Advisors and Non-Departmental Support

A student is expected to have an advisor by the end of Fall quarter of the first year of study. Continued status in the department depends upon having an appropriate departmental advisor. Should an advisor relationship end at any time, students have one quarter to secure an advisor to continue in the program.

Should a student decide to work with an outside faculty member, it will be the responsibility of that faculty member to provide support (stipend, fees, tuition, and health insurance) at least at the level of the Psychology department if the student is not primarly in a Psychology lab and not completing Psychology Department effort (AILs or TAships). All students with outside faculty advisors are required to have a department co-advisor.

In circumstances in which an advisor becomes incapacitated or passes away, or in which the advisor leaves the university or doesn't achieve tenure, his or her graduate students, if they choose to remain in the UC San Diego Psychology graduate program, should make every effort to obtain a suitable advisor from within the department. If no suitable advisor is available, the graduate student may seek an advisor from outside of Psychology who is willing to provide support to the student at or exceeding the base support level that Psychology would ordinarily provide. If this is not possible, the student may petition the Grad Affairs committee, as an exception to policy, to consider an advisor from outside the department as suitable and to allow the student to maintain his or her Psychology department support.