Jay's Brain

If, like you say, your research interests are very idiosyncratic, and you don't see yourself moving away from that and exploring other realms of possibilities, it'll be an excellent opportunity to find someone who can show you the ropes thoroughly. A new prof doesn't have to be a bad thing. If anything, they may have more to prove, and more time to spend on you. Being green may mean that they are more than willing to help you establish yourself while they establish their own careers. All those upcoming papers that she will be publishing? They could have your name on it. While it can go multiple ways of why you should or should not ask this prof to be your POI, ultimately, you should consider what is going to be best for your future graduate career. If it fits, why not have this as an option amongst your other applications to other POIs?

Hi, I'm not sure if this is applicable to other schools or even to you since you're in the US, but at my undergraduate institution in Toronto, we had a very extensive academic advising and career counselling department. All of the career counsellors and academic advisors completed a Masters in Counselling Psychology (MA or MEd) at a nearby institution called OISE (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education). If this can be applied generally, you may not even need to go so far as a doctorate for you to pursue a career in this field. Of course, that is up to you! I would suggest looking at programs to do with Education or Counselling Psychology as your starting point! Good luck!

I think those are pretty great resources. To be honest, when it comes to the Psychology Subject Test, you already have a strong foundation if you came from an undergraduate program in psychology or related fields. Cracking open your Intro to Psychology textbook might already been a great complementary resource alongside the ones you have listed. Focus on the areas that you are less familiar/sure about and go from there. Just be wary of which sections are weighed the heaviest (have more questions) as well! I studied Neuroscience and Mental Health with a dose of Psychology courses, and was able to do well on the test in about a month of preparation (right after my General GRE too!) Good luck!

Hey ksmyk, Fellow Canadian here. Unlike most of the Canadian universities and their Psychology programs, those in the US tend to allow for direct entry into the PhD. Usually these programs may range from 4-5 years, but are a lot more competitive. Canada, on the other hand, have programs that first require a Masters (MA/MSc), and then allows you to pursue the PhD afterwards (one exception that I know of is at Dalhousie which allows you to transfer after your first year of Masters). It all just comes down to the academic culture between the two countries!

Hey! Fellow incoming student here! I graduated from my undergraduate program in June 2014, and have not been in school since then (although I HAVE been working in an academic setting the entire time) so I completely see why you would be worried! This month has been a bit jittery for me too. On one hand I'm excited about what's to come; on the other, the anticipation of starting something brand new and heading down a more specific path is pretty daunting. I know that I'm not in the same particular situation as you are, balancing a new school term with personal issues, but just remember that everyone around you is, and will be, a great supportive system! Regardless of how things looks, you've made it into a program that you hand selected and it will be a great experience! The ups and downs will come, but in the end things will work out. Life has a way of going topsy-turvy before it settles for each of us. We just have to experience the roller coaster ride quite a few times first! Any current grad students or other incoming students with more sound wisdom and advice that want to chime in?

To play devil's advocate here, I wouldn't say ALL unaccredited programs are bad per se. One of the newest programs is at UTSC, which is the first clinical psychology program at UofT. Since they are brand new (going into their 3rd cohort this September), you won't expect accreditation at the moment. One thing I would recommend is to look at the PIs across the country that have research fields you're interested in pursuing. Often, finding someone with matching research interest as your supervisor, especially one who is well known in the field, can offset how well the programs may rank.

As with all elements of your application, the sum is greater than the parts. Your references, SOP, experiences, and academic grades are all considered alongside your GRE scores. Normally speaking, the scores you indicated are decent. As you are planning to pursue clinical psychology, which tends to be one of the more competitive areas to get into, you may want to improve your GRE scores if you do not think the other elements of your applications can overcome that. Aiming for 160 for both Verbal and Quantitative is usually a safe bet. You should also ask for historical data from the programs you're interested in submitting an application so that you know what traditional acceptances require. Good luck!

