Prospective Graduate Students

The University of Oregon offers Doctoral and Individualized Master’s Programs in Psychology. Prospective students should review the Department of Psychology website for more information about these programs, including how to apply.

Frequently Asked Questions

Please note that all responses in this document reflect my views and not those of the University of Oregon or other faculty in the Psychology department.

Why did you make this document?

The graduate school admissions process is an uneven playing field. Applicants without access to strong mentors or professional connections may have less access to the information provided in this document. By sharing this FAQ document, I hope to help “level the playing field” by ensuring that this information is available to all prospective students applying to our lab.

Many thanks to Dr. Jessica Schleider (Northwestern University) for her FAQ template.

Will you be accepting a new student?

I will be seeking a new Clinical Psychology doctoral student for Fall 2025 matriculation. I am hoping to work with a student with previous experience and interests in community mental health, cultural adaptation of youth mental health treatments, and/or implementation science. Students from backgrounds that are underrepresented in academia are highly encouraged to apply.

As of December 19, 2024, I have extended invitations to our program’s virtual interview day on January 10, 2025 to our lab’s top candidates. Upon receiving an admissions offer, prospective students will be invited to visit the University of Oregon on February 28-March 2, 2025.

How do I know if I am a “good fit” for the ADDRESS Mental Health Lab?

When reviewing prospective students’ applications, I am most interested in the fit between (1) students interests, experiences, and goals, and (2) our lab’s mission, current research projects, and my own capabilities as a mentor.

Specifically, applicants with the following interests may be good fits with our lab:

  • Cultural adaptation of youth mental health treatments

  • Implementation of evidence-based treatments in community mental health settings

  • Direct-to-consumer marketing of evidence-based mental health treatments

I am especially interested in recruiting applicants with experience in some or all of the following areas (however, none is required of applicants):

  • Working on community-engaged research

  • Studying social determinants of health, mental health services, implementation science, and/or library and information science

  • Translating materials from English to Spanish

  • Managing and analyzing quantitative and qualitative data

  • Contributing to scientific presentations and publications

As a mentor, I feel best-prepared to support students who are interested in careers that involve mental health services research. This includes but is not limited to academic careers (e.g., tenure-track positions in a psychology department), clinical-research careers (e.g., positions in an academic medical center), and careers in mental health services administration and policy.

What are your lab’s current research projects?

We have a series of ongoing and planned projects focused on understanding whether/when and how to culturally adapt evidence-based treatments. Graduate students who collaborate on these projects can expect to gain knowledge about ethnic-racial mental health disparities and cultural competence, experience collecting and analyzing qualitative data, and skills characterizing techniques for incorporating culture into psychotherapy. The following publications and webinar are good representations of our approach to this work:

  • Park, A. L., Rith-Najarian, L. R., Saifan, D., Gellatly, R., Huey, S. J., & Chorpita, B. F. (2023). Strategies for incorporating culture into psychosocial interventions for youth of color. Evidence-Based Practice in Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 8(2), 181-193.

  • Huey Jr, S. J., Park, A. L., Galán, C. A., & Wang, C. X. (2023). Culturally responsive cognitive behavioral therapy for ethnically diverse populations. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 19(1), 51-78.

  • SSCAP-sponsored webinar on culturally adapting psychotherapy for ethnic-racial minoritized youth

We also actively collaborate with the Baker Center for Children and Families on projects investigating evidence-based treatment adherence and adaptation, measurement-based care, and implementation supports including training and consultation. Graduate students who collaborate on these projects can expect to gain knowledge about implementation science and practice, experience maintaining a community-academic partnership, and skills in program evaluation. The following publications are good representations of our approach to this work:

  • Bartuska, A. D.*, Eaton, E. L.*, Akinrimisi, P., Kim, R., Cheron, D. M., & Park, A. L. (2024). Provider adherence to modular cognitive behavioral therapy for children and adolescents. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 1-13.

  • Park, A. L., Chorpita, B. F., Regan, J., Weisz, J. R., & Research Network on Youth Mental Health. (2015). Integrity of evidence-based practice: Are providers modifying practice content or practice sequencing?. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 42, 186-196.

  • Higa-McMillan, C. K., Park, A. L., Daleiden, E. L., Becker, K. D., Bernstein, A., & Chorpita, B. F. (2024). Getting more out of clinical documentation: Can clinical dashboards yield clinically useful information?. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 51(2), 268-285.

Additionally, we have an ongoing project focused on improving public awareness of signs and symptoms of mental illness and effective treatments through the dissemination of online mental health resources. Graduate students who collaborate on this project can expect to gain knowledge about dissemination science, experience testing various dissemination strategies, and skills collecting quantitative and qualitative data and generating mixed insights. The following publications are good representations of our approach to this work:

  • Herman, A. M.*, Park, A. L., Lee, C., Paul, H., Choplin, E. G., Deitcher, L., Ghuman, S., Hartsock, J., & Youngstrom, E. A. (2023). Advancing the actionability of mental health information: Identifying online, evidence-based mental health resources. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 50(5), 773-780.

  • Herman, A. M.*, Velez, C. V.*, & Park, A. L. (2024). Disseminating online mental health resources: An application of the knowledge-to-action model. Translational Issues in Psychological Science, 10(2), 100–110.

