Clinical Psychology Admission Criteria

Applicants with Advanced Graduate Credit

Guidelines for Graduate School Offers and Acceptances

Professional Conduct/Statement of Personal Integrity

Admission Criteria
All application material must be received in the Graduate Admissions Office by December 15. Students are admitted in the fall semester and on a full-time basis only.

Materials required for admission are as follows:

The online UM-St. Louis Application for Admission to Graduate School. There is no additional application form that needs to go to the Psychology department.
Three letters of recommendation, using the UM-St. Louis recommendation form, either on the form provided or in a separate letter with the form attached. Preferably, the references should be from professors who can comment in detail about your qualifications for graduate study in psychology and who have agreed to serve as references. List the name, position and institution of your three references on the application form and distribute the recommendation forms after you have completed the section on each regarding waiver of right of review. Your references should mail these letters directly to the Graduate Admissions office.
Official transcripts of all undergraduate and graduate work, sent by these institutions to the Graduate Admissions office. Applicants are expected to have an undergraduate degree in psychology, but non-majors may apply with a minimum of 24 units of undergraduate psychology. All applicants must demonstrate completion of the following coursework: Introductory Psychology, Psychological Statistics, and Research Methods in Psychology.
GRE scores: The Verbal, Quantitative, and Writing scores from the Graduate Record Exam are required. The advanced Psychology subject test may be submitted but is not required. In addition to having your scores formally submitted by ETS, your application should include an unofficial photocopy of your score report that you received from Educational Testing Service. Applicants are cautioned against taking the GRE too late since the scores may not be available before our deadline.
Personal Statement: Please submit a printed (hard copy) statement of your career objectives and your interests in clinical psychology. Indicate why you believe psychology would be a satisfying vocation for you, and what experiences you have had that directed your interest toward clinical psychology. Indicate the areas of research activity in which you are particularly interested, and which faculty member(s) may be the best fit as a potential research advisor.
Please submit a curriculum vitae (CV) that outlines your research and clinically relevant experiences.
Applicants are welcome to submit samples of their written work with their applications.

All materials that require mailing should be sent to:

Graduate Admissions
University of Missouri-St. Louis
One University Boulevard
St. Louis, MO 63121-4499

Admission to the program requires an undergraduate G.P.A. and psychology G.P.A. of 2.75 or above. Students should have an undergraduate degree in psychology, but may apply with a minimum of 24 units of undergraduate psychology. All applicants must demonstrate completion of coursework on introductory psychology, statistics and research design. It is recommended that undergraduate preparation also include coursework in personality, social psychology, learning and motivation, history and systems, physiological psychology, and developmental psychology.

The GRE scores and grades of our incoming students, statistics on program and internship applications and admissions, and program completion rates for the previous five years are provided below.

Mean Student GRE's and Grades

Year of Incoming Class	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Verbal GRE	640	617	648	610	643
Quantitative GRE	642	670	688	690	689
Analytic GRE	680	655	--	--	--
Writing GRE		5.0	5.2	5.0	4.8
Advanced GRE	690	675	738	665	736
Undergraduate GPA	3.55	3.57	3.76	3.55	3.74
Psychology GPA	3.81	3.94	3.78	3.80	3.86

Applications and Admissions

Year	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
# Applications	120	115	106	110	115
# Offers	13	10	9	9	16
# Enrolled	5	7	6	7	6
# Funded	5	6	6	7	6

Internship Application and Placement

Year	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
# Internship Applications	5	5	4	3	11
# Matched Acceptances	5	5	4	2	7
# Matched After Matchday	0	0	0	1	1
#APA-App. Placements	5	5	4	3	8
# Funded Placements	5	5	4	3	8

Program Completion and Attrition

Year	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
# Completing Program	5	7	6	4	3
Mean Years to Complete	7.0	6.2	6.0	6.0	6.0
Student Attrition	1	0	1	1	2

The University of Missouri-St. Louis follows affirmmative action guidelines in all selection precedures and decisions. The clinical faculty is committed to increasing the diversity of the students in our program and welcomes applications from all qualified students. Students admitted in previous years have ranged in age from early twenties to early forties. In the current group of 34 students, 17.6% have a minority ethnic identity.

