There is a capacity limit and selection procedure for the Mental Health Care related master’s specialisations to ensure the quality of education. These clinical specialisations are: Child and Adolescent Psychology, Clinical Neuropsychology, Clinical Psychology, Health and Medical Psychology, School Psychology and Klinische Psychologie (Dutch).

The nonclinical specialisations do not have a limited capacity and selection procedure. The nonclinical specialisations are: Applied Cognitive Psychology, Economic and Consumer Psychology, Methodology and Statistics in Psychology, Occupational Health Psychology, and Social and Organisational Psychology.

For more information about the specialisations, see our website.

The clinical specialisations each have a fixed number of places. It seems likely that there will be fewer places than admissible students for each of the clinical specialisations. As a result, students who apply for one of these programmes and meet the general admission requirements will then be selected and ranked for admission based on additional selection criteria.
Detailed information on the selection criteria and process can be found on our website by clicking on the specialisation of your choice and navigating to Admission Requirements (under Admission and Application).

The number of places available per clinical specialisation per intake are:

This is an understandable question but is very hard to predict. It seems likely that there will be fewer places than admissible students for each of the clinical specialisations.

Please make sure you have alternative plans (e.g., you have applied to another master's programme or university) in case you are not selected or placed for the specialisation of your choice.

For the clinical specialisations all students need to submit an application for admission in both Studielink and the uSis portal, including students who have obtained or will obtain the Bachelor in Psychology at Leiden University. To allow Leiden University to assess whether you can be admitted you need to upload several documents with your application in the uSis portal. An overview of what you need to do (including a list of documents) can be found on our website by clicking on the specialisation of your choice and then navigating to Admission and Application on the left.

Make sure you stay on top of your application. This means you should upload all documents as soon as you have finalised them and/or have them in your possession. That way, we can let you know if the documents you provided are correct, or if further action is required on your part, as early on as possible. Only applications that have been submitted before the application deadline will be presented to the Board of Admissions.

Correspondence about your application will be by email, to the email address you provided in Studielink. Make sure to check your email regularly.

Applicants applying to one of our clinical specialisations will be given the option in Studielink to choose a second specialisation (clinical or nonclinical). You will only receive the option to choose a second specialisation if your first choice is a clinical specialisation. The specialisation you choose first will also be your 'first choice', the second specialisation your 'second choice'. Which specialisation you choose first and which second does affect the selection procedure, see 'How does the ranking work' below for more information. Keep this in mind.

NB. If you wish to apply for another specialisation – and the application deadline has not passed – you will need to withdraw your active application and submit a new application for admission in Studielink and uSis for the other specialisation. The new application will again be processed by the Board of Admissions to verify you meet the admission requirements. Keep in mind that by doing this, you will forfeit your place for the original application!

Yes, you can. You are strongly recommended to have a back-up plan in case you are not selected or placed into the programme.

To participate in the selection procedure applicants need to apply in Studielink, and then submit their application along with all the required documents in the uSis portal. Once the application is submitted and complete, it will be assessed by the Board of Admissions. This assessment consists of two steps. First the Board of Admissions will evaluate if the applicant meets the general admission requirements. If yes, then the board will rank the applicant based on how they score on the selection criteria.

More detailed information on the admission requirements, the required documents, and the selection criteria can be found on the website under Admission and Application.

Applicants will be notified before May 31^st (September intake) and December 15^th (February intake) whether they are selected. After receiving confirmation of placement applicants have fourteen days to accept the offer. If you do not accept the offer within fourteen days, you will forfeit your place.
If a candidate declines the offer (or forfeits their place), the highest-ranking subsequent candidate on the waiting list will obtain the offer that was rejected. That candidate will, again, have fourteen days to accept the offer. Post-placement can take place until August 31^st (September intake) and January 31^st (February intake).

Applicants are classified into three categories: ‘Excellent’, ‘Sufficient’, and ‘Insufficient’. Note, which specialisation you chose first and which second in Studielink does affect the selection procedure and your ranking number.

