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Are you interested in graduate school?

The School of Family Life (SFL) Academy will help you succeed in graduate school in Family Studies, Human Development, or Marriage and Family Therapy by:

  1. Giving you the chance to take graduate level courses 
  2. Helping you get involved in research with a professor 
  3. Helping you gain valuable professional socialization 

Admission to the Academy also comes with a $250 scholarship.

What does the program entail?

Students in the SFL Academy will take several graduate-level courses, taught by some of the best teachers on the SFL faculty. These are two of the core classes for first year Marriage, Family, Human Development graduate students. These courses will be taken during the Fall Semester you are in the Academy. The two courses are:

  • MFHD 513 (Applied Statistics, 3 credits) 
  • MFHD 514 (Theories of Human Development and Family Studies, 3 credits) 

In addition to taking courses, Academy students will engage in research with one of the many respected faculty members in the School. This experience will provide you with hands-on research skills by involving you in data collection and analysis and the writing of professional journal articles. Students will also be encouraged to present their work at professional research conferences and even pursue publication in academic journals. As a part of your mentored research experience, you will enroll in:

  • SFL 403R (3 credits) 

What about personal and professional connections?

The SFL Academy also gives you the chance to gain professional socialization via intensive interactions with SFL faculty and other students in small group settings. Class sizes are small and one-on-one interaction with faculty is highly encouraged. Because Academy students have similar career goals, you and your peers will have unique experiences (and challenges!) not available elsewhere.

What are the prerequisites for the program?

You need to have taken the following courses before starting the Academy or be taken concurrently.

  • SFL 210 
  • SFL 160 
  • SFL 290 
  • SFL 305 or STAT 121
  • SFL 315 
  • One other 300 level SFL course 

Sounds great! How do I apply?

Please prepare a type-written document with the following information

  1. Full Name and e-mail address 
  2. Major, Year in School, Expected Graduation Date 
  3. Overall GPA, Major GPA 
  4. Prio research experience 
  5. A brief letter of intent that includes why you feel you would be a good candidate for The Academy, your graduate school plans, and your career plans 
  6. A brief professional/research writing sample (no longer than one page). This could be a paragraph or page of a paper from one of your SFL classes 
  7. The names of two or three SFL faculty members you would be interested in working with for the mentored research experience 

Apply now! This year's application is due: February 15, to Alex Jensen at alexjensen@byu.edu