Admissions information for the Clinical Psychology @ John Jay College/CUNY Program

See below for a list of available faculty mentors, important updates, admissions tips, and other information for the 2024–2025 application cycle. This information is current as of 9/27/24.

The information on this page is designed to support potential applicants when applying to our program. It is not intended to replace any official program and admissions information provided by the CUNY Graduate Center, and potential applicants are encouraged to review both pages before applying.

Admissions Model

The Clinical Psychology @ John Jay College/CUNY program follows a mentor-match model of admissions.* Each application will be reviewed by the faculty mentor(s) indicated by the applicant, who will then make decisions about offers for interview and admission. Additional program faculty will also be involved in application reviews and interviews to help inform the admissions process. Available faculty mentors for the 2024-2025 admissions cycle are listed below.

What does this mean to you? Your application should clearly indicate the faculty mentor(s) with whom you would like to work, which can be done under the section titled ‘Doctoral Faculty’ (or similar) in the application portal. This is the only way to ensure your application is reviewed by the appropriate faculty mentor. Additionally, you should clearly demonstrate your fit with both your selected faculty mentor(s) and the overall program throughout your application.

*Please note that this is an important update from prior admissions cycles when the program used an open model of admissions. Applicants re-applying to our program will want to update their application materials accordingly.

Things to consider before contacting potential faculty mentor(s)

We receive numerous applications each year. Although reaching out to potential mentors is not mandatory and will not impact the chances of admission, we understand applicants will have questions. To ensure that your question is answered, here are some tips. First, before contacting potential faculty mentors, carefully review their faculty profile on the John Jay College and CUNY Graduate Center pages and their recent publications, as most answers can be found during this review. Second, you can also review any social media accounts, as many faculty share information on these platforms. Lastly, if you have a question after your review, you are welcome to reach out via email. Please make sure to craft a specific question.

Demonstrating fit in your application

Our goal is to identify and support applicants who are a strong fit with our faculty mentors and overall program. Individual faculty mentors will each have their own sense of how to evaluate applicants based on their training to date, current interests, and fit with current and future projects. Additionally, we have identified several areas that we believe are important for success within our program that will guide the evaluation of your application. As such, you might therefore consider the areas of fit and preferred qualifications below when making decisions about whether to apply and when developing your application to our program.

Key areas of fit & preferred qualifications

• Fit with program model: Applicants are expected to demonstrate an accurate and informed understanding of both scientist and practitioner elements of our training model, passion for clinical psychological research, informed research and clinical interests that are a fit with our program and field, and a sense of readiness and timeliness in furthering their research and clinical training.
   
• Fit with program focus: Applicants are expected to demonstrate a clear and informed interest in forensic psychology, social justice, or ideally both.
   
• Research experience: Applicants are expected to demonstrate meaningful research experience that supports an informed interest in clinical practice, clinical research, or both. These will include at least some moderate-to-advanced experience (e.g., project management, coding, interviewing with measures that require training, authoring or co-authoring a national conference presentation, working on a manuscript for publication), and preferably some more substantive experience (e.g., project leadership, advanced statistics, active and meaningful role on peer-reviewed manuscripts, national presentations, grant proposals).
   
• Clinical or human service experience: Applicants are expected to demonstrate meaningful clinical or human services work experience that supports an informed interest in clinical practice, clinical research, or both (direct client contact not necessary but preferred).
   
• Commitment to diversity, equity, & inclusion: Applicants are expected to address multiple aspects of diversity, equity, inclusion, and related considerations in an integrated and sophisticated manner throughout their application.
   
• Letters of recommendation: All letters are positive, tailored, and written by relevant people who know the applicant well.
   
• Quality of writing: Writing is clear, organized, detailed, and compelling.
   
• GPA: All relevant GPAs are at least 3.4 or higher, with at least B+ in all Research Methods and Stats courses.

What does this mean to you? In your application, you should seek to clearly demonstrate your fit with our program in the areas described above, as well as any other areas that you believe are relevant. We are particularly looking for you to demonstrate your fit by how you speak about yourself and your prior experiences, and how these factors have informed your interest in pursuing doctoral-level training in our program—rather than simply stating you fit these areas.

Importantly, these are NOT meant to imply that anyone who may not meet these criteria should not consider applying. We value your experiences and the journey that has led you to consider our program, even if they do not fit perfectly into the areas discussed above. If there are any areas where your experiences don’t align with the areas described above, we encourage you to acknowledge this in your application, provide additional information to contextualize why this might be, and demonstrate why you believe you are a strong fit in this context.