Ph.D. Applicants

See the Department of Psychology website for a detailed description of the program and application requirements.

The program is 6 years long in total:

• 5 years of research and coursework in the Department of Psychology at The Ohio State University

  • Also includes clinical training in psychological assessment, neuropsychological assessment, and psychotherapy at our internal clinic (the Psychological Services Center) starting in the summer after year 1, and other external practicum sites starting in year 3 (see 

• A 1-year pre-doctoral internship at an accredited site (typically an academic medical center)

  • Securing an internship is a competitive match process; you apply in the Fall of your 5th year, find out where you match in Spring of your 5th year, and begin in the summer of your 5th year.

See this resource from New2Neuropsychology to learn more about the typical career paths in clinical neuropsychology.

The Psychology Department only admits students for the Fall semester each year. 

• • You cannot be admitted halfway through the year (i.e., January)

  • If you are admitted, you cannot postpone your start to the program.

The program has 3 tracks:

• • Adult psychopathology

  • Adult health psychology

  • Adult neuropsychology (I supervise students in the neuropsychology track)

We do NOT offer training in clinical child psychology or pediatric neuropsychology; applicants interested in working with pediatric populations or individuals with developmental disabilities should explore the IDD program.

External Practicum Sites for the Neuropsychology Track

Doctoral students can get training experiences in clinical neuropsychology at the following external training sites:

• • OSU Department of Psychiatry - Neuropsychology Clinic

  • OSU Department of Neurology - Division of Neuropsychology

  • OSU Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation - Rehabilitation Psychology at Dodd Rehabilitation Hospital

  • Ohio Health Neuropsychology

• In the 2025-2026 application cycle, there were about 426 applicants to the clinical program; 8 applicants (1.8% of all applicants) received offers to join our program (note: only 5 of our clinical faculty were accepting students in the last cycle).

• Our lab received approximately 90 applications, about 60 of whom listed me as the primary faculty of interest. 6 applicants were invited to the virtual interview day. 2 applicants were admitted to my lab to start in fall 2026. 

• Due to the increase in the number of applications for clinical neuropsychology programs and the relatively stable number of positions offered each cycle at programs nationwide, the degree of competitiveness has increased dramatically over the past decade. 10 years ago, it was not very common for applicants to have their name on a published manuscript or a manuscript under review. Today, that's the level that applicants need to reach to stand out among their peers.

• It has become common for applicants to take 2, 3, or 4 years after undergraduate studies to get the research experience they need to be truly competitive for a position in a clinical psychology doctoral program (it took me 3 years after my undergraduate studies).  I do not recommend applying during your senior year of undergraduate studies; and for most applicants, applying in the fall after you graduate is not enough time to get the desired level of research experience (see Characteristics of Competitive Applicants section below)

• Taking more time to get experience is not just for stuffing your CV; a key benefit of taking more time is that it can provide an opportunity to solidify and narrow your research interests before committing to an 8-year journey towards a career in clinical neuropsychology (5 years of a PhD program, a 1-year clinical internship, and 2 years of postdoctoral training before your first real job).

Comparison to medical school:

• There were 8,731 applicants to the Ohio State University College of Medicine in the 2025-2026 cycle, and 393 applicants (4.5%) were offered admission. From a purely statistical perspective, getting an offer to our PhD program in clinical psychology (1.8%) is more difficult than getting into medical school.

• However, the truth is that these programs are difficult to get into for different reasons: 

  • In medical school, you are trained by a wide variety of medical faculty across the entire school of medicine. In medical school applications, although you are competing against a much larger pool of applicants, you only have to demonstrate that you have what it takes to be a physician in general (grades in pre-med classes, MCAT scores, research and volunteer experiences); you do not need to specialize too much until you are preparing to apply for residency.  

  • In clinical psychology, you are primarily applying to work in one lab under one advisor's supervision. When applying to clinical psychology programs, you have to demonstrate that you have what it takes to become a clinical psychologist AND demonstrate that your particular skillset and research interests are an excellent fit (not an ok fit, not a good fit) for that particular advisor's lab; you have to specialize early.  Therefore, in comparison to medical school applicants, it often takes applicants to clinical psychology programs more time to gather the specific research experiences needed to demonstrate that they would be an excellent fit for a particular program.

