Careers › People & society

How to become a Clinical Psychologist

Diagnoses and treats mental illness through therapy - one of the longest routes on this site.

This needs more than the degree

A bachelor’s degree with psychology as a major is just the first step. The realistic route is: 3-year bachelor’s → Honours (1 year) → HPCSA-accredited Master’s in Clinical Psychology (where you register as a student psychologist) → a National Board Examination → a 12-month internship → 12 months of compulsory community service → registration for independent practice. That’s about seven years minimum, and usually longer, because Master’s places in clinical psychology are very limited and competition for them is intense.

Apply early

The bottleneck isn’t your undergraduate marks – it’s the Master’s. Clinical Psychology Master’s programmes take a small, fixed number of students each year, so start building your application (research experience, strong Honours marks) well before your final undergraduate year. See the Dates page for the exact closing dates.

What does a Clinical Psychologist actually do?

More about this career

Assesses and treats mental illness and psychological distress through therapy, working in hospitals, clinics, private practice or specialised settings (trauma, addiction, child psychology). It is one of the most demanding routes on this site to get into, not because the undergraduate degree is hard to be admitted to, but because so few people who start a psychology degree end up with one of the scarce clinical Master’s places.

Where this degree can take you

  • Trauma Counsellor
  • Child Clinical Psychologist
  • Neuropsychologist
  • Private Practice Psychologist

This is our general description of the role and related jobs, not from an official source – it’s here to give you a fuller picture, not as a careers-counselling guarantee.

Not from an official source

Subjects that usually help

  • English
  • Life Sciences (helpful)
  • Mathematics (helpful for the research/stats components)

This is our general guidance about which school subjects suit this career. It is not an admission requirement and not from an official source – the real requirements are on the degrees below.

Not from an official source

Where to check this yourself

What the degrees we’ve captured actually ask for

  • Mathematics – asked for by 1 of 5 degrees

Counted from the requirements below (an “or” alternative counts for each subject named). Each degree links to the page it came from.

Degrees that lead here

5 degrees at 5 universities. More are added as we verify them.

University of Cape Town

Not fully verified

BA / BSocSc (with Psychology as a major)

Humanities · 3 years

No points cut-off published for this one – see the note below.

  • English: 50% if it is your Home Language, 60% if it is your First Additional Language
  • Life Orientation: 50%
  • Mathematics: 50%
  • NBT – An NBT Academic Literacy result of Lower Intermediate or Basic normally rules an applicant out. UCT’s own page says a Psychology major specifically accepts Maths 50% OR a Proficient NBT Quantitative Literacy result instead - we show the Maths route above since it’s the one we can check from marks alone.

You’re admitted to the general BA/BSocSc (same entry point as humanities-generalist) and choose Psychology as a major from second year - UCT is one of the few universities that publishes a major-specific subject note for Psychology, which is why the Maths requirement above is more specific than the general BA entry. This is the undergraduate entry point only - see the career page for the Honours/Master’s route required to actually practise. The numeric FPS cut-off was in the section of the prospectus our research pass could not read.

Source: View the official page (uct.ac.za) (opens the official page) · 2027 intake

University of KwaZulu-Natal

From an older documentNot fully verified

BA / BSocSc (with Psychology as a major)

Humanities · 3 years

UKZN APS 28 points out of 48

  • English: level 4 (50% or more)
  • Life Orientation: level 4 (50% or more)
  • One listed subject – One subject from UKZN’s designated list at level 5.

UKZN does not list Psychology as its own admission line - you’re admitted to the general BA/BSocSc (shown here) and choose Psychology as a major from second year. This is the undergraduate entry point only - see the career page for the Honours/Master’s route required to actually practise. The published APS range is 48-28. This comes from the Study@UKZN 2026 brochure, the most recent official source we could find. UKZN had not published a 2027 table when we checked, so treat these as 2026 figures pending a 2027 update. Applications go through the CAO.

Source: View the official page (studyatukzn.ukzn.ac.za) (opens the official page)

University of Pretoria

Not fully verified

BA (with Psychology as a major)

Humanities

UP APS 30 points

  • English: level 5 if it is your Home Language, level 5 if it is your First Additional Language

UP’s official table does not list Psychology as its own admission line - like most SA universities, you’re admitted to the general BA (shown here) and choose Psychology as a major from second year. This is the undergraduate entry point only - see the career page for the Honours/Master’s route required to actually practise. Most UP closing dates are 30 June; Veterinary Science closes 31 May. Grade 12 applicants apply with their final Grade 11 results.

Source: View the official page (drupalwebprod-files.up.ac.za) (opens the official page) · 2027 intake

University of South Africa

Partly verified

BA in Psychology

Human Sciences

Unisa APS 20 points

  • English: 50%

At least half of this degree’s 30 modules must be Psychology courses. This is the undergraduate entry point only - see the career page for the Honours/Master’s route required to actually practise. NSC with Bachelor’s Degree endorsement required. Maximum 8 years to complete. Confirmed current for the 2027 intake: Unisa’s own pages state its 2027 application window as 17 August - 9 October 2026.

Source: View the official page (unisa.ac.za) (opens the official page) · 2027 intake

University of the Witwatersrand

From an older documentNot fully verified

BA (General, with Psychology as a major)

Humanities · 3 years

Wits APS 36 points

  • English: level 5 if it is your Home Language, level 5 if it is your First Additional Language

Wits does not list Psychology as its own admission line - you’re admitted to the general BA (shown here) and choose Psychology as a major from second year. This is the undergraduate entry point only - see the career page for the Honours/Master’s route required to actually practise. This figure comes from the Wits schools-liaison Grade 12 guide, which is headed for 2026 entry. We have not yet found a 2027 course-finder page confirming it, so treat it as the most recent official figure rather than a confirmed 2027 one.

Source: View the official page (wits.ac.za) (opens the official page) · 2027 intake

Are your marks enough?

Put your subjects in once and we’ll check them against every degree above – scored each university’s own way.

What do I qualify for?