jakem

Thanks for the clarification! Not sure why they buried that way up in the document. I'd say then that social/clinical programs are roughly comparable in competitiveness.

I'm very interested in the intersection of psychology and religion! I recently got accepted to a social psychology program with a mentor who is currently studying just that. Are you looking for more of a social psychology program, or a clinical/counseling psychology program?

You absolutely need to do a Master's. Your GPA is too low to be taken seriously by any good PhD program, and you'll need to fix it by showing them you can get a 3.8+ in a Master's program. The fact that you already have some research experience is a big plus, but you'll be cut right away without having a great Master's GPA to make up for your bad undergrad GPA. That being said, I might look for another Master's than NYU. I've heard bad things. An optimal program would be one where you could work with faculty and do real research.

the social psychology PhD program. I didn't know there was more than one...

Has anybody heard from University of Minnesota yet? The website just says "Awaiting Program Decision"....

Me neither. I promise the minute I hear anything from them I'll let you know.

That's nice and all... but just saying, social/personality PhD programs are actually more competitive than clinical PhD programs. That's according to the APA 2011 analysis (Table 18). http://www.apa.org/workforce/publications/11-grad-study/applications.pdf

Whoa whoa, NOT okay. Grad school is a game, pure and simple. They define the rules, and we play to win. But do you really think that this has any correlation with what goes on out in the real world? There are great minds that have never gone to grad school and never need to. Charles Darwin never went to grad school and I'm pretty sure he revolutionized the world of modern thought for centuries to come. Albert Einstein never went to grad school and he is considered one of the greatest minds to ever live! I'm really sorry, and I can understand how painful this must be. But it's not that unusual, and you're definitely not alone. There are plenty of people who have to re-tool and try again next year. But you really want this, and you think this is the right path for you, you'll try again.

I feel like you'd need some extenuating factors in your SOP to make up for your grades. That, and some really amazing GRE scores.

Isn't this kind of not applicable for grad school though? I mean, don't cohorts pretty much stick together?

Still waiting as well. Pretty sure they had their Social PhD interview weekend though, so at this point I'm just hoping for a Master's offer.

Really sorry about this... but yeah. The only places that are teaching social psychology are colleges/universities, and the only way to teach there is to be a teacher/researcher hybrid (AKA professor). There are high school teaching general psychology, but usually just a single AP/IB section, so you would have to teach other subjects as well. I'd recommend doing some real soul-searching and really think hard about why you like psychology, why you like teaching, and see if you can explore these interests in a different way.

Yeah, sorry. People over here do the same thing, and they have to essentially "re-do" their Master's as well. Just think of it as time to publish more!

I'm skeptical. "payment of up to 36 units of tuition per year", covers "most fees." UC Irvine is offering me $52k my first year and $30-32k the next 4 years, but since tuition/fees are almost $15,000, it changes the bottom line quite a bit.

Potential UCI student here. Never lived on the west coast before. My big concern is the superficiality and enforced suburban qualities of Irvine. Are there things to do around the campus? Are people horrible and vapid? I'm not being harsh, I'm just worried. Would living in Costa Mesa make a big difference in this regard? I'm also a bit worried about living far away from campus and my cohort in Irvine. I still want to make friends of course! Can anyone tell me of their experiences with this?