Frequently Asked Questions
Below are some questions that prospective students frequently ask about our program.
Who is the cast of characters?
The social group at Waterloo has eight core faculty (Eibach, Fitzsimons, Fong, Holmes, Kay, Ross, Spencer, Wood, & Zanna) and about two dozen graduate students. Typically, we also have several visitors, for example, postdoctoral researchers and research associates.
Do I work with one advisor throughout my graduate career?
We encourage students to work with more than one faculty member. This effort is assisted by the fact that the faculty collaborate with each other. Typically, students conduct research with three or four different faculty members over the course of their graduate career.
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How long does it take to complete a PhD?
On average, our students take five years, but some graduate more quickly and some more slowly. Graduate school is different from undergraduate school. Graduate students are acquiring skills and a track record that will enable them to get a desirable job. If they want an academic job or postdoctoral fellowship, you will need research publications. The faculty at Waterloo has a superb record of publishing with graduate students. It generally takes about five years to create the kind of résumé that will be competitive on the job market.
How are students funded and for how long?
For most of our students funding comes from a variety of sources. Almost all of our students win major external fellowships in their first couple of years. The major external sources of funding include the Canadian Granting Agencies (SSHRC, NSERC, OGS, and CIHR). Students also receive University of Waterloo scholarships, teaching assistantships, and research assistantships. Here is an important point about funding: funding at Waterloo is transferable. If students choose to change advisors within the Social Psychology area, your funding is unaffected. We are committed to funding students for five years, as long as they remain a student in good standing in the program.
What sort of support is there for conducting research?
The faculty at Waterloo is very successful in obtaining grants to fund research. All of our faculty members have major grants. Less commonly, some graduate students have also independently applied for and received small research grants. This research support is of great benefit to graduate students. Money is available to pay research participants, to purchase equipment, and to fund undergraduate research assistants. All of our graduate students have research assistants helping them to conduct their research. Finally, we in the social area share a well-equipped set of laboratory rooms in which to conduct our research.
How many graduate students are supervised by each faculty member?
We keep the number low. Each of us typically has primary responsibility for two to three students. Many students collaborate with multiple faculty members.
Do students get an opportunity to teach?
Teaching experience helps students to obtain academic jobs. In addition to serving as teaching assistants, our students are given the opportunity to teach in their senior years. Many also take a course in teaching and earn a teaching certificate.
Do students have an office?
We house social faculty and students in the same area of the building. In their first couple of years, students typically share a large, windowed office with another student. In their senior years, students often have a private office.
Do we have a speakers' series?
Most Wednesdays during the academic term, we gather at noon to hear a speaker. The audience eats and the speaker presents his or her research. The speakers come from other universities and from Waterloo. The local speakers include graduate students and faculty. These lunches provide an opportunity for us to meet and share ideas in a friendly, informal setting.
What is it like to live in Waterloo?
Waterloo is not Paris, London, or New York. It is a multicultural city of 100,000 people located about one hour's drive from Toronto. The Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge area has about 500,000 inhabitants. Waterloo is headquarters for many high tech and insurance companies, and has a surprisingly rich cultural life (a symphony orchestra, opera, and live theatre). From a student's perspective, what probably matters most is that we have a friendly, supportive (and very smart) group of graduate students, good, inexpensive ethnic restaurants, and relatively inexpensive housing.
Where do our students get jobs after they graduate?
Waterloo's record in placing graduate students is outstanding, superior to any school in Canada and to almost all schools in the US. About 80% of our students have wanted academic jobs and they get them. In the last decade, our students have had job offers from Departments of Psychology in the following academic institutions:
Canada
McGill University
University of Toronto
University of Windsor
Queen's University
York University
University of Guelph
University of Winnipeg
University of Manitoba
University of Lethbridge
Wilfrid Laurier University
Saint Francis Xavier University
Simon Fraser University
University of Alberta
University of Ottawa
University of Victoria
University of CalgaryUS
SUNY Buffalo
University of California at Los Angeles
University of California at Santa Barbara
Boston College
Pennsylvania State University
University of Washington
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Rice UniversityOther
University of Exeter (UK)
University of Bristol (UK)
Cardiff University (UK)
University of Queensland (Australia)
University of New South Wales (Australia)
Some of our graduates have chosen to apply for a postdoctoral fellowship, rather than accept a job immediately after obtaining a PhD. Our graduates have been successful in obtaining highly competitive fellowships. They have held fellowships at the following institutions: McGill University, Simon Fraser University, Stanford University, Princeton University, Cornell University, University of Michigan, Northwestern University, the University of Colorado, and the University of California at Santa Barbara.
The remaining graduates have chosen to accept nonacademic positions. Some are now executives in major survey and consulting firms (e.g., Environics, EKOS). Others have research positions in hospitals (e.g., Toronto Western Hospital) and the government (e.g., Statistics Canada and the Defense Research Board).
