How to Apply
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Note that only faculty who are members of the graduate faculty and who have room for new students in their laboratories will accept new graduate students for the upcoming admission year.听It is advised that prospectives contact directly the faculty in whose research they are interested to learn more about whether they may be admitting new students.A completed application for admission includes the following:
- Completed 听
- Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores may be required or optional depending on the听 program's core area(s) the applicant is applying听to.听 Specifically, GRE scores are required for applicants to the Clinical Science, Developmental Science, Quantitative Methods and Cognition in Context divisions (GRE scores must be less than five years old. Institution code is 1871. Department code is 2016). GRE scores are optional for applicants to the Neuroscience division. For the Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience (CCN) division, GRE scores are only required if the applicant is applying to work with a faculty member whose primary appointment is in the Department of Psychology and Human Development in the Peabody College of Education; for CCN applicants applying to work with faculty in the Department of Psychology in the College of Arts and Sciences, the GRE is optional.
*Note that only the Department of Psychology (A&S) are admitting students in Fall 2026. The Department of Psychology and Human Development (Peabody) are not admitting students for Fall 2026.听
- GRE Subject Test scores are not required, but students who have taken a Subject Test should report their scores
- Application fee (waived only in circumstances of extreme need)
- Unofficial transcripts showing coursework and degree conferral (Only admitted applicants will be instructed to submit official and final transcripts as a condition of enrollment at Vanderbilt).
- Three (3) letters of recommendation: Recent graduates should have at least two letters of recommendation from college or university faculty with whom they have studied.
- Statement of Purpose / Research Statement that describes past research experience, interests for future research training in graduate school, and future plans following graduate school.
- TOEFL, IELTS, or Duolingo English Test scores are required if you are an international applicant unless English is your first language or you have completed a degree at an American University (see )
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