Course Requirements

From PNB Graduate Handbook
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Important Notes

For the full list of PNB courses in the Graduate Calendar, go to the Psychology Courses page (in the 2024-2025 Graduate Calendar) Note that not all of the listed courses are offered every year.

For courses offered in the current year, go to Graduate Courses on the PNB website

Note 1: As you plan your courses, consult with your supervisory committee and complete your Plan of Study.

Please note that if you fail to register for a course before the add/drop deadline you will have to complete a In-Program Course Adjustments form. Search for these deadlines in "sessional dates" in the current Graduate Calendar.
Occasionally you might need to access the syllabus for a course offered in a previous year. These can be access from the PNB webpage archive; if you cannot find it there, send a request.

Note 2: Health and Safety training, SGS 101, and SGS 201 must be completed in the first term of the first year (details here).

Note 3: SGS 700 is a placeholder course; if you are not taking any courses in a particular term, you must register in SGS 700.

Note 4: Annual Progress Reports are due on May 15th of every year in the program (Masters and PhD).

Note 5: Trajectory through the program:

  • Typically, students complete one year at the Masters level and, if promoted, 4 years at the PhD level (RCT Stream student spend 5 years at the PhD level).
  • Promotion is based on first year course grades, research progress and performance, evaluation of Progress Reports, and evaluations from the supervisor and supervisory committee.
  • In some cases, students may be advised to complete an extra year at the Masters level before being promoted.
  • Students who are not promoted to the PhD level typically defend a Masters degree at end of the first (or second) Masters year.
  • In some cases, students who ARE promoted to PhD level choose to defend a Masters before continuing at the PhD level; it is very important to know that research that contributes to the defended Masters degree cannot be included as part of the PhD dissertation.

Forms (petitions, course adjustments, extensions)

The PNB Masters degree requires the following courses

These courses will be completed at the Masters level in the very first year (note that first year is the same whether or not students defend a Masters and/or are promoted to PhD level at the end of first year):

  • Statistics and Research Design (PSYCH 710, half course = 1 term = 3 units), completed in first year.
  • Contemporary Problems in PNB (PSYCH 720, full course = 2 terms = 6 units), completed in first year.
  • See also Note 2 and Note 3 above.

The PNB PhD degree requires the following courses

These courses will be completed at the Masters level in the very first year (note that first year is the same whether or not students defend a Masters and/or are promoted to PhD level at the end of first year):

  • Statistics and Research Design (PSYCH 710, half course = 1 term = 3 units), completed in first year.
  • Contemporary Problems in PNB (PSYCH 720, full course = 2 terms = 6 units), completed in first year.
  • See also Note 2 and Note 3 above.
  • Students often enter at the doctoral level if they have already completed a masters degree. PSYCH 710 and PSYCH 720 are required courses for these students as well. If it is determined by the supervisor and GSC (Graduate Studies Committee) that the incoming doctoral student has previously taken equivalent courses or material from their completed masters program, they may be exempt from PSYCH 710 and/or PSYCH 720. This is a decision made jointly by the supervisor and GSC.

The remaining courses listed here should be completed over years 1-4 at the PhD level (be sure to plan well - you don't want to be completing too many courses in your last year when you are busy with dissertation writing):

  • Two Advanced Statistics courses (PSYCH 711 and 712, quarter courses = 6-7 weeks = 1.5 units each)
  • PSYCH 711: Advanced Statistics and Computational Methods I
  • PSYCH 712: Advanced Statistics and Computational Methods II
These can be fulfilled in several ways: a statistical, computational, or programming course offered by the department, or with approval of your committee and the Graduate Chair, a course offered outside the department at McMaster.
A request for substitution can be made by submitting a full course syllabus to the Graduate Chair. Discuss the substitution with your supervisory committee for their approval before submitting to the Graduate Chair.
  • Two Independent Study Modules (PSYCH 713 and 714, quarter courses = 6-7 weeks = 1.5 units each)
  • PSYCH 713: Special Topics in PNB I
  • PSYCH 714: Special Topics in PNB II
Independent study modules are typically fulfilled by working in a lab other than your supervisor's lab to broaden knowledge and/or learn new techniques. The time commitment for these modules is minimum 36 hours (6 hours per week) and maximum 60 hours (10 hours per week).
The faculty member with whom you work to complete the research module should submit this Special Topics Evaluation form to Anju Dalal to provide a grade.
Module substitution proposal: If you have a proposal for a module that is outside of the typical lab work, you can ask for approval of the Graduate Chair and Graduate Studies Committee by submitting a proposal as outlined here. Discuss the proposal with your supervisory committee for their approval before submitting to the Graduate Chair.
  • One additional half course (1 term = 3 units)
  • Check the McMaster Graduate Calendar (link to 2023-2024 calendar) for the list of half courses. Notice that the names of the courses refer to general topics, to allow flexibility. You may take a course offered by the department or you may find a course in a different department or an approved online course, which can be used to fulfill one of the half courses listed.
  • Such substitutions can be made with approval of the Graduate Chair by submitting a full course syllabus. Discuss the substitution with your supervisory committee for their approval before submitting to the Graduate Chair. Refer to the section below "Courses from outside the PNB graduate program taken for credit towards your PhD degree".

