FAQs for Prospective Graduate Students

Programs we offer - The department of psychology at George Mason University offers 10 graduate degree programs, 1 Bachelor's/Accelerated Master's program, and 3 graduate certificates. Find a list and additional information about these programs on our All Graduate Programs website. If you are searching for a LPC (Licensed Professional Counselor) program or certificate, please visit the College of Education and Human Development for information about their programs and requirements. We do not offer a PsyD or terminal MA in the clinical psychology concentration. 

Faculty/Research - The graduate programs are distinguished by an emphasis on faculty-mentored basic research and the application of research to solving practical problems in families, schools, industry, government, and health care settings. For our programs, it is particularly important that you identify your research and professional interests early and thoroughly review the current research interests of the faculty. If your research and professional goals do not match up well with a particular program, it is unlikely that you would be a good match for their program, and ultimately you would probably become dissatisfied with your experience. It is all about the fit between your interests and that of the program/faculty, and this has to be clearly indicated in your Goals Statement. It is often good to contact 1-2 faculty members of interest to you ahead of time to see if they are accepting new students in the year for which you are applying.

Applied Developmental Psychology: https://adp.gmu.edu/people/tenure_line_faculty
Clinical: https://clinical.gmu.edu/people/tenure_line_faculty
Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience: https://cbn.gmu.edu/people/tenure_line_faculty
Human Factors: https://humanfactors.gmu.edu/people/tenure_line_faculty
Industrial and Organizational Psychology: https://io.gmu.edu/people/tenure_line_faculty

All MA and PhD degree programs are fall start only. Applications for the following fall open each year on September 15th. Certificate programs offer Fall and Spring start options and the MPS program accepts applications on a rolling basis. Each program has their own deadlines. Find more information about deadlines farther down the FAQ page under Application Process. 

• Doctoral students are offered full funding packages with stipend at the time of admission. Funding packages for doctoral students in addition to the stipend include a full waiver of tuition, eligibility for University paid health insurance and access to conference travel funding. These packages are awarded for the first 4 years of a student’s doctoral program upon the contingency that the student fulfills the terms of the financial offer and continues Satisfactory Academic Progress within their program. Doctoral funding packages are offered to US and International applicants.
• Master's students generally do not receive guaranteed funding at the time of admission and most pay for their cost of attendance out of pocket. While there may be some program specific funding opportunities available, they are few and competitive. There isn't a separate application for program specific funding opportunities. 
• Other opportunities for funding - Admitted MA and MPS students looking for funding opportunities, as well as PhD students looking for additional funding, should utilize the information on our Funding Resources website. 

Please review the GMU Cost of Attendance page for detailed information on tuition, fees, estimated living expenses, etc. 

International Applicants - Requirements for international graduate applicants are set by the University, not the department.  A full list of requirements for international applicants is available via the Admissions Webpage. 

International Transcript Guidelines 
English Language Proficiency, including information on waivers. 
STEM CIP Designation - Currently, the only program offered in our department with the STEM designation is the graduate certificate in Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience. 
The department does not receive applications until all requirements are complete. Applicants should be diligent in checking their email, including Spam or Junk folders, for communication from our University Office of Admission. 

All doctoral programs require full-time, in-person commitments. The same is true for most MA programs, however, some concentrations may allow part-time enrollment on a case-by-case basis. Doctoral, MA and certificate courses are primarily taught in person, M-F during regular business hours, although there are times a course is offered in the evening. While on occasion some courses for these programs may be taught online, the program requirements cannot be completed entirely in an online format, with the exception of the MPS program.

 Courses required for the PhD, MA and certificate programs are primarily taught in person at the GMU Fairfax campus, M-F during regular business hours, although there are times a course is offered in the evening. While on occasion some courses for these programs may be taught online, the program requirements cannot be completed entirely in an online format, with the exception of the MPS program. 

MPS Master of Professional Studies in Applied Industrial and Organizational Psychology - This program is offered through our department and Mason Online. Prospective applicants should visit their website for specific information and requirements and reach out to online2@s.masononline.gmu.edu for any questions. 

Most doctoral students finish their program in 4-5 years. Most students will finish their required course work in three years, take comprehensive exams and advance to candidacy in early year 4. The PhD in the clinical psychology concentration is typically 6 years. Clinical students will complete required coursework in 4 years, complete an optional externship in year 5 and a required internship in the 6th year. Learn more about their program structure here. The University requires that doctoral students complete their degree requirements within 9 years. 

