NYU Psychology Masters Program

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Overview

The MA Program offers a unique opportunity for study in one of the most prestigious departments of psychology, with a distinguished faculty of more than 35 full-time professors plus a large adjunct faculty. The MA Program is structured as a terminal degree open to qualified students with diverse backgrounds who wish to develop or improve their academic and work qualifications in psychology. Many of these students ultimately gain acceptance in a variety of doctoral programs across the country and during their stay with us benefit from an in-depth advisement process. Please visit our research opportunities page.

Requirements for Admission

Students must have a baccalaureate degree and have a 3.0 (or B) grade point average. To ensure a minimal background in psychology, all applicants must have completed an undergraduate introductory psychology course, and an undergraduate behavioral statistics course with a grade of B or better in each. Depending on the specific background of the individual and his/her career goals, additional undergraduate level work may be required before acceptance into the MA Program is granted.

All applicants must submit official scores from the General Aptitude Test of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). Please note that we do not use absolute minimum scores ("cutoffs") on the GRE to make admissions decisions.  Our decisions are based on a composite of criteria applied to all of the credentials presented in your application. However, to help applicants assess their standing on the GRE with respect to our usual applicant pool, we offer the following guidelines.  

General Psychology: Historically, to be competitive, applicants must have obtained a score of at least 530 in the Verbal Reasoning section, which translates roughly to a score of 155 in the new scoring system, and at least 600 in Quantitative Reasoning (or 148 on the new scoring system).  Average scores of students already in the General MA program tend to be about 580 verbal and 650 quantitative.  

I/O Psychology: The I/O program tends to be somewhat more selective than the General program, given that it is widely sought after by a broad pool of esteemed applicants, and that demand far outweighs the capacity of this program.  On the Verbal Reasoning section, promising applicants have tended to score at least 580 (or 158 in the new scoring system), and for Quantitative Reasoning, applicants have tended to score at least 630 (150 in the new GRE scoring system). Average scores of students already in the I/O MA program tend to be about 620 verbal and 680 quantitative. 

Both programs: Competitive applicants have generally scored 4.5 or above on the Analytical Writing section (this section does not have a new scoring scale).  The standards for the verbal GRE are relaxed somewhat for international students whose first language is not English, but these applicants must also submit official scores on the TOEFL -- Test of English as a Foreign Language. To have a good chance of acceptance, applicants who must take the TOEFL should obtain a total score of at least 100, with none of the sub-scores below 22. The GRE Psychology subject test is not required of any applicant for admission.

Applicants must submit letters of recommendation from three people. Preferably, the letters should come from former professors at college, but, for applicants who have been out of school for some time, letters from supervisors are acceptable. Letters should not be from family friends or counselors, or from religious or political figures, unless the recommender has been in a position to personally supervise the applicant's academic or work performance. Beginning with applications for Summer or Fall 2011, all applicants to the I/O program will be required to submit a writing sample that conforms to guidelines. Please visit the Writing Sample Requirement For Application section for more information.

The MA Program may be completed on a full or part-time basis, providing that all work is completed within a five-year period. Students may begin the MA program in either the Fall or Spring semesters, or during one of the Summer sessions. An undergraduate major in psychology is not required, but students must have completed at least an introductory psychology course before applying. Most MA courses begin at 6:20 PM, and some begin at 4:20 PM. The MA Program has recently instituted an MA Scholars designation for students with superior academic credentials who may enroll in certain doctoral-level courses with permission of the relevant instructor.

Two separate degrees are available from our MA Program:

1. MA in General Psychology: This program has the flexibility to suit students who wish to explore several areas of psychology, as well as students who wish to shape their coursework to fit special interests and needs, including preparation for admission to a doctoral program. Several specializations are available within the General Program, but students are not required to specialize. The most common Specializations are Forensic Psychology, Social and Consumer Psychology, Biopsychology, Cognition and Perception, Developmental Psychology, and Psychopathology.

2. MA in Industrial/Organizational Psychology: This program is designed to prepare graduates to apply research and principles of human behavior to a variety of organizational settings, such as human resources departments, and management consulting firms. The program can also be modified for students who are preparing for admission to doctoral programs in Industrial/Organizational and related fields.

Application Materials

Admissions information and application materials are available at: http://gsas.nyu.edu/page/grad.admissions.html. At that web address you will find the application resource center, and the online application.  Applications for admission can also be downloaded in electronic format for Non-degree students.

Application Deadlines

Applications for the General MA Program should be submitted by May 1st for Fall admission, October 15 for Spring admission, and March 15 for Summer admission. Applications for the I/O MA Program should be submitted by February 1 for Fall or Summer admission, and October 1 for Spring admission.

Financial Aid

The Department of Psychology does not offer fellowship or assistantship support to students in our Masters programs. There are, however, other ways of financing your graduate education. For more information, please visit the GSAS listing of alternative funding sources.

Nondegree Status

If applicants wish to apply for the General MA program, but have not taken the GRE, it is possible to be considered for nondegree status (check "

Non Degree" at the top of the application form and submit all other requested material). The most common reasons for applying as a nondegree student are: 1) the student is visiting from another graduate program; 2) the student wants to take a course or two before investing time in studying for the GRE. There is no advantage to nondegree status if you qualify for matriculated status. Unfortunately, due to the high demand for our I/O program at this time, we cannot permit nondegree students to register for any of our I/O courses with the possible exception of Intro to I/O, if space permits.Nondegree students must have completed an undergraduate introductory psychology course and an undergraduate statistics for the behavioral sciences course with a grade of B or better and have an undergraduate GPA of at least a B (3.0). At least one letter of recommendation, and a statement of purpose must be submitted with the completed application. If GRE's are not submitted, the other material submitted must demonstrate strong academic skills. With nondegree status, a student may take a maximum of 12 points of MA-level courses before applying for a change of status into the MA program. Nondegree students who wish to petition for admission to the MA program must satisfy any condition set by the department, including taking the General but not the Psychology subject test of the GRE. Once the student has attained matriculated status, he or she will receive credit for all psychology graduate courses completed as a nondegree student.

After the MA

The majority of the students in the GENERAL MA Program share a motivation to improve their work status within the mental health field or wish to prepare for doctoral-level degrees, either the PhD or PsyD. The mental health field is growing and includes job opportunities in health delivery in hospitals, clinics, and community social services, as well as research possibilities within a variety of applied agencies. The MA in Industrial/Organizational Psychology opens up careers in a vast array of companies that hire psychologists with an academic background in employee relations, personnel administration, and the technical skills involved in testing, job analysis, research, etc. Most of our Industrial/Organizational graduates find employment as human resources generalists (with organizations such as law firms, hotels, and publishers) or human resources specialists for large corporations (such as banks, investment houses, and accounting firms). About a third of our I/O graduates find positions with management consulting firms (e.g., the Hay Group, Andersen Consulting, Personnel Decisions).

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