Department of Psychology College of Science Northeastern University

A Close-Knit Graduate Research Community at a High-Ranking University

Northeastern University (NEU) is a Tier 1 research university and ranks among the top 100 national universities according to "U.S. News and World Report." The university is well known for pioneering a cooperative (or "co-op") approach to education.

Northeastern University offers a unique, hands-on PhD program in psychology that prepares students for careers in research and teaching at the university level. Students admitted to the full-time program work closely with faculty mentors, assisting with research and teaching in an apprentice-like arrangement. Admission is highly selective -- the program typically accepts 5 to 8 students per year.

The Department of Psychology at Northeastern University has close ties to many top-ranking universities and research facilities. PhD students have the opportunity to work with researchers from Harvard University, Boston University, the Schepens Eye Institute, and many other institutes across the country.

A Flexible, Student-Centered PhD Program in Psychology

PhD students have a great deal of flexibility in developing their own research projects in one of the program's 4 areas of emphasis: behavioral neuroscience, language/cognition, perception, and social/personality.

Students specializing in behavioral neuroscience have the opportunity to investigate how a many factors -- from drug abuse and addiction to mother-infant bonding -- affect the brain. Personality and social psychology students focus on group and individual social behavior. Currently, faculty members in the personality and social psychology research are exploring human emotion as well as verbal and nonverbal communication.

The language and cognition group explores the study of word recognition, sentence structure, categorization, and reasoning. The perception group investigates vision and visual information processing.

In addition, several faculty members specialize in fields of research -- including animal behavior, ethics and, motivation, and learning -- that fall outside of these categories.

PhD in Psychology Curriculum and Coursework

The psychology program is unique in that it does not offer a separate master's degree program -- all students accepted into the PhD psychology program at Northeastern University earn master's degrees after completing their second year. Once the student earns a master's degree, he or she must complete 20 additional semester hours to earn a PhD in psychology.

During the first 2 years of the psychology PhD program, all students complete several required introductory courses, electives, and teaching requirements. In addition to fulfilling these requirements, each PhD student is assigned to collaborate with a faculty member from his or her field of interest. During the course of the PhD program, the student works closely with this mentor, gradually taking on more responsibility for research. This collaboration lays the groundwork for the student's dissertation.

State-of-the-Art Research Facilities

The psychology department at Northeastern University boasts cutting-edge research facilities and equipment including computer labs, eye-tracking equipment, and audio/visual editing equipment.

Students studying perception have access to highly specialized equipment, including a Wheatstone stereoscope and Maxwellian-view optical systems. Behavioral neuroscience students have the equipment needed to carry out immunohistochemical techniques and ultra-high field magnetic resonance imaging. Students interested in personality and social research have access to facilities for monitoring and analyzing group and individual behavior.

Northeastern's psychology PhD program also offers opportunities for field work and collaboration with research institutions and universities nationwide.

Northeastern's Psychology Faculty Provide a Wide Knowledge Base

The psychology department at NEU is home to a diverse group of faculty members whose areas of expertise include nonverbal communication, organizational psychology, sensation and perception, and decision making and reasoning.

Notable faculty members include Dr. Harlan Lane, who is one of the co-founders of Northeastern's American Sign Language (ASL) program and the co-author of a new book on deaf culture. Dr. Martin Block is currently studying the behavior patterns of exotic birds in Boston's Franklin Park Zoo. Department chair Dr. Joanne L. Miller specializes in research related to spoken language comprehension. Research conducted by Dr. David DeSteno and graduate student Jolie Baumann on emotion and threat detection was recently featured in "The Wall Street Journal."

Admissions and Financial Aid at Northeastern

To be considered for the program, applicants are each required to have a baccalaureate degree. Applicants are not required to have specific degrees; however, previous mathematics courses and science- or psychology-related laboratory experience are preferred.

Students interested in pursuing a PhD in psychology at Northeastern University must submit an online application, personal statement, transcript(s), letters of recommendation, and graduate record exam (GRE) scores.

In addition, applicants must each specify his or her area of interest and list his or her top 3 choices for faculty mentors in the psychology department at Northeastern. Before making a decision, faculty members from the psychology department will conduct face-to-face interviews with the top candidates.

Tuition is waived for students accepted into the graduate psychology program. In addition, all PhD students receive an annual stipend and full health insurance.

More information is available regarding graduate applications and graduate studies at Northeastern University.

A Green Campus in the Heart of the City

NEU's 73-acre main campus is located in the heart of Boston, in walking distance to some of the city's most well-known and historic attractions including the Museum of Fine Arts, Fenway Park, the Freedom Trail, and Boston Common.

Northeastern University is also a founding member of American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, an initiative dedicated to neutralizing college and university greenhouse emissions. In 2010, the Sustainable Endowments Institute awarded Northeastern University an A- for its commitment to sustainability-- the highest ranking of any university in Boston.

• Degrees Offered
• Major Degree Levels Offered
• Experimental Psychology Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
  Master of Arts (MA)

• Degrees Awarded
• Master's Degrees 5
• Doctoral Degrees 3
• First Professional Degrees Not reported
• Other Advanced Degrees Not reported
• * Shows the number of degrees awarded for the last academic year that data was reported.

• Earning Your Degree
• Part-time study available? No
• Evening/weekend programs available? No
• Distance learning programs available? No
• Terminal master's degree available? Yes

• Degree Requirements
• Master's Degrees Not reported
• Doctoral Degrees Required
• First Professional Degrees Not reported
• Other Advanced Degrees Not reported

• Acceptance Rate
• Applied107
• Accepted12
• Acceptance Rate11%
• Enrolled8
• Applying
• Application Fee - Domestic $50
• Application Fee - International $50
• Electronic applications accepted? Yes
• Applications processed on a rolling basis? Yes
• Application Deadlines
• Type Domestic International Priority Date
• Fall deadline January 1st January 1st Not Reported
• Winter deadline Not Reported Not Reported Not Reported
• Spring deadline Not Reported Not Reported Not Reported
• Entrance Requirements
• Master's DegreesGRE General Test
• Doctoral's DegreesGRE General Test
• First-Professional's DegreesNot Reported
• Other Advanced DegreesNot Reported
• International DegreesTOEFL required

• Tuition & Fees
• In-state tuition *Not Reported
• Out-of-state tuition *Not Reported
• International student tuitionNot Reported
• * Tuition for full-time graduate student per academic year
• Fees
• Per-academic year feesNot Reported
• Per-term feesNot Reported
• One-time feeNot Reported
• * Fees for full-time graduate students
• Financial Support
• Financial award applicants must submitFAFSA
• Application deadlines for financial awardsJanuary 15
• Types of financial support availableFellowships, Teaching Assistantships, Career or Field-Related Internships, Traineeships

• Gender
• Total Graduate Students28
• Female Percentage68%
• Male Percentage32%
• Participation
• Total Graduate Students28
• Part-time Percentage0%
• Full-time Percentage100%
• Ethnicity
• Hispanic / LatinoNot Reported
• Black / African AmericanNot Reported
• White / CaucasianNot Reported
• American Indian / Alaskan NativeNot Reported
• AsianNot Reported
• Native Hawaiian / Other Pacific IslanderNot Reported
• Two or more racesNot Reported
• UnknownNot Reported

• Existing Research
• Focus of faculty researchBehavioral, neuroscience language and cognition, perception, personality and social
• Externally sponsored research expenditures last yearNot Reported