Psychology graduate programs
Overview of our graduate programs
Our graduate programs in psychology offer training in some of the best laboratories in the world. Our core areas of research strength are Behavioural Neuroscience, Clinical and Health Research, Cognitive Science, and Human Development and Developmental Processes. Students are admitted to the graduate program under the mentorship of a faculty supervisor with matching research interests. Prospective students are encouraged to review faculty profiles and contact potential supervisors via e-mail prior to applying. Specific opportunities are sometimes listed here. We guarantee a minimum of $21,000/year in funding, and funding packages for most students are higher, particularly for students who obtain scholarship support from Concordia or external funding agencies.
We offer two streams of graduate training. Our Research option emphasizes independent research and scholarship, and prepares students for careers in research, industry, government, and non-profit sectors. Our Research and Clinical Training option combines research training with coursework, practica, and internships required for becoming a licensed clinical psychologist. All faculty members can supervise students in either stream. The number of students admitted to the Research Option depends on the availability of faculty supervisors. Admission to the Research and Clinical Training Option is limited to 11 students/year. Approximately 20 of 200 applicants are admitted to our graduate programs each year.
Our graduate program is a combined MA-PhD program. Students with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology (or its equivalent) are admitted to the MA program. Students in the MA program can either defend their MA thesis prior to entry to the PhD program (typically after 2 years), or can apply for accelerated admission to the PhD program. Students with a graduate degree in Psychology can be admitted directly to the PhD program. We do not admit applicants who intend to complete only an MA degree. The typical time to completion for the MA-PhD program is 5 to 6 years, with an additional internship year for students in the Research and Clinical Training Option.
Setting the foundation for your career
Our graduate programs offer a curriculum that is highly customizable to allow students to pursue the coursework that best matches their interests and training goals. All graduate students complete core courses in foundations of psychology and statistical methods. Students in the Research and Clinical Training Option also complete required cllinical courses, practica, and internships (view our clinical program sequence). For students in the Research Training Option, the majority of courses are electives (view our research program sequence). Students can earn credits both through traditional courses and non-traditional coursework. This allows students to develop the skills they need, and to broaden their networks with students and faculty in other labs, departments, and universities. Course credits can be earned through:
- Graduate courses offered within the Department
- Graduate courses within other departments at Concordia (e.g., Neuroimaging, Psycholinguistics), or within other universities in Montreal (or within Quebec)
- Open online courses
- Completion of a collaborative research project in another lab
- Providing substantive training on a research skill to other graduate student(s)
- Participating in our scientific community through lab meetings, talks, and interest area seminars attended by faculty and students at different levels
Choosing Concordia, choosing Montreal
Concordia University is located in Montreal, Canada, a cosmopolitan, bilingual city, where you can live in English or in French (or both!). Montrealers enjoy a high quality of life, with lively festivals, world-class bars and restaurants, a vibrant cultural scene, exciting and diverse neighbourhoods, affordable rents, and easy access to nature both within and nearby the city. In 2017, Montreal was named the world’s best city for students by the QS Best Student City Rankings.
Concordia’s Department of Psychology is located in two adjoining buildings (PY and SP) on the picturesque Loyola Campus in the neighborhood of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (NDG). A regular shuttle bus connects the Loyola and downtown Sir George Williams campuses. The Department houses student and faculty offices, 35 state-of-the-art research labs, and three multi-disciplinary research centres: the Centre for Research on Human Development (CRDH), the Centre for Studies in Behavioral Neurobiology (CSBN), and the Centre for Clinical Research in Health (CCRH). Concordia’s School of Health offers an integrative health research space that is also located on the Loyola Campus, and houses a neuroimaging suite (including MRI and PET scanners) and a sleep lab.
In addition to the research facilities located on our campus, graduate students have access to diverse research facilities, research participant populations, and training experiences through faculty members’ affiliations with the Centre for Research on Brain, Language, and Music (CRBLM), International Laboratory for Brain Music, and Sound Research (BRAMS), the MAB-MacKay Rehabilitation Centre, and the Quebec English-Speaking Communities Research Network, amongst others.