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University of Notre Dame Ph.D. in Psychology

Notre Dame's Psychology program offers:

  • Outstanding faculty mentors
  • State-of-the-art research facilities
  • Broad career preparation
  • Strong financial support
  • Commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion
I had a wonderful graduate life in the Psychology department at Notre Dame. The department and faculty members kindly and generously provided various academic and financial resources to support my study and research. I always received prompt help and advice from the faculty, the department, and the university. I greatly appreciate Notre Dame for its supportive environment, which allowed me to develop into an assistant professor.”

— Han Du, Ph.D. ’18, Assistant Professor of Quantitative Psychology, UCLA

The Psychology department at Notre Dame provided me all the support I needed to reach my career goals. Excellent opportunities to gain teaching experience, a rigorous research program, and strong statistics courses made me feel very prepared for a tenure-track position and my own research lab. I graduated with plenty of applied experience in teaching and research and a strong network of colleagues and friends.”

— Erin E. Hillard, Ph.D. ’18, Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Parkside

Our program:

Students who are admitted into our Ph.D. program receive specialized training in one of four areas:

  • Clinical Science
  • Cognition, Brain, and Behavior
  • Developmental
  • Quantitative

Outstanding faculty mentors

At Notre Dame, you will learn from collegial and dynamic faculty mentors who are leaders in each of these four fields.

They routinely publish in top journals and receive funding from the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Health, and the Institute of Education Sciences. Notre Dame Psychology faculty also regularly serve as grant reviewers for the major federal funding agencies and work as editors and associate editors of major journals.

My time as a graduate student in the Department of Psychology at Notre Dame has been invaluable preparation for my academic career. I had an incredibly supportive mentor and benefited from the guidance of many faculty in the department who prioritize graduate student success and well-being."

—Christina McDonnell, Ph.D. ’18, Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of Wyoming

State-of-the-art research facilities and techniques

The Psychology Department is housed in the newly built Corbett Family Hall, adjacent to the famous Notre Dame football stadium.

Here you will find over 30 research labs, focused on everything from sleep, stress, and memory to visual cognition to suicide prevention.

Graduate students in our department receive unsurpassed training in research methods and statistics.

The Advanced Quantitative Social Science Minor provides advanced training in the application of psychometrics, social science data modeling, and state-of-the-art statistical and (big) data analysis techniques.

The quantitative psychology program at ND really prepared me well for a career in academia. The coursework is very rigorous and has made me feel qualified to teach a wide range of methodological courses. However, the most valuable aspect of my training came from the faculty: the mentoring I received from quantitative faculty — all at the top of their field — was truly exceptional. Their guidance and passion for developing statistical methodology have been pivotal when it comes to making novel contributions in my own research.”

— Brenna Gomer, Ph.D. ’21, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Utah State University

Our graduate students also benefit from close interdisciplinary relations with other departments, institutes, and centers at Notre Dame, including the Shaw Center for Children and Families, the Lucy Family Institute for Data and Societyand the Institute for Educational Initiatives.

We offer a joint Ph.D. in Psychology and Computer Science in partnership with the College of Engineering and a joint Ph.D. in Psychology and Peace Studies in partnership with the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.

The Psychology Department at Notre Dame is very supportive of collaborations. I worked on projects with multiple faculty members and graduate students outside of my lab, and I'm grateful for those experiences.”

Andrea O'Rear, Ph.D. ’19, Assistant Professor of Psychological Sciences, Saint Mary's College

Broad career preparation

Working closely with faculty mentors who are leading scholars in their own right, you will receive training in your area of focus, in methodology, and in scientific writing. We prepare our graduate students to make active contributions to scholarly research and to solve problems in various community, clinical, and other nonacademic settings.

Students gain teaching experience by serving as both teaching assistants and instructors of record; they can also receive certification in teaching excellence through the Kaneb Center.

Our students have gone on to fulfilling positions in a variety of settings including academic, health care, and private industry.

The Department of Psychology offers a stellar curriculum to refine fundamental research skills related to experimental design, statistical analysis, and scientific communication. Beyond this, the holistic mentorship and collaborative opportunities afforded to me at Notre Dame also nurtured my abilities to be mentally flexible, ask productive questions, and integrate research from disparate fields of study. These latter abilities, in particular, have proven invaluable to my professional growth and success as a consultant in the private sector.”

— Joe Pauszek, Ph.D. ’19, Senior Human Factors Scientist, Research Collective

I chose Notre Dame for the opportunities it provides for quantitative training, professional development, and mentorship from highly accomplished faculty. I appreciate the resources available to students and efforts the clinical area of the psychology department have made to continually improve clinical and research training. The professional development resources and mentorship provided through my program have been invaluable now that I’m on the academic job market.”

— Holly Levin-Aspenson, Ph.D. ‘20, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Clinical Psychology, Brown University Warren Alpert Medical School

Strong financial support

Our Ph.D. students receive:

  • Full-tuition scholarships
  • Competitive 12-month stipends that are guaranteed for 5 years as long as the student remains in good standing
  • University-sponsored health insurance
  • Annual funding to support travel and research

Students in the clinical area also receive support for internship costs.

Graduate student support at Notre Dame goes beyond the financial. Our approach to graduate training is holistic—engaging minds, hearts, bodies, and spirits.

Commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion

The Psychology department’s goal is to cultivate an atmosphere that is not only challenging intellectually but also supportive and respectful of every individual, student, faculty, and staff member in our community of every culture, ethnicity, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, socio-economic background, and ability.

To ensure that we are meeting our DEI goals, and to hold ourselves accountable, the department leadership has proactively sought the services of external DEI consultants and regularly receives feedback from the graduate student body.

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