About The Masters Program

Psychology

Bucknell’s Master’s program in psychology is a full-time, two-year program in general-experimental psychology that leads to the M.S. degree.  Our program is small and selective, as we accept 2-3 students per year.  Many students who graduate from our program continue on to a Ph.D.  In recent years, graduates have enrolled in doctoral programs in many areas of psychology--clinical, cognitive, human development, neuroscience, social, behavioral medicine, and others. 

Each semester, students take two courses, conduct research with their advisor, and serve as a Teaching Assistant, typically in our Introductory or Statistics course.  Students choose their courses in consultation with their advisor, and students can select some courses in departments other than psychology.  These TA experiences, in different courses with different professors, provide students with valuable breadth in their training.  During their second year, students complete a thesis based on original empirical work.  Our program has a “research apprentice” model in which students work closely with their advisors (and sometimes other faculty) on research projects.  The ideal student will be serious about research and will be able to work independently as well as collaboratively with faculty and other students.  Many of our students present their work at professional conferences and publish papers in academic journals.

Our master’s students typically receive a full tuition remission plus a stipend for serving as a TA.   For the 2008-2009 academic year, the stipend is $8800.

We seek out applicants who are committed to conducting high-quality empirical research and who wish to be active, contributing members of a department community.  Because of our program’s emphasis on research, we closely consider applicants’ previous research experience and academic work and look for research interests that match those of someone on our faculty.  Applicants must describe in their personal statement their interests and how they might match with those of specific faculty members.  Potential applicants may contact those faculty whose interests seem to offer a good match.  With questions about the program, contact the coordinator of the master’s program, Prof. Bill Flack (570-577-1131), wflack@bucknell.edu).  The departmental secretary is Ms. Kay Ocker (ocker@bucknell.edu, 570-577-1200).  

Applicants apply directly to the Bucknell Graduate Studies Office and should contact the Graduate Studies Office to download application materials and learn about admissions requirements.

To learn about our graduate students’ research interests and their impressive scholarly productivity, visit the links for recent graduates and current graduate students.