Here is a list of 5 characteristics that I will be looking for when reviewing applications. If you only meet 4/5 criteria, you may still be competitive if those 4 areas of your application are strong. If you meet fewer than 4/5 of the criteria, I recommend that you focus on getting those qualifications before applying. 

If you are trying to decide whether you are ready to apply this cycle or wait another cycle so that you can get the required qualifications to make you competitive, I recommend waiting to get the qualifications rather than applying in multiple cycles and making small additions to your CV each year. Taking your time will give you more opportunities to narrow your research interests, build your network, and make an informed choice about where you want to do your graduate training.

1. Academic excellence 

a) GRE General Test: 159+ verbal, 155+ quantitative, 4.5+ analytical writing

These are estimates to aim for, not strict cut-offs. The percentile ranks have changed over the past 10 years, but most competitive applicants will have strong performances on the verbal reasoning and analytical writing sections, and average or above-average performance on the quantitative section. See "GRE Resources" below for more information.

b) Grades: A or A- grades in psychology, neuroscience, and research methods/statistics courses

This can include grades from your undergraduate degree as well as post-undergraduate / terminal master's degree.

c) GPA: Overall undergraduate GPA = 3.80+

• To be clear, I don't believe that a person's undergraduate GPA is the most important metric to determine their potential as a future neuropsychologist. There are many students with undergraduate GPAs below 3.80 who already have and soon will succeed in our field.  However, this undergraduate GPA expectation is primarily driven by how funding for graduate students works at Ohio State; read below for a detailed explanation.

  • • After interviews have been completed for all of the graduate programs in the Department of Psychology, the department sends a select group of applicants' files to the university as part of an internal competition to get funding for your 5 years of grad school. One of the most heavily weighted aspects of the competition is an applicant's undergraduate GPA. Applicants with undergraduate GPAs of 3.80 and above have historically been successful in obtaining funding from the university; students with lower GPAs have had more difficulty. 

    • If your undergraduate GPA is between 3.70-3.79 and the other areas of your application are stellar (e.g., you have one or more first-author manuscripts published or accepted for publication), you may still be competitive. If your undergraduate GPA is between 3.50 and 3.69, you will have more difficulty getting an interview for our program. If your undergraduate GPA is less than 3.50, I do not recommend submitting an application to our program. 

    • In applying for funding from the university, only your undergraduate GPA counts towards your application; unfortunately, post-undergraduate or terminal master’s GPAs do not influence your application for funding. Therefore, even if you have a GPA from a terminal master's degree that is much higher than your undergraduate GPA, that will not influence your competitiveness for funding at Ohio State. 

    • Please note that this is the process for Ohio State specifically, and is not the case at many of the institutions you may apply to. Getting a terminal master's degree to raise your GPA and get more research experience may be very helpful for your application to other PhD programs (I did a terminal master's degree and it greatly helped my applications).

2. Experience with Academic Writing

1 or more full-length manuscripts (a paper or thesis) as a co-author OR first-author on your CV*

(Published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, or under review at a scientific journal, or posted online as a preprint, or a master's thesis / undergraduate thesis that is available online with your institution).

*I acknowledge that it's quite a high bar to expect applicants to have written a scientific paper prior to starting graduate school. But here are two important points: 

1. The application process has become much more competitive over the past decade, and having at least one paper as a co-author or first-author is the level that the most competitive applicants reach. I want to be honest about the quality of the applications that we receive and give applicants the right target to aim for that will help their applications at Ohio State and other competitive PhD programs, whether in this application cycle or the next.

2. The Ohio State University clinical psychology doctoral program follows a clinical science model of training; the program is primarily designed to develop scientists who will pursue careers doing research that is relevant to clinical psychology (at universities or academic medical centers). Therefore, the program is best suited for students who have had a good amount of research experience prior to starting the program and want to develop more skills in that area. This program is not well-suited for individuals who want to do clinical work exclusively and no research at all (e.g., working in private practice full-time). To be clear, there is absolutely nothing wrong with pursuing a primarily clinical career, but this program is not the best fit for students who want to take that career path.

