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Psychology & Neuroscience Master's (MSc), Doctorate (PhD)

How to apply

Departmental Requirements

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Students wishing to receive consideration for FALL (September) Admission for the Clinical Psychology program should apply by听November 15th; the deadlines for the Experimental and Neuroscience programs is听December 1st;听we do not offer admissions for any other terms (i.e. we have no winter or summer program start dates).

The Department of Psychology and Neuroscience is dedicated to building and sustaining a diverse, equitable, and inclusive working and learning environment. We specifically welcome applications from Black, Indigenous, and racially visible persons, individuals living with a disability, and individuals who identify as a sexual and/or gender minority. The Department of Psychology and Neuroscience continues to make efforts to eliminate barriers for diverse applicants, as has been demonstrated by removal of the Graduate Record Exam requirement, the initiation of a unique bursary for applicants from any of the above-mentioned groups, and ongoing collaboration with administration on improving the accessibility of our departmental space.听

Psychology and Neuroscience

Graduate programs are designed as "apprenticeship" programs in which students work closely with a faculty member who has agreed to supervise their research. Emphasis is placed on interdisciplinary research, scholarship and independent thinking rather than on course work.

Experimental Stream

Candidates for the Master's program in Psychology must have an honours degree or equivalent in Psychology; candidates for the PhD program must have a Master's degree in the area of graduate work. Experimental Psychology is the study of human and animal behaviour and the neural mechanisms controlling this behaviour. As a science, psychology strives to learn information about behaviour through observation and experimentation.

Neuroscience Stream

Candidates for the MSc program in Psychology/Neuroscience must have an honours degree or equivalent in the area of graduate work; candidates for the PhD program must have a Master's degree in the area of graduate work. Neuroscience integrates psychology, cell biology, genetics, biochemistry, physiology, anatomy and other branches of the life sciences into a single discipline concerned with the structure and function of the brain. Neuroscience is exceptionally well represented at Dal; faculty members study the nervous system at molecular, cellular, and behavioural levels.

Clinical Psychology

Clinical Psychology

Candidates for the PhD program in Clinical Psychology must have an honours degree or equivalent in Psychology. Students who have completed additional degrees or work at the graduate level may be eligible for advanced standing within the program.听 Please refer to our听听[PDF 107 KB] for more information. The Clinical Program is founded on a scientist-practitioner training model and is committed to prioritizing equity, diversity, and inclusion in all components of training. Students are also provided with the opportunity to expand their learning into areas of interest (e.g., child psychology, adult psychology, neuropsychology, addictions, health psychology).

The Department of Psychology and Neuroscience is dedicated to building and sustaining a diverse, equitable, and inclusive working and learning environment. We specifically welcome applications from Black, Indigenous, and racially visible persons, individuals living with a disability, and individuals who identify as a sexual and/or gender minority. The Department of Psychology and Neuroscience continues to make efforts to eliminate barriers for diverse applicants, as has been demonstrated by removal of the Graduate Record Exam requirement, the initiation of a unique bursary for applicants from any of the above-mentioned groups, and ongoing collaboration with administration on improving the accessibility of our departmental space.

General admission requirements

The Faculty of Graduate Studies sets the听minimum admission standards听that are required for entry into graduate programs. Individual departments may require additional qualifications of their candidates, and enrolment limitations usually mean that successful applicants possess qualifications that considerably exceed the minimum requirements.听For more information on additional qualifications please see the program you are applying to on the graduate program page.

Common admission criteria

Master's degree (MSc)

  • Four-year Bachelor鈥檚 degree
  • Minimum grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 (B average) in the last 60 credit hours of study
  • Degree granted by university of recognized standing

Doctor of Philosophy degree (PhD)

  • First-class thesis Master鈥檚 degree or its equivalent
  • Minimum grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 (B average) in the last 60 credit hours of study
  • Degree granted by university of recognized standing
  • To read more about degree requirements for admission to PhD programs, refer to section 3.3 of the Faculty of Graduate Studies Calendar.

