthermore, students who have been involved in research at a more conceptual level are more likely to be seriously considered (e.g., independent honors thesis, presenting a poster at a college-level, regional or national research conference). Thus, more experiences (both in terms of number of semesters and depth of involvement) will increase the competitiveness of your application.
Letters of recommendation should be submitted from professors who can speak to your potential success at graduate school. Professors with a Ph.D. in psychology (not necessarily clinical) would be excellent choices if they know you well. In addition, professors who are familiar with your research experiences are preferred.
No. Students must be committed to being a full-time student while in our program. Required coursework is offered during daytime hours throughout the week; thus, part-time study would not be feasible.
As a state university, anyone is welcome to come to campus and explore the area. Unfortunately, we do not have the resources to arrange individual visits for potential applicants given the number of students who apply each year (typically over 200). Students who are being seriously considered for admission are invited to our virtual open house in mid-February, where they will get to meet with faculty and current graduate students through Zoom meetings, see the facilities through recorded tours and get to know our program in more depth. After students are accepted, they may arrange a visit to campus, which would include meeting with faculty mentors and students in-person as part of their decision-making process. In the meantime, we encourage prospective students to utilize the webpage to learn more about our program and specific faculty's research. Many faculty members have lab webpages that may be of interest to you. In addition, feel free to email questions to the faculty member(s) with whom you are considering applying to work. In addition, you may contact Laura Pittman (lpittman@niu.edu), co-director of clinical training, with more program-level questions not addressed on our website.
All graduate students accepted to the clinical psychology program will receive graduate assistantships. Given that, we do not expect students to do the formal application until they are accepted into the program. If you were to be accepted, you would receive that application at the time of acceptance.
Department of Psychology
Psychology/Computer Science Building 400
815-753-0372
Kevin Wu, Ph.D
Director of graduate studies
kevinwu@niu.edu
Kathi West
Graduate studies assistant
kwest1@niu.edu
Admission questions:
clinicalpsychologyadmissions@niu.edu