Department of Psychology
Undergraduate Program (BA)
Prospective Students
Psychology explores every aspect of our lives. It examines how we act, feel, and think by asking important questions about behaviour, emotions, and the human mind. As a student in the program, you will explore the program’s core areas – cognition and neuroscience, developmental and social psychology, clinical and health psychology, and the advanced research specialization. Our faculty members are award-winning, dedicated and dynamic professors who are committed to engaging students and making their subject matter come alive. They are also innovative scholars who are asking important research questions.
Ryerson’s psychology program is part of the social sciences “platform”, which means that you share many of your courses in your first year with students from programs in Criminal Justice, English, Politics and Governance, and Sociology. It also means that you can transfer into one of those programs during your first year if you find that you are more interested in one of them. Learn more about the social sciences platform at the Faculty of Arts site. You also get to choose courses from other disciplines, including accounting, human resource management, biology, philosophy, history, and many others.
All admissions decisions for our program are handled through Ryerson’s Undergraduate Admissions and Recruitment. Their website has all the details about the admissions process, as well as links to sites with related information.
- What Do I Need To Get In?
- Is Psychology Right For Me?
- What Can I Do With A Psychology Degree?
- How Is Ryerson’s Psychology Degree Different From All The Others?
For detailed admissions requirements, please visit the admissions overview page. There are no math or science requirements to be admitted, but those courses will likely be a benefit in our program because we have required courses like statistics and biological psychology. Our degree is a Bachelor of Arts (BA). Some psychology programs lead to a Bachelor of Science (BSc), which often requires math and science courses from high school, but the difference between the degree designations is not that big in terms of the actual courses you take in university.
All admissions decisions are made by Undergraduate Admissions and Recruitment, not by the Department of Psychology.
Is Psychology Right For Me?
The single biggest misconception is that all of psychology is about psychological disorders and their treatment, when in fact most of psychology is concerned with the general issues of behaviour, emotions, development, memory, thinking and more – for ALL people, and other animals. The idea is that we can only understand how things work for people with, for example, some sort of emotional disorder, if we understand how emotion works in general. So, lots of psychology research is conducted on the issue of emotion, for example, with no direct application to emotional disorders. It's also important to distinguish between the treatment of psychological disorders, such as anxiety, depression, or schizophrenia, versus counselling people on how to handle typical stresses of everyday life, such as dealing with rebellious teenagers at home, an uncooperative colleague at work, or working two jobs to save up for a house. Counselling like this is important, of course, but it's not a big part of the academic discipline called psychology. It is often dealt with through other disciplines, like social work, or specifically in a post-graduate counselling program that is distinct from a psychology degree.
What Can I Do With A Psychology Degree?
To answer that question, we often ask another question in response: “What other programs are you considering?” If you’re considering psychology versus sociology or criminal justice or politics, especially at Ryerson, or any kind of social science area at any university, you will likely end up looking at similar career opportunities regardless of which specific program you take. None of those programs have a specific career outcome, but all of them have common elements, like learning to think better, write better, identify and solve problems, understand methods of inquiry and learning, be comfortable with numbers and statistics to help you understand how the world works, and more. So you can’t really make a “mistake” by choosing one over another.
That said, there is a range of relatively psychology-specific careers that graduates can end up in, often in a variety of mental-health care settings and roles such as cognitive rehabilitation, addictions support, assessment and treatment of young offenders, and learning disability support. Our degree also prepares you for post-graduate studies in psychology, eventually leading to careers in public or private settings, independent practice, or academia. Other careers that benefit from a degree in psychology include sports science, media development, media relations, computer application design, human resources management, pharmaceutical development, policy analysis, conflict mediation, and human factors engineering. A degree in psychology can also prepare you for post-graduate studies in medicine, physiotherapy, nutrition and health, speech pathology and audiology, criminology and law, education and business (particularly for MBA programs in human resource management) and kinesiology. But, really, the range of options is unlimited.
How Is Ryerson’s Psychology Degree Different From All The Others?
In many ways, it’s not different. The most important aspect of our program is that it provides a first-rate education in psychology, the social sciences, natural sciences, humanities, and other disciplines, as does pretty much every other university in Ontario and across Canada. The Ryerson difference in psychology, however, is perhaps a matter of emphasis, or perspective. Ryerson has a long history of addressing issues of practical concern, and our psychology program continues that tradition. Professors in our department conduct research on things like health promotion, illness prevention, and dealing with illness and dying; anxiety disorders, phobias, and panic attacks; age-related decrements in memory and vision; cultural strengths and differences; how psychology can be applied in criminal investigations and trials; and many other areas.
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