The admission of applicants as candidates for the PhD, MSc or combined PhD/MPsychol programs at UNSW is dependent on three key considerations:

1. whether the applicant has the required academic qualifications;
2. whether appropriate research supervision is available for the applicant; and
3. whether the necessary resources are available or can be provided to support the research proposed by the applicant.

Before applying for admission, the candidate should establish whether there is an academic in the School who is prepared to supervise them. To this end, the candidate should directly contact members of the School who appear to share their research interests. Research interests can be found here.

For PhD admission, at least a high Second Class Honours degree in Psychology from an Australian university, or its equivalent from overseas, is usually required. Applicants who did not meet this standard in their initial degree but who have since demonstrated in other ways (e.g., research experience, publications, or further study at an advanced level) that they have the potential to succeed as a PhD student, may also be accepted.

For the MSc program, an Honours degree in Psychology at the Second Class level, or its equivalent, is the minimum academic qualification for entry.

Entry to the Combined PhD/MPsychol requires an upper First Class Honours degree or equivalent.

Applicants who do not possess an Honours degree in Psychology, or its equivalent, or whose qualifications are unable to be evaluated fully, may be advised to take one of the following programs on the understanding that if they meet the required standard, and if suitable supervision and resources are available, they will then be admitted as postgraduate research students:

1. Bachelor Honours degree
Graduates with a three-year Pass Science degree from an Australian university who have completed the prerequisites in Psychology at a level deemed by the School to be appropriate may enrol in the Fourth Year Bachelor of Science Honours program in Psychology. Note, though, that owing to constraints on resources, performance in the three-year degree would need to be very strong to be admitted into the Honours program at UNSW.

2. Graduate Diploma in Psychology
Overseas graduates with good grades in Psychology but who have not done a similar amount of study in this discipline as required for an Honours degree here, might be admitted into a one-year full-time program designed to equip them with the basic competencies and skills assumed in postgraduate research students. This will normally include a supervised empirical study carried out in the same area as proposed for their postgraduate research project, as well as prescribed courses.