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Psychology

Graduate Programs

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Psychology (MS)

ONLY admitted Clinical Psychology doctoral candidates are permitted to participate in the Psychology MS program.  There is no direct entry option to Psychology MS program.

Students must demonstrate competence in various areas to receive the Psychology MS and continue to the Clinical Psychology PhD program. The master's curriculum corresponds to the first two years of training following receipt of the bachelor's degree and consists of required courses in the foundations of psychological evaluation and measurement, data analysis and research methods, professional ethics, and clinical theory and practice. Students have three years to complete their master's degree requirements after admission to the Clinical Psychology PhD program and are not allowed to enroll in doctoral level courses during their fourth year if these requirements have not been met.
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Psychology (PhD)

The doctoral program in psychology offers a rigorous educational experience leading to the PhD degree. The first four semesters of the program are designed to provide broad acquaintance with the substantive areas of the discipline, training in research skills, and introduction to the particular areas of emphasis offered in the program. During the last two years students will pursue specialized course work and training in one of three main emphasis areas: (1) Applied Social Psychology or (2) Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience or (3) Developmental Psychology, and a sub-specialty of Health Psychology. Students across the three emphasis areas may elect to complete a cross-area emphasis in Health Psychology.


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Clinical Psychology (PhD)

The Clinical Psychology doctoral program at Brigham Young University is a well-established, nationally visible program. We are committed to excellence and have a training model and the resources necessary for us to reach our goal. Our program has enjoyed continuous accreditation1 by the American Psychological Association (APA) since 1971. We are confident that our program’s emerging national reputation will continue to grow in prestige, thanks to quality resources and a commitment to excellence. Cognitive-behavioral and behavioral approaches are well-represented, in addition to interpersonal, family systems, compassion-focused and mindfulness-based orientations, so that students are exposed to a diversity of clinical approaches and populations.
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Faculty

See a full list of Psychology department graduate faculty

Courses

See all Psychology graduate courses
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Contact

1097 KMBL
Provo, UT, 84602-5543
(801) 422-4560
sandra_shurtleff@byu.edu
Department Website

The mission of the Psychology Department is to discover, disseminate, and apply principles of psychology within a scholarly framework that is compatible with the values and purposes of Brigham Young University and its sponsor.

Two degrees are offered through the Department of Psychology: Psychology—PhD and Clinical Psychology—PhD.

Students are selected after careful consideration of their application, GPA, GRE general test scores, letters of recommendation, and areas of academic interest. The PhD program is designed to be completed in four years and the Clinical PhD program in five years (including a one-year internship).

For more detailed information regarding the Psychology PhD program, click here: https://psychology.byu.edu/Pages/psychology-phd

For more detailed information regarding the Clinical Psychology PhD program, click here: https://psychology.byu.edu/Pages/clinical-psychology-phd

Psychology - Clinical-MS

The Master of Science degree in Clinical Psychology is an embedded degree within the Clinical Psychology PhD training program. Students are admitted to BYU's Clinical Psychology doctoral program with the expectation that they will complete the PhD degree and no students are independently admitted to the Master of Science Degree. Please see the Clinical Psychology PhD description for full accreditation and program details.

Chair:  Chad Jensen
Director of Clinical Training:  Scott Baldwin
Director of Training for Psychology:  Daniel Kay
Associate Chair/Graduate Coordinator:  Steven Luke
Associate Chair/Faculty:  Blake Jones
Clinical Psychology Coordinator: Jill Turner

Resources & Opportunity

Comprehensive Clinic. This clinic is a unique interdisciplinary training and research facility housing audiovisual and computer resources and a staff of skilled technicians and secretaries to support graduate student and faculty research. The clinic currently functions as an APA-approved practicum site for the Clinical Psychology PhD program. In addition, the clinic provides the university and the broader community with mental health services, with 200 to 250 clients seen each week by students in the graduate programs. The clinic contains nine counseling rooms, four seminar rooms, and one large classroom, all of which are equipped with digital/video recording capabilities.

Externship Opportunities. In addition to practicum experiences in the Comprehensive Clinic, the clinical program arranges a number of reimbursed training placements in community agencies as well as two required unpaid clerkship experiences, including such sites as Utah State Hospital, private practices, medical centers, government agencies, residential treatment facilities, and university counseling centers. These clerkships and externships are arranged and managed by the externship coordinator and the director of clinical training, and they are supervised by on-site licensed professionals. At present, clerkships and externships are available in more than 25 different settings. These opportunities provide an excellent foundation for the integration of classroom experiences with practical work applications.

Family, Home, and Social Sciences Computing Center. The center assists faculty and students with data processing and other computing needs on mainframe and personal computers. Technical support and consultation services for both statistics and graphics are available to students working on research projects, theses, and dissertations. Special computer facilities in the Psychology Department support research in psycholinguistics, neuroimaging, neurophysiology, social psychology, and the experimental analysis of human and animal behavior.

The FHSS College also provides additional research and academic support through the Camilla Eyring Kimball Chair; the Marjorie Pay Hinckley Chair; and the Mary Lou Fulton Chair.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging Research Facility.  The structural and functional neuroimaging core is located at the BYU Magnetic Resonance Imaging Research Facility (MRIRF), which houses a 3T Siemens TRIO MRI scanner. The MRI scanner is equipped with a 12- and 32-channel head coil and MR-compatible audio and video stimulus delivery systems. Additionally, the Facility has an MR-compatible EEG system for simultaneous recording of both functional MRI and electrophysiology data, and an MR-compatible eye-tracker for recording eye movements during MRI scanning. Behavioral responses can be recorded with an MR-compatible button box (with 4 or 8 response options) or trackball. The MRI Research Facility also houses a coil lab for the development of custom coils and a computer lab with computers dedicated to MRI data post-processing. The center assists faculty and students with studies that use magnetic resonance imaging. Technical support, classes and consultation are available for student’s working on research projects, theses, dissertations. The MRIRF offers tools for the de-identification of human subject’s data.

Financial Assistance

Departmental financial aid is available in various forms: teaching and research assistantships, student instructorships, and tuition stipends.