  • Schickler, R., Park, A. L., Benfica, D., Rodriguez, A., Eaton, E.*, & Bunge, E. (2023). Disseminating online parenting resources through community‐academic partnerships. Journal of Community Psychology, 51(7), 2686-2696.

*indicates ADDRESS Mental Health graduate student author

What expectations do you have for students?

Detailed information about doctoral student expectations can be found in our lab manual.

What is your mentorship style?

I strive to provide my graduate students with supportive and individualized scientific, academic, and professional mentorship that is aligned with their values and goals. I meet with graduate students regularly to check in about graduate program requirements, ongoing research projects, and any other collaboratively nominated topics. I aim to provide graduate students with opportunities that will move them closer to their short- and long-term goals, including fostering community partnerships, conducting quantitative and qualitative data analysis, and contributing to scientific presentations and publications. I provide graduate students with regular oral and written feedback and ask that they provide candid feedback on my mentoring in return.

Should I email you to express my interest in applying to your lab?

Prospective students are welcome to email me with any specific questions that are not addressed on our website. That said, your decision to email me (or not) will have no impact on your odds of receiving an interview invitation or an offer of admission. I also have difficulty keeping up with my inbox and prioritize reading and responding to emails from current lab members and collaborators. If it takes me more than one week to respond, please feel free to send me a follow-up email and know that it has nothing to do with you or your potential and everything to do with the high volume of emails that come through my inbox. Please note that I am unlikely to respond to emails introducing yourself without a specific question or request, as well as emails asking for information that is included on this webpage or the University of Oregon Department of Psychology website. Because my graduate students and I cannot equitably accommodate the number of requests for meetings with potential applicants, we do not offer to meet with applicants outside our program’s formal interview process.

I am an international student. Will this remove me from consideration?

All applications will be reviewed regardless of residency or citizenship. However, it is important to be aware of the University’s English Language Proficiency Requirement. Specifically, international students must demonstrate proficiency in speaking English to be eligible for teaching-related graduate employment.

How do you evaluate graduate applications?

Our lab receives a large number of applications each graduate admissions cycle. During our last graduate admissions cycle, more than 200 bright and talented scholars applied to work in the ADDRESS Mental Health lab. Given how competitive Clinical Psychology PhD admissions have become, the unfortunate reality is that our lab must review applications to high standards - so high that I would not have received an interview to my own lab if I submitted my graduate application today. Our lab reviews all graduate applications that list me as their top choice advisor. Given the large number of applications that our lab receives, we rarely review applications that list me as their second, third, or fourth choice advisor.

We review graduate applications based on the relative importance that we place on each part of the application, starting with the most important. First, we review your diversity statement for (1) your knowledge of, experience with, and interest in dimensions of diversity and addressing challenges faced by individuals from minoritized and marginalized groups; (2) your current and past efforts promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice; and (3) your plans for promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice in graduate school and beyond - such as becoming involved in the Committee for Inclusive Community or other campus initiatives. Your understanding of dimensions of diversity can result from personal experiences or investment in learning about the experiences of those with identities different from your own. Second, we review your statement of purpose for your research experience and interest in community mental health, cultural adaptation of youth mental health treatments, and/or implementation science. Third, we review your CV for your knowledge and experience with the scientific process from developing a hypothesis to running an experiment to disseminating results. We are particularly interested in applicants with at least one first-authored conference presentation or co-authored manuscript under review. Lastly, we review your remaining application materials. We are particularly interested in applicants who have at least a 3.5 GPA, some experience working in a clinical setting or with a clinical population, Spanish language fluency, and/or experience managing and analyzing data in R. We do not expect applicants to submit their GRE scores and, if you choose to submit them, do not review GRE scores unless they are referenced in elsewhere in your application (e.g., your CV or letters of recommendation). If you feel like your GPA is not an accurate representation of your academic ability, then please ask at least one of your letter writers to speak to this in their letter of recommendation.

What should I include in my statement of purpose?

I find it helpful when applicants provide a strong rationale behind their decision to pursue graduate training under my mentorship. Graduate training in clinical psychology requires a tremendous commitment of time and effort, so I want to make sure that prospective students have a sense of the journey that they are about to embark on and still feel excited about it. This can be conveyed by:

  • Describing your research interests and career goals (even though this may change over time - mine certainly did!), and how they relate to the work of our lab.

  • Describing your research experience(s), and what you have learned from them. This should not be a summary of your CV. This should be a synthesis of the knowledge and skills that you have developed, and a description of how your knowledge and skills will help you pursue graduate training opportunities that will lead you closer to your career goal. Specifically, I suggest describing: (i) a project that you worked on and your role on that project; (ii) the knowledge and skills that you gained from working on that project; (iii) the knowledge and skills that you still need to reach your career goals; (iv) how graduate training will help you obtain the knowledge and skills from iii. Repeat i through iv if you have contributed to multiple projects.

  • Describing how graduate training at the University of Oregon under my mentorship or co-mentorship will help you achieve your career goals. How do you see the mission, values, and/or resources of the University of Oregon aligning with your goals? How do you see my content and/or method expertise helping you achieve your goals?

I have never had to prepare a CV. How should I organize this document?

I recommend the following resources:

Where else can I find information and guidance on the graduate admissions process?

I recommend the following resources: