Who will be admitted?

In order to qualify for admission to the degree, a student must have a good honours undergraduate degree in one of computer science, psychology, philosophy, linguistics, neuroscience, or a cognate discipline. Typically a minimum final grade of II.1 or equivalent is expected.

How do I apply?

Your online application will request enough personal information to enable you to be recorded within our application system. This will include details of previous degrees. References from two academic referees must be submitted, as well as a 400-600 word statement of research interest which outlines your reasons for wanting to follow this course. Official transcripts from your university will also be required. Details are given on the Online Applications website. The Cognitive Science programme is listed under the School of Computer Science and Informatics.

Full details of the minimal requirements for documenting English language proficiency are provided in this web page. Applicants whose primary language is not English will have to submit evidence of either a TOEFL score of 600 or an IELTS score of 6.0 in each category, and 6.5 overall. These represent an absolute minimum and have to be strictly enforced, as the course requires a lot of written work and reading in primary literature in a variety of fields, including philosophy. Please consult the above document for full details.

If you encounter any difficulties in applying, please contact the programme director at the address below.

Ph.D. or M.Sc. by Research

Both the Ph.D. and M.Sc. by research degrees requre that incoming students first identify an appropriate principal supervisor with expertise in the intended area of research. Staff assocaited with the cognitive science programme can be found through the ‘staff’ and ‘schools’ links above.

Fees

Official fees are listed at http://www.ucd.ie/fees. Please check there for uptodate information as fees are liable to change. For the taught masters programme, fees for the year 2017/2018 are € 6,750 for EU residents and € 18,300 for non-EU residents. For the part-time taught masters degree, fees were €4,390 for EU students and € 9,150 for non-EU students.

Up-to-date information on fees is available through the UCD fees and grants office. Information about scholarships for incoming international students is available at this webpage. Some Irish students have had success in obtaining grants from their local councils.

Please note that students are required to provide their own laptop computers for use throughout the year. For those who are purchasing a laptop for the first time, a special deal has been arranged with HP/DSS and Apple. Details here.

Deadline for Applications

Applications for research degrees are accepted on an ongoing basis. The taught masters programme begins in September each year., and application before mid-July is recommended.