Prospective Graduate Students

Dr. Lo is accepting graduate students for Fall 2026 admission in Toronto Metropolitan University’s Psychological Science MA/PhD program. Please check out the grad school applications page for useful information, such as how to increase your chances for admission, the admission requirements, etc. Here is also a helpful/humorous guide for what not-to-do when applying for grad school.  I am interested in working with students who have an interest in culture or diversity in psychology, especially about (but not limited to) the ongoing lines of research in the lab (see About section). It is important to know that this lab does not shy away from statistics, a variety of experimental methods (e.g., eye tracking), and programming (R and occasionally Python), but it is not necessary to be an expert in either to apply (that’s what grad school is for!). 

Successful applicants will have these qualities:

1) Completion of an honours thesis project or year-long independent research project: It is important that applicants for a research-based MA program have experience completing at least one research project from start (e.g., completing and submitting for IRB approval) to end (e.g., producing a research manuscript). Ideally, one of the reference letters should come from the project supervisor (e.g., faculty member) who can speak to your independence and engagement in the research process.

2) Commitment to research experiences: For research assistantships, more than one year of experience is perceived as a commitment to deeply learning about the research process. It is only seen as a plus if you have taken gap years or an extra year during undergrad (e.g., 5th year) to obtain this research experience. 

3) Strong interest in culture and diversity: We love culture in this lab, and we will heavily incorporate cultural psychological theories and frameworks in our work, so it is expected that students come into the lab ready to be trained as a cultural psychologist and/or a social psychologist who specializes in culture and diversity. Ideally, students will have read at least one of the seminal papers in cultural psychology (e.g., Markus & Kitayama, 1991) or have examples of favourite research papers from undergrad courses/thesis research to get a clear idea as to the area of research they are most interested in.

4) Independence and growth-mindset: Successful students in my lab will continue to teach themselves skills that are necessary to succeed in both the academy and industry. This means incorporating feedback in different areas and readily incorporating them as part of your skillset. This is especially true for statistical, writing, and presentation skills.

5) Healthy interest in stats and programming (don’t worry–it’ll be fun!)

Things that are not necessary but any one of these things would make your application stand out: Having already applied to CGS-M or OGS for entry to TMU’s MA program, having programmed in R before (even just a workshop is good), held a lab manager or research coordinator position, participating in research opportunity programs (e.g., SROP), presented posters/talks at thesis days/conferences.

Please note that I will pay close attention to applications that indicate an interest in working with me and therefore emailing me before applying is not necessary.