MA programs in our department are typically completed in 2 years because our students are expected to be full time. Programs that do not require a thesis can possibly be completed in 1.5 years. In order to meet this timeline, students are expected to follow the first year course requirements/recommendations set by your program. Those that delay a first year course to second year typically do not graduate in 2 years. The University requires that master's students complete their degree requirements within 6 years. 

Generally, the department does not reserve one-on-one appointments for prospective students unless an applicant is offered admission to their program. The answers to the majority of the questions we receive can be answered via our online resources including this page, program pages, and the how to apply page. However, if you have chosen a specific concentration, reach out to the director and/or faculty you wish to work with for information about a possible visit or graduate student referral. Some programs may be able to schedule a meeting if given enough advance notice.  

General Campus Tours can be scheduled here. 

 There are many online resources about different areas of psychology and tips for being a competitive applicant. APA-Applying to Graduate School

The primary consideration in selecting a graduate program is that it offers coursework and research related to your area of interest. For example, if you are interested in counseling psychology, the psychology department is not the place for you as we do not offer a graduate program in counseling psychology. This program is offered through George Mason School of Education. Most programs have detailed webpages that prospective applicants will be expected to review thoroughly. Cold-calling programs for information that is accessible via the web does not reflect well on you as a potential applicant. Graduate programs encourage prospective applicants to ask questions, but expect that the prospect has also done their homework. As trivial as it may sound, it is important that you realize that once you have made the decision to pursue an advanced degree, the first day of your career has begun and first impressions are important.

Once you know that a university offers the program in which you are interested, you should consider other factors. You should consider, for example, basic facts such as whether they offer the specific degree (master's or doctoral) that you seek, whether your scores (GPA, GRE if required) are in the ballpark of those students they accept, location, and cost. However, there are other issues you should also consider:

Do you work full-time and need a degree program that accommodates your schedule? While some graduate programs offer evening/weekend classes or even distance learning options, others follow a more traditional route with daytime lectures, labs and study groups.

Is an internship with hands-on-experience the key to your success? If so, ensure that the program has such a program.

Do you dread the idea of writing a formal thesis? If so, perhaps a doctoral program is not for you.

You should research the websites of the schools you are interested in attending. Find out as much information about the department, the graduate program, the faculty, and research going on, as you can.

It is particularly important that you identify your research and professional interests early and thoroughly review the current research interests of the faculty. If your research and professional goals do not match up well with a particular school/program, it is unlikely that you would be a good match for their program, and ultimately you would probably become dissatisfied with your experience. It is all about the fit between your interests and that of the program/faculty, and this has to be clearly indicated in your goals statement. Research the faculty in the graduate program. It is often good to contact 1-2 faculty members of interest to you ahead of time to see if they are accepting new students in the year for which you are applying.

 DEFINITELY! We encourage all interested students to apply. We take the entire application into consideration and look at ALL the applicant’s experience, strengths, and weaknesses.

Overall, students accepted into one of our graduate degree programs have an average GPA of over 3.5. Happy reminder that this is an average, so we do accept students with GPA's lower than a 3.5. 

Most of our programs do not require the GRE. For IO PhD, the average incoming student has a Quantitative score of 156 and Verbal score of 155. 

Although there are exceptions, the master’s degree is generally targeted at individuals who want to work in a specified field within psychology, but who are not interested in research. Our master’s programs provide students with a “tool kit” that they can take with them to a job. All of them, however, are grounded in research and theory. 

If you are unsure of your commitment to research, we encourage you to consider the master’s program where there are opportunities to perform research and find out if that is something you want to pursue further.

You should also know that there are differences between graduate programs, both in academic goals and practical philosophies. In deciding on which schools to apply to, you should spend a significant amount of time thinking about your own goals and directions, and use that knowledge to weigh differing graduate programs before you decide where to apply. If at all possible, make an appointment to speak with your undergraduate faculty advisor and/or professors to seek out their assistance and guidance.

Please note: The clinical psychology MA concentration is not a terminal degree. Students who have been admitted to the doctoral program with a concentration in clinical psychology may apply to receive the MA in psychology on completion of 30 credits of coursework. Students must also be in good standing in the program, as determined by the director of clinical training. Applicants cannot apply directly to the clinical psychology concentration for the Master of Arts degree. This degree is only available for admitted doctoral students in clinical psychology. 

Click here to view the application process for Mason psychology graduate students. Applications for Fall 2026 open on September 15th, 2025. Go here for a direct link to the application portal. 

Our application requirements and deadlines vary by program. Our MA and PhD programs are Fall start only (apps open every year on September 15th). The MPS program accepts applications on a rolling basis. Our graduate certificates offer Fall and Spring deadlines. See specific deadlines below. Click on the program links for program specific application requirements including course pre-requisites, GRE, letters of recommendation, goals statement, etc. 

