Graduate Admissions

The Department of Psychology offers several degree options for graduate students: Doctoral-level students may pursue a PhD in Behavioral Neuroscience, Clinical Psychology, Cognitive Psychology or Social-Personality Psychology. Master's-level students may pursue an MA in General Psychology or an MA in Drugs, Health, & Society.

Application Deadlines

  • December 2: All PhD applications
  • March 2: General Psychology MA
  • August 1: Drugs, Health and Society MA

All applications are reviewed soon after the deadline. Most applicants will be notified via email of the final outcome of their application. PhD decisions are generally made by March 1.

Admissions Requirements and Process

Our graduate programs have slightly different admissions requirements:

  • GRE scores are not required for Behavioral Neuroscience PhD, Clinical PhD, Cognitive PhD, General Psychology MA, or Drugs, Health, & Society MA program applicants. 
  • GRE scores are required for our Social-Personality PhD applicants.

Please review other program-specific admissions requirements below.

Application Instructions

Applicants may apply to only one degree at a time within the same department. Applicants will not be able to apply for both the MA program and a PhD program, nor can they apply to two PhD programs, during the same admissions cycle.

Students who wish to pursue an MA or PhD degree in the Department of Psychology must create an account and submit an online application via our online application system: 

All applicants are accepted based on the recommendation of individual faculty. In your application, please list faculty members whose research interests provide the best fit to your own interests. 

Instructions for International Applicants

UB requires international applicants to take the TOEFL or IELTS exam. In addition to the above application materials, international applicants must also submit the following: 

  • TOEFL Scores. Request an official copy from ETS and use Institution Code: 2925. Official electronic scores will be automatically linked to your online application. 
  • Passport Bio-Page.
  • International Applicant Financial Form (IAFF) 
  • Financial Documentation (Per the IAFF instructions). 

Application Fees

The graduate application fee is $75 U.S. (payable online or by check or money order made payable to the University at Buffalo). After you formally submit your application, you will receive an email with additional instructions for submitting your payment. Currently, UB accepts Visa, MasterCard and Discover.

Non- Matriculated Applications

Applicants interested in taking graduate level courses without applying to one of our degree-granting programs should contact us directly at psych@buffalo.edu for instructions on how to access the application. Non-matriculated applicants must have an undergraduate GPA of at least 3.0 and written instructor permission to take at least one course on the upcoming course schedule to be eligible for consideration. Accepted non-matriculated students can earn no more than 12.0 credit hours total per University policy.

Contact

Please contact us with any questions about the application process.