For this criterion, the most important thing we want to know is that you have experience with complex academic writing in psychology, neuroscience, or a related field that has resulted in at least one finished project. Your competitiveness is influenced by (i) authorship level, (ii) the status of the manuscript, and (iii) the topic of the manuscript:

1. • Authorship level: Being a first author is weighed more heavily than being a co-author; however, we also acknowledge that co-authorships are more likely at the undergraduate or post-undergraduate level. If you are a co-author,  be clear about how you contributed to the project. If possible, you can ask your letter of recommendation writers to highlight what your role was.

   • Manuscript status: Published manuscripts are ranked highest; manuscripts posted as preprints are also ranked highly; manuscripts under review at a scientific journal also help your application. Manuscripts in preparation do not count.

   • Manuscript topic: How well does the topic fit with our lab's research? The closer it relates to our lab's research (clinical neuropsychology, cognitive aging, Alzheimer's disease and Alzheimer's disease-related disorders (AD/ADRD), social determinants of health, health disparities, community engagement), the better.

3. Excellent oral communication skills with scientific and lay audiences

a) 2 or more scientific presentations as a first-author on your CV

For this criterion, the most important thing is that we want to know that you have experience talking through the background information, methods, results, and conclusions of a research project; the more times you done it, the better. Many of the major milestones in our program involve giving research presentations (e.g., your first-year presentation, master's thesis defense, dissertation proposal, dissertation defense).  Therefore, having strong oral communication skills is an important characteristic that you will continue to develop during your time in graduate school. 

For this criterion, your competitiveness is influenced by (i) authorship level, (ii) presentation type, (iii) the type of conference, and (iv) the presentation topic.

• • Authorship level: Being a first author usually indicates that you played a leading role on the project (under the supervision of the last author) and is weighed more heavily than being a co-author.  If you are a co-author,  be clear about how you contributed to the project. If possible, you can ask your letter of recommendation writers to highlight what your role was.

  • Presentation type: An oral presentation at a scientific conference (sometimes called a paper presentation or an invited presentation) is weighed more heavily than a poster presentation. Getting invited to give an oral presentation is a competitive process and not the norm for most applicants. For most applicants, it's much more feasible to get an abstract accepted for a poster presentation at a scientific conference.

  • Conference type: Presenting research at a national/international conference (e.g., International Neuropsychological Society) is weighed more heavily than presenting research at a regional conference (e.g., Midwestern Psychological Association), or a local conference (undergraduate student poster day at your university). Presentations that were done as a requirement for an undergraduate or graduate-level class or as a part of a lab meeting do not count. 

  • Presentation topic: How well does the topic fit with our lab's research? The closer it relates to our lab's research (clinical neuropsychology, cognitive aging, Alzheimer's disease and Alzheimer's disease-related disorders (AD/ADRD), social determinants of health, health disparities, community engagement), the better.

If you are invited to our interview day, I will ask you to give a very brief (5-10 min) presentation on a research project that you played a lead role in.

b) Experience with community engagement and presenting to lay audiences:

• Graduate students in our lab are also heavily involved in community engagement activities, such as giving brain health presentations and organizing cognitive screenings at community health fairs. Therefore, I am particularly interested in students who display strong oral communication skills when presenting research to scientific audiences AND lay audiences. 

• In your application (CV or personal statement), make sure to highlight any experiences with community-engaged research or volunteering in any capacity that could translate well with our community engagement efforts (tabling at health fairs, building relationships with community organizations, working with faith communities). 

• For example, one good way to develop oral communication skills with lay audiences is to become a community educator with your local chapter of the Alzheimer's Association. 

4. Technical skills that fit our lab

Technical skills that will make you a competitive applicant are listed below, in order of importance.

Make sure to list the following technical skills on your CV, with your degree of proficiency (beginner, intermediate, advanced). 

a) Experience with word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software (required):

• We use Microsoft Office (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) and Google software (Google Docs, Sheets, Slides) on a weekly basis.

• If you are selected for an interview, I will likely ask your references for insight about your abilities organizing information in spreadsheets (Excel, Google Sheets).

    b) Experience with statistical analysis software (required):

• SPSS (required); it is unlikely that you will get an interview without any experience with SPSS.

• R / RStudio (optional); you will take two courses on R in your first year in the program.

The following skills are optional, but can help your application if you have experience with them:

c) Experience with data management software (optional)

• REDCap (optional): we use REDCap for all of our projects. Highlight if you have experience creating surveys, using equations, or managing participant data in REDCap. 

