To be eligible to apply, applicants must have completed (or be about to complete) an Australian Psychological Society (APS) accredited four-year program in psychology. In most cases, this comprises a three year undergraduate degree majoring in psychology, followed by an honours year. However, applicants with an alternative 4th year qualification (such as a Postgraduate Diploma in Psychology) are also welcome to apply provided the qualification is accredited by the APS.

Those with overseas qualifications in psychology will need to contact the APS for assessment of those qualifications. If you obtained psychology qualifications outside Australia you must submit with your application with a letter from the APS confirming the equivalence of your qualifications. 

Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts – those without sufficient psychology qualifications (equivalent to an accredited four-year sequence) are required to obtain such qualifications before starting an accredited postgraduate psychology degree.

Nearly all of our classes are held in the evenings and most of our students study the program part-time while working in the industry. Our classes are therefore filled with people who have relevant work experience, and as we see this as a strength of our program, it will not harm your application to let us know if this is how you intend to study. Many students also change their status from full-time to part-time (or vice versa) during their candidature, and we are usually happy to accommodate these changes.

While a small number of elective units may be undertaken externally, the programs are not offered via distance.  

All domestic applicants (i.e. those with Australian or New Zealand citizenship) must apply through UAC

All international applicants (i.e. those without Australian or New Zealand citizenship) must apply through the International Office. They must submit the following forms, which can be downloaded from the web:

• One Macquarie University International Postgraduate Coursework Application Form (note: this will include submission of additional paperwork, including academic transcripts and evidence of assessment of overseas qualifications as described below);
• One Department of Psychology Personal Supplementary Information Form; and
• Two Department of Psychology Referee’s Report Forms.

In addition, if some or all of the qualifications in psychology have been obtained overseas, applicants must submit evidence of assessment of overseas psychology qualifications by the APS (for more information, visit the APS website).

No. We recognise that organisational psychology is not well represented at every university.

Yes. Applicants with good academic records but limited experience are encouraged to apply.

Due to time involved in processing applications, the submission deadline is earlier than the date when universities finalise marks for fourth-year programs. However, our final ranking of applicants is performed after this date, so we have a chance to obtain the most current results for most applicants.

To ensure that we do consider your current year's results in our evaluation, you should:

• Contact our Postgraduate Officer (Marcus Ockendon, 02 9850 8087, psy.pgofficer@psy.mq.edu.au) to inform him about your application. Provide him with contact details for the person he will need to speak to in your School/Department about your results when they are finalised (i.e. the member of staff who coordinates the fourth year program in your School/Department).
• Ask the member of staff who coordinates your fourth year program to speak to our Postgraduate Officer (Marcus Ockendon) about your results when they have been finalised. Some universities will require you to sign a letter confirming your willingness to release the results, so check whether this will be necessary.
• When you have received your final results, contact our Postgraduate Officer (Marcus Ockendon) and check whether he has received them.

Our Department of Psychology website describes these programs. In summary, the programs have the same minimum entry requirements, but comprise less study than the Masters degree. Unlike the Masters degree, the programs do not lead to membership of the APS as there is no research project and there are no supervised work placements. Consequently, however, they are a low-cost path to developing organisational psychology knowledge and skills by attending classes with Masters students.

Students who perform well in the Diploma programs are welcome to apply to "upgrade" to the Masters program. If successful, all study undertaken in those programs can be counted towards the Masters degree.

It is possible to apply to the Diploma programs as well as to the Masters program; doing so does not harm your application.

Applications to the DPsych(Org) program can only be made by students enrolled in the Master of Organisational Psychology program. Therefore, the first step would be to apply for the Masters program; once admitted, several requirements must be met before we can consider an application to the DPsych(Org) program.

Placements are organised collaboratively between the Department, the student and the placement supervisor. We have many organisations contacting us through the year looking for students to work on projects, but students are welcome to seek out new placement opportunities as well. In some cases, it may be possible to count up to 600 hours from a single organisation towards the placement requirements, however conditions apply. Before starting any placement a student must be currently enrolled to be covered by insurance, conditionally registered as a Psychologist to count the hours towards registration, and a placement plan must be approved by Department staff.

If you have to stop study permanently and you have successfully completed enough of the appropriate units and credit points there may be an option to take out a Diploma qualification depending on your situation. This is assessed on an individual basis. Otherwise, you must reapply to return to the degree by the next relevant application deadline.

Go through to Postgraduate section of this site and you will see information on both Coursework and Research Degrees in Psychology. For more information on unit descriptions, assessment, placement, research interests, applications and eligibility scores, forms, timetables, go to Student Handbooks and Timetables where you can view pdf copies in detail of the handbooks that students receive when they enrol which answers all these questions. If you have a question that is not answered on the website or in the handbooks then contact a relevant staff member to discuss. Course Coordinators are listed on the website along with their contact details.