Our admission counselors are available to discuss with you your educational goals, financial aid options, and application deadlines.
Deadlines
There is no official registration deadline, however, students must register for SPLED 503A in fall before the start date of the course. We strongly recommend that you begin the application process before August 10 so you have time to order your course materials and set up your online access account.
Prerequisites
A bachelor's degree is required for participation. Each course is a prerequisite for the following course. The courses must be taken in the order they are listed. All five courses must be taken from Penn State in order to complete this program.
To become certified as a BCBA, the board requires a master's degree in an approved field (behavior analysis or other natural science, education, human services, engineering, medicine or a field related to behavior analysis and approved by the BACB). If board certification is your ultimate goal, we advise you to verify that your degree will satisfy the BACB requirements before you begin your coursework with Penn State. Please visit the BACB's web site for more information
Application Materials
For admission to the ABA program, you do not have to provide transcripts, a cover letter, letters of recommendation, test scores, or any other documentation with your application. The online application and an application fee are all that is required.
How to Apply
- Begin the Penn State Graduate School online application
- On the “Graduate School Admissions and Program Information Portal” page select “Apply Now.” You will need to log in with an existing Penn State account or, if you do not have one, create a Friends of Penn State account.
- Select the application for “Nondegree Admission”
- On the “Campus, Major, Degree & Semester” page, choose “World Campus” as the campus and fall as the semester.
After submitting the online application, you should receive notification about your acceptance as a nondegree graduate student within one or two weeks via postal mail.
Upon acceptance to the graduate school, you will receive a letter stating that each program may have its own requirements beyond admission as a nondegree graduate student. Penn State's ABA program does not have additional requirements, so no further action is required.
Following your acceptance, you should register for your first course and activate your access account.
Approximately six to eight weeks before your course start date, you will receive a welcome letter via email that provides information on how to order course materials and log on to the course website. If you don't receive this letter, please contact World Campus Student Enrollment Services at 800-252-3592 or 814-865-5403.
