How do I apply to Educational Psychology?

How do I apply to Educational Psychology?

Follow the links below to step through your application to the Department of Educational Psychology. International students should make special note of additional materials you may have to submit.

For current tuition information, please go to http://www.registrar.illinois.edu/financial/tuition.html.

Admission FAQ's

 

For questions on applying to our program, please contact Myranda Lyons at mjlyons@illinois.edu or 217-244-3391.

Are you Applying to the Correct Department?

Educational Psychology is one of four departments in the College of Education at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus. The other five departments are Curriculum and Instruction, Education Policy, Organization and Leadership, and Special Education.

If Educational Psychology is the correct department for your application, you will need to specify one of the four areas of study within Educational Psychology – Child Development, Cognitive Science of Teaching and Learning (CSTL), Counseling Psychology, and Studies in Interpretive, Statistical, Measurement and Evaluative Methodologies for Education (Queries) [listed in the drop down menu as “Interpretive Statistical Measurement and Evaluative Methodologies for Education].”

Where the application asks for "Proposed Program," select "Educational Psychology."  Then under "Degree," select "Educational Psychology - PhD." Where it asks for "Field of Specialization," indicate one of the above areas of study.

Do not select "Psychology." The Department of Psychology is a completely separate campus unit.

What degrees programs do we offer?

We have three programs, an on-campus Ph.D. program and two online Ed.M. programs –Curriculum, Technology and Education Reform (CTER) and Evidence-based Decision Making (formerly known as Quantitative Literacy).

Along with other departments in the College of Education, Educational Psychology can also confer the CAS, MA, and MS degrees. However, we do not have formal terminal programs for those degrees.  MA and MS degrees are usually awarded to Ph.D. students who join our department with a bachelor's degree and then are required to get a master's degree as the first step in their doctoral program. You don't need a master's degree to apply for our Ph.D. program.  You can apply with a bachelor's degree.  Therefore, virtually all applicants to our on-campus program are Ph.D. candidates.

Who is a Ph.D. Applicant?

You don't need a master's degree to apply for our Ph.D. program.  You can apply with a bachelor's degree.  Before receiving a Ph.D. you will need to complete your master's degree, but you can do that as part of your overall doctoral program.  Therefore, virtually all applicants to our program are Ph.D. candidates.

Our Counseling Psychology, Child Development, and CSTL areas of study will only accept Ph.D. applicants.

Deadline for Application

Our Ph.D. program accepts admissions for the Fall semester.  For Fall 2012, our application deadline is December 1, 2011.

Departmental recommendations concerning admission for graduate study to begin in Fall 2012 will be communicated on or before April 15, 2012.

Enrollment periods for our on-line Ed.M. programs,  CTER and Evidence-based Decision Making (formerly known as Quantitative Literacy), are different from our doctoral program.  If you are applying to CTER, please click here  to find their deadlines and other application instructions. You’ll find instructions for applying to Quantitative Literacy here.

The Application Process

Apply online at http://www.grad.illinois.edu/admissions/apply/.

Currently there is a $70.00 nonrefundable application fee for domestic students and a $90.00 (US Dollars) fee for international students. These fees are set by the University and are subject to change. You will be asked to pay your application fee by credit card before you can submit the on-line application, unless you have indicated that you qualify for a fee waiver.

Submit Supporting Materials Online

The university application requires you to submit all supporting materials online during the application process. Materials submitted in this way are sufficient for our purposes. Please do NOT send duplicate materials to our department, either via email or as hard copy. Everything you upload in your application will be automatically pulled into our Educational Psychology application database. Do NOT send materials via email or regular mail before you submit your application. All supporting materials should be submitted as part of the online application.

Materials required by both the university and Educational Psychology

All applicants:
Curriculum Vita or Resumé
Personal Statement of Interest
Letters of reference
Transcripts

International Applicants Only:
English Proficiency scores (TOEFL or IELTS)
Financial support documentation

Information about all of the above is provided in the university application instructions.

Additional materials required for Educational Psychology applicants

Influential Readings Statement

Please provide a brief statement that specifically focuses on readings that have influenced your academic and career interests. This is a separate document from your personal statement of interest. There is no specific format or length required for this document, but most applicants choose to respond with a brief two or three page essay.

Upload your readings statement in the “department specific” area of the application.

Graduate Records Examination (http://www.gre.org/)

You must submit verbal and quantitative test scores taken within four years of date of desired enrollment. We do not require the GRE Psychology Exam. We prefer scores of 600 each for the verbal test and quantitative tests, or a combined Q+V score of 1200. Applicants with lower scores are sometimes admitted, but must show compensatory strength in other aspects of their preparation to be considered.

You will need to ask the Educational Testing Service (ETS) to electronically submit official scores to the University of Illinois database.  When ETS asks for destination codes, put 1836 for the institution.  You don't need to designate a department because scores are not sent to individual departments. All scores are placed in our centralized website for department access. If you must provide a department code, usually 00 will be sufficient.