Applied Developmental Psychology PhD: December 1st (will accept applications through 1/15)

Applied Developmental Psychology MA: January 15th (will accept late applications)

Clinical Psychology PhD: December 1st (does not accept late applications)

Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience PhD: February 1st (will accept applications through 2/15)

Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience MA: February 1st (will accept applications through 05/15)

Human Factors and Applied Cognition PhD - January 15th (will accept applications through 4/1)

Human Factors and Applied Cognition MA - February 1st (will accept applications through 5/15)

Industrial and Organizational Psychology PhD - December 1st (will accept applications through 3/15)

Industrial and Organizational Psychology MA - February 1st (will accept late applications)

Industrial and Organizational Psychology MPS - Rolling Deadlines 

Graduate Certificates - March 15th-July 1st for Fall start; November 1st-December 1st for Spring start

**We do not offer a PsyD or terminal MA in the clinical psychology concentration. 

Applicants to GMU graduate programs pay a non-refundable $75 application fee. 

The department has a very limited amount of fee waivers available compared to the number of applications we receive. Fee waivers are given out at the discretion of the program/concentration. If you would like to be considered for a fee waiver, YOU MUST FIRST BEGIN AN APPLICATION, and then you may reach out to psycgrad@gmu.edu and include the specific program(MA or PhD AND concentration) you are applying to. Any fee waivers requests that are sent before the application opens (September 15th), does not include specific program information or the applicant has not started an application, will be automatically denied at the time of the request is received. Applicants can send a new request once they have met the aforementioned criteria. Please note that due to the number of requests we receive for fee waivers, you may not receive a response unless you are considered for a fee waiver. 

Information about University level application fee waivers can be found here. 

International Applicants - Requirements for international graduate applicants are set by the University, not the department.  A full list of requirements for international applicants is available via the Admissions Webpage. 

International Transcript Guidelines 
English Language Proficiency, including information on waivers. 
STEM CIP Designation - Currently, the only program offered in our department with the STEM designation is the graduate certificate in Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience.  
The department does not receive applications until all requirements are complete. Applicants should be diligent in checking their email, including Spam or Junk folders, for communication from our University Office of Admission.

Once you pay the application fee and submit your application, your materials will first be reviewed by personnel in the GMU Office of Admissions. Once reviewed, if all application materials are acceptable and accounted for, your application will be sent to the program for review (Ready for Review). This process can take up to 5 business days so we ask that applicants allow for that time to lapse before reaching out with questions about missing materials. If there is an issue with your application materials or there is missing documentation, your application will remain incomplete and you will not receive a program review or admission decision until your application is complete and moved to review status. Five business days after you have submitted your application, please log in to your application portal to review the status of your application and any missing materials. Check your email regularly, including junk and spam folders, for communication from GMU Office of Admission regarding any follow-up that is required.  

You are unable to update your application once it has been submitted. For doctoral applicants who have significant updates to their CV after submission (Ex: publication, etc), please reach out directly to the faculty members you listed on your application. 

First, allow about 5 business days for the GMU Office of Admission to review your submitted application. Items such as GRE scores (if optional or required) must be linked with your application and will not appear until your application has been reviewed. After the five days, log in to your application portal and review your dashboard. You will be able to see the current status of your application and any missing materials. You are also able to resend an email to your letters of recommendation contacts from your dashboard. 

After reading this information, if your issue still cannot be resolved or you are have additional questions, please feel welcome to email psycgrad@gmu.edu. This email account is reviewed 1-2 times per day. 

Letters of Recommendation - We have tested the letter of recommendation email with several different email accounts and it works automatically. As soon as you add this contact information in your application, your letter writer will immediately receive an email. If a letter writer claims they have not received an email, first check the email address in your application portal and update if incorrect. If correct, ask your letter writer to look in junk or spam folders. If they are unable to receive external emails at that address, ask them for an alternative email and update that information in your application portal. Letters are automatically linked directly to your application once submitted. 

Remember that Letters should be written from those who are able to describe your strengths in relation to the program you are applying for. No one is obligated to write a letter for you (including previous instructors) and agreeing to do so is at their discretion. 

Give your letter writers plenty of advance notice and it is your job to inform them of the application deadline. Four weeks in advance of the application deadline is ideal, with reminders at the two week mark and one week mark if you are still waiting for their letter. Applications with missing letters will not be reviewed by the program. 

