PhD in Developmental Psychology
The PhD in Developmental Psychology at Cornell University provides
graduate students with strong training in the general discipline of
developmental psychology as well as more focused training in one or
more of its sub-areas: cognitive, social-personality, biological,
infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Students acquire a
common scholarly background that enables graduates to function as part
of the community of developmental scholars, able to engage at a high
level in an intellectual dialogue with colleagues.
The PhD degree usually takes five years to complete, including
course work, teaching assistantships, and research. Aside from a small
core of courses that all PhD candidates take (e.g., multivariate
statistics), the program at Cornell is tailored to each candidate's
interests. Our graduate students and the special faculty committees who
guide them usually design a unique program of course work and research
activities. The program places heavy emphasis on research
training. Students prepare for academic careers in in departments of
psychology, sociology, or human development; government careers in
agencies concerned with research or social policy; and in a range of
community agencies or private enterprise. Training is not offered in
clinical or counseling psychology, marriage counseling, or family
therapy, nor is teacher certification offered. Students develop
an individual course of study and research plan in consultation with
their committee. Students typically take 3-4 courses per semester
(overview and advanced courses, specialized seminars, statistics,
research methods) during their first two years of study and are
expected to become actively involved in the research program of one or
more faculty members during their first year. A pre-doctoral research
project or master's thesis must be completed before the Admission to
Candidacy Examination, which must be taken by the end of the third
year. Supervised teaching experience is required of all students.
