Frequently Asked Questions

No. They are separate programs within the Psychology Department. Students who graduate from the M.A. in Psychological Sciences Program can apply to the Ph.D. Program in Psychology, but are not given any special status or priority in the admission process.

No. This is an in-person program. All core and required courses take place in-person on the St. Petersburg campus. Elective classes may be taken online, if suitable online options are found.

All core and required courses take place in-person on the St. Petersburg campus. Elective classes may be online or on other campuses, depending on the classes you choose. 

This program is designed for full-time students. In specific cases, it may be possible to enroll in two classes a semester and complete the program in six (rather than four) semesters.  

This program is designed to be completed by taking three classes (9 credits) each semester for four semesters. All required classes are offered in the Fall and Spring semesters from 3 – 6pm, so the majority of students complete the program at the end of the Spring semester of their second year. Elective courses are sometimes offered at other times of day and during the Summer semester.  

Classes or positions that provide experience in research and data-analysis will make you a stronger applicant. In particular, volunteer work in a research laboratory, research presentations or publications, and advanced statistics classes can improve your chance of admission. 

The deadline for priority admission is February 1^st but we accept applications until June 1^st. Only students who apply by the priority deadline are eligible for graduate assistantship funds.  

Minimum requirements for admission are as follows:

• A baccalaureate degree from a regionally accredited institution (typically in psychology or a related field)
• A minimum GPA of 3.00 or better in your last two years (60 hours) of undergraduate work
• GRE Scores on the general GRE test. Competitive scores are usually around 150 or higher on both the verbal and quantitative sections.
• Prior undergraduate coursework in Introduction to Psychology, Statistics, and Research Methods.  

The GRE general exam is a requirement for admission to this program. This requirement will not be waived except in unique circumstances, such as when an applicant already holds a master’s in psychology, and these exceptions will be determined on a case-by-case basis.

That depends. If you are interested in getting a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and ultimately doing a combination of counseling, research, and assessment, this program could make you a more competitive applicant. Otherwise, this program is not necessarily a good fit. It does not provide clinical training nor a route to licensure.  

If you are only interested in becoming a counselor, we encourage you to explore more counseling-focused graduate programs offered through the USF College of Behavioral and Community Sciences. These include the Masters in Clinical Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling, Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy, and Masters in Social Work, all of which provide a route to licensure and clinical practice.  

As of 2023-24, the total graduate tuition and fees per credit hour on the St. Petersburg campus are $429.93 for Florida residents and $875.67 for non-Florida residents. This program requires 36 credit hours. More information and a breakdown of these rates can be found at here. 

This program prepares students for Research Analyst and Research Associate positions in the human or health sciences, non-profit sector, or business community that demand advanced competencies in research methodology; data tracking, collection, and analysis; and grant writing or program evaluation. It also qualifies you to teach psychology courses at high schools and 1000/2000 level coursework at 2- and 4-year colleges or universities. Finally, it makes students competitive for admission to doctoral programs in psychology and related fields. In the last five years, students in this program have gone on to Ph.D. programs in Social, Clinical, Experimental and Developmental Psychology, as well as Human Factors and Public Health. 

This depends on the year, but usually the program admits around 15-20% of all applicants. 

The program offers a very limited number of Graduate Assistantships to highly qualified students. These positions provide a tuition waiver, accompanied by a stipend of approximately $15,000/year in return for 20 hours/week of work for the department (usually as a teaching assistant). Students must apply by the February 1^st deadline to be eligible to receive a Graduate Assistantship. 

For students who do not earn a Graduate Assistantship, it is often possible to get part-time work on campus. These positions include being a teaching aide for high enrollment Psychology courses and tutoring undergraduate students within the Student Success Center. These hourly positions do not provide a tuition waiver and are determined on a semester-by-semester basis. The Office of Graduate Studies provides information about some additional sources of funding and scholarship across USF as a whole.

Yes, it is possible to work with faculty on the Tampa or Sarasota Manatee campuses as well. However, Given that this program is housed on the St. Petersburg campus, the majority of students in the MA program work with faculty who have a home campus of "St. Petersburg" in the Psych Department Faculty Directory. Students who wish to work with faculty on another campus will need to ensure that the faculty member is accepting MA students into their lab and should expect to frequently commute between the St. Petersburg and other campus. 

Applicants applying by the February 1^st priority deadline should hear back about their admission status in early March. Applicants applying after this deadline (rolling admissions) will usually hear back within 4- to 6-weeks of submitting a complete application. There are no interviews for admissions regardless of deadline.

This depends somewhat on the year. However, we usually get between 70 and 100 applications and accept 15-20% of those students. There is almost always room to accept additional students after the priority deadline, but the cohort can fill. Admitted class sizes typically range between 8 and 15 students. 

We handle these situations on a case-by-case basis. Typically, prior graduate courses in psychology may replace elective, but not required courses in this degree program.

Prior undergraduate coursework in Introduction to Psychology, Statistics, and Research Methods is required. The latter two courses (Stats & RM) can officially be in any field, but psychological research methods and psychological statistics will prepare you better for the program and make you a stronger applicant.

You can still apply, but it will be considerably harder to be accepted into the program without grades in these courses.  If your application is strong enough, you may receive "qualified admission" into the program contingent upon completing the required coursework.

Yes, absolutely! We encourage you to do this. You also only need to pay one application fee, regardless of how many USF programs you apply to during the same cycle.  

Unfortunately, you will need to apply separately to the M.A. program. However, we can transfer over your letters of recommendation, transcripts, and writing samples, so all you should need to do is begin the new application and submit a statement of purpose. Please reach out to the program director if you would like us to transfer over some of your application materials. 

No, many students choose to complete a research-related project (the project track) rather than a full thesis (the thesis track). You also do not need to know this ahead of time – we do not admit students into specific tracks. Instead, you will work with your faculty advisor during the first semester in the program to determine which track is best for you. 

Generally, no. A 3.0 GPA or higher is a requirement for admission into the program. There are some very rare and specific circumstances where this requirement may be waived (usually involving a very high upper-level GPA and/or post-graduate classes). Please contact the program director for more information if you think these circumstances might apply. 

No. This program is designed for students to begin in the Fall semester and only accepts students for the Fall.

Broadly, this is possible to do, but decisions are made on a case-by-case basis. If you have a sufficient background to help you pass the course and the instructor agrees to admit you, then this can be allowed. A limited number of credits taken as a non-degree seeking student can be applied to the program, if you are later admitted.