neuropsych76

Yes, as well as some other grad students. Apparently, it's doable and even though I'll be Taing a class, I won't be doing much research my first semester. And my advisor said that if it's too much, I can drop a class if I need to. I guess I'll just find out when I get there!!

Well, I think you have answered your own question on whether to apply to PhD programs If you don't absolutely love research (which you saying you don't want to work in a lab anymore than you have to suggests you do not) then a PhD program would not be something you would want to do. What would you like to ultimately do for a career? That is what you need to decide first. Working in a lab is a good option for people who know they want to do psychology research, but perhaps do not have the credentials or refined area of research they are interested in. I would try to do some soul searching your senior year and investigate possible career options (as well as talking with your professors). Hopefully you will find something that you are passionate about and can use your off time to pursue it. General things to do in an "off" but "on" year would be to volunteer, travel, teach for america, stuff like that. I don't have any personal experience in those kind of things but I hear they can be good for people in your situation. Good luck!!

If you have already taken many of your important classes for your program (stats, upper level psych courses) then I wouldn't worry about it. I applied during my senior year and it wasn't a problem at all having to send an incomplete transcript. Schools will ask you to send a final transcript at the end of the year (if your accepted) to make sure you didn't slack off

I would have to go with clinical psychology because of the massive amount of applicants they receive. If your GPA or GRE are slightly below average, your application may get thrown out before they look at anything else. All psychology programs are very competitive though. Especially fully funded PhD's. But clinical seems to be the toughest for admission because of the sheer number of applicants, many of which have very strong credentials.

I'm in the sciences (cognitive neuroscience) and I think it's expected that I get around 2 or 3. I thought this was kind of low but the papers that are expected are first author top tier journal articles. But yeah, like others said, it all depends on the field.

I'd be taking 5 classes total. One is a seminar type class. 3 are part of a module. So I don't think that's too terrible but I really have no idea. Apparently, I won't be doing much lab work my first semester which is why it was suggested. But I would be TAing...

So I thought I was taking the usual entry courses for my program this fall but my advisor suggested I take an additional neuroimaging class to prepare me for neuroimaging research quicker. This sounds like a good idea and I'd love to get started on learning more about neuroimaging but I'm worried that it might be too much on top of TAing, working in the lab, and adjusting to grad school life in general. How common is it to take an extra class in graduate school? With all the extra stuff going on is it feasible? I have no idea what to expect for graduate level classes. Thanks for any advice/input

I agree But if they offer to talk on the phone after your email, I would definitely say yes. Even if you don't end up applying to that school, it's still great practice for interviews and experience for talking to people in academia outside of your college.

Honestly, I would take some time off to try to figure out what you want to do. Many professors I've talked to say that if you are not 100% determined and sure about grad school, it's best to take some time off first. The last thing you want to do is get stuck in a program you don't like and waste time/money. That said, you still have some time to figure out if you want to apply or not this application season. Good luck!!

I'd shoot for September/early October. You want to try to get them early enough in the school year but late enough so that they know if they are taking a student for next fall. But as long as you keep the email brief and to the point most seem to reply.

Wow...that was crazy and funny Thanks for sharing!

I used Open Office during my undergrad years largely because it was free and I could just use my school's computer labs for Microsoft Office if I needed it. I was wondering what other grad students are using or plan on using? Open Office has the big advantage of being free but Microsoft is more mainstream so I wouldn't have to worry about files being altered when they were converted. Also, I worry (perhaps irrationally) that my files would not be completely private if I used Open Office since it's online freeware. I believe when I downloaded Open Office last year it asked me something about how my files could be made public for research purposes (i don't think having my dissertation made public before it's published is a good idea). I added a poll mostly for novelty but I'm curious to see what people use in grad school

I would really think you would need to increase your GRE and maybe take and do well on the Psych GRE. Do you really want/need the Psy.D though? You already have a masters in family therapy so I'm guessing you can practice therapy already. A Psy.D from Nova will put you 200+k in debt.

Yes, I believe there are several that do. I know Villanova offers strong financial support for masters students.

taco bell

Oh, I see Well yes, people do get into top tier programs with your stats. Your stats are good enough and you have the connections already with the program. I know someone who worked in a top tier lab one summer and then was accepted into the PhD program the next fall. Her stats were strong but the connection (or "backdooring" i've never heard of this term ha) helped her get in though.

+1'd! Pinning this topic would stop a great deal of extraneous threads (hopefully).

Congrats on the research job offer! Sounds awesome If I understand you correctly: you are worried that your "backdoor" acceptance might be at a university that is not as good as top tier schools. So you are not sure if you want to take this acceptance (or likely acceptance) or chance for better schools? If that's the case I think you are getting a little ahead of yourself. You may end up loving the lab you are working in and absolutely want to go to this school. Esp. if you think the professor your working for is the best of the best since that is more important than school name. Don't get too caught up in the name of the school or stats of other applicants. If you have a chance to work with a top professor in your area of interest and like the school than that seems like a pretty good fit. Plus, you can still work in their lab without going to grad school there. You can still apply to other places even if they offer you admission. You have lots of options! Good luck!

thanks for the noterize tip! i just downloaded it and i like it more than neu.annotate easier to use and more features!

neu.annotate is a pretty sweet free app. you just transfer your pdfs from dropbox right to neu.annotate and you can easily scribble or text notes. it seems to be as good as any non-free app

Did they give any loose timeline as to when decisions are made? I applied to a school in December had an interview in March and never heard from them again. I'm guessing they will never let me know if I was accepted (even though I'm sure I was rejected). It appears some schools never let you know so you may want to keep asking.

It's awesome at first but get's old quick. I always love seeing people's facebook statuses that are something like "yay first snow of the year" and then a few months later those same statuses morph into "ugh when will spring come."

You would need at least a few basic psych courses for to fulfill the masters program pre-reqs (probably on the website). Are you planning on going on for a PhD? A masters in general psych might not be worth the money unless you go for the PhD later on.

I started contacting profs in late August and until late October. Most of my deadlines were in December/January so I had to find a good balance of not contacting them too early when they don't know if they are taking a student and not contacting them too late! It worked out for me though