Like the previous poster, the Open House is not the most important thing to go to especially if you already have made contact with your POI through an interview of some sort. In two of my acceptances last year, I didn't go to the Open House for one of the programs and only visited the school AFTER I had been accepted for the other. If you would like to see your future school you should definitely try to go, but not going normally wouldn't give you a disadvantage. Good luck!

You have a bit of a tricky situation here. As a engineering student, I presume the QR score is a bit more of importance than your VR. I would suggest looking at previous scores of students accepted into your programs of choice and determining if the 150 is good enough for your VR. If so, then you can just submit your first one. Alternatively, you can also see how the QR scores are like as well. A 164 is approximately 88th percentile which is pretty awesome. That might be good enough when paired with a decent 158 for VR. Unfortunately, the GRE is a numbers game all in all. Good luck!

As the above posters indicate, there is a myriad of good reasons to contact PIs prior to your application cycle. Some people even have it down to an exact science (the best time to email so that they receive it and don't lost it, what to include, etc). The best reason is simply knowing whether the POI is accepting students or has interest in you. Even though it seems tedious, the time you painstakingly use to craft an email to them, no matter how briefly they reply, is still a good starting point. You may think everybody will email the PIs ahead of time, but you'll also be surprised how very few people do it as well. My tip falls closely with what others have said - read their papers, discuss what you found interesting, and briefly come up with an idea of how their research aligns with what you want to conduct or have been conducting. It's easier if you can mould your research interest to what they do so that they see a reason to speak with you further. Then go from there! Good luck

I concur with EdNeuroGrl on looking at the faculty list that conducts neuroimaging research. Alternatively, at any of the researching hospitals near where you are, see if there are any PIs willing to take on research students or volunteers.

Hey as a Canadian here, I would say Toronto and McGill have fantastic Neuroscience-based programs. You may also want to look at McMaster University too. It is about an hour away from Toronto, and has an excellent Neuroscience program called MiNDS. Good luck!

For the most part, unless you're working in a field that studies animals, you're safe with almost any field in psychology! Fields like behavioural and cognitive neuroscience may use animals for testing, but, for the most part, you'll have to worry about humans rather than animals! Of course, that may or may not be easier to handle

Is it possible to do a project in some of the fields and domains you suggested, but have a clinical twist? My undergraduate thesis, for example, was in cognitive neuroscience. I looked at a memory training paradigm for older adults, which would have translated to patients with MCI later down the road if we had continued. I don't think your project has to be 100% clinical per se, but it should preferably follow through with what you hope to study in graduate school. I'll be starting a clinical neuropsychology program this September, so my thesis in cognitive neuroscience was very much on task with what I will be pursuing. Alternatively, if your school allows it, see if you can find an off-campus supervisor for your honours thesis! Best of both worlds. Good luck!

From my own experience of writing the GRE, I would say your mindset going in really dictates your final outcome. It's okay to do less than expected, because it happens to quite a few people. Most people have the same problem of underestimating a section they normally have more confidence in. In your case, I do suggest you just practice through problems, especially the one you were hung on during the actual exam. Quantitative questions are not difficult (for the most part), but they are often convoluted or require more brain power than necessary. Try to target the fastest way to solve the problem. This can only be done through experience, so I would recommend doing the 5 lb Manhattan prep book that the previous poster recommended. A LOT of material there for you to get comfortable, because, honestly, you know how to do the questions. You just weren't ready for it to hit you like that. And on test day, think positive thoughts and go in there with a calm mindset. That can actually work wonders for your final score. Good luck!

I definitely agree with the previous posters that you should try to aim for scores of at least 320 combined. Having taken the GRE 3 times in about a year I know how taxing it can be. Remember your goal, and what you need to do!

