The Clinical Psychology Master of Arts (MA) Program within the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine is intended for students interested in pursuing a career in academic clinical psychology. The MA program is designed to provide a foundation in academic clinical psychology at the graduate level, while also allowing students to gain educational and research exposure to major areas of study within clinical psychology, including clinical adult psychology, clinical child psychology, clinical neuropsychology, forensic psychology, health psychology/behavioral medicine, and policy.
The MA program is embedded in the Clinical Psychology PhD Program, with coursework and lab work completed alongside PhD students. Although students in the MA program are welcome to apply to the PhD program, the MA program is not intended to be a "gateway" into the PhD program.
This MA program does not include clinical training and is not intended to prepare students for clinical practice. Given the academic and research focus of the MA program, the degree will not lead to licensure for independent practice. For those interested in master-level programs that prepare students for licensure and practice, please visit the MA in Counseling Psychologyand the MS in Marital and Family Therapy at The Family Institute at Northwestern University.
We are proud of the outcomes of our graduating students. Most seek to ultimately pursue a doctoral program in clinical psychology. While some students are accepted into doctoral programs immediately upon graduation, a majority go onto research coordinator or research assistant positions, as they continue to build their CVs for doctoral applications. 61% of our graduates are accepted into clinical psychology doctoral programs within 2 years of graduation. We expect that number to rise over next few years as more graduates are applying to doctoral programs.
The goals of the Clinical Psychology Master of Arts Program are to:
The MA program was designed for a variety of students, including students who:
The following criteria are most desired in MA applicants:
Please note that the above criteria are desired, but not required. The MA program will consider mitigating circumstances when conducting holistic reviews of applicants who may not meet all of these criteria.
View the Sample Course Schedule (PDF).
The Clinical Psychology Master of Arts Program is designed to be completed within five quarters (Summer I, Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer II). This 15-month program is timed to facilitate students’ applications to doctoral programs in clinical psychology or related fields.
The MA program requires at least 17 units for graduation. Students are required to take the Research Core, including Research Methods/Statistics (three units), Advanced Research Methodology (one unit) and Scientific and Professional Ethics in Psychology (one unit).
In addition to these required courses, students are expected to select between five to eight elective courses across the Fall, Winter, Spring and/or Summer II quarters. Elective courses can include courses at the foundational, bases of behavior or clinical level, as well as courses in one or more of the emphases or major areas of study. MA students have the freedom to take any courses in the PhD program as long as they meet the prerequisites for the courses.
Finally, in addition to the graded courses, students are expected to register for at least one research unit for every quarter as part of their Research Lab Experience. The research core and elective courses can be reviewed in detail on the PhD Program Curriculum page. Please note that not all courses are offered every year, and therefore specific courses may not be available during a student’s residency in the MA program.
All MA students participate in the weekly Career Development Proseminar for the first four quarters of the MA program. The Proseminar orients students to the program, introduces students to various mentors and labs across Northwestern, explores career options in academic clinical psychology, refines interests in academic clinical psychology and prepares students for the next steps in their careers (e.g., developing applications for PhD programs or preparing for interviews).
Students engage in a Research Lab Experience for at least 10 hours a week. Through the Research Lab Experience, the student will work with their research mentor to complete a Capstone Project. The Capstone Project is the culmination of the Research Lab Experience provided by the research mentor, providing the final evaluation of the student’s research competencies. Examples of capstone projects include:
For more information the curriculum and degree requirements for the PhD program, please review the MA Program Student Handbook (PDF).
Information on tuition can be found at tuition and fees page on The Graduate School’s website.
All students admitted to the MA program receive a Graduate Scholarship that provides a 45 percent tuition remission for each of the five quarters of the program. The Graduate Scholarship is provided in acknowledgement for MA students' time devoted to the Research Lab Experience.
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the final deadline of May 1. Offers will also be made on a rolling basis until the incoming cohort class is completely filled. Applicants may be asked to do a phone or video interview before an offer is made for admission. Onsite interviews will not be conducted, nor will individual tours of the program be provided to applicants; however, interested applicants are always welcome to visit the campus.
To apply, complete the three steps listed below.
*Note: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we will NOT be requiring the GRE this admission season. To remove any pressure on applicants to take the GRE, we will not be reviewing GRE scores for any applicants, even when those scores have been submitted along with the application.
Online applications will open in September. Deadline for receipt of completed applications and supporting materials for the MA program is May 1, although applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and offers of admissions will also be made on a rolling basis until the cohort is filled.
To begin the application process, read the instructions and complete the application on The Graduate School website. In the Personal Information section on Page 1, choose “Clinical Psychology: MA (C30MA)” as your Academic Program from the pull-down menu (Select "Feinberg School of Medicine" to find it faster).
The nonrefundable application fee must be paid via credit card at the time of application submission; it will not be processed without payment and the fee cannot be waived. See additional information regarding the application fee.
The online application program will ask you to identify a faculty member that you may be interested in working with during your Research Lab Experience. Identifying a faculty member may help us determine your alignment with the MA program; however, this is optional and you will not be held to working with this faculty member if admitted to the program. Further, specific faculty may not be available to provide a Research Lab Experience during your residency in the Program. Assignment to a lab for the Research Lab Experience will be determined in the first month of the program. Please make certain to review the faculty list on the page to see who may be available for your Research Lab Experience. We cannot guarantee an assignment to a specific lab for MA students.
