ucla phd social psychology

Application & Instructions

The deadline to submit the application and all supporting materials (e.g. letters of recommendation, transcripts, etc.) for Fall 2025 admission for the Clinical area only is  November 1, 2024 . The deadline for all other areas (Behavioral Neuroscience, Cognitive, Developmental, Health, Quantitative, Social, and Social and Affective Neuroscience) is  December 1, 2024 . 

If you have specific questions about the online UCLA application for Graduate Admission , please email the UCLA Division of Graduate Education office at  [email protected] .

Please note there is no departmental application. The only application you need to complete is the online UCLA application for Graduate Admission . Applications are accepted once a year for the Fall quarter only. Late applications will not be accepted past the posted application deadlines.

Be sure to read  Information for Prospective Applicants  and  Preparation prior to submitting your application!   In addition, be sure to visit the link to the specific program to which you plan to apply for additional information. 

You may only apply to one of the eight areas in the Department of Psychology: Behavioral Neuroscience, Clinical, Cognitive, Developmental, Health, Quantitative, Social and Social and Affective Neuroscience.

We do not offer rolling admissions or early acceptance into our program. We do not accept current graduate students transferring directly into our program. Applicants who are currently enrolled as graduate students elsewhere must apply and have their materials reviewed with the rest of the applicants that apply. 

Please note that a writing sample is not required but can be submitted through the application. Applicants to the Clinical and Quantitative program should view the fifth bullet point below.

FACULTY ACCEPTING STUDENTS FOR FALL 2025 ADMISSION:

Behavioral Neuroscience Area : Avishek Adhikari, Tad Blair, Aaron Blaisdell, Dean Buonomano, David Clewett, Alicia Izquierdo, Barbara Knowlton, Dario Ringach, Jesse Rissman, Ladan Shams, Kate Wassum, Andrew Wikenheiser

Clinical Area:  Julienne Bower, Thomas Bradbury, Michelle Craske, Tiffany Ho, Anna Lau, Lauren Ng

Cognitive Area : Alan Castel, David Clewett, Phil Kellman, Barbara Knowlton, Ian Krajbich, Falk Lieder, Zili Liu, Hongjing Lu, Martin M. Monti, Jesse Rissman, Ladan Shams

Developmental Area:  Bridget Callaghan, Andrew Fuligni, Catherine Sandhofer, Jennifer Silvers

Health Area:  Julienne Bower, Theodore Robles, Jennifer Sumner, Janet Tomiyama, Patrick Wilson

Quantitative  Area :  Han Du, Craig Enders, Yi Feng, Amanda Montoya

Social Area:  Kerri Johnson, Benjamin Karney, Jaimie Krems, Steve Stroessner

Social and Affective Neuroscience: Jaime Castrellon, Naomi Eisenberger, Matthew Lieberman, Carolyn Parkinson

INTERVIEW SCHEDULE FOR FALL 2025 ADMISSION:

Applicants that are invited to interview will be notified through email about two weeks prior to the interview appointment. Interviews will be conducted virtually. Applicants will receive individual emails with Recruitment Day information. Applicants that are not offered admission to our program for Fall 2025 will be notified by email no later than April 15, 2025.  BNS Area Interview Dates: TBA Clinical Area Interview Dates: TBA Cognitive Area Interview Dates: TBA Developmental Area Interview Dates: TBA Health Area Interview Dates: TBA Quantitative Area Interview Date: TBA Social Area Interview Dates: TBA

Department Recruitment Day: TBA

*** NOTE: ALL OF THE FOLLOWING APPLICATION MATERIALS ARE REQUIRED ***

A) Statement of Purpose & Personal Statement:

The Statement of Purpose and Personal Statement must be submitted electronically through the application for Graduate Admission.

Guidelines for the Statement of Purpose:  Your statement can be up to 1000 words in length. Please state your purpose in applying for graduate study. Describe your scholarly and research area(s) of interest, experiences that contributed to your preparation in the field, and your plans for your future occupation or profession. Briefly describe experiences that have prepared you for advanced study or research, and provide any additional information that may aid the selection committee in evaluating your preparation and aptitude for graduate study. You are encouraged to indicate specific research interests and potential faculty mentors.

