Doctoral Program
Boston College Psychology and Neuroscience is an inclusive department that values diversity. We welcome all applicants, and strongly encourage students from underrepresented groups and first-generation students to apply to our program.
Our doctoral program is a five-year, full-time, fully funded, research-oriented program that features setting up a research program, coursework, and a close relationship with a faculty advisor. The number of graduate students admitted is limited. Currently, the ratio of faculty to doctoral students is approximately 1 to 1.
Our program is aimed at students who intend to become research psychologists and neuroscientists, participating in the basic search for knowledge about the human mind and brain. The focus throughout the stay at Boston College is on original research. Students publish papers, apply for grants, and attend professional conferences as part of their training.
Students apply to one of the Psychology Department's five areas of concentration and receive a Ph.D. degree in that area. Students may also participate in one of the department's interdisciplinary programs.
Admission
The admissions process is described on the Boston College Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences website.
Students are admitted to work with a particular faculty member and within one of our five areas. Please visit the concentration page for a list of faculty members who serve as advisors in each area. Admission is selective and requires approval of the advisor and of the department's Graduate Admissions Committee. We recommend that applicants reach out to potential advisors well in advance of the application deadline to determine whether they plan to accept a Ph.D. student that year. Not all faculty accept students each year.
Guidelines for admissions to the graduate program:
- Admission to the program normally requires an overall and major GPA of 3.33.
- To ensure prospective graduate students are well prepared to TA in their area of specialization—Developmental, Social, Cognitive, Neuroscience, or Quantitative—they are also expected to have received at least a B in all courses within this area.
- Graduate students must have been in good academic standing for the last two years.
Faculty members will invite top applicants to interview by February. Applicants will be notified of admissions decisions shortly thereafter.
Ph.D. students are fully funded, and tuition is waived. Students serve as Teaching Assistants during the course of the program.
Curriculum
Each student is accepted to work with a primary advisor. By the end of the first semester, the student, along with the advisor, selects two additional faculty members to serve on a thesis committee.
The Ph.D. student's initial task is the production of a second-year research project. Work on this task begins on day one of the first year. During the first year, a topic is selected, background reading carried out, a research program designed and piloted, and a proposal (written much like a grant proposal) is submitted to the student's three-person committee. The proposal is defended orally in front of the committee, and must have final approval by the committee by the end of September of Year Two.
In the second year, any further pilot work needed is carried out, IRB approval is obtained, the data gathered and analyzed, and the second-year research project written and defended (by March 31 of Year Two).
The research project reports original empirical research initiated and carried out while in our program. Students may not bring previously collected data and use these data for the project. Although the entire project is carried out in close collaboration with the advisor, the student should be the major contributor. Thus the student should qualify for senior authorship on the project when it is submitted for publication (which we strongly encourage).
The project is to be in the form of an article publishable in a good journal in the student's area. Evaluation is based on the criterion of publishability, with the exception that results need not have turned out statistically significant.
The second period in your graduate program is characterized by a shift to more independent work and an even more intensive focus on research. The third year focuses on two requirements that you work on simultaneously, the third year Literature Review and the Dissertation Proposal. The fourth year focuses on dissertation research. Even more than in the first two years, however, meeting the formal requirements is the minimum. The student’s principal job is carrying out research and building up a CV.
Early in the third year, students meet with their committee to form a tentative plan for Years Three and Four. This plan should be formalized and signed by the committee (Form 5) by December 1 of Year Three. Students are encouraged to begin pilot research for their dissertation, if they have not already done so, during the first semester of Year Three.
Students must attend this program on a full-time basis. The program is designed to be completed within five years.
The Pre-Doctoral Mentorship Program (PDMP) is a student-run initiative that offers mentorship to prospective applicants to psychology and neuroscience doctoral programs. The goal of this program is to offer one-on-one mentorship and institutional knowledge to applicants who may not have access to such advantages.
Participants in the program will be matched with current graduate students or postdocs in the department who will mentor them on the process of applying to psychology and neuroscience Ph.D. programs. Participants and their mentors will work together to decide how and when to be in contact (e.g., email, Slack, Zoom, phone call, small groups) to discuss topics such as how to refine research interests, how to craft a CV, how to write a compelling personal statement, or any other aspect of the application process about which participants have questions.
The program is open to everyone. We especially encourage people who do not have access to mentorship for their doctoral applications to apply. We expect this program to be particularly valuable for those who do not expect to receive feedback on their graduate applications from two or more faculty members.
Please note that participation in this program is NOT a requirement for application or admission to the program, NOR will it be factored intothe admissions decisions made by the department. Your official application will NOT indicate whether you participated in this program.
We invite prospective applicants to apply from September 15th until November 15th to ensure sufficient time to provide substantive mentorship before the doctoral program's application deadline on December 15.
This program is designed to be fun, flexible, interactive, inclusive, and minimally time-consuming. We know that the application process can be challenging to navigate, so we want to offer whatever assistance we can, while ensuring that we don’t use up more of your time than is helpful.
Please complete this sign-up form and we will reach out to you within a week.
You must be applying to graduate school this cycle to participate in the program. However, there is no specific stage you need to be at. Whether you're just beginning to explore PhD programs, working on your personal statement, or finalizing your application materials, you are welcome to apply. We encourage prospective applicants at any stage of the process to reach out for guidance.
Your mentor will provide personalized guidance based on your specific needs and questions. They can help with:
- Refining and focusing your research interests
- Reviewing and providing feedback on your CV and personal statement
- Offering advice on how to identify and reach out to potential advisors
- Discussing how to navigate interviews
- Providing insight into the life of a graduate student or postdoc in psychology and neuroscience
- Answering any other questions you may have about applying to doctoral programs
No, our program focuses on psychology and neuroscience PhD applications, and we do not offer mentorship for Clinical Psychology PhD programs, which are part of the Lynch School of Education and Human Development at Boston College. If you are interested in Clinical Psychology, you may wish to explore programs and resources offered by the Lynch School.
No, you do not need to apply to Boston College’s PhD programs to be eligible for mentorship. The Pre-Doctoral Mentorship Program is open to all prospective applicants, regardless of the institutions they are considering.
No, the program is completely free to all participants. We want to make the mentorship process accessible to everyone.
The time commitment will vary depending on your needs and the availability of your mentor. We aim for this program to be flexible, and the specifics of how you communicate with your mentor (e.g., email, Zoom, phone calls) will be determined by you and your mentor based on what works best for both of you. We strive to ensure that this program is minimally time-consuming and as helpful as possible.
Participation in this mentorship program will not be considered in any admissions decisions. This program is independent of the admissions process and is designed purely to support prospective applicants in navigating the application process.
Please direct any questions to boston-college-pdmp-ggroup@bc.edu