The Graduate School requires that students demonstrate a certain level of English language proficiency prior to an admission offer. The Graduate School will accept the submission of TOEFL test scores through their at home testing service to meet this requirement. This option is only available while testing centers are closed due to the impact of COVID-19. If you are unable to complete a TOEFL or IELTS exam, please inform the program to which you have applied. The Graduate School's Office of Admission and Recruitment will work directly with programs/departments to offer guidance to individual applicants.
NOTE: The Graduate School does not require English language testing scores from those who have earned an undergraduate degree from an accredited institution where the language of instruction is English.
You will also need to submit the following supporting materials to complete your application. All of the supporting documents must be submitted online; paper or "hard" copies will not be accepted for the application. Please include the following supporting documents in your online application:
Transcripts from each postsecondary institution you attended are required for your application to be complete. You must upload scanned versions of your official transcripts online. We no longer will accept paper copies in the mail.
If you are accepted into the program, TGS will require that you submit official paper copies of your transcripts (including degree awarding transcripts) directly to its admission office. TGS will compare the official transcripts received via mail to the versions uploaded during the application process to ensure that no tampering/fraud occurred. Any student found to have submitted false documentation during the application process will be immediately dismissed. Registration holds will be placed on any student’s account if their official transcripts are not received by the end of the first quarter of enrollment.
Please include the following information in the statement of purpose essay you complete as part of your online application (please disregard the instructions listed on the application for the Statement of Purpose):
The MA program includes 98 faculty members who provide instruction, research mentorship and professional development in the clinical psychology MA and PhD programs. See below for faculty recruiting for Summer 2021-2022!
Karen Abram, PhD & Linda Teplin, PhD: Seeking a student who has: (1) a stellar academic background; (2) experience in conducting research, especially in large-scale studies; (3) superb writing skills; (4) interested in interdisciplinary inquiry.
Tina Boisseau: Seeking a student with interest in OCD/anxiety disorders with at least 2 semesters of prior research experience as an undergraduate beyond data entry. Desire to pursue PhD in Clinical Psychology is a plus.
Jamie Griffith, PhD: Seeking a student interested in research in clinical assessment as well as psychotherapeutic interventions in medical contexts. Current topics in the lab include the impact of health literacy on the precision of quality-of-life assessment, as well as characterization, treatment, and prevention of lower urinary tract symptoms. A list of current studies can be found here: https://sites.northwestern.edu/griffithlab/research/.
Lisanne Jenkins, PhD & Lei Wang, PhD: Seeking a highly motivated student to join a neuroimaging lab where they will have the opportunity to work with MRI data. The student needs to be someone who takes initiative, has strong quantitative skills, and an interest in behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia. Experience with programming (e.g. bash, matlab, R, python) would be a definite advantage, as would prior neuroimaging experience.
Emily Lattie, PhD: Seeking a student who is interested in digital mental health programs for healthcare and university settings. Student should be eager to learn and have good time management skills and past research lab experience (or experience in leadership roles).
Molly Losh, PhD: Seeking a student with a Psychology, Linguistics, or Communication Sciences major or similar, with a background in autism or other neurodevelopmental disabilities. Strong interest in language and communication is important, and background and fluency with statistics and computational approaches to behavioral characterization a major strength. Project would offer opportunities to train in novel computational methods and statistics, as well as computer sciences, to approach diagnostic characterization.
Kathryn Macapagal, PhD: Seeking a student with 1) Required- Interest in research on sexual and gender minority populations (projects primarily focus on gay, bisexual, queer adolescent boys, but some data is available on other sexual or gender minority populations); comfort with topics such as HIV, sexual behavior, and LGBT health; ability to take initiative and work independently and collaboratively with a multidisciplinary team; excellent writing and communication skills and attention to detail; and 2) Preferred – Interest in social media and technology-based research and interventions; experience conducting qualitative data analysis, proficiency in using SPSS for basic descriptive statistics, experience with writing manuscripts for publication.
Heather Risser, PhD: Seeking a student interested in developing, implementing or evaluating resources for parents. This may include evidence-based interventions, coaching and support, web-based tools and learning or digital interventions to promote understanding of their child’s mental health, chronic medical conditions or developmental disabilities. The student may also be interested in joining a project examining aspects interventions and services for children exposed to violence and maltreatment. Competitive applicants will have good writing skills, interpersonal skills and some experience with data (either data collection, creating databases, data cleaning and/or data analyses).
Tiffany Taft, PsyD: seeking a student with strong interests in working with medical populations and a basic understanding of some of the issues patients with chronic medical illness may face. Previous experience with data management and research participant interaction is preferred. Strong scientific writing skills and familiarity with SPSS or R is also recommended. Dr. Taft is the director of psychogastroenterology research and is looking for a motivated MA student to assist with ongoing research in the department.
Darius Tandon, PhD: Seeking a student with a background in mental health, intervention research, implementation research, parent-child interaction, and/or child development. Our research lab focuses on the implementation and testing of interventions to address poor mental health (e.g., postpartum depression) among racially and ethnically diverse pregnant women and new mothers.
Please direct all questions to the admissions Assistant at clinpsych@northwestern.edu or 312-908-8262.