Psychology (M.A) - Clinical Psychology

Admission Requirements

Four Required Undergraduate Courses in Psychology:
General Psychology (3 credits)
Abnormal Psychology (3 credits)
Research Methods/Statistics (3 credits)
Personality, Social, Cognitive or Developmental Psychology (3 credits)

Certified completion of the General Test of the Graduate Record Examination. Applicants must complete the general test of the Graduate Record Exam.

Two letters of recommendation. Applicants are encouraged to use the Recommendation Form found in the Graduate School Application Packet and should have all letters sent to the Graduate School Office.

A personal statement. Applicants are required to submit with their applications a letter indicating why they are interested in pursuing a graduate degree in clinical psychology, his or her area of clinical and/or research interest, and his or her professional goals. Students who are considering the thesis track should discuss their area of research interest and indicate the name(s) of faculty with whom they would like to work. For more information about faculty research interests and thesis advising, applicants should visit the Thesis Advising page . This letter should be sent to the Graduate School Office.

Additional materials. While not required, applicants should feel free to submit a brief writing sample and their resume.

A minimum undergraduate grade point average of 3.00 for full admission. All GPA calculations for admission are based upon the last 60 credits of undergraduate and post-baccalaureate study.

An interview with program faculty. Students meeting the criteria for admission specified above will be invited by the program director for an interview with faculty and students. This interview is a compulsory part of the application process

Application Time Line
Except for the January 15th deadline, the following dates are approximate.
January 15th: Deadline for Towson to receive all application materials.
March 1: Invitations extended to top 40 candidates to attend compulsory interview.
March 15 – 25: Two weeks of clinical interviews.
April 1: Applicants notified of admission decision.
April 15: Deadline by which admitted applicants must notify Towson of their decision

Profile of a typical applicant subsequently admitted to our program

Each year, the clinical psychology program receives dozens of inquiries about the admission process from potential applicants. The table below summarizes the average GRE scores and undergraduate GPA of students who were admitted to the program.

In order to be considered for admission, students must meet the following criteria:

• An undergraduate GPA (overall or last 60 credits) of at least 3.0
• A cumulative (i.e., verbal and quantitative) General GRE Test score of at least 1000 (old test) or 297 (new test); Students with a cumulative score of at least 900 (old test) or 291 (new test) may also be considered for admission under certain circumstances.

Those students who meet the initial screening criteria will subsequently be evaluated based upon the strengths and other relevant information they present in their application portfolio. If, in spite of some deficiency in the academic record (such as lower than expected GRE scores), we believe an applicant shows promise, we may invite the applicant to campus for an admission interview.

The graduate program in clinical psychology is a small, selective program. We receive 80 to 100 applications each year. Approximately forty of these applicants are invited to campus to interview with faculty and current students. Of these candidates, offers of admission will go out to a maximum of sixteen students.