• Qualtrics: We do not currently use it, but it is helpful to know if you have used it in the past.

d) Experience administering neuropsychological tests (optional):

• We currently use the NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery for multiple research projects.

• We plan to use TabCAT and the NACC UDS 4.0 test battery for upcoming projects.

• Please do list any experience you have with other neuropsychological tests on your CV.

e) Experience with neuroimaging (optional):

• We plan to incorporate structural neuroimaging (MRI) into our future work, and you will also have the opportunity to take a class on functional neuroimaging (fMRI) during the program. But in comparison to the other skills listed above, having previous neuroimaging experience is a far lower priority.

5. Strong leadership skills and other personal characteristics

This criterion will primarily be assessed using your letters of recommendation and interviews.

a) Experience leading a small team or supervising others

• Doctoral students in my lab help supervise undergraduate students who are getting research experience in preparation for graduate school or medical school. Prior experience supervising undergraduate students or leading other kinds of teams in other aspects of your life will be very beneficial.

b) Excellent organization  skills and attention to detail

Other important considerations:

Research Interests:

• Importantly, it's not just about the number of research products; we are also evaluating how well your research experiences align with our lab's current research. This will primarily be evaluated using your personal statement. 

• I supervise doctoral students in the neuropsychology specialty of our program, so I am specifically interested in applicants who plan to pursue a career in clinical neuropsychology. However, our lab's research shares a strong overlap with topics in health psychology and behavioral medicine.

• If most of your research experience is in a different research area, use your personal statement to describe how your previous research experiences have shaped your interests and why you specifically want to work in our lab.

Starting with the 2026-2027 application cycle, the Ohio State University clinical psychology doctoral program will require the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) as part of your application.

• The code for The Ohio State University Department of Psychology: 1592

• You are required to submit scores for the GRE General Test, NOT the GRE Psychology Subject Test.

• The GRE is not required for all of the doctoral-level programs in the Department of Psychology; it is only required for the PhD programs in clinical psychogy, developmental psychology, and quantitative psychology.

• Plan to test no later than six weeks prior to the application deadline (the first week of October) to allow official test scores to arrive in time. 

• Scores are valid for five years after your test date. 

Advice for GRE preparation:

• I strongly recommend using the online modules from Magoosh for GRE preparation. I used Magoosh way back when I was applying to doctoral programs, and I found it to be the best way to learn the GRE test content and learn effective test-taking strategies.

• Given that most applicants are in school or working during the application season, I recommend that you give yourself at least 8 weeks (2 months) to prepare for the exam. Take 2 hours, 3-4 times per week, for about 8 weeks to learn the test content (vocabulary words and mathematical concepts) and complete practice questions on Magoosh. 

• In addition, make sure to take at least 3 full-length practice tests to get used to the test format and the stamina required on test day.

• If you are not in school or working during your study period, you may be able to obtain a high score with a shorter study period. However, we know that distributing your studying is usually better than cramming a lot of information in the days before the exam.

1) Learn as much as you can about the different areas of study in neuropsychology

• Read Becoming a Neuropsychologist by John Bellone, PhD, ABPP-CN, and Ryan Van Patten, PhD, ABPP-CN. Seriously, make reading this book your first step. I wish this book was available when I was applying to doctoral programs. It contains a wealth of essential knowledge for getting into graduate school.

• Listen to their podcast, Navigating Neuropsychology

• Watch lectures from the YouTube channel KnowNeuropsychology

2) Attend a neuropsychology conference*

*I acknowledge that it's quite a high bar and quite expensive to expect applicants to have attended a neuropsychology conference prior to starting graduate school. However, some of the key benefits include: 

(a) Learning our field's "language" (the common terminology we use, the research questions we pursue, the populations we study, the research methods we use, and the future directions of the field)

(b) Networking: meeting faculty whose labs you may want to apply to, as well as meeting other trainees and applicants. 

(c) Presenting to a scientific audience

Ideally, aim to submit an abstract to present at one of the conferences listed below. If that opportunity is not available to you, I recommend going to at least one neuropsychology conference before you apply, even if it's only to learn the language of our field and network.