• Excellent application and first specialisation
  Applicants who score ‘excellent’ on 1.A, 1.B, 1.C and 2 will be marked as ‘Excellent’ applications and will be admitted to the programme. If there are more ‘Excellent’ applications than available positions, the positions will be distributed by a draw from the ‘Excellent’ applications. Applicants who did not get a position will be put on a waiting list. The ranking for this list will be based on the draw.
• Sufficient application and first specialisation
  Applicants who score ‘sufficient’ on 1.A, 1.B, 1.C or 2 will be marked as ‘Sufficient’ applications. If there are positions left after the ‘Excellent’ applications are admitted, a draw will be made from the ‘Sufficient’ applications. Applicants who did not get a position will be put on a waiting list. The ranking for this list will be based on the draw.
• Excellent or sufficient application and second specialisation
  All applicants who chose a specific specialisation as their first choice will be placed first. Only after all these applicants have been placed will applicants who chose that same specialisation second be placed. The applicants who had the specialisation as their second choice will be put on a waiting list. The ranking for this list will be based on a draw made from all applicants who had the specialisation as their second choice.
• Insufficient application
  Applicants who scored ‘insufficient’ on requirement 2 will be marked as ‘Insufficient’ and will not be admitted to the programme.

More information on how the scores for requirements 1 and 2 are established can be found under Admission requirements (under Admission and Application).

Applicants who have received a confirmation of placement will receive an email, in that email there is a link to the online form you need to use to accept your placement. Applicants have fourteen days to accept the offer. If you do not accept the placement within fourteen days, you will forfeit your place.

Please accept or reject your place as soon as possible. If you do not want your place and reject the offer quickly, applicants on the waiting list will have a better chance of being placed instead.

Which specialisation you chose first in Studielink and which second does affect the selection procedure and your ranking number. For more information see 'How does the ranking work' above.

When you apply for two clinical specialisations you will participate in the selection process for both specialisations. You will likely receive a different ranking number for both applications. If you are placed in your first choice and accept that placement, your second application will be stopped. However, in the case that you are placed into your second choice first, you can accept placement for your second choice while remaining on the waiting list for your first choice. If you are later placed for your first choice and accept placement, then your application for your second choice will be stopped (thereby forfeiting placement for your second choice).

When you apply for one clinical specialisation and one nonclinical specialisation, you will be admitted to the nonclinical specialisation if you meet the admission requirements. You will then still participate in the selection process for the clinical specialisation. If you are placed for the clinical specialisation and accept placement, your application to the nonclinical specialisation will be stopped.

All applicants will be notified of their ranking number before May 31^st (September intake) and December 15^th (February intake). Applicants with ranking numbers up to the available number of places for that specialisation will be placed. Applicants who are not placed will be put on the waiting list in order of their ranking number. See 'How does the ranking work' above for more information.

The ranking progress will be updated regularly on our website, indicating which applicants are in the first positions on the waiting list. If a place falls free (for example, if an applicant declines placement) it will be offered to the highest-ranking subsequent applicant on the waiting list.

Please note that applicants who are offered a place closer to the start of the programme will have less time to satisfy the admission requirements (such as, providing the certified copies of your bachelor's degree, and/or submitting a sufficient English test if required). Applicants themselves are responsible for preparing and submitting these documents on time.

Please make sure you have alternative plans (e.g., you have applied to another master's programme or university) in case you are not placed into the programme.

Students who require a visa and/or residence permit and are on the waiting list need to submit their visa application in time for the visa application deadline.

Once you have submitted your visa application, it will not be forwarded to the IND until, 1) the application is complete (the visa office will correspond with you about your visa application), 2) you have received a confirmation of placement, and 3) you have accepted the place via the acceptance form.

Visa applications submitted after the deadline will not be processed, and you will lose your place.

If you defer your studies, you will lose your place in the programme or on the waiting list. This means you will have to re-apply for the selection procedure for the new semester or academic year.

Information on which documents applicants need to submit when applying to one of the clinical specialisations can be found on the specialisations' website under Required documents. Under the required documents you can also find a link to the two required forms for the selection procedure (the application form and motivational letter form).

For the motivation letter applicants need to use the 'Motivational Letter form' that is provided under Required documents, and upload this with their application in uSis. The instructions on what should be included in your motivation as well as the scoring criteria can be found on the form.

The motivation should be around four hundred words. An exceedance of more than 10 percent of this word count eliminates the possibility of an excellent score on this selection criterium. If you are experiencing issues with your motivation not fitting within the textbox (e.g. parts are getting cut-off), try using fewer blank lines and/or shortening your text.

Applicants for the clinical specialisations of the Master in Psychology need to submit the ‘Application Form’ with their online application in uSis, this form can be found under Required documents.

Before submitting your application, please carefully read the instructions below on how to fill out the ‘Application Form’. It is important to fill out the form correctly, because it is used by the Board of Admissions to check the qualitative selection criteria and select applicants for admission to the programme.

