University of Waterloo

School Description:

The Department of Psychology provides a rigorous and broad-based undergraduate education in psychology. Currently there are 800 students enrolled as Psychology Majors in a variety of programs including General Psychology (BA), Honours Psychology (BA or BSc) as a regular stream of study or co-op, etc. Approximately 260 students from across all Faculties of the university are pursing a Psychology Minor.

Our Masters and PhD programs enrol approximately 100 students who focus their courses and research in one of six major areas of psychology:

Clinical
Cognitive
Cognitive Neuroscience
Developmental
Industrial/Organizational
Social

Our faculty researchers in these areas of study have established international reputations and received recognition with a wide variety of awards and are the recipients of long standing and generous research grant support. Our students are noted for their success with national and international scholarship awards and we continue to maintain a reputation as one of the top Psychology Departments in North America.

We invite you to explore the individual pages to sample the diverse areas of research and scholarship in Psychology at uWaterloo.

Undergraduate Program Description

Psychology, the study of mind and behaviour, is one of today’s most exciting and rapidly advancing scientific frontiers. Psychologists are interested in a broad range of topics including:

• brain-behaviour relationships inherent in motor control, language, vision, attention, memory, and emotion
• problem solving, judgment, and decision making
• acquisition of linguistic, cognitive, and social abilities in infants and children
• interpersonal and intergroup relations
• communication and persuasion
• schizophrenia, depression, self-esteem, and anxiety disorders in adults
• employee stress, leadership, motivation, processes in work organizations, etc.

The University of Waterloo Psychology Department is one of the largest in the province of Ontario. Learn frominternationally recognized scholars who are committed to providing students with a rigorous educational experience that broadly represents the exciting field of Psychology. Students are exposed to cutting edge research methods, theories and experiments in the science of the mind that appear in news headlines regularly.

800 students are pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology. Choices include:

• Three-Year General Psychology (BA)
• Four-Year General Psychology (BA)
• Honours Psychology

67% of Psychology Majors are in Honours Psychology and choices for them include:

• Honours Psychology (BA or BSc)
• Honours Psychology Departmental Co-op (BA or BSc)
• Honours Psychology with the Arts and Business Complement – regular or co-op system of study (BA only)
• Joint Honours Psychology

Approximately 260 students from across all Faculties are pursing a Psychology Minor.

Psychology Majors develop distinctive marketable skills that are beneficial for many educational and career pursuits. Feedback from co-op employers indicates that Psychology Majors are valued in the workplace.

Application/admission information for future students

The Human Resources Management (HRM) Minor, also administered by the Psychology Department, is a popular choice for those who plan to pursue employment in human resources.

Graduate Program Description

As the Department of Psychology’s Associate Chair of Graduate Studies, I would like to welcome you to this website for our Graduate Program.

As a department, we are very proud of our diverse and highly-rated graduate program, our excellent graduate students and their many accomplishments.

We are committed to providing all of our graduate students with an intellectually stimulating, flexible, and friendly environment in which to pursue their studies. We are also committed to endeavouring to provide all of our students with adequate funding to meet their tuition and housing costs, along with a modest living stipend. We make every effort to ensure that students can complete their doctoral degrees in a timely manner – typically 4-5 years for a Ph.D. from the time of entry from their undergraduate institution.

I believe there are many reasons the Department of Psychology at the University of Waterloo is a special place to pursue graduate studies. I invite you to explore this website to find out why, especially the section, “Why Come to UW?” where you can also read the comments of our current and former students.

We look forward to receiving your application for September 2013!

Sincerely,
Daniela O’Neill
Professor and Associate Chair of Graduate Affairs