PhD Clinical – Admissions

Program Admissions

The Next Application Deadline is December 1st, 2025 for a start date in August 2026.

The following faculty members will be considering new students for research mentorship in the 2025 – 2026 admissions round:

Dr. Clint Bowers. Dr. Jeffrey Cassisi, Dr. Daniel Paulson, Dr. Kimberly Renk, and Dr. Jacqueline Woerner.

 

The UCF Psychology Department coordinates the admission process with the UCF Graduate Studies office. In order to enroll in graduate classes, students must have obtained a baccalaureate or higher degree in Psychology, prior to the start of the term for which the student is admitted, from a regionally accredited institution or from a recognized foreign institution. Students without a baccalaureate or higher degree from an accredited institution (or equivalent) are not admitted to graduate degree programs, graduate certificate programs, or graduate nondegree status. If the baccalaureate degree does not include a major in Psychology, students must have completed at least 18 credit hours of Psychology courses at the undergraduate level or above. These courses must include Intro/General Psychology, Research Methods/Statistics, Abnormal Psychology/Psychopathology, and Personality Theory/Psychology. The following courses are strongly encouraged: Social Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Biological/Physiological Psychology, and Developmental Psychology.

Note for all applicants: Our program requires that History and Systems of Psychology is completed at the undergraduate level with a grade of at least a “B.” This can either be completed prior to starting our program or as an undergraduate course during our program.

We will not accept or consider GRE scores for a start date of Fall 2026. We will announce the list of faculty members who will be recruiting students for a start date of Fall 2026 sometime in late August 2025.

Successful applicants typically have both strengths and relative weaknesses in their applications, and it is important to view one’s application as a portfolio.  The components of the application are as follow:

1. Educational history/grades
2. Letters of recommendation: Three letters written by people who can speak to your work ethic, range of professional interests, and what it is like to work with you.
3. Personal essay: An essay about your research and clinical interests and faculty you may be interested in working with while enrolled in our program.
4. Content training: Information about career and research experiences should be highlighted on the CV and personal statement and are often described in an applicant’s letters of recommendation.

At UCF, the applicant’s fit with the goals of the program are a critical component. It is very rare that an application is positively distinguished on all four of the areas described above. To be considered for admission, the program requires having some hands-on research experience outside of a course (e.g., as a research assistant/coordinator) preferably in a topic area which overlaps one of our faculty members who you would like to work with on research (ideally at least a year or two of this experience). In your essay, you need to highlight that experience in relation to what you’d like to conduct research on if accepted to our program, along with which faculty mentor(s) you’d like to work with for research.

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For more information on the application process, please contact:

Dr. Jeffrey Bedwell
Professor, Department of Psychology
Clinical Psychology Ph.D. Program Director
Director of Clinical Training
Jeffrey.Bedwell@ucf.edu