If you are considering applying to our program (application deadline is December 1st of each year), this page contains some general information that you may find useful to know.

Our quantitative training program is designed as a 4 to 5 year Ph.D. program. We are particularly interested in applicants who desire a career in academia although qualified applicants with interests other than an academic career are often accepted to our program. Our program does not offer a terminal masters degree. In rare circumstances, a student may leave the program after obtaining the masters degree. However, our program is designed to train doctoral-level quantitative specialists. Students from across the social, behavior, economic, and educational sciences are encouraged to apply. Our program provides quantitative specialization in advanced statistics and data analysis as practiced across these disciplines.

Applicants who are accepted for graduate study at the University of Kansas qualify for in-state tuition regardless of residency or international status. International applicants are encouraged to visit the Graduate Studies web page (http://www.graduate.ku.edu/index.shtml) and review information specific to international scholars at KU.

We provide support for all of our graduate students using four possible funding mechanisms.

• Highly qualified students may be nominated for scholarships offered through a competitive University-wide selection process. Scholarship awards are highly selective but provide tuition, fees, and a stipend for 1 to 4 years depending on the award.


• The vast majority of our graduate students are funded through either a Graduate Teaching Assistantship (GTA) or a Graduate Research Assistantship (GRA). Advanced students in our program are able to apply for and receive funding as an Assistant Instructor (AI).


• AI positions involve being the instructor of record for either Psyc 300 (our undergraduate introduction to statistics course) or Psyc 500 (our undergraduate intermediate statistics course). These positions require that the student have completed his or her Masters degree and have taken the graduate-level course on the Teaching of Psychology. Students who receive an AI appointment are also encouraged to consult with the Center for Teaching Excellence to obtain advice, examples, and support to assist in the design and conduct of high quality instruction.


• GTA positions involve assisting an instructor in the conduct of a course. For the advanced quantitative courses to which our students are typically assigned, the assistance is usually in the form of running a 1 hour per week lab course in which practice and applications of the methods are taught. Students must complete a mandatory GTA orientation prior to his or her first GTA assignment. This orientation course is offered prior to the start of each semester.

GRA appointments usually are in the form of grant supported research in which the student is expected to assist in the conduct of the research supported by the grant. The majority of our students are supported using the GRA mechanism. Some students have both a GTA assignment and choose to add an additional part-time GRA appointment. Graduate students can carry up to a .75 appointment as a GTA/GRA during the academic year and 1.0 appointment during the summer. Most of our students have support as a GRA during the summer. Some of our students also apply for opportunities to teach summer courses.

Each summer we offer summer institutes on advanced statistical techniques. All students in our program are expected to assist in these offerings. In exchange, our students receive access to additional support funds to assist in covering travel to conferences and modest expenses related to research.

All students in our program are assigned a personal work area in Room 10 of Fraser Hall. Each work area contains a desktop PC with all needed productivity and statistical software. Each PC is connected to a network of printers and other productivity peripherals. We also have a number of laptop computers available for long-term use by our students. Generally speaking, if there’s a need for something, our program is able to provide for it.

The University of Kansas is a top-rank international research institution and the city of Lawrence is an idyllic college community. In order for you to discover the University and the Community and for us to get to know you, we hold a general interview day in late January. If you are selected for an interview, we provide a modest stipend to offset travel expenses and we make housing arrangements for you on your visit. We will notify students within a week of the interview day whether we are forwarding your application to the graduate school for admission. In some instances, you may be placed on a wait list if the number of qualified applicants exceeds the number of open positions.

Our program expects to admit approximately 3 new students to start in the fall of this coming year. In rare circumstances, students can request early admission and start in June of the year if funding is available. Otherwise, students are expected to be in Lawrence and ready for the start of the Fall semester. Students offered a GTA appointment for the 1st semester are expected to attend a mandatory GTA training meeting that takes place a few days before the start of the fall semester.