Admissions

*** The Psychology Graduate programs at Simon Fraser University are strongly committed to promoting diversity with respect to culture, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, age, among others. We welcome applicants from students who are Indigenous and from other minority groups. ***

The Department of Psychology admits graduate students once a year in the Fall term (September) and usually receives over 300 applications, typically accepting 15-20 students each year. The Department considers all information provided by the student, including their personal statement and relevant research experience, in the admission process. Candidates may also be interviewed in person, by telephone, or via videoconference prior to final selection. The Department reserves the right to admit only those students for whom research space and an appropriate faculty supervisor are available (see here for faculty members currently recruiting graduate students).  

Students admitted to our graduate programs are expected to have an undergraduate Major or Honours degree in Psychology. Experience in a research lab is highly recommended. Incoming students must have a solid understanding of methods and statistics used in Psychology, as they will take advanced courses in both in their first year. They also need a foundation in theory and a solid understanding of the literature associated with their research in psychology.

The Clinical Neuropsychology Stream and the Cognitive and Neural Sciences stream may consider applicants with undergraduate degrees in Cognitive Science, Behavioural Neuroscience, or Neuroscience, assuming significant coursework in research methods and statistics and in areas of Psychology relevant to the stream.

The minimum for admission to any graduate program at SFU is an undergraduate CGPA of 3.0 for consideration. Applicants with a CGPA under 3.5 are unlikely to be accepted to graduate programs in Psychology. While applicants generally have CGPA of 3.5 minimum, the average accepted applicant to our clinical program is about 3.9 (based on a 4.33 scale). Our programs are competitive - the Clinical Psychology Program admission statistics can be found here.

We sometimes accept students into our PhD program who have completed a comparable Psychology master's program elsewhere that included a thesis in Psychology that was successfully and publicly defended. Applicants who have completed equivalent graduate coursework may request credit after receiving and accepting an admission offer.

Students accepted into the Clinical Psychology program must complete a Criminal Record Check prior to program entry.

Incoming students are provided with a minimum guarantee funding; we generally have offered a minimum guarantee funding of about $20,000.00 (or more) for the first year and $13,000.00 (or more) for the second year.

Students can view tuition and fees here. Students can also view estimated costs for domestic and international students. Please note that tuition is the same for domestic and international students, and students from our graduate programs are considered full-time and pay a per term fee.

If you have admission inquiries, please contact the psychology graduate program assistant at psycgrad@sfu.ca.

1) Applications with a CGPA under 3.0 will not be reviewed or considered.  

2) Applicants whose transcripts are not on a 4.0 or 4.33 MUST complete the CGPA converter (more details under Transcripts), as well as self-report their Cumulative Average on a 4.0 or 4.33 grading scale. Applicants who do not will not be reviewed. If you are unable to use the CGPA converters due to no letter grades or percentage grades, please review recommendations under Transcripts.

Note: If you need to update your self-reported CGPA, please contact the graduate program assistant at psycgrad@sfu.ca.

3) Applicants with a CGPA of 3.0 - 3.49 will have the opportunity to provide a compelling argument explaining any relevant special circumstances that have impacted their CGPA. A statement may be included by uploading a document under Optional Documents in the graduate application.

If applicants with a CGPA of 3.0 - 3.49 do not provide a compelling argument, these applications will not be evaluated.  

Applicants must pay a non-refundable application fee (domestic transcripts $110.00 CDN and international transcripts $150.00 CDN) before they can upload the required supporting documents. You cannot upload your supporting documents until your payment has been received and processed. Please allow 1-2 business days for payment to process. You can review here on how to pay for the application fee.

Note: the department does not waive the application fee upon request.

Please keep in mind that the application deadline is the last day for applicants to apply and upload all supporting documentation (including references). 

We recommend that you apply at least a week prior to the application deadline.  

For more information about the application process, please review here. There is no final submission button, and you can consider your application as complete when all the required supporting documentation is uploaded.

Note: Applicants can upload or replace their CV and statement of intent until the application deadline; the applicant can upload the files under Upload Materials, and the new file will replace the previous file uploaded. The timestamp of the previous files cannot be removed or erased.

If an applicant needs to replace their transcripts and/or update their self-reported CGPA, please contact the graduate program assistant (psycgrad@sfu.ca) to do so.

In addition, the applicant can upload multiple documents under Optional or Additional Documents, however, the files cannot be removed. If you wish to remove a document under Optional or Additional Documents, please contact the graduate program assistant.