How To Apply

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.

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.

• 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 Dalhousie 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.

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

GRE scores are not required nor considered.

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 — by name (preferably in boldface print) – 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 “equivalent to honours”.

All applicants are asked to complete and include the Graduate Program Application Sheet with their application (PDF). 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

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’s position on justice, equity, diversity and inclusion (JEDI; see “About our Department” https://www.dal.ca/faculty/science/psychology_neuroscience.html), 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’s 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

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’s position on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (see About 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.

Please see our Application Information Spreadsheet. 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.

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.