Admissions

Information for Applicants to the Graduate Program

New Application Date - December 1st

Criteria
Application requirements and procedures
Prospective Grad Student Information Form
Submitting your application
Deadlines
Addresses
Financial aid
Note to graduate students who are not Canadian citizens
Re-application
Tuition and other fees

Criteria

The Department of Psychology receives up to 200 applications for admission to graduate study each year; ten to sixteen students may be admitted. Successful applicants normally have an upper second or first class average (e.g., 3.5 on a 4-point scale) in their recent academic work, with a specialization in psychology.

To satisfy Undergraduate Competence Requirements (UCR), applicants should have taken at least one course in applied statistics and courses in the following major areas of psychology:

Biological Bases of Behaviour (e.g., Biological Psychological, Physiological Psychology, Neuropsychology)
Cognitive Bases of Behaviour (e.g., Learning, Memory, Cognition)
Social Bases of Behaviour (e.g., Social Psychology, Special Topics Courses in Social Psychology)
Individual Differences (e.g., Abnormal Psychology, Developmental Psychopathology)*

*The fourth area, Individual Differences, is a requirement specific to Clinical applicants.

Students with insufficient background in these areas will be asked to demonstrate competence by the end of the first year of graduate studies. Competence may be demonstrated in various ways such as enrolling in undergraduate courses or by course challenge.

Applicants with specializations outside of psychology may be asked to take appropriate undergraduate psychology courses before reapplying or may, in some cases, be admitted to the graduate program and required to make up their undergraduate deficiencies in their first year.

In addition to meeting the standards and requirements of Graduate Admissions and Records and the Department, a student can only be admitted if there is a faculty member available for, and interested in, acting as the student's supervisor. Excellent applicants are sometimes refused admission because no faculty member is able to accept an additional student, or no faculty member has compatible research interests. (See Item "d" below).

Application requirements and procedures

Applicants must arrange for submission of

an online application through Graduate Admissions. (NOTE: Clinical applicants should indicate PSCL rather than PSYC when applying electronically.)
two or more letters of reference, using, for at least two of them, standard Graduate Assessment Reports provided by Graduate Admissions. (NOTE: Applicants with a Masters or Honours degree are expected to provide a letter of recommendation from their thesis supervisor).
original transcripts for all previous academic work;
the Prospective Graduate Student Information Form
a personal letter
1. identifying the primary area of specialization desired (Cognition and Brain Sciences, Social, Lifespan Development, Clinical Lifespan or Clinical Neuropsychology, Experimental Neuropsychology).
2. describing areas of research interest
3. naming at least two specific faculty members with whom the applicant wishes to work (see Faculty Directory to learn more about faculty members’ research and activities and determine which faculty members are available to supervise new students)
4. giving details of current activity such as courses in progress or job responsibilities, and
5. indicating whether financial support will be required in order to pursue graduate study.
Scores from the general (verbal, quantitative and analytical writing) portion of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). Photocopies of the applicant's own copy of the GRE results will be considered on a preliminary basis but must be replaced by official copies as soon as possible. See the GRE website at http://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/about/content/ for important information on the revised GRE.
Students whose first language is not English must also submit scores from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). Minimum score is 600 for the written test, 250 for the computer-based version, or 100 for the internet-based version. We also accept International English Language Testing System (IELTS) scores over 7.5.

Submitting your application

All application documents should be enclosed in one complete package and sent to the Graduate Admissions and Records Office either by mail or in digital form as a PDF to graddocs@uvic.ca. Please choose only one of these methods of submission or delays may occur in processing your file. Sending your documents digitally may speed up the processing of your file. If your application package does not contain all required documents, your file may not get to the psychology department or the professors you are applying to work with in a timely manner. Therefore, a review of your application would be significantly delayed and all positions may have been filled.

Unofficial documents (transcripts, references, test scores) will be accepted by the Grad Admissions Office in order to complete the preliminary evaluation of your file and grant a provisional offer of admission if you are accepted. Final Official documents are needed to confirm a final offer which allows registration.

Assessment reports can be sent directly by your referee as a .pdf to gradrefs@uvic.ca . The assessment report form can be found at: http://www.uvic.ca/graduatestudies/assets/docs/forms/Assessment_Reports.pdf. Remember to also submit the "Prospective Graduate Student Information Form" directly to the department as early as possible but no later than Dec 1st.

