Study of Psychology

Psychology courses and majors are among the most popular undergraduate courses and are available at all Canadian universities. If you want some career direction or advice about what in psychology to study at the graduate or undergraduate level, you should contact the psychology department at the university where you are currently studying or where you are considering studying. Not all university psychology departments offer the same courses or engage in the same kinds of research – both are factors that might influence your choices of where to study. Psychology departments usually have a faculty member or other staff person who acts as a counsellor or advisor to help students with course and programme selection.

At the graduate level, there are several specialities and sub-specialities of psychology. Common ones are Industrial-Organizational Psychology, Experimental Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Counselling Psychology, Neuropsychology, Forensic or Correctional Psychology, Developmental or Child Psychology.

The CPA maintains a Graduate Guide which lists and describes graduate programmes in psychology in Canada.

It typically takes 4 years to complete an honours bachelor’s degree in psychology, 2 years to complete a master’s degree and up to another 4 years to complete a doctoral degree. Doctoral degrees in any of the professional areas of psychology (e.g. clinical psychology, counselling psychology, clinical neuropsychology) have practicum and internship requirements in addition to coursework and research requirements.

Competition for admission to graduate programmes in psychology can be stiff. Doctoral programmes in professional areas of psychology (e.g. clinical psychology, counselling psychology, school psychology) accept approximately 10% of applicants.