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Home Department of Psychology Graduate MSGP Program

MSGP Program

Gina M. Caucci, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Teaching | MSGP Program Director
Cognitive Psychology
Psychology Building, Room 308
901.678.2579 (telephone)
gcaucci@memphis.edu

About the Program

The Master of Science in General Psychology (MSGP) program was developed in 1981 to offer general training in the psychological sciences. It is a research-intensive program aimed at providing post-graduate training to students wishing to explore an advanced degree program or to explore an advanced career path in psychology. Many students go on to doctoral study following the MSGP program. 

The University of Memphis has been named a Carnegie R1institution putting us in the top tier of research universities nationally. See here to learn more about our R1 status and how attending an R1 university benefits you!

Program Goals

The MSGP program's main goal is to provide advanced training for students seeking deeper comprehension of psychological research. Often these are students who wish to pursue doctoral education but do not yet have sufficient training or research experience in psychology. Others are students preparing for a professional career in an industry that requires or values a master’s degree in psychology.

Is the MSGP program right for me?

Our students are those with good academic credentials who have not yet selected a specialty area of study or need more research training to apply to a PhD or MD program. We also have students who recognize the value of an advanced degree to increase their current job prospects but are not interested in doing their own research. These students have the option to complete their degree without a thesis! 

Course Work

The number of specific course requirements in this program has been kept to a minimum, to maximize the amount of flexibility students have in adapting the program to their particular interests and goals. The majority of current students are involved in programs of study with a focus on research in areas such as cognitive psychology, clinical psychology, and behavioral neuroscience, however, some have developed joint programs with other departments such as business, counseling and criminal justice. See the Required Courses page for more information and to review some sample course plans.

Notes about course work: 

  • Students must maintain a B average to remain in the program. 
  • There are two required research and statistics courses all program members must pass. 
  • Actual classes offered and seats available to MSGP students vary based on department and faculty availability. 

Admission to the MSGP program does not require students to take any minimum number of credits per semester. The only constraint upon the pace at which the student pursues the degree is that credits more than six years old may not be counted toward the degree. 

Funding

An early limitation of the program was the lack of financial support for students, however, in recent years there has been a sufficient demand for research and/or teaching assistants that some students have been granted partial support. These positions are not guaranteed, but if admitted, students should inquire with the program director about options. 

Student Successes

We want to recognize the achievements of our MSGP students as they progress through our program. There are too many to list, but here are some recent highlights! 

We have two first-year MSGP students we want to recognize for their outstanding achievements in the MSGP Program this year!
 
Chance Dow was awarded a $5000 research fellowship from ESPN! Chance plans to explore language differences between college-aged men and women when discussing their experiences with sports betting and the effect of responsible gambling messages for sports media among college students. Chance is a busy member of the Gambling Clinic working under Dr. Rory Pfund. 
 
Randy Smith was awarded a Society of Pediatric Psychology Annual Conference Student Travel Award! Recipients are selected from students with the highest rated first authored abstracts! Randy will also be one of seven students from around the country participating in the Society of Pediatric Psychology Three-Minute Thesis Competition! His Presentation title is: The Relations between Cost Delay Discounting, Delay Reward Discounting, and Diabetes-Specific Microaggressions among Children and Adolescents Diagnosed with Type One Diabetes. The competition will take place April 10th . Let's wish Randy luck!! Randy is working under Dr. Kris Berlin in the Child Health and Illness lab. 

Congratulations on your huge successes Chance and Randy! 

In addition to Chance and Randy’s incredible work we have many other fabulous student achievements to highlight:

  • Three students will be graduating this May and four other students are projected to graduate this summer!
    • 32% of our current students have successfully completed their masters degree within two years!
  • Three of our 2024 graduates will be pursuing doctoral degrees in clinical and school psychology in the fall!
  • Our current MSGP students maintain a high level of excellence with an average 3.74 GPA.
  • We also have numerous students who submitted and presented exceptional posters and talks at conferences nationwide! With a few other students pursuing first-author publications in peer-reviewed journals.
  • Our students additionally serve in many leadership roles within their research labs and across the department.