Master of Arts in Psychology

The full-time program begins with enrollment in required graduate courses in the first and second summer school sessions and continues into the subsequent fall and spring academic semesters. The program is generalist in its orientation and provides advanced education that will transfer well either to a career right after graduation or to further graduate education in a variety of fields such as law, business, medical school, social work, and psychology. Specific applied training leading directly to professional licensure is not provided. Instead, the students in the MA program receive traditional and general grounding in psychology via courses chosen from our regularly offered graduate courses. The Department of Psychology, in the College of Arts and Sciences, is one of Stony Brook’s largest graduate departments. More than 800 Ph.D. degrees have been awarded since the program began more than 40 years ago. In recent years the population of students has been approximately 60 percent female, 15 percent minority, and 10 percent international students. The department is administratively organized into four program areas: Clinical Psychology, Cognitive Science, Integrative Neuroscience, and Social and Health Psychology. Students must be admitted to one of these four program areas, but they are encouraged to receive training in more than one program area if appropriate. Course offerings and research training are structured in such a way that students can meet the requirements for a Ph.D. degree in Clinical Psychology, Cognitive Science, Integrative Neuroscience, or Social and Health Psychology.