Doctor of Philosophy in Counseling and Psychology in Education - Human Development and Educational Psychology

You will complete core program courses covering human development, learning theory, and statistics. Further, you will have the freedom to choose your electives to align with your area(s) of interest. Our small class sizes will allow you to develop one-on-one relationships with faculty while gaining experience in teaching and conducting research. Core courses are primarily hybrid in format, with some online options available. Students may also choose between online or on-campus options for their area of emphasis and elective courses.
Explore the experiences that shape human growth, the complexity of learning and motivation, and the evaluation of research and statistics. Strengthen your sense of professional identity through training founded in social responsibility, self-awareness, diversity and inclusive excellence that prepares you to be an advocate for others. Along the way, you will form close mentorship with faculty that allows you to self-direct your program and develop relevant expertise.

Official transcript(s) verifying receipt of an undergraduate degree and previous graduate credit (in English or with translation). Transcripts must be complete (e.g., if currently enrolled, work-in-progress coursework must be included, foreign transcripts must include a grading scale, and for countries that issue, copy of degree certificate/diploma i.e., India, Nepal, etc.). The USD Graduate School and/or academic units retain the right to require credential evaluations from organizations, such as Educational Credential Evaluators/World Education Services (ECE/WES), for a student if such an evaluation is deemed necessary.

Baccalaureate degree must be from an institution with institutional accreditation for that degree. A minimum undergraduate cumulative GPA of 3.0 on conferred degree is required for full admission to the master's program. Specialist and doctoral applicants must have a minimum undergraduate cumulative GPA of 3.0 on a conferred degree and/or graduate cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better, based on a 4.0 scale, on all graduate coursework for full admission. Applicants are not required to have a conferred graduate degree or graduate courses and may apply directly to the Ph.D. program with an undergraduate degree. Each graduate program may admit students on provisional status per university policy.

Applicants with degrees from countries other than the United States who have obtained a high school diploma, undergraduate, or graduate degree from an institutionally accredited American college or university or from an accredited institution in the approved list of English-speaking countries are not required to submit an approved English proficiency exam score. For all other applicants with degrees from other countries, a minimum score of 79 on the Internet-Based TOEFL (iBT), 550 on the Paper-Based TOEFL (PBT), 8.5 on the TOEFL Essentials, 6.0 on the IELTS Academic, 53 on the PTE, or 110 on Duolingo is required for graduate admission.