Plan B requires 30 course credits, of which 14 credits must be in child psychology and 6 credits in one or more related fields. The goal of the program is to train all students for careers in research and college teaching in child psychology, and to prepare students in the joint program options for careers in applied areas of child psychology. General program students may choose to specialize in an area such as cognitive neuroscience, language, memory, perception, psychobiology, or social development. Students interested in applied areas may specialize in developmental psychopathology and clinical science or school psychology. The developmental psychopathology and clinical science program is a cooperative effort between the Institute of Child Development and the Department of Psychology to train leaders in research and teaching.
Training draws on the unique strengths of each program.
Students are admitted to the Ph.D. program in child psychology through the Institute of Child Development, and to this joint training program by the agreement of program faculty in both departments. The APA-approved school psychology program is a cooperative program of the Institute of Child Development, the Department of Psychology, and the Department of Educational Psychology. Students are admitted jointly to one of the cooperating departments and to the school psychology program. Students must meet the standards and requirements of both the admitting department and the school psychology program. The Ph.D. degree usually requires four years of graduate work.