If you have an additional letter of recommendation that you would like the program to consider, the best route is to contact your program directly. Doctoral students should have their extra letter writers send an email directly to their top faculty choices. MA students are encouraged to do the same, but you can also have them email psycgrad@gmu.edu. Letters received directly from the applicant will not be considered. 

Missing exam scores (GRE, TOEFL, etc) - All required exams and materials should be completed well before the application deadline to ensure a complete application. Many/all external requirements such as exam scores or third-party evaluations must be linked to your application and are not automatic updates. If you see your application is missing a GRE (or other exam) immediately after you submit your application, please allow 5 business days for the GMU Office of Admissions to review and complete these items if they have been sent to the University. GMU's institution code is 5827. The department and Office of Admissions will not accept self reported scores. 

Additional Documentation - There will be times that a document uploaded to the application is insufficient for one of many possible reasons. If that is the case, the GMU Office of Admissions will send you a follow-up email indicating what is needed and how to submit clarification. Please follow the instructions carefully to ensure your additional documents are submitted. The most common issue is that applicants forget to complete the final step in the instructions. 

• Issues with Unofficial Transcript documents - If you receive an email stating that your unofficial transcript does not have sufficient information such as school name, etc, your best course of action is to go to your school's portal or website for transcript requests, order yourself a digital copy of your official transcript and use that copy to upload to your application portal following the instructions sent to you. This is still technically an unofficial transcript because it came from you, but is an exact copy of your official transcript and will contain all sufficient information. 
• Degree/Graduation verification - If your unofficial transcript does not list your degree information (Degree type and date of degree conferral) and/or you have not indicated when you anticipate completing an in progress degree program, our Office of Admissions will request possibly an in progress unofficial transcript with future enrolled courses and/or a Expected Graduation Date verification. All US institutions have a process for reporting an expected graduation date. Most use the National Student Clearinghouse, but you must report your expected date of graduation. Reach out to your home institutions registrar's office for assistance with this if needed. 

Most doctoral programs will have a 2-4 week grace period where they will accept applications past the deadline. For most programs, email psycgrad@gmu.edu if you want to inquire about submitting a doctoral application past their posted deadlines. Clinical Psychology will not accept applications after their deadline. 

Applications for the MA Programs received after the deadline may be considered on a space-available basis. 

Each program will reach out to those applicants they are considering offering admission to their program. Being selected for an interview or related event does not guarantee the applicant will be offered admission. All efforts are made to make contact with those applicants who are selected for interviews or open houses. Applicants should check the email they listed on their application for direct communication from the program. Interview/open house invitations are not indicated on the application status in the application portal. 

Not all programs conduct formal interviews or open house events. It is still important to check your email for any communication from your preferred faculty member or program. 

Not necessarily. Some of our programs do not have formal interviews or open house events. Doctoral applicants should maintain contact with their preferred faculty mentor for possible updates after the decision timeline (below) has lapsed. Applications to the MA programs are many times considered on a space available basis, so timeline to decision can be extended. Whether you applied to a master's or doctoral program, until you receive a formal decision on your application in the portal, your application is still under review. 

Official decisions will be updated in the application portal. Each program has their own review process and timeline to decision. Every program we offer includes the timeline for initial decisions within their application information under Application Deadlines and Decision Timelines. See list of links for each program below. It is important to note that initial decisions is not synonymous with all decisions. Most programs will make numerous rounds of decisions as applicants make their decisions to accept or decline their offer of admission. When one doctoral applicant declines an offer, the next offer will go out to another applicant. These decisions can take time and are completely dependent upon the applicants who received initial offers. Doctoral applicants are allowed to wait to make a final decision on an admission offer until April 15th, so the decision timeline can last at least that long, even if your application deadline was in December. 

For each program, click on the link below and scroll down to "Application Deadlines and Decision Timelines: to review information about initial decisions. 

PhD Programs:

Applied Developmental Psychology

Clinical Psychology

Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience 

Human Factors and Applied Cognition 

Industrial and Organizational Psychology

Master's Programs:

Applied Developmental Psychology

We do not offer a terminal master's in the clinical psychology concentration

Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience 

Human Factors and Applied Cognition

Industrial and Organizational Psychology - MA

Industrial and Organizational Psychology - MPS

For most programs, you can reach out to your preferred faculty mentor for feedback or the program director of the concentration to which you applied. 

Clinical psychology receives about 300 applications each year and only accepts 4-6 students. With a 2% acceptance rate, we unfortunately deny several well qualified applicants every year. For a competitive program, you may need to refer back to the goals of the program and research areas and consider how you might update your CV for the following application cycle. 

https://clinical.gmu.edu/prospective 

https://io.gmu.edu/prospective-students/i-o-ma-faq