The form is used by applicants to show their academic excellence in three domains or components: General Psychology, Clinical domain, and Methodology & Statistics. Per component applicants need to fill out:

• The courses that correspond to the required topics listed per component.
  Only fill in one course per topic. If you have taken multiple courses that correspond to the required topic, fill in the course that best meets the topic or qualitative selection criteria (the grade can only be counted once for the weighted average per component).
  You can fill in the same course for two different topics. The grade can only be counted once for the weighted average (per component). It is recommended to use a different course for each topic (if possible).
• The grade achieved per course.
  You do not need to convert your grade to the Dutch equivalent. Please fill in the grade as it is listed on your transcript.
  If you have not yet completed a course you will automatically not be able to get an 'excellent' rating on that component. The selection criterium 1 is based on academic excellence, including relevant courses and the grades achieved. Please fill in the courses that are completed as much as possible. Another option would be to defer your studies to the next semester if you think this will improve your rating.
• The EC per course.
  If your university does not use the EC system: 60 EC are equivalent to a full year of study. In a standard academic year, these credits are usually broken down into several smaller modules. One EC represents 28 hours of coursework, this includes both contact hours (e.g., lectures and tutorials) and self-study. The coursework hours or credits are often listed in the prospectus or on the transcript. You can use this information to calculate the EC equivalent of your credits.
• The total EC and the weighted average per component.
  For the calculation of the weighted average the number of EC per course needs to be considered. For example, you have taken a course in Psychometrics - grade 7 - EC 5 and a course in SPSS - grade 8 - EC 10. The course in SPSS is more EC and thus needs to be weighted more in the calculation of weighted average. The calculation of the weighted average would be the following: ((7*5)+(8*10))/15 = 7.66 weighted average.
  Formula: ((grade x EC) + (grade x EC)) / total EC = weighted average.
• Course details.
  A description of the course, including course objectives and a public link to the course prospectus (if available). In this section you will use the same courses you used in the ‘summary of courses’ section.

Do not leave any of the mandatory boxes empty (courses, EC, weighted average, and course details)! This information is used to decide your score on selection criterium 1.

You don’t have to do this, the University’s Admissions Office is an expert on converting grades from all over the world to the Dutch grading system.

For the selection criterium 1 (academic excellence) the applicants’ grades are considered. If grades are missing on the 'Application Form' for one of the three components (1.A, 1.B, or 1.C), the applicant will automatically no longer be able to get an 'excellent' score on that component.
Applicants who scored 'sufficient' on 1.A, 1.B, 1.C, or 2 will have their applications marked as 'Sufficient', which influences your ranking number. See 'How does the ranking work' for more information. You can choose to submit your application and participate in the draw. Another option would be to defer your studies to the next semester if you think this will improve your rating.

Note, if on the application form you fill in a course that is not yet completed or for which you do not yet have a grade, passing this course will become an additional condition for admission.

60 EC are the equivalent of a full year of study. In a standard academic year, these credits are usually broken down into several smaller modules. One EC represents 28 hours of course load, this includes both contact hours (e.g., lectures and tutorials) and self-study. The coursework hours or credits are often listed in the prospectus, or on the transcript. You can use this information to calculate the EC equivalent of your credits.

The minimum required EC is listed on the application form. For more information you can also see article 5.2.4.1.a. in the Course and Examination Regulations.
Keep in mind that aside from the additional selection criteria, applicants also need to meet the admission requirements which can be found on the website under Admission Requirements.

You need to fill in one course per topic. You can fill in the same course for two different topics. The grade can only be counted once for the weighted average (per component). It is recommended to use a different course for each topic (if possible). Make sure you fill in the course that best corresponds to the topic or the qualitative selection criteria.
Keep in mind that aside from the additional selection criteria, applicants also need to meet the admission requirements which can be found on the website under Admission Requirements.

Unfortunately, we cannot state which course should be used for each requirement for all the applicants. It is up to the applicant to show the Board of Admissions they have taken the necessary courses that are relevant for admission. Applicants can do this by providing a short course description, the course objectives and a public link to the course prospectus (if available) under the course details section of the 'Application Form'.
You can check the prospectus for the international bachelor's in psychology at Leiden University for comparison: Psychology: International Bachelor in Psychology (IBP) (Bachelor 2024-2025)

We filled in an example form using our own bachelor's programme. You can use this along with the prospectus above to see which courses correspond to which topic. The example form can be found here.