The Graduate Program in Psychology at Georgetown University offers a fully funded five-year, full-time program of study leading to a Ph.D. in Psychology. Students in the program concentrate in either Human Development and Public Policy (HDPP) or Lifespan Cognitive Neuroscience (LCN).
Please note: Our department does not offer degrees in Clinical Psychology or Counseling Psychology. We do not have a Masters program.
A GRE score is required.
The program is fundamentally a research program. Students are expected to meet rigorous research milestones and receive training in conducting independent scholarly research. Students in the HDPP track also take core courses at the McCourt School of Public Policy, while students in the LCN track take core courses in the Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience at The Georgetown University School of Medicine. Students in both concentrations also take core and elective courses in the Psychology Department. A dual degree in Psychology (Ph.D.) and Master of Public Policy (MPP) is also offered in collaboration with the McCourt School of Public Policy to students in the HDPP concentration. A dual degree in Psychology and Cognitive Science is also offered in collaboration with the Interdisciplinary PhD Concentration in Cognitive Science to students in the LCN concentration.
Program requirements are designed to offer students rigorous training in the theories and methods that characterize the psychological sciences and enable them to place the study of development and neuroscience into the broader contexts–biological, familial, social, cultural, economic, historical, political–from which the field draws its societal applications. All entering Ph.D. students select a primary mentor or mentors with whom to conduct research. Faculty research ranges from studies of learning, cognition, emotion, and social behavior at specific stages of childhood and adolescence to the study of neural and physiological mechanisms supporting these and other processes throughout the lifespan.
Located in close proximity to the White House, Congress, the National Institutes of Health, the National Academies, and many of the world’s most prestigious research and nonprofit organizations, the Department of Psychology provides a unique graduate education that bridges academic study and practice in both public policy and health/medicine. Our graduate Ph.D. program is designed to take full advantage of these resources.
The Psychology Department, along with Georgetown University, encourages all qualified students of any age, gender, race, religion, color, national or ethnic origin–including students from racial and ethnic groups traditionally underrepresented in the social and behavioral sciences–to apply to our program. The University, including the Psychology Department, does not discriminate on the basis of age, gender, race, handicap, color, national or ethnic origin in administration of educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other University-administered programs. Inquiries regarding Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity may be addressed to Director, Affirmative Action Programs. Georgetown University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.
If you have additional questions, please read our FAQ page and view our informational webinar. If they do not address your questions, you may also contact the Graduate Program Co-Directors, Anna Johnson and Ian Lyons, or gupsychologydepartment@georgetown.edu.