Review: The psychology program in Concordia University-Montreal (Canada)

                                                    -Pointless like the school-system. Seriously.-

Yup, I'm an international student in Montreal and I'm graduating next June with a Bachelor of Arts, major in Psychology. Let me tell you what I think of it and my situation

Money

I'm a lucky bitch and my sister's got a great job and she offered to pay my studies here, which are approximately 7 times more expensive- as an international student- than a Montrealer. I paid around 7000 Canadian dollars per semester (2 per year unless you want to study during the summer, then 3 per year) and be aware that books are extremely expensive, so we'll add 500 $ per semester.

I come from a Latin country and I know how much we value universities for they have more status and validity than an institute. Here, in Canada, institutes are called colleges and they are what we would say "carreras  técnicas" in Spanish. They are way cheaper and believe me, if you are planning to stay in Montreal and work or live here, and don't have enough money, go to college. In Canada, experience is more valued than education. I can assure you that people with a technical background can and sometimes do make more/as much  money as someone with a university diploma.

Program

I was naive, I admit it. "Nobody told me" Well, they don't care about that here. I feel that students here are way more informed about the different programs, lengths, and whether they want a major, honours, specialization or just a minor. Holy smokes, wtf is all that? In south America (at least in Peru) there's no such things. We only have one program: systems engineering,  education, business administration, etc.  That's it! In Peru, you study the psychology program for 5 years (internship included in the program) and most of the courses are psychology related (you'll see what I mean in a minute) and students take up to 7 or 8 courses per semester (2 semesters per year, 5 months each and 2 months of vacations- January and February and the typical 2 or 3 week vacation in July or August). Once you finish, you graduate as a Bachelor in Psychology. Then you have to make a thesis and then present it and if the judges approve it, congrats! you're a PSYCHOLOGIST! no go find a job!

Now, let me explain you about the Canadian program of psychology. If you're Canadian, it'll only take 3 years and for international students  the program is 5 years (I got some credits transferred because I studied business management for 2 years in Peru, so I studied for 3.5 years). You have 3 sessions here: The fall session (starting in September) the winter session (starting in January) and summer session (which is optional for international student ) Usually, students take both the fall and winter session and party or work full time during the summer (may to august) which are considered vacations (4 months!!! in Peru we only have 2 months :(

ok, let's go on. Studying full time means taking 4 or maximum 5 courses per session (OMG) and exams are mostly multiple question (you circle the correct answer). Now, let's check the differences between major, minor etc.

-credits division: I, for example, got 120 credits as a major in psychology. 30 got validated due to my previous studies in other university. So, out of the 90 credits left, 42 had to be psychology credits (psych courses) 24 had to be no-psychology courses or electives (courses from other programs like theology, environmental studies, etc) and 24 had to be a mix (Psych courses and electives in the areas of humanities or social sciences).

-minor:  If I had chosen a major in psychology AND a minor in chemistry (which students usually do; they choose both a major and a minor) then the credits are divided between psych courses, chemistry courses, and electives. Minor is just to get some basic knowledge in another area of interest (like chemistry) while you study psychology deeply.

-Major: grants you with a deeper knowledge in certain area. (42 psych credits) I chose a major and most of my credits were directed towards psych courses. Your grades must be greater than 2.00 (imagine that 4.30 is a 20. In Peru, to pass, you need 10.51 minimum. So, 2.00 is the minimum needed.  If you don't get more than 2.00, the university can kick you out of the program and you must re-apply for admission). El promedio, in Spanish, is called GPA here (grade point average)

- Specialization: If you want to study an specialization program (which is recommended if you're planning to study a master or PhD) then than means taking more Psych courses (60 credits) and also your GPS must be higher than 2.50. Students are required to make a thesis, is part of the program.

-honours: more psych courses (66) and a GPA of 3.50. If you wanna study a master or PhD, then this is better. Students need to do an honours thesis.

Once you finish your program, you graduate with honours or specialization or just with a major. HOWEVER, this doesn't mean you are now a PSYCHOLOGIST. Hell no! it is not like Peru, that after a thesis you're a psychologist. In Canada, to be called a PSYCHOLOGIST, you need a master and a PhD, which means that on top of the 3 or 4 years of study, you need probably 10 or 11 more years to be able to work as a psychologist and in health care. I DIDN'T KNOW THAT!

What I think is that the Peruvian 'thesis' would be considered a master because in a master degree, students do research and basically write a research paper based on their experiments and then present it in front of judges.

So, this is the program of psychology in Concordia. I spent 3.5 years studying full time, taking 4 courses per session, which is exhausting  believe or not. The huge amounts of books to read and research papers is... tiring. So yeah, I have no idea how I managed 8 courses in Peru... 

What is tricky as well is the exams. I used to think 'Oh yeah, multiple choice is easy!' it is not. Professors trick you and ask applied knowledge questions so... yeah.

I recommend getting involved in school associations because that is valuable experience to be able to find a job later and become familiar with the library because that is the place where you will be almost living the next 4 years.

FINAL OPINION

Honestly, I feel that psychology here is focused on doing research and writing research papers, not on helping others to be better. They basically train you to be a scientist. That was not psychology in my mind. I thought the program was more focused on therapies and counselling on adults and kids, on Freud, skinner, etc...  but nope. So if you are planning to study psychology but you are not interested in being a scientist, then study it in your home city. If I had known, I would have chosen another program, or go to college or just stayed in Peru (I feel the program there is better, internship is included. Here, trying to find volunteer jobs as a research assistant is too competitive. If your grades are B or C (which is 12 to 14-15 in Peru) then they won't take you in. You need to be a 18-20 student. Yup, grades and level of smartness are related in researchers' minds but fortunately, there are professors that prefer to see you in action and then decide if they want you or not because well, they don't believe in grades.

If you have any questions about coming to study in Montreal  (school is cheaper compared to the rest of Canada or US) then just leave me a comment. I'll be happy to help!