Hello everyone. I've been reading through this forum for a while and I've finally decided to speak.
I'm a college junior at an Ivy, 3.86 major GPA, 3.91 overall (including an Education minor), with 1 year's worth of part-time research experience in a social neuroscience lab and 1 term of field experience (working at an under-resourced high school). I will be continuing my work in the same lab next term, which will culminate into an honors thesis next year. For next summer, I'm applying to some REUs that will allow me to gain research experience in developmental science.
Since I have some coursework ahead of me, I cannot confidently list finalized research interests, but I am particularly interested in the interaction between social and cognitive development in both academic and non-academic settings (e.g., how do infants and children learn to think about other minds? how can teachers best motivate their students?). And of course, I'm also interested in a plethora of other topics-- empathy and psychopathy, dual processes in moral thinking, development of concept and conceptual frameworks-- but we'll see how things go for the rest of the year.
My goal is to apply to 10-15 PhD programs in developmental psychology for Fall 2014 admission.
Here are my questions:
---Just how important or informative is the GRE subject test? Most schools don't require them, and I feel that my time may be better spent elsewhere (on SOPs or the general exam, for example).
---Other than researching potential programs, contacting potential faculty mentors come spring/summer, and preparing for the GREs, what are some things I should do now to improve my chances / prepare myself? General and specific advice?
---Should I also look into some Human Development (e.g., Cornell and UChicago) and Education (e.g. Michigan's Joint Program in Ed and Psych, UW-M) programs? For those with similar research interests, have you considered or applied to these programs and what do you think?
---And a weird-ish appendage. My boyfriend, who attends another college, is planning to apply to Ph.D. programs in English. We'd like to use this opportunity to end the long-distance portion of our relationship. We're serious about our future together but we recognize that sacrifice may be necessary to make it work. Any thoughts?