Deadlines

All forms and documents are due Graduate Admissions and Records by the first workday in December. Keep in mind that substantial lead time is required to register for and take the GRE (and, if required, TOEFL) in time for those exams results to be received within the deadline. For students applying to the Clinical Lifespan or Clinical Neuropsychology programs all documents, including GRE scores, MUST be received by the application deadline. For students not applying to the Clinical Lifespan or Clinical Neuropsychology Programs, application documents (e.g., GRE scores) received after the application deadline MAY be considered but this is not guaranteed.

The Department of Psychology makes every effort to communicate offers of admission by April 1st.

Addresses for correspondence

ALL application material is assessed and collated by Graduate Admissions and Records before being forwarded to the Department of Psychology. Send all such paperwork is to be sent to:

Mailing Address:

Graduate Admissions and Records
University of Victoria
PO Box 3025 STN CSC
Victoria BC V8W 3P2
Canada

Courier Address:

Graduate Admissions and Records
University of Victoria
Room A255, Second Floor, University Centre
3800 Finnerty Road (Ring Road)
Victoria, BC
V8P 5C2

The address for information or for contact with individual Psychology professors is:

Department of Psychology
University of Victoria
PO Box 1700 Stn CSC
Victoria BC V8W 2Y2
Canada

Financial aid

University of Victoria Fellowships (up to $15,000 for Master’s and up to $18,000 for PhD although actual values may vary in any given year) are awarded annually by the Faculty of Graduate Studies in university-wide competition. Normally, awards are available for those entering in September only. All new applicants are evaluated for University Fellowships; there is no additional application required. The primary requirement for a fellowship is a minimum cumulative grade point average of 7.0 for the last two years (30 units) of undergraduate work and for any graduate work. This is approximately equal to A-, 80% or 3.5 out of 4.0. In any given year, a GPA of 7.5 (3.75/4.0) or higher may be required. Fellowships can provide up to two years of support at the Master's level or a maximum of three years at the Ph.D. level. Students are not allowed to hold another major award (e.g. SSHRC, NSERC, CIHR) in conjunction with a University of Victoria Fellowship. Should a student be offered such an award after acceptance of a UVic Fellowship, the UVic Fellowship must be forfeited.

A limited number of teaching assistantships (TAs) are available (usually ranging from about $2000 to $4000 from Sept. to April). Some students may be employed by individual faculty members as research assistants (RAs). Students will normally discuss this possibility with their supervisors after acceptance into the program. Both TAs and RAs are eligible for additional funding from the Faculty of Graduate Studies (Academic Income Supplement or AIS: generally about $1000 to $3000).

NOTE: Graduate Fellowships are also available on a competitive basis from federal government funding agencies (NSERC, CIHR, and SSHRC). The university generally awards a supplement to students who hold a federal fellowship of less than $25,000. Canadians and permanent residents are strongly urged to apply to these agencies; information is usually available at your local Department of Psychology or Faculty of Graduate Studies. Application deadlines may be as early as the beginning of October. UVic Fellowships will not be renewed if the student is eligible to apply for a federal fellowship but does not apply.

Graduate Admissions has developed an excellent website on student funding: http://registrar.uvic.ca/safa/index.html

Note to graduate students who are not Canadian citizens

Non-Canadian students may be admitted to study in Canada either with a Study Permit or, more rarely, with landed immigrant status. They should consult the nearest Canadian consulate for further information about the requirements for obtaining and holding either status. Because application for landed immigrant status can usually be made only from outside Canada, they should give early priority to seeking this status.

Immigration officials normally require some evidence of financial support in the form of a commitment from the university (e.g., a fellowship award) and/or personal funds. Some sources of financial assistance are available without regard to nationality; these include fellowships and assistantships awarded by the University of Victoria. Immigration status is not a factor in these awards. If a student's spouse intends to work while in Canada she/he must obtain landed immigrant status. Landed immigrant status does not affect present citizenship in any way.

International full-time students are entitled to work only on campus with a valid Study Permit without the need for Work Permit. This includes working as a teaching assistant, research assistant, or with private businesses located on-campus.

Re-application

The University holds onto application files for one year after an unsuccessful application. Therefore, if you wish to reapply within a year, it is only necessary to

send a letter to Graduate Admissions and Records requesting that your application be re-opened,
use the online or paper application,
submit the application fee, and
send any new information, such as new grades or recommendations, which might affect your application