Students who are not accepted to the program are eligible to reapply in later years. However, it should be noted that a student is unlikely to be successful in a second application unless the student's credentials have substantially improved.

The program conforms to the Guidelines for Graduate School Offers and Acceptances adopted by the Counsel of the University Directors of Clinical Psychology.

Student Selection
Applications are due by December 15th of the year preceding admission. Students are admitted for the Fall Semester only. Due to the structure of our program, no midyear admissions are possible. All complete applications are considered by the clinical faculty; no applications are automatically rejected on the basis of cut-off scores.

The clinical faculty review all application materials and identify approximately 30 applicants to be invited to one of our two interview days. Invited applicants are not required to attend; those who cannot attend will receive phone interviews and will be fully considered..

Applicants who visit the program will have the opportunity to meet the program faculty and students at a reception and are individually interviewed by program faculty and students. First offers are extended a week after our last Interview Day. Alternates may receive offers as late as April 15th. Applicants who are not invited to Interview Day receive notification in February that they are no longer under consideration.

Applicants with Advanced Graduate Credit
Students who have a Masters Degree in psychology or some psychology graduate credits are welcome to apply to the program. Students may transfer up to 15 semester units of graduate credit toward the requirements for the Ph.D. degree. Transfer credit is granted when previous courses overlap substantially with courses in the program. A masters thesis may fulfill the requirement of the Independent Research Project. Decisions regarding transfer of credit are made during the student's first semester by the Clinical Director in consultation with relevant faculty at UM-St. Louis.

Non-matriculated, Nondegree Students

Prospective students often ask if they can be admitted to classes in the Clinical Program before being admitted to the program. Enrollment in practicum courses, clinical assessment courses, and courses in psychotherapy are restricted to program students. Students not admitted to the program may, with instructor's permission, enroll in other program courses. Before enrolling, students must obtain the status of non-matriculated, non-degree graduate student. Application for this status is made in the Graduate Admissions Office (314-516-5458).

Guidelines for Graduate School Offers and Acceptances

The Counsel of University Directors of Clinical Psychology (CUDCP) has adopted the procedures below in order to facilitate the Graduate Admission's process. These principles are designed to spell out the expectations of both parties during this stressful and often difficult time.

1. The policies listed here should be sent to all students applying to CUDCP-member graduate programs or other graduate programs that have adopted these guidelines.
a. Each Application package for admission to graduate school should be accompanied by a copy of these guidelines.
b. Whenever possible, undergraduate advisors for students seeking admission into graduate programs of clinical psychology should familiarize the students with guidelines, emphasizing the importance of adhering to the guidelines.

2. To facilitate the decision making for students, training programs should inform students as soon as possible that they have been excluded from consideration for admission.

3. A student can expect to receive offers of admission to programs over a considerable period of time. The timing of offers to students is largely determined by the University's review schedule, which is a strictly internal matter. Regardless of when the offer is made, students are not required to respond to the offer before the decision date of April 15 (or the first Monday after April 15, if April 15 falls on a weekend), except as specified in Section 6 below.

a. Offers are usually made in writing prior to April 1st. Between April 1st and the decision date, universities may choose to facilitate the process by making new offers to students over the phone when a position opens up. These verbal offers are official, but should be followed up by a written confirmation within 48 hours.
b. Offers, once made, cannot be withdrawn by the university until after the decision date and then can be withdrawn only if the student fails to respond to the offer by the decision date.

c. A program may make an offer after the April 15th decision date if it still has one or more open slots. Offers made after the decision date should clearly state how long the student has to decide on the offer. The student should be given sufficient time (at least a week) to visit a program before making a decision.

4. Offers with funding are treated like any other offer. There should be no stipulation by the University that the offer carries funding only if the student accepts by a specific date that precedes the decision date described above.

5. The Director of Clinical Training or the designated person in charge of graduate admissions should make every effort to inform students on the alternate list of their status as soon as possible.

a. The procedure of designating all students who have not been offered immediate admission as alternates is inappropriate. The University Training Program should have a procedure for identifying those students who clearly will not be offered admissions.
b. A reasonable designation of the student's position on the alternate list is encouraged (e.g., high, middle, or low on the alternate list.) If such designation is used, the operational definition of "high on the alternate list" is that, in a normal year, the student would receive an offer of admission (but not necessarily funding) prior to April 15 decision date.

c. Once the class has been filled, students on the alternate list should be informed that they are no longer under consideration for admission. Students who were designated "high on the alternate list" should be informed by phone.