Hey! Just let them know who you are (current academic institution, your program of study) and what you see yourself doing. Take a look at some of your POI's work, and see what they do that interests you. Tell them how that particular work interests you, and what kind of experience you have that makes you interested in pursuing that area. You don't have to be very specific, but if you at least know the interest area (which you do) and can come up with a brief idea of what it is you can do in their lab then you should briefly include that. Then at the end, inquire whether they will be taking on students this coming year and what you can do to get ready. I included my CV and unofficial transcript as well when I was applying for schools the past year. Good luck

I would say Psychtoolbox and Matlab are very useful programming languages and tools to use. They allow for a lot of versatility and avoids the hassle of having multiple softwares to run behavioural experiments and data/statistical analyses.

Hey! For the most part you will contact with a mentor who you think can provide you with a strong LOR. This can be someone you've taken a course with, worked for, or anything combining the two. Let them know that you are interested in applying to a graduate program, where you see yourself applying to, and humbly ask if they can be your reference. Judging by how well you know them, you can assess whether they will be open to do so. I also recommend you give them ample time in advance (months, not weeks or days). Depending on the program, they may either do it electronically (access the schools' portal to upload) or provide you with a sealed copy to submit. Whether or not you can see it beforehand is a bit tricky. Again, that's for you to work out with the referee. Sometimes they may even ask you to write it yourself, and let them sign it. All in all, it's a case by case basis! Hope that helps!

Hey gavinb432, I actually did just that for my application cycle. I know it may seem a bit out of place to ask for this, but you want two things from your LOR - 1) Someone who knows your work well, and can provide excellent knowledge of your skills; and 2) someone who is established in the field and can give you a nudge in the right direction. Sometimes these two criteria won't be from the same person for multiple reasons (as is your case). I actually think this should be encouraged. When I suggested the idea, I asked both the PI and the postdoc whether they can write something together so that the postdoc can guide the PI with writing about my relevant experiences in their lab. They were both very receptive of this. I know it may be a case by case basis, but you should be able to judge whether both of them will be able to comply to your request. For me, it worked well! Hope it helps you too!

Those are averages overall, so as long as you meet the requirements I don't see why you won't have a legitimate chance! The numbers seem to fluctuate each year for acceptance, so that's a sign that the program is likely to accept all students they deem to fit with their program. I do encourage you to speak with the PIs that are accepting for the application cycle, because that gives you a clearer lead-in and shot at a spot. Knowing that you have interest from potential graduate advisors go a long way. Of course, look for external funding opportunities too to make it even more enticing. It'll be a long process, but I wish you the best. Good luck!

I did think of Spunky up there when you mentioned you were interested in Quant Psych. The only person I know by far (at least on this forum) who is in that field of study and provides excellent responses. Definitely a great person to ask for pointers on that side of the ball! I'll be responding to your other questions soon!

Yes, I would suggest going directly into the departmental section of the institutes' website. A lot of schools show historical trends as a way to bolster their records. If you don't find anything you're looking for, definitely shoot them an email to ask for more clarification. Usually, they are more than happy to provide you with the number of applicants and successful acceptances they receive. Good luck!

Hi Ooley, I think it's great that you are planning this far ahead give that you're only two years removed from beginning your undergraduate studies! As someone with familiarity in the Cognitive Neuroscience domain I can assure you that your current trajectory, and relevant experience, show you have a very strong sense of what you hope to achieve for your graduate studies! The minors (computer science, especially) will be very pragmatic and useful in the cognitive neuroscience field. If you're interested in neuroimaging it is especially useful to know more about programming (MATLAB and Unix comes to mind). I would say if you can afford to be in both labs, there's no reason not to be! My only feedback is making sure your involvement in the genetics laboratory becomes relevant to what you intend to do in neuroscience. If the focus ends up being more aligned with genetics in the domain of biology, this may be a bit away from what you are set on doing. If that's the case, the LOR there may not be as relevant as the neuroimaging lab. Use these as stepping stones to find more relevant research experience and be involved in other labs as you seem to be doing already! If time is not a pressing issue for you, and assuming that you are academically successful, there is no reason why your experiences won't translate into a program in Cognitive Neuroscience. Great job and good luck!