In addition to the general admission requirements of the VCU Graduate School, there are minimum acceptable standards for admission into the doctoral clinical program.

• Read about the minimum standards for the concentration in behavioral medicine.
• Read about the minimum standards for the concentration in child/adolescent.

It is recommended that applicants complete 18 hours of psychology which should include courses in:

• General Psychology
• Abnormal Psychology
• Experimental Psychology
• Statistics

100 percent of our students receive tuition waiver and assistantship or fellowship for at least the first four years of training.

B.A. or B.S. = 80 percent 
Master’s = 20 percent

Women = 85 percent 
Ethnic minorities = 29 percent

96.2 percent

Ordinarily students take their internship during their fifth year in the program. Students may apply for internship at any time after (a) having completed all requirements for the master’s degree, (b) having been approved for continuation in the doctoral program, (c) having passed the doctoral prelim examination, (d) having successfully completed all practicum training and (e) having successfully defended their dissertation proposal.

All students are expected to complete an APA-approved internship. Students may apply to a non-APA-approved internship only under highly unusual circumstances. Official approval must be obtained, in writing, from the clinical director before accepting a non-APA-approved internship.

Virtually all VCU clinical students have been successful in eventually obtaining their high-choice APA-approved internships. Some students in recent years needed to apply a second year to get these preferred internships. It is the rule for our students on internship to receive outstanding performance evaluations, and this has contributed to our program's excellent reputation. Internship sites where some of our clinical students have been trained in recent years include:

• Yale Child Study Center, New Haven, Conn.
• Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center, Richmond, Va.
• UVA School of Medicine, Charlottesville, Va.
• VA Medical Center, Gainesville, Fla.
• University of Florida Medical School, Gainesville, Fla.
• CPC Behavioral Health Care, Red Bank, N.J.
• University of Illinois at Chicago Department of Psychiatry, Chicago, Ill.
• VA Medical Center, West Haven, Conn.
• Washington, DC Commission on Mental Health Services, Washington, D.C.
• Yale University Medical School, New Haven, Conn.
• Virginia Treatment Center for Children, Richmond, Va.
• Eastern Virginia Medical School , Norfolk, Va.
• University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Columbia, S.C.
• San Francisco VA Medical Center, San Francisco, Calif.
• Miami School of Medicine, Miami, Fla.
• Malcolm Grow Medical Center, AS Air Force, Andrews AFB, Md.
• Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, Colo.
• UNC School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, N.C.
• VA Medical Center, Salem, Va.
• Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, Va.
• New Orleans VA Medical Center, New Orleans, La.
• Children's Hospital/Judge Baker Children's Center, Boston, Mass.
• Medical College of South Carolina, Charleston, S.C.
• Temple University Hospital, Philadelphia, Pa.
• Rush Presbyterian Hospital, Chicago, Ill.
• Monash Medical Centre, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
• Brown University Clinical Psychology Training Consortium, Providence, R.I.
• Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD 
• Virginia Beach Public Schools, Programs for Exceptional Children, Virginia Beach, Va.
• Denver Children's Hospital, Denver, Colo.
• University of New Mexico Children's Hospital, Albuquerque, N.M.
• Vanderbilt VAMC, Nashville, Tenn.
• University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Md.
• Atlanta VAMC, Decatur, Ga.
• Medical College of Georgia and VAMC Psychology Consortium, Augusta, Ga.
• Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Salem, Va.
• Virginia Treatment Center for Children, Richmond, Va.
• Miami VA Primary Care/Behavioral Medicine Program, Miami, Fla.
• Brown Consortium-Pediatric Child Track, Providence, R.I.
• MCP Hahnemann Philadelphia, Pa.
• Columbus Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio
• Spring Grove Hospital Center, Catonsville, Md.
• VCU/Medical College of Virginia, Richmond, Va.

6.33 years for students graduating in the last five years

• Anxiety Clinic
• Community-based clinic serving adults/children/families (Center for Psychological Services and Development)
• Assessment Clinic
• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Clinic
• Primary Care Psychology Clinic, including pediatric primary care
• Child and adult anxiety
• Substance abuse
• Pain management
• Child pediatrics

Yes. We recommend that you review this fact sheet [PDF*] and review books available to help guide you in the process including:

1. Getting In: A Step-by-Step Plan for Gaining Admission to Graduate School in Psychology, The American Psychological Association - 800-374-2721, www.apa.org

2. Insider's Guide to Graduate Programs in Clinical and Counseling Psychology, Tracy Mayne, John Norcross, and Michael Sayette, Guilford Press - 800-365-7006, www.guilford.com

As a member of the Council of University Directors of Clinical Training (CUDCP), the Clinical Psychology program at VCU adheres to CUDCP’s policies and guidelines for graduate school admissions, offers and acceptance. For additional information about these policies, please visit this page.

More information about clinical psychology and application tips also can be found at clinicalpsychgradschool.org, offered by CUDCP.

* Please contact the program assistant at clin-psy@vcu.edu if you have difficulty accessing this PDF.