In North America,  there are four main national/international neuropsychology conferences:

• The Annual North American Meeting of the International Neuropsychological Society (INS) (typically in February)

• American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology (AACN) Annual Conference (typically in June)

• Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association (APA), Division 40 section (typically in August)

• National Academy of Neuropsychology (typically in October)

For our lab, other relevant conferences include:

• Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC) 

• Annual Scientific Meeting of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA)

• Clinical Trials on Alzheimer's Disease (CTAD)

• Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association or the EPI|Lifestyle Scientific Sessions

• Annual Meeting of the Society for Behavioral Medicine

• Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Scientists (ABCRMS)

Other conference tips:

• Make sure to check the submission deadlines for abstracts; the deadline is usually several months before the conference itself.  Some conferences also have a late-breaking deadline, specifically if you want to do a poster presentation.

• Look for funding opportunities for trainees to attend conferences.

3) Find a mentor who is a psychologist, clinical psychologist, or preferably a clinical neuropsychologist

Find someone who can evaluate your strengths and weaknesses, review your application materials, and help you practice for interviews. The following organizations often offer mentorship programs or other resources

• New2Neuropsychology (N2N)

• The Society for Clinical Neuropsychology (SCN; APA Division 40)

• American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology (AACN)

• Society for Black Neuropsychology (SBN)

• Hispanic Neuropsychological Society (HNS)

• Asian Neuropsychological Association (ANA) 

3) Gain more research experience relevant to clinical neuropsychology

In order of competitiveness, some of the best options for getting relevant experience include:

a) Working as a research assistant/research technician/lab manager in a research lab

b) Obtaining a terminal master's degree conducting research in a field related to neuropsychology

c) Working as a psychometrist in a neuropsychology clinic (if they also provide research opportunities)

The most competitive applicants tend to have 2-4 years doing one or two of the above activities. However, the actual number and quality of the research products that are produced from the experience is more important than just the number of years spent in a position.

5) Identify individuals who can write you stronger letters of recommendation:

• Importantly, don't ask for just any letter of recommendation; ask if they can write you a strong letter of recommendation. If they decline, ask if they can provide you with any actionable feedback.

• It can help if the letter of recommendation comes from a neuropsychologist or someone who is connected to the program you are applying to in some way (which is another reason why networking at conferences can be very helpful). However, make it your top priority to get letter writers who will write you the strongest letters possible, rather than selecting letter writers just because of their perceived connections.

Connecting via email:

• Feel free to send me an email with your CV expressing your interest prior to the application deadline. Although it is not required, it's useful for me to know who is planning to apply to my lab ahead of time. 

• Please make sure to review the program website and the Characteristics of Competitive Applicants section prior to emailing me; many of your questions may be answered by reviewing that information in detail.

• Due to the high volume of these emails I receive, I may not respond to your email; instead, I will direct you to this page and will add more information to this page so that it can help all applicants. 

• I also will not be offering individualized feedback prior to the application deadlines.

Meeting virtually:

• Due to the sheer volume of interested applicants, and to keep the interview selection process as fair as possible for all applicants, I do not plan to schedule any virtual meetings with potential applicants prior to the application deadline.

• However, I am happy to meet in person at conferences (see below).

Meeting at upcoming conferences:

Below is a list of conferences that I plan to attend over the next year. Feel free to contact me via email (grant.866@osu.edu) if you are attending or presenting research at any of the following conferences:

• Black Men's Brain Health Conference, February 2027 in Los Angeles, CA, USA (details to be announced)

• North American Meeting of the International Neuropsychological Society (INS), February 10-13, 2027, in Boston, MA, USA (abstract submission deadline: August 18, 2026)

• Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC), July 18-21, 2027, in Chicago, IL (abstract submission deadline: January 2027)

• North American Meeting of the International Neuropsychological Society (INS), February 2-5, 2028, in Chicago, IL, USA (abstract submission deadline: August 2027)

Applying to doctoral programs in clinical neuropsychology

• New2Neuropsychology

Applying to doctoral programs in clinical psychology

• Mitch Prinstein's Guide to Applying to Graduate Schools in Clinical Psychology 

• The Portable Mentor

• Before You Apply to Graduate Programs in Psychology: Knowing When You’re Ready and Gaining Post-Baccalaureate Experiences 

• Council of University Directors of Clinical Psychology (CUDCP) - Application Tips