PSYCHOLOGY at Northwestern University

The graduate program in Northwestern’s Department of Psychology aims to train scholars and researchers who will become the future leaders of scientific psychology. We offer PhD programs in Brain, Behavior, & Cognition(BBC); Clinical; Cognitive; Personality, Development, and Health; and Social Psychology. Requirements differ across programs, but all students take both general breadth courses in Psychology, as well as courses more focused on their specific areas of interest.  All students also get training in statistics. Students engage in a series of research projects, and all assist with undergraduate teaching. The department offers no terminal master's degree; students earn a master's degree while on the path to the PhD.

Each graduate student in the department has a primary research advisor (or, in some cases, multiple advisors). Collaboration with other faculty members both within and outside the student’s major area is very common; students are encouraged to address their research questions using multiple research approaches and from a range of perspectives.

Many of our graduate students seek academic careers.  Our department has had students go on to prestigious faculty positions at such institutions as Stanford, Emory, University of Chicago, Indiana University, University of Texas at Austin, and New York University.