Guidelines for the Personal Statement : Your statement can be up to 500 words in length (approximately 1 page, single spaced, using 1-inch margins and 12-point font). Describe how your background, accomplishments, and life experiences (those not already described in your Statement of Purpose) led to your decision to pursue the graduate degree for which you are applying. Include any educational, personal, cultural, economic, or social experiences, challenges or opportunities relevant to your academic journey. In addition, please describe any aspects of your personal background, accomplishments, or achievements that will allow the department to evaluate your contributions to the University’s diversity mission. Contributions to diversity and equal opportunity can take a variety of forms, such as efforts to advance equitable access to education, public service that addresses the need of a diverse population, or research that explores inequalities.

Additional Questions and Essays:  Applicants to the Clinical area must answer 5 additional questions. Applicants to the Quantitative area must provide a supplementary essay up to 1000 words describing their research interests in more detail. Supplementary essays are available in the ‘Psychology’ section of the application once you select ‘Psychology PHD’ under ‘Plans for Graduate Study’.

B) Three Letters of Recommendation:

It is your choice who you would like to choose as your recommenders. Your letters of recommendation can be submitted electronically by your recommenders either before or after you submit the application for Graduate Admission. It is also possible to send your letter of recommendation requests to your recommenders before you submit the application. Three (3) letters of recommendation must be submitted electronically through the application. Letter of recommendation services such as your school’s career center, Interfolio.com, etc. must also submit letters electronically through the application for the letters to be accepted. It is possible to submit more than three (3) letters of recommendation through the application. However, only three (3) letters of recommendation are required. The Letter of Recommendation Rating/Reference Form will only be sent to your recommenders when they submit your letters electronically through the application.

C) Transcripts:

All applicants must upload transcripts with the application. Unofficial copies of transcripts are acceptable for review purposes. If you are recommended for admission and decide to accept the offer, you must submit final, official copies of your transcript for final approval of your admission by the UCLA Division of Graduate Education office. Any discrepancies between the unofficial and official transcripts could lead to withdrawal of an offer of admission. International applicants must upload copies of original and translated international transcripts per country- or educational system-specific guidelines ( https://grad.ucla.edu/gasaa/admissions/ACADRECS.HTM ). UCLA does not accept international transcripts evaluated or verified by a service such as World Education Services (WES). 

D) Test Scores: Please note that starting Fall 2023, admission applicants are not required to take the GRE.

• GRE General Test:  Applicants for admission to our graduate program are not required to submit a GRE score report as part of their application package. Applicants may voluntarily submit GRE test scores and they will be reviewed as one part of the holistic application consideration. The applications with GRE scores will not be given greater weight than those that do not include scores. During the 2020 and 2021 admission cycles combined, 25% of applicants to the UCLA Psychology graduate program submitted GRE General Test scores. The number of applicants that applied, submitted GRE scores, and the percentage of applicants that submitted GRE scores, organized by Area, can be found in the table below.

• GRE Psychology Subject Test:  Consistent with the policy of the UCLA Department of Psychology, applicants to the clinical psychology doctoral program at UCLA will not be required to take the GRE. The GRE Psychology Subject Test is not required and will not be used to make admissions decisions. However, applicants who score above the 70 th  percentile can use the GRE Subject Test to partially fulfill Discipline-Specific Knowledge requirements (e.g., cognitive, social) that are part of accreditation by the American Psychological Association. In this way, admitted students may be able to reduce the amount of, or more flexibly select, coursework needed to complete program requirements. Students may elect to take the GRE Subject Test after their admission into our program and all program requirements can be fulfilled without taking the test.
• To ensure your official test scores are properly processed if you choose to submit them, please be sure the personal information provided in the UCLA application for Graduate Admission matches exactly the information provided to the testing service. Do not wait for your test results to complete the application. Educational Testing Service (ETS) sends scores electronically to UCLA. The institution code for UCLA is 4837. The department/major code is not necessary.  
• Official GRE test scores  cannot be more than five years old . If the GRE tests are taken more than once, the most recent scores are considered.
• Quantitative program applicants: Quantitative psychology is by definition very reliant on quantitative skill sets which can be demonstrated in a number of ways: performance in mathematics courses, performance on the quantitative section of the GRE, and/or letters of recommendation speaking to your quantitative expertise. When reading applications, we will look for demonstrated ability in quantitative skills, but this should not require a GRE score if other parts of your application speak to these skills. If you are unsure whether you should or should not include GRE scores in your application to UCLA, please feel free to contact the quantitative area faculty.
• TOEFL or IELTS EXAM:  INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS whose first language is not English must submit an official TOEFL (Test of English As a Foreign Language) or IELTS (International English Language Testing System) score. Applicants who hold a bachelor’s degree or higher from a university located in the United States or in another country in which English is both the primary spoken language of daily life and the language of instruction (i.e., Australia, Barbados, Canada, Ireland, Jamaica, New Zealand, United Kingdom) and the medium of instruction, or who have completed at least two years of full-time study at such an institution, are exempted from both the TOEFL/IELTS requirement and the English as a Second Language Placement Examination. The minimum TOEFL or IELTS scores are 560 on the paper and pencil test, 220 on the computer-based test, or 87 on the internet-based test (TOEFL/IBT), or overall band score of 7.0 (IELTS). TOEFL and IELTS test scores are valid for only two years. Educational Testing Service (ETS) sends scores electronically to UCLA. The institution code for UCLA is 4837. The department/major code is not necessary. Please contact the Educational Testing Service (ETS) for GRE and TOEFL test scheduling, registration, and information. Visit the Educational Testing Service web site at  www.ets.org  or call them at (510) 873-8100 (West Coast) or (609) 771-7100 (East Coast). IELTS is administered by local IELTS test centers throughout the world. Applicants should consult  www.ielts.org  for the nearest IELTS test center.

