• The deadline to complete your applications was Jan. 13, 2024. Your references must also be complete and submitted by this date.
• No late applications will be accepted
• Review of all complete applications will take place immediately following the deadline
• We will begin to accept applications for fall 2025 admission in October of 2024
• We only have fall admission to our program

You do not need to find a supervisor prior to completing an applications. However, all students admitted to the program must have the support of a supervisor.

Telephone interviews generally take place at the request of the potential supervisor. It is important that you find and contact the supervisor(s) you are interested in working with.

• Think about the research questions that you find most interesting
• Browse through the research interests of the faculty on the website
• Contact the potential supervisor – information in this blog post will be helpful.

• We receive an average of 100-125 applications each year.
• The number accepted depends on many factors, including space in labs, faculty funding levels and space in the program. We accept an average of 15 students per year.

• The minimum required grade point average (GPA) is a B+ in your final year of undergraduate study (or in a master’s degree for PhD applicants).
• GPA is calculated using only upper level courses (third and fourth year – or using all master’s grades for a PhD applicant) not including lab courses or projects.
• If you are applying, still have courses in progress and you are accepted to the program, your acceptance would be conditional on your maintaining a minimum B+ average in your final year of study.
• For international applicants, in general a ‘First Class (with distinction)’ is equivalent to our required ‘B+ or higher’ average GPA requirement.

• If English is not your first language, we require proof of English language competence.
• Test of English as a Foreign Language Exam (TOEFL) scores
  • Minimum score 92 internet-based test (IBT), 580 on paper based or 237 on computer based
• Academic International English Language Testing System (IELTS) scores
  • minimum score 6.5 overall and minimum 6 in each section
• Students who have completed a post secondary degree (minimum four years) from a program where the language of instructions is English are not required to provide a TOEFL or IELTS score. Transcripts must state language of instructions was in English.
• McMaster’s TOEFL Institution code is 0936

The tuition and fees can be found on the Graduate Studies website.

It is not necessary to have a official sealed transcripts mailed from your previous university(s) as part of the application process. You only need to upload copies of your transcripts to the neuroscience application portal – include the grading key if it is not shown on the front of your transcript.

If you are offered admission, your Official Sealed transcripts will be required and will need to be mailed to us directly from every post secondary institution you have attended. Any offer of admission would be conditional on these documents being received by the McMaster University deadline as stated in your Offer Letter.

You can review the status of your application by checking the application site.

The review of complete applications will not begin until the day after the application deadline. Complete applications include both reference letters. Reference letters are due by your application deadline of Jan. 13, 2024.

Interviews, the next step in our applications process, generally take place at the request of a potential supervisor. These interviews will begin in February, after the admissions committee have completed their review and ranking of all applications received, and will continue until all of the available spaces in the program have been filled.

If you have not been in contact with a potential supervisor, or have not heard back from one you have contacted, review this article for more advice.

Have the Educational Testing Service (ETS) and/or your previous post secondary schools mail official documents to:

Neuroscience Graduate Program Admissions
McMaster University Building #34
1280 Main Street West – PC 303
Hamilton, ON, L8S 4K1
Canada

McMaster’s ETS Code is 0936