6. A student should not hold more offers that they are seriously considering. Holding multiple offers ties up slots, preventing programs from making offers to other students. This is a complex principle operationalized in the points below.

a. It is legitimate for students to want to visit a program, if they have not done so already, before making decisions among top offers. Such visits should be scheduled as soon as practical after the offer of admission is received. If after a visit to a program the student decides that the program is rated lower than a program that the student has already been offered admission to, the student should inform the lower ranked program that they will be declining their offer.
b. Whenever possible, the student applicant should inform training programs by phone of a decision, following up within 24 hours with a written confirmation of that decision..

c. Once a student has accepted an offer of admission to a Graduate Training Program, the student should inform all programs in which they are currently under consideration that they are either declining outstanding offers of admission or no longer wish to be considered for admission. Students should contact by phone those programs that have offered admission or have the student high on the alternate list. These phone calls should be followed up within 24 hours by a written confirmation. For programs for which the student is on the alternate list but not high on the alternate list, a letter withdrawing their application mailed within 48 hours is sufficient notice.

7. It is the responsibility of the Director of Clinical Training or the designated person in charge of graduate admissions to keep students informed of changes in their status. Ideally, the student should be informed immediately by phone and with a follow-up letter. Offers of admission or offers of funding for students already offered admission should be made over the phone with a follow-up letter mailed within 24 hours.

8. The current policy statement of the Council of Graduate Departments of Psychology allows students to resign offers they previously accepted up to the April 15th decision date by submitting the resignation in writing. The purpose of this policy is to avoid pressure on students to accept offers before they have heard from other schools. Although withdrawing an acceptance is legitimate, it is not good form. A much better approach is to accept a position only if you intend to follow through on your commitment. Students have the right to hold offers as described above if a preferable offer is still possible.

a. As stated in 6(c), once a student has accepted an offer, the student should notify other Universities immediately that he or she has accepted another offer.
b. Except in very unusual situations (e.g., serious illness or major personal problems), a student who accepts an offer of admission is expected to start the graduate program the following fall unless other arrangements have been made with the Director of Clinical Training. Training lines are severely limited and failing to use a line once it has been offered prevents other qualified students from obtaining training.

Professional Conduct/Statement of Personal Integrity

The profession of Clinical Psychology adheres to the current ethical principles of psychologists, as stated by the American Psychological Association (July, 2003), and the legal codes regulating the profession within each state. In undergoing training to become a clinical psychologist, all trainees must also adhere to these ethical principles and legal codes. At various practicum locations during training, during application for clinical internship, and upon review for licensure and health provider panels after graduation, clinical psychologists undergo scrutiny regarding their personal background (including criminal background and child abuse checks) and issues of personal integrity. The following questions represent the types of questions asked:

Has disciplinary action, in writing, of any sort ever been taken against you by a supervisor, educational or training institution, health care institution, professional association, or licensing / certification board?
Are there any complaints currently pending against you before any of the above bodies?
Has there ever been a decision in a civil suit rendered against you relative to your professional work, or is any such action pending?
Have you ever been suspended, terminated, or asked to resign by a training program, practicum site, or employer?
Have you ever been convicted of an offense against the law (including DUI) other than a minor traffic violation?
Have you ever been convicted of a felony?
Are you listed on any registries of convicted sex offenders?

If you answered “Yes” to any of the above questions, you will likely encounter difficulties in securing clinical practicum positions during training, obtaining an approved clinical internship, or becoming a licensed psychologist. A number of the clients at our training site, the Community Psychological Service, are seen via service contracts with agencies that require criminal and child abuse background checks of service providers. At some point in the training program, a criminal and child abuse background check will likely be required in order for students to be able to engage in certain training experiences at all three of the clinics associated with our program: Community Psychological Service, Children’s Advocacy Center, and Center for Trauma Recovery. As state employees, all students employed by the university as graduate teaching and research assistants must pass a screening for history as a registered sex offender, in accordance with the Revised Statutes of Missouri.

Thus, a person who answered “Yes” to any of these questions should strongly consider whether the time and effort involved in obtaining a graduate degree in clinical psychology is in her or his best interest.