Financial Support for Educational Psychology Students

We do not have a separate application for financial assistance. Applicants who apply by the December 1 deadline will be considered for a university fellowship nomination.   All applicants will be considered for both admission and for assistantship availability. While we cannot promise support to everyone, each year a substantial percentage of our new students receives an offer of financial assistance along with their admission offer. Virtually all of our students who want assistantships are able to find them during and after their first year of study, both within our department and elsewhere in the university. Most assistantships include a full tuition waiver for the term of employment. In addition, every semester the department awards three tuition waivers to continuing students, and there are other fellowship opportunities throughout each academic year. 

Important Information for International Applicants about Assistantships

If you do not have funds available to pay for your graduate education at this university, you can request departmental funding. If funding is available, it will usually be provided by an assistantship and tuition and fee waiver. Sometimes these assistantships will not equal the total amount of money required by the university for the first year’s expenses.  If you don’t receive enough financial aid to cover the first year’s expenses, you will need to verify that you have enough money to pay the difference. You will also need funds for travel and living expenses until you get your first paycheck.

In addition, since all international applications are due by December 1, they will also be eligible for fellowship nomination.

Most of the available assistantships will be teaching assistantships (TA), though you can be considered for other types of support.  In order to qualify for a TA position during your first semester, you must have scored 24 on the speaking section of the iBT or 8 in the speaking sub-section of the IELTS.  Without a passing score in the speaking sub-section, you will not be eligible for teaching assistantships at admission.  Also, even if you don't need a current overall TOEFL or IELTS score for admission, if your most recent exam did not include the speaking sub-section you might want to consider taking a new exam in order to have that score.

During your first semester and each semester thereafter, you will have the opportunity to take an on-campus English Proficiency Interview (EPI). If you receive a passing score of 5 or 6, or a conditional passing score (4CP), you will then be eligible for future TA positions.  The university allows a student to take the EPI up to three times. There is a $50.00 charge for each scheduled EPI.

IN GENERAL, IT IS MORE LIKELY THAT THE DEPARTMENT CAN HELP AN INTERNATIONAL APPLICANT GET AN ASSISTANTSHIP AFTER ENROLLMENT, AND MUCH LESS LIKELY THAT WE CAN PROMISE ONE AT THE TIME OF ADMISSION.

Application Processing Tips

Here are a few tips to help you with the application process:

Make sure your application fee is applied correctly.

If you do not pay your application fee with a credit card when you submit your on-line application, you will need to send a check or money order to Graduate Admissions.   If you, a friend, or a relative send the application fee separately, make sure your name, birthdate, and desired department are clearly indicated on the payment.

Our Counseling Area of Study does not train school psychologists. 

Our Counseling area of study does not have a program for training students to become school counselors or school psychologists. At this time there is no such program at this university.

Request letters of reference early.

For your online recommenders, you may send a note along with the recommendation request that is sent to your recommender.  Please ask that your recommendation be submitted at the earliest possible time. Our faculty reviewers need your transcripts and recommendations to evaluate your application.

Use your complete proper name.

Please use your complete, proper name in all of your correspondence with the Department and with the University, especially if you are an international applicant.  If you sign a letter or an email with an American nickname, or with only a first or last name, we may not be able to match it with your application file.

Keep your e-mail address and contact information current.

Email us if your e-mail address or mailing address changes during the application process.  Without an e-mail address we can only write to you via regular mail, which may cause serious delays.  Also, make the contact information changes in the "Update Profile" section of the online application.

E-mail us to check your application status.

If you wish to check whether your application file is complete, contact the department by e-mailing edpsy@illinois.edu. Do NOT contact the Graduate College. They will simply forward your email to us. Also, looking for your status online in your application will not tell you whether your application is considered complete by our department.

No separate financial aid application.

There is no separate financial aid application. Educational Psychology faculty consider financial needs as part of the applicant review process. (International students, please see Important Information for International Applicants about Assistantships.)

Limited Status

Admission on limited status may be granted to applicants with low grade point averages or low English Proficiency scores.  All conditions of limited status will be specified, including duration.  Limited status has no immediate effect on your graduate study. Courses you take while on limited status will count toward your degree requirements.

Requirements for obtaining full status vary according to the reason for limited status.

Deadlines for Acceptance of Offers for Admission and Financial Aid

In fairness to our graduate program as well as the other applicants seeking admission, you are strongly urged not to hold more than one offer of acceptance at a time. To protect a candidate against premature decision, however, we allow applicants until April 15 for a final decision.

If you, as an actual or prospective graduate student, accept an offer of financial aid (such as graduate scholarship, fellowship, traineeship or assistantship) for the next academic year, you have completed an agreement which both you and the graduate school are expected to honor. If you accept the offer before April 15, and subsequently desire to withdraw, you may submit in writing a resignation of the appointment at any time through April 15. However, an acceptance given or left in force after April 15 commits you to not accept another offer without first obtaining a written release from the institution to which a commitment has been made. This policy is based on the 1965 resolution of the Council of Graduate Schools in the United States.


Semantic Microformats for Addresses

College of Education
1310 S. 6th St.
ChampaignIL 61820, USA
(217) 333-0960
Fax(217) 333-5847
40.101432-88.230257