Admission to the PhD degree requires a master's degree in psychology or its equivalent in a closely related discipline. Admission to the PhD degree (Research and Clinical Training Option) requires that applicants have completed specific Psychology undergraduate courses required by federal and provincial licensing bodies, including an empirically based undergraduate thesis or its equivalent, as well as master's-level courses in Psychology specified by the program.

Admission to the MA (Research Option) requires an undergraduate degree in psychology or a closely related discipline. Applications from students with non-psychology degrees are evaluated to assess whether they are sufficiently prepared for graduate studies in Psychology. Admission to the MA (Research and Clinical Training Option) requires an honours undergraduate degree in psychology or its equivalent. In addition, applicants must also have completed specific undergraduate courses required by federal and provincial licensing bodies, including an empirically based undergraduate thesis or its equivalent. Students who are lacking up to three of these courses may obtain the equivalency for the missing credits by taking appropriate undergraduate and/or graduate courses during their degree.

Enrolment in these programs is limited in part by the availability of research supervisors and, for the Research and Clinical Training Option, by space in that option.

Applicants are selected on the basis of past academic record, letters of recommendation, the results of the Graduate Record Examination (optional, but highly recommended), and the relevance of their proposed research to the research expertise of the faculty. Students successfully completing their master's program in psychology at Concordia University need submit only an application form and letters of recommendation when applying for the doctoral degree. Psychology graduate courses are not open to graduate-level independent students, except in specific circumstances as defined by the department.

Upon recommendation of their thesis supervisor, students enrolled in the Master of Arts (Psychology) program at Concordia University who have completed a minimum of 12 credits of graduate level course work and who have shown high academic performance and potential through performance in research may apply for accelerated admission to doctoral studies without submitting a master's thesis. Approval for accelerated admission must be obtained from the student's thesis committee and the graduate admissions subcommittee by August 15 to allow entry into the PhD program in the Fall term. Students in the Research Option who obtain accelerated admission are not required to take the elective course (chosen from PSYC 700, PSYC 716, PSYC 721, PSYC 724, PSYC 725, PSYC 726, PSYC 727or PSYC 734) as part of their MA coursework. Students in the Research and Clinical Training option may not obtain accelerated admission to the PhD program from MA Year I, but may apply for accelerated admission, upon recommendation of their thesis supervisor, from MA Year II.

Proficiency in English. Applicants whose primary language is not English must demonstrate that their knowledge of English is sufficient to pursue graduate studies in their chosen field. Please refer to the Graduate Admission page for further information on the Language Proficiency requirements and exemptions.