How To Apply

County Sherriff William Paul Ahern, PhD, addresses attendees during the January 2020 Graduation in Santa Barbara, California, where he was awarded the doctorate in Clinical Psychology

After you start your application, an account will automatically be created for you. All changes and edits you make in your account will be saved. Many students begin the application process and come back to finish. This is not a problem. Your account and application will be secured in our system.

The Clinical Psychology doctorate program begins once each year, in the fall term.

ALL required documents and materials need to be received by the deadline.

• A conferred bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited US college or university or an equivalent international degree (international degrees require a formal equivalency report by an approved U.S. evaluation agency, for more information visit: https://www.fielding.edu/how- to-apply/international-applicants/)

• A minimum undergraduate grade point average (GPA) of 3.0, or the equivalent from a college or university that does not use letter grades, or a GPA of 3.0 or higher based on at least one year full-time in a graduate program at a regionally accredited US college or university

• Coursework in psychology

Applicants for the Clinical Psychology PhD program strongly benefit from having:

• Supervised experience in a helper role; this may be as a volunteer or therapist in a counseling or clinical setting

• Course work in Research Methods and Statistics, and experience with psychological research through coursework and/or as a research assistant

Applicants for the Respecialization Certificate in Clinical Psychology must have:

• A PhD or PsyD in a non-clinical area of psychology from an accredited institution.

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In other words, your materials are safe with Fielding!

Melody Montano Clinical Psychology PhD student

Application Facts A FEW THINGS TO KNOW:

1. Your application is started and submitted online through our website at Fielding.edu/Apply

2. Recommendation letters are submitted by your recommenders through our online system. a. Three recommenders are required. b. In your online application you will see a section titled ‘Recommendations’. c. Once you enter the information of a recommender (name, email address, phone number and relationship) they will automatically receive an e-mail with instructions on how to submit a recommendation letter for you.

3. You will be able to track receipt of supplemental documents, such as recommendation letters and official transcripts, on your application homepage.

4. Please submit your online application as soon as you are ready. Do not wait for receipt of transcripts or recommendations in order to submit your online application.

5. All schools you list in your online application form will require an official transcript or, if it is from outside the U.S., it will require a U.S. equivalency report. See Section VIII for more information on this topic.

Evaluation Criteria How does the Admissions Committee evaluate your application?

• Strength of your critical thinking and scholarly writing skills • Exposure to and/or experience with psychology research • Proven potential to become a doctoral-level clinician

• Proven potential to become a doctoral-level researcher • Ability to function in a distributed learning environment • Professional goals related to being a clinical psychologist • Professional and/or academic achievements and activities • Maturity and self-knowledge • Strength of recommendation letters:

One or more recommendations should be from an academic source, (i.e. a former professor) • Time and resources to attend PDS meetings and residential sessions

The program can be completed in 5-6 years, but not in less than 5 years. The program is full-time, requiring at least 35- 40 hours per week of school-related work.

Applications are accepted for the fall term each year. The admissions process consists of two phases. The first phase is the determination of which applicants will be invited for an in-person interview with a faculty member, and the second phase is the determination of who is admitted after all interviews are completed.

Don't have a degree or major in psychology? You can still apply as long as you have taken courses in psychology, research methods and statistics.

Deadlines and Timeline for Application/Admission/Financial Aid/Enrollment for fall 2021 term. Note: There is only ONE START DATE per year.

Admission Application Deadline February 4, 2021 Financial Aid Application Deadline February 4, 2021 Notification Letters of First Round Decision sent March 2 - 18, 2021 Faculty Interviews March 21 - April 19, 2021 Official Decision Notifications Sent April 6 - April 24, 2021 Enrollment Deadline May 15, 2021 New Student Orientation: Online July 20 - August 16, 2021 New Student Orientation: Santa Barbara, CA September 9 - 13, 2021

NOTE: Applications completed after February 4, 2021 will not be considered for the applicable term. In that case, applicants will have the option to have their application moved to the fall 2022 term.

Yelina Fernandez Clinical Psychology PhD student