Graduate School Application Process

The following information and instructions have been written to assist the student in completing the application materials. Although all five psychology programs offer M.S. and Ph.D. degrees, only those applicants who definitely wish to pursue the Ph.D. will be accepted. The application deadlines for each specialization are: 

December 15th - Counseling Psychology

January 1st - Industrial Organizational Psychology

January 15th - Applied Social Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, and Perceptual and Brain Sciences (Formerly Behavioral Neuroscience)

Beginning January 2006 - Paper applications will not be available. All applicants must use the online application processes.

The application can be completed online by clicking here.  

Supporting Documentation

Please use an envelope large enough to send as many of the following supporting documents together as possible.  DO NOT fold them separately.  Applications are processed in the order in which they are received. 

ALL supporting documents are to be mailed to:

Graduate Admissions
Department of Psychology
1876 Campus Delivery
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO 80523-1876

INSTITUTIONS ATTENDED AND TRANSCRIPTS:  List all undergraduate and graduate institutions attended.  Use additional sheet if necessary.  TWO official transcripts are required from all colleges or universities attended, including Colorado State University.  Please indicate the average GPA for the last 60 semester or 90 quarter credit hours.  Do not count pass/fail courses.  Where possible, have the institutions furnish official transcripts in sealed envelopes to enclose with the other supporting documents.  IMPORTANT NOTE:  If the last name on the transcript is different than the current last name, e.g., due to marriage, please notify the department so the records can be matched to the file.

REFERENCES:    Ask the three persons listed on the application form to write letters of recommendation concerning your abilities and potential for graduate study.  All applicants should have letters written on letterhead by professors or other professionals with whom you have worked recently or who know you well.  All letters should clearly refer to BOTH your FIRST AND LAST names.  Where possible, references should be given directly to you in a sealed letterhead envelope with their signatures across the sealed flap so that you may enclose them with your other materials. We do not have a form for reference letters.

GRE:  All applicants to graduate degree programs at Colorado State University must submit official scores from the general test portion of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE).

PSYCHOLOGY SUBJECT TEST:  GRE scores are required for all programs, and Subject Test Score is only required by the Industrial/Organizational Psychology program.

Due to the late offering by ETS of the advanced subject GRE test in Psychology, the IO program is waiving the requirement for subject scores for Fall 2008 applicants only.

As soon as you receive your score from the ETS, you are required to send a PHOTOCOPY to the Psychology Department. Be sure the photocopy shows your name and address and scores from all previous test dates.  The highest possible scores for each test are used, even if taken on different test dates.

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE:  If you wish to be considered for a fellowship, traineeship, research assistantship, or teaching assistantship, please complete GS Form 4B and return it to the Psychology Department.  If you wish to be considered for a residence hall assistantship, a separate application is necessary. You may get a GS Form 4B here. This is a pdf document.

Specific Material for each Program is as follows:

APPLIED SOCIAL APPLICANTS:  Submit:  (1) a resumé or vita indicating your education, training, and work experience; (2) a statement of your research interests which highlight areas of research that you would like to pursue during your graduate training, specific faculty members with whom you would like to work, and your previous or current research experience. (3) a sample of your scientific writing ability such as a senior honors thesis, term paper from a psychology course, laboratory report from an experimental course, or some similar material.

COGNITIVE APPLICANTS: Submit: (1) A vita or resume which lists your educational background, relevant work experience and training, research experience, and any publications or presentations for which you appear as an author; (2) A statement of interest that describes how you became interested in cognitive psychology, your training goals in our program, and why you are pursuing a career in cognitive psychology. Because we follow a mentorship model, you are encouraged to be as explicit as possible in indicating your research interests and the faculty member or members with whom you wish to be affiliated; (3) Optionally, a sample of your scientific writing, such as a senior honor's thesis, a term paper from a psychology course, a laboratory report from an experimental course, or some similar material.

COUNSELING APPLICANTS:  Submit:  (1) a resumé or vita indicating your education, training, and work experience; (2) a personal statement, no longer than two or three typewritten pages.  Write a biographical sketch highlighting your interest in psychology and your previous or current involvement in research, or applied psychology work.  The Selection Committee is concerned with how your interest in counseling psychology developed, what you want from a graduate program, and an assessment of your personal strengths and weaknesses; (3) the Counseling Academic Information Form, and (4) the Counseling Psychology Interest Survey form. For your ease of use, both the Academic Information Form, and The Interest Survey Form are available in Word format so you may save the file to your computer to complete them.

The Academic Information Form - In Microsoft Word

The Interest Survey Form - In Microsoft Word

INDUSTRIAL/ORGANIZATIONAL APPLICANTS:  Submit:  (1) a resumé or vita indicating your education, training, and work experience; (2) a statement of how you became interested in I/O psychology, what you want to gain from our graduate program, and why you are interested in pursuing a career in I/O psychology; (3) a sample of your scientific writing ability such as a senior honors thesis, term paper from a psychology course, laboratory report from an experimental course, or some similar material.

PERCEPTUAL AND BRAIN SCIENCE APPLICANTS (formerly - BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE):  Submit:  (1) A vita or resume which lists your educational background, relevant work experience or training, research experience, and any publications or presentations for which you appear as an author and (2) a statement of interest which describes how you became interested in perceptual and brain science, your training goals in our program, and why you are pursuing a career in perceptual and brain science.  You are also encouraged to be as specific as possible in describing your research interests and to indicate the faculty member or members with whom you wish to affiliate.

Our graduate application coordinator will be happy to answer any questions you may have. Joanne Moran can be contacted at: Joanne.Moran@colostate.edu