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UCLA Graduate Programs

Graduate Program: Psychology

UCLA's Graduate Program in Psychology offers the following degree(s):

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Masters available on Doctoral track

• Admission Requirements
• Program Statistics

With questions not answered here or on the program’s site (above), please contact the program directly.

Psychology Graduate Program at UCLA 1285 Franz Hall Box 951563 Los Angeles, CA 90095-1563

Visit the Psychology’s faculty roster

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

Visit the registrar's site for the Psychology’s course descriptions

(310) 825-2617

[email protected]

MAJOR CODE: PSYCHOLOGY

Human Development & Psychology Division

In the Human Development & Psychology (HDP) graduate division, students explore the situations and processes that promote learning and development in a variety of social contexts for individuals and groups from diverse backgrounds. The program is designed for students interested in human learning and development to improve educational practices. The HDP Division offers two Ph.D. programs — the Ph.D. in Education and the Ph.D. in Special Education — and one M.A. in Education program. The Joint Doctoral Program in Special Education is offered with the California State University, Los Angeles.

Academic Information

Overview of the program.

The Division of HDP is committed to understanding individual differences and bettering the lives of children, adolescents, and their families from under-served and under-resourced communities, and those who are under-represented in the scientific literature.

HDP faculty and students employ a variety of research designs and methodological approaches. Faculty expertise includes qualitative (e.g., clinical structured interviews), quantitative (e.g., survey research methods), and mixed methods approaches, as well as randomized experimental designs, and longitudinal and intervention studies. The program has served as a model for training in applied research and the application of research to real-life settings.

Division Values

The goal of the HDP program is to study the nature and course of human development, in context, to inform practices and policies that affect the welfare of children. Topical Areas of Study Include:

• Interactions between risk and resilience across development
• Concerns with life circumstances (e.g., experiencing poverty or immigration) and personal characteristics (e.g., ability to learn a language or disability) that make individuals or groups vulnerable to variations in achievement, social, and emotional outcomes
• Relationships between single and multiple risk factors
• Processes that mediate the presence of a risk factor and later outcomes
• Developmental trajectories of children and adolescents
• Identifying protective factors that may alter or alleviate the impact of high risk
• Specific disabilities, such as autism, mental health disorders, intellectual disabilities, and language disabilities
• School-based research relevant to children’s and adolescent’s academic, social, and motivational development
• Developing more effective learning strategies for diverse learners
• Examining structural features (e.g., racial and ethnic diversity, socioeconomic composition of the school, dual language immersion programs) that affect educational progress and attainment
• Studying process features (e.g., peer relations, instructional approaches, parental involvement in schools) that affect educational progress and attainment

What Our Graduates Do

The training that HDP students receive prepares them for work in a variety of fields. Recent HDP graduates have assumed positions either as faculty, consultants, or researchers in a number of institutions across the country.

