Admissions

The online application must be completed, including all supporting documents, by December 1st if you are applying to enter the program in September. Prospective students are encouraged to view our research labs and contact faculty members, who may be available to supervise, prior to applying to the program. Only those applicants who find a suitable supervisor will be admitted to the program.

The Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is recommended but not required. Please see the list of faculty members who recommend submitting a GRE score with your application.

M.A. admission requirements

Successful completion of an Honours Bachelor’s degree, or equivalent, in Psychology or related fields (including Applied Health Sciences, Applied Linguistics, Biology, Child and Youth Studies, Criminology, Forensics and Neuroscience), including courses in research methods and statistics, with a minimum average of 78%. Successful applicants typically have achieved an average of at least 80% in each of their last two years of undergraduate study. Normally, applicants will have completed an Honours thesis (where possible). In the absence of an Honours thesis, applicants must provide evidence of research experience that includes conceptual contributions to a research project (e.g., proposal, paper, poster). The Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is recommended but not required. Please see the list of faculty members who recommend submitting a GRE score with your application.

M.A. Applicants with backgrounds other than Psychology or related fields

In recognition of the interdisciplinary nature of Psychology, the Admissions Committee will consider applications from students holding degrees in allied fields. To ensure that such applicants have a background in psychology adequate for successful completion of their graduate program, applicants from fields outside Psychology or related fields must have completed an undergraduate thesis in another discipline that involved empirical research of scope and complexity comparable to that of an undergraduate Psychology thesis. They must also submit the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) General Test and the GRE Psychology Subject Test scores.

Ph.D admission requirements

Admission to the Ph.D. program requires completion of an M.A., M.Sc., or M.A.Sc in Psychology or related field (including Applied Health Sciences, Applied Linguistics, Biology, Child and Youth Studies, Criminology, Forensics and Neuroscience). Students must have achieved an A average for the previous two years of graduate study and evidence of research competence, normally demonstrated by an Empirical Master’s Thesis. Students are selected by the Psychology Graduate Admissions Committee in consultation with a core faculty member who is willing to act as the student’s supervisor. The Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is recommended but not required. Please see the list of faculty members who recommend submitting a GRE score with your application.

Ph.D Applicants with backgrounds other than Psychology or related fields

In recognition of the interdisciplinary nature of Psychology, the Admissions Committee will consider applications from students holding degrees in allied fields. To ensure that such applicants have a background in psychology adequate for successful completion of their graduate program, the following additional requirements for admission to the PhD program have been established. Applicants must have completed a Master’s thesis in another discipline that involved empirical research of scope and complexity comparable to that of a Master’s Psychology thesis. Applicants must present recent evidence of suitable background knowledge in the form of a score from the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) General Test and the GRE Psychology Subject Test.

To be included with your application (M.A. and Ph.D):

  1. All official transcripts of academic work completed to date.
  2. Two confidential letters of recommendation, preferably academic, from instructors most familiar with your academic work. You will be entering the contact details of the referee, and they will be sent a link electronically for the purposes of completing their evaluation of the applicant. Hard copy (i.e., paper) reference letters will not be accepted.
  3. Include a Personal Statement of Interest in pursuing graduate studies. It should be no more than one page and provide some indication of your research experience (i.e. thesis research, RA work) as well as your intermediate and long term goals. Although not a requirement for your application package, an updated CV, listing any publications, presentations, research assistant work, etc. would be considered an asset. Statement (and optional CV) must be uploaded.
  4. Complete the Applicant Interest Form and upload. On this you will indicate, in order of preference, potential faculty members as supervisors in addition to indicating your interest in various research topics.
  5. If English is not your native language, please see the information on the Faculty of Graduate Studies website for providing evidence of competency in English.

*Official scores from the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) are recommended but not required. Please see the list of faculty members who recommend a GRE score with your

If you have additional questions that were not answered above, please see our frequently asked questions or email psycgradinfo@brocku.ca or lgrifa@brocku.ca.