English language proficiency

Students for whom English is not their first language and who did not complete their previous degree at an English-speaking university will need to submit proof of English language proficiency.

鲍鱼tv accepts a number of different English proficiency test scores:

Test Name Minimum Acceptable Score
Internet-based TOEFL 92
Written TOEFL 580
MELAB 85
IELTS 7
CanTest 4.5 (with no band score lower than 4.0)
CAEL 70 with no band score lower than 60
鲍鱼tv College of Continuing Education (CCE) A-


      Department GPA requirements

      Psychology GPA minimum 3.3.

      **All applicants are expected to apply for scholarships. Please see below for scholarship information.

      Prospective students applying for a position in one of our graduate programs must contact potential supervisors and submit:


      Application process

      1. Application form

      Please go the Faculty of Graduate Studies website for application information and forms. If you are applying for the Fast-Tracked Clinical PhD Program please apply for the PhD program even if you do not have a Masters.

      If you are filling out the paper version this must go to the Registrar's office, not the department.

      2. Application fee

      This payment can be made online by way of the methods listed in the body of the application itself. If you are not able to pay online, please contact the Office of the Registrar to make payment. Do not send your payment to the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience.

      3. Confidential Reference Letters

      • Applicants to the Psychology stream and Neuroscience stream must submit at least two letters from two different referees.
      • Applicants to the Clinical Psychology program must submit three letters from three different referees, at least one of which must focus on the student's clinical experience and/or suitability for work in clinical psychology
      • Reference letters may be submitted by your referees using the 鲍鱼tv e-ref Electronic Reference System; the referee will be sent an email and directed to a secure website to complete the reference form. It is critical that you supply a university, teaching hospital or government email address for your referee (i.e., not Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail, or etc). Your referee will not receive an invitation to provide a letter if you do not supply one of the specified email addresses. It may take at least 5 days for referees to receive a link to their emails after you have paid for your application.
      • Alternatively, if your referees does not have a university, teaching hospital or government email address they may complete a confidential referee letter form and should be encouraged to attach a more detailed letter to accompany this form. This form should be emailed to gradprog@dal.ca.

      Please note we do realize reference letters come in after the application deadline. Please make sure that all reference letters are submitted no later than the 1st of December for the Clinical Psychology program and the 8th of December for our Experimental/Neuroscience Program as the admissions committees meet soon after that time.

      4. Transcripts

      For application purposes, unofficial academic transcripts and degree certificates (if degree conferral not stated on transcripts) are required for each post-secondary institution attended. Please email gradprog@dal.ca an unofficial copy of your transcripts. Transcripts should include your first and last name, degree and program type and name of degree issuing university.

      Should you be accepted for admission to your program of choice, all official and final transcripts will be required for each post-secondary institution attended. They will be required within 90 days of the start of your program. If you only completed a course(s) at a university or post-secondary institution, official transcripts are required as well.

      Please see the Faculty of Graduate Studies site (under transcripts) for information on how to submit official transcripts. HERE

      5. GRE Scores

      GRE scores are not required nor considered.

      6. Research Interests

      A letter from the applicant indicating your research and career interests. There is no page limit for this statement but it is usually no longer than 1-2 pages. This can be emailed to the department at gradprog@dal.ca.

      • Clearly specify the graduate program to which you are applying (e.g., Clinical Psychology) and mention 鈥� by name (preferably in boldface print) 鈥� any faculty members with whom you have corresponded and/or with whom you would be particularly interested in working.
      • If you have not completed an honours degree, you must detail the independent research experience and core coursework (e.g., research design, statistics) that you would like to have considered as 鈥渆quivalent to honours鈥�.
      This can be emailed to Gradprog@dal.ca

      7. Application cover sheet

      All applicants are asked to complete and include the Graduate Program Application Sheet with their application (). If you are applying for the Clinical Psychology Program please click that box even if you don't have a Masters. This can also be emailed to gradprog@dal.ca

      8. Curriculum Vitae (CV)

      Please email your CV to the department at gradprog@dal.ca.