Courses from outside the PNB graduate program taken for credit towards your PhD degree

  • NEW:
  • If you take a course from a different program at McMaster (ie. the course will have a McMaster course code), and you have secured permission from your supervisory committee and the Grad Chair to use this course to fulfill a required course (e.g. PSYCH 711, 712, 713, 714, or the additional half course), there is a new form that must be submitted to SGS.
  • In-Program Course Adjustments form.
  • Complete this form as a "request to designate a course outside of one’s program in place of a required course".
  • In Part A (student statement) specify the course code of the substitution course (e.g. KINESIOL 711), the course code of the required course (e.g. PSYCH 714), and the term and year in which you will complete (or have completed) the substitution course (e.g. fall term 2020).
  • Give the form to your supervisor who will complete Part B.
  • Submit the form to the Graduate Chair who will complete Part C.
  • Anju Dalal (PNB Graduate Administrator) will then submit the form to SGS.
  • For those with permission to take a course or workshop outside of McMaster, this form is not necessary. Instead, register for the appropriate PSYCH course (e.g. PSYCH 711, 712, 713, 714, or the additional half course (refer to the Graduate Calendar for half course options)). Don't forget that you need permission from your supervisory committee and the Graduate Chair to substitute courses from outside McMaster (see above discussion in section The PNB PhD degree requires the following courses).

The PNB PhD RCT stream requires the following courses

In their first year in the program, students interested in entering the Research and Clinical Training (RCT) Stream take the following courses listed below. Note that there is no RCT Stream Masters degree, nor is any masters student in the RCT stream until such time they are promoted to PhD and/or admitted into the RCT PhD stream. There are no RCT Masters students. The RCT stream is a PhD level stream only. Students may only enter the RCT stream at the PhD level. There is no guarantee that any Masters student will be promoted to the PhD level or admitted into the RCT stream.

  • Statistics and Research Design (PSYCH 710, half course = 1 term = 3 units), completed in first year.
  • Contemporary Problems in PNB (PSYCH 720, full course = 2 terms = 6 units), completed in first year.
  • Scientific and Professional Ethics in Clinical Psychology (PSYCH 751, half course = 1 term = 3 units), completed in first year.
  • Visit the RCT Stream webpages (timeline page) for course requirements beyond the first year. Be sure to click on the link near the top right of the page to see the Annual Rotation of the courses. For example, not all courses are offered every year, so incoming students will be offset compared to students who started the program the previous (or next) year.

RCT Practicum Courses

This very important page RCT_Practicum_Courses will walk RCT students through how to register in Mosaic for practicum courses. It's the timing that is so important to make things work smoothly in terms of making sure your grade shows up on your transcripts.

  • RCT Clinical Internship (PSYCH 761). The RCT stream curriculum is designed so that students can complete their dissertation work (including the majority of the writing) by end of PhD year 4, and then complete their full-time clinical internship in PhD year 5. By year 5 they will be out-of-time in terms of department financial support and they are paid full-time by the internship. Tuition is only half of full tuition in year 5. Students are still considered full-time graduate students until they graduate (or withdraw); they need to complete the forms requesting to be Full-time Off Campus for the year. If the internship is outside of Canada, students will also need to submit an RMM 801 (Risk Management Approval Form).
  • Please note that if a student takes the clinical internship early (e.g. in year 4 of the PhD; this will be a rare occurrence), their financial situation changes. As the internship is a full-time paid position, they will not receive a TAship and they will not receive a department scholarship. However, they are still full-time students in year 4 and will have to pay full tuition and fees. They also need to complete the forms requesting to be Full-time Off Campus for the year. These details should be taken into consideration when deciding whether to do the clinical internship one year early. TAships are on-campus only, and cannot be done remotely --even if someone is on a remote internship.

Auditing graduate courses

Occasionally, a student may wish to audit a graduate course offered by the program. It is important to understand that if you audit a course, you may not take that course for credit at a later time. Consult with your supervisory committee before deciding to audit a course. If your committee agrees, contact the instructor of the course for permission. If you want to formally audit so that the audited course appears on your transcript, please complete and submit this form (read the form carefully for requirements and signatures):

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