Graduate Studies Information
If you are interested in continuing your study of psychology at the graduate level, this page contains some information to help you along the way. If you have come across any additional information pertaining to graduate studies that you think would be helpful to your fellow students, please feel free to e-mail us so we can post it for the benefit of others.
Applying to Grad School
Why?
The first thing you should probably ask yourself is "Why?", or more specifically, "Why do I want to go to grad school?" This is an important question, because grad school requires a substantial commitment of time, effort, and money; you should know why you want to be there. If you are thinking of psychology as a career, then grad school makes sense. You will gain a significant amount of knowledge and experience that is difficult to find elsewhere. If you want to be a professor, for example, you will need to get a PhD in psychology or a related field. Certified clinical psychologists are required (in Alberta) to have at least a Master's degree, although other provinces require a PhD. If you want to be a social worker, however, a BA or BSc may be sufficient. So you need to think about your career objectives and what will be required, in terms of your education, to achieve them.
Basic Requirements
Although the specific details differ from one school to another, here is a basic overview of the requirements for admission to most graduate programs:
Bachelor's degree Every graduate school requires applicants to hold a 4-year Bachelor's degree (BA or BSc) from an accredited institution, such as the University of Alberta. Generally, an Honors degree is required or highly recommended, but there are schools that accept students holding a standard Bachelor's degree. In addition, your degree should be in psychology, but you may still be considered for admission if you have a degree in a related field.
Grades You need to have good grades. Although each school sets its own standards, there are minimum cut-offs for admission. At many schools that cut-off is a B+ average, which is approximately a 7.0 on the University of Alberta's 9-point stanine scale. You should remember, however, that you will be compared to all of the other applicants who are vying for a limited number of openings, so you should try to maintain a competitive GPA. For most "good" schools, a competitive GPA is at least 8.0 (out of 9.0) or 3.5 (out of 4.0).
GRE test What is the GRE test? Click here for a special page devoted to this acronym.
Letters of reference You will need two or three letters of reference from professors who can attest to your competency as a student. Generally, these should be obtained from professors whom you have worked with in some capacity, such as an Honors thesis or individual study. It is not recommended to approach a professor who barely knows you except for the fact you earned a good mark in their class. If you ask a particular professor to write a letter of reference for you, also ask if this would be a "good" letter of reference. These letters are often confidential (i.e., you will never read them), so it is important that you are aware of the personal opinions of your referees. A "bad" letter can seriously lower the quality of your application and chances of acceptance. If a professor has agreed to write a good letter for you, give them at least a month to do so and supply them with any material that may help in the writing process. It may help to have a curriculum vitae (CV) available for your referees and also for your potential grad schools. You should also be aware that grad schools have certain procedures regarding letters of reference. Your referees may be allowed to compose a free-form letter or have to complete a form letter. Grad schools also have differing policies for letter submission. Sometimes the letters must be sent by the professors who wrote them, not you. If this is the case, do not forget to provide your referees with mailing addresses. In general, you should adhere closely to the letter composition and submission guidelines set by each grad school.
Personal statement of interests Most grad schools want you to submit a personal statement of interests. This will entail describing your research interests, personal goals, and other information. Sometimes you will be asked to respond to specific questions about attending a particular grad school. There is no clear-cut and easy way to write a statement of interests, but you can always ask a professor about what they would expect to know about you.
Where to go?
So, where should you apply for grad school? It is a challenging question that has no easy answer. Some students start by investigating what they consider to be the "best" grad schools. There are numerous top ten lists available on the internet to help you out, but sometimes the best of the list is not the best for you. Other students seek out particular researchers they would like as advisors, then look at the grad school. You can also ask a professor with whom you have worked if there are certain grad schools that excel in your area of interest (if you have one). The CPA publishes an annual graduate guide (you need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view it) that provides details about grad schools in Canada. You can also find categorized links to grad schools in Canada (CPA) and the U.S. (APA) on the internet. To find the psychology web site for practically any university in the world, search Google using the keywords "department of psychology" +name of institution.
Who to work with?
Who you work with obviously depends on where you are. If you adopt the strategy of choosing a grad school based on potential advisors, then you will probably want to know a bit about them. If there is a particular area of psychology that you are interested in, then look for people who are actively doing research in that area. Browse the latest journal articles on the topic to find out who is currently doing the work you want to do. Then, search the internet to find out more about the person. Many researchers have personal home pages that describe their research interests and list any recent publications. See if the researcher is reasonably productive (i.e., you probably do not want to work with someone whose last publication was a decade ago) and has articles published in major journals. Occasionally you can find out if the researcher has active grants from external agencies (e.g., NSERC or SSHRC), which is a good indicator of the researcher's competency. Sometimes the only information available on a person is whatever is listed on the psychology department's web site, which can be out of date by years. However, you can usually find a current e-mail address that will give you a means of contacting a particular researcher. This will enable you to find out if they are accepting new grad students for the upcoming year and to discuss future research endeavors. Also, you may be able to obtain information about previous grad students who you can contact to find out "insider information" on the researcher.
Financial support
Grad school can be expensive. Tuition, books, living expenses, and other costs can quickly add up. Fortunately, almost every grad school will provide you with some form of financial support. Most places offer teaching and research assistantships (TAs and RAs, respectively) that pay you a modest amount during the year. You can also get scholarships or fellowships from the school or external agencies, such as NSERC or SSHRC in Canada. Some grad schools provide a "signing bonus" of a few thousand dollars if you hold a major scholarship at your time of admission. You should be aware, however, that the application deadlines for external funding are quite early, usually before your grad school application is due, so check with the appropriate agency for current information. There are also grad schools (primarily in the U.S.) that will waive your tuition and even provide you with a sizable stipend. If your potential advisor holds an active grant, you may be able to partake in some of the funds as an RA. You will have to consider all of these factors when you decide where to go for grad school.
Deadlines
Each grad school has its own application deadline, so you should consult their web site or contact them for the exact date. Usually, the deadline is in early January for admission in September of that year. There are schools, however, that require your full application as early as the middle of December or as late as the beginning of February. It is highly recommended that you have your applications completed well in advance, taking into consideration the lag time for GRE result mailouts and obtaining letters of reference.
Additional resources
» Applying for Graduate Studies in Psychology: A 12-Step Program
» Psychology Graduate Application Portal
» Tips for Getting into Graduate School in Research-Oriented Psychology
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