      Instructions for applicants to the Clinical Psychology PhD Program:

      Curriculum Vitae (CV). Applicants should submit a CV summarizing information from the categories listed below. Please note that applicants can select to include only those categories for which they have relevant information or experience to share.

      Consistent with the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience鈥檚 position on justice, equity, diversity and inclusion (JEDI; see 鈥湵鉻v our Department鈥�), the clinical program endeavors to take a holistic approach to our evaluation of applicants by increasing the number of factors considered in our evaluation of prospective students. In keeping with this holistic approach, there is no set weighting of the different factors/categories. We recognize that some experiences might overlap within the listed categories. For example, you may have taken a leadership role for a research project while gaining experience in a laboratory, or a volunteer experience might be considered both community service and clinical experience. It is up to the applicant how they wish to convey their achievements and experiences, though we recommend a very brief description of roles and responsibilities. Further details can be provided in the applicant鈥檚 statement of research and career interests, as relevant.

      a.     Educational background

      b.     Awards and distinctions

      c.     Academic publications, presentations (e.g., conferences), and other forms of research dissemination (e.g., media)

      d.     Research experience (paid and volunteer)

      e.     Leadership experience

      f.      Community service

      g.     Clinical experience

      9. JEDI Statement for Clinical Psychology Applicants

      JEDI statement. Applicants are required to submit a statement explaining why justice, equity, diversity and inclusion (JEDI) is important for the science and practice of psychology. What are you prepared to do to contribute to a just and equitable future for the science and practice of psychology? This statement should be in reference to the Department of Psychology & Neuroscience鈥檚 position on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (see 鲍鱼tv our Department.) This statement should be no longer than one page.

      Applicants are invited to share any systemic or personal interruptions, barriers, or hardships that have influenced their own achievements or ability to accrue relevant experiences toward their career goals, if they so desire, within this statement. However, this type of information is not mandatory or expected.

      10. Electronic Supplement

      Please see our . It is an electronic form that will ask you for much of the same information that you provided on the Application cover sheet. We require this electronic form IN ADDITION to the completed cover sheet. You can go through this without inputting anything (except which program you are applying to) to see what it looks like. If you get logged out for some reason you can repeat it as many times as needed.

      11. English Language Test Scores

      International applicants whose native language is not English:  English Language Test (TOEFL, IELTS, MET, CAEL or Pearson English Test PTE Academic) scores are to be emailed to the department.

      Unofficial copies can be emailed to gradprog@dal.ca. Upon Admission an official copy has to be mailed from the testing center.

      听

      Items 1 and 2 go to the Registrar's office. Do not send them to the Department.

      Please add your last name and first initial to any filenames听that you send to gradprog@dal.ca or Psychology.Grad.Program@dal.ca for ease of filing the information into your file. Please note these are the same email account, one is an alias of the other.听Please send all the files in one email.

      Please note all official items received will be posted to your online application portal. Please do not email asking if we have received items as this takes away from the time the secretary has to process said items. Please only email if you have concerns about something not received yet听after December 1st.

      If you applied last year we still have your file and can pull out some items (ie. transcripts) if you request us to, so you don't have to send them again.

      Scholarship Information

      Faculty of Graduate Studies has information on their website听about scholarship applications and procedures.

      Harmonized Scholarship Process

      The Deadline for the Harmonized Scholarship application is as follows

      Dec. 1st deadline听(opt-in form): If you are linking and reusing your Tri-council Masters application to your Harmonized Application.

      Jan. 16th听4 p.m. AT deadline (application form):听If you DID NOT opt-in to the Tri-council Masters scholarship and instead are direct applying to the Harmonized scholarship you can change anything up to this date.