• Assistant Professor, Teacher Education Program, University of California, San Diego
• Assistant Professor, Elementary Education, University of Georgia
• Assistant Professor, Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education, University of Washington (Seattle)
• Associate Professor, Department of Teaching and Learning, Peabody College, Vanderbilt University
• Associate Professor, Special Education, Charter School of Education, California State University, Los Angeles
• Postdoctoral Scholar in Child Abuse and Neglect, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
• Postdoctoral Scholar in Special Education, Neuropsychiatric Institute, University of California, Los Angeles
• Research Associate, LessonLab, Santa Monica, California
• Program Specialist, Pomona Unified School District, California
• Consultant, Milken Foundation
• Research Associate, Los Angeles Unified School District, Los Angeles
• Research Associate, American Institute of Research, Washington, D.C.

M.A. Program in HDP

The M.A. Program in HDP is typically a full-time, one-year program. You should plan to be enrolled in the equivalent of at least three 4-unit classes for all quarters. Most courses are offered during the day. University regulations are that the M.A. must be completed within 7 quarters (two and one-third years), but students in our division rarely take that long. As a student in the M.A. Program, you must take at least nine 4-unit courses. About half are required courses and half are courses selected to fulfill various required types. Consult with your advisor in order to choose courses that best support your academic plan and goals.

Ph.D. Program in HDP

The Ph.D. program is a full-time program. You should plan to be enrolled in the equivalent of at least three 4-unit classes every quarter and to be on campus almost every day. Many of the formal courses you will take are during the day, as are most colloquia, research group (RAC) meetings, and research work. You will gain valuable experience and learn much from the time you spend outside of courses with faculty and students conducting research, writing papers, and working in formal and informal educational settings. Typically, you should expect to finish your degree in four to six years. University regulations require that the Ph.D. be completed within 21 quarters (seven years), but students in our division normally do not take that long. As faculty, we are committed to helping you finish in a reasonable time-to-degree of four to six years.

Joint Doctoral Ph.D. Program in Special Education

If you are in the Joint Doctoral Ph.D. Program in Special Education, your general experiences and timetable will be similar to those of students in the HDP Ph.D. program. Like the HDP doctoral program, the Joint Doctoral Ph.D. program is full-time. The time periods within which you can and must complete the Joint Doctoral Ph.D. degree are also about the same as those for the HDP Ph.D. program with the main difference that you take your initial year of courses at California State University, Los Angeles and then complete course requirements at UCLA. Having the first year of courses at California State University, Los Angeles will not extend the length of your Ph.D. program.

The Joint Doctoral Program is DISTINCT from the HDP Ph.D. in the following ways: You will have a slightly different timeline as you will take your first year of courses at California State University, Los Angeles. You must complete a minimum of six courses at California State University, Los Angeles. You will be required to take three fewer quarters of colloquium. You will have NO publication requirement. You are required to have five rather than four dissertation committee members.

Our Current Students

Visit the student directory and see what they are working on.

Graduate students at UCLA Department of Education benefit from — and contribute to — the resources of the country’s number one public graduate school of education.

A distinguished faculty committed to research, teaching, and excellent research centers and institutes offer extraordinary opportunities for graduate endeavors. We are preparing the next generation of researchers and professionals to address some of the most pressing challenges in the field.

Learn how HDP could be the right fit for you.

The UCLA Ed & IS Office of Student Services looks forward to assisting you through the application process. If we can be of service to you in any step of this process, please feel free to contact any one of our advisors.

Find Your Place

UCLA Ed&IS provides pathways for all.

Student Resources

HDP M.A. Plan of Study

HDP Ph.D. Plan of Study

HDP Course Schedule

HDP Student Handbook

Admissions Resources

HDP Application Step-By-Step Guide

Information Sessions for this Program

Jennie Grammer

Associate professor of education; faculty director, uc|csu collaborative for neuroscience, diversity and learning.

Sandra Graham

Distinguished professor.

Jeffrey Wood

Rashmita Mistry

Division head.

Alison Bailey  [email protected] (310) 825-1731

Division Administrative Assistant

(310) 825-9260

Division Graduate Advisor

Kim Mattheussens [email protected] (310) 825-0830

Student Ambassadors

Lauren Kinnard

Ingrid Tien

Maira Tafolla

Desiree Tanimura

[email protected]

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