Graduate Degree Requirements

Detailed information about the psychology graduate program is available in the psychology graduate student handbook. During the first year of study, students develop a Program of Study (POS) with the aid of an individually selected faculty advisory committee.  The POS is tailored to incorporate departmental and program requirements while also including additional courses appropriate to students’ career interests and goals.  Curricular requirements for the PhD degrees are based on a core course system that is sufficiently flexible to accommodate the different interests and needs of individual students.

The Graduate College requires that 72 graduate credits be completed for the doctoral degree, of which at least 36 must be earned at Iowa State University.  Of those, 24 must be earned during two consecutive semesters at Iowa State University, unless the student is employed more than 1/2 time at Iowa State University. All work must be completed within seven years.  In addition to completing an empirical dissertation, students must complete the following courses:

Course Listings

1)  Psych 5010 (Foundation of Behavioral Research)

2)  All students must take Stat 5870 (Statistical Methods for Research), and either Stat 5710 (Experimental Design) or Stat 5820 (Regression); or if appropriate, submit a request to the DOGE to take a different graduate level stats course..

3)  At least 8 hours of Psych 6990 (Research in Psychology) for work towards completion of the Dissertation.

4)  At least one course each from four of the following seven core groups:

     Biological Bases of Behavior 

  • Psych 5190 (Cognitive Neuropsychology)
  • NUTRS 5890 (Systems Neuroscience)

     Cognitive-Affective Bases of Behavior

  • Psych 5160 (Advanced Cognition)

     Social Bases of Behavior

  • Psych 5800 (Advanced Social Psychology)

      Individual Bases of Behavior 

  • Psych 5600 (Advanced Personality Psychology)
  • Psych 6610 (Adult Psychopathology)

      Applied Psychology

  • Psych 5420 (Psychoeducational Assessment)
  • Psych 6210 (Counseling Theory & Practice)
  • Psych 5950B (Aggression)
  • Psych 5950C (Culture)
  • Psych/HCI 5210 (Human and Computer Interaction)

      Historical and Philosophical Foundations

  • Psych 5050 (History of Psychology)

      Teaching

  • Psych 6330 (Teaching of Psychology)