Woodsygal85

Hi JoePianist, For Cornell it is their Social/Personality Program and for Princeton the Social psych program. While at Princeton, there are a broader range of research applications, I am particularly interested in and have a host of research scaffolds surrounding stereotypes.

Hi. Yes You and JoePianist are correct. For Cornell it is their Social/Personality Program and for Princeton the Social psych program. While at Princeton, there are a broader range of research applications, I am particularly interested and have a host of research scaffolds surrounding stereotypes.

Hi Everyone! Good Luck to all. I'm a first time PhD clinical psych applicant. I am currently a Marriage and Family Therapist but looking to create some research based upon clinical experiences in the field. Im applying to: UCLA, USC, LLU, ULV, Harvard, Cornell, Yale, Princeton, BU, UC San Diego, Clark, and UH-Manoa. I hope everyone has received all their transcripts and LOR (Im waiting on mine still!) I hope everyone receives positive love and gains admission somewhere. Good Luck again. Stay positive!!

Im not sure I follow. Was it the use of the cultural phrase or the intensity of the opening that had you put off? I will look into this and make corrections

Good. Colleges tend not to look at SATs or ACTs once you've completed your Bachelors. Its meaningless but the Senior Thesis is good. Add any additional field work or presentations (conferences,consortiums, etc) that you have contributed to. If you've aided in developing the breadth of knowledge to the field, add that. Perhaps thats an area that can highlight where your application of the knowledge exceeds.

Did you get a reader?

I think its a decent start. I think I would like to see more of you in it. What makes you stand out. Always ask yourself WHAT MAKES ME UNIQUE. I ask myself I am competing against thousands, i could be competing against YOU! (since were both Psych PhD) So how am I different from the scores, the 4.0s the extra-curriculars the labs, all that. What separates you. Always as "so what?" when you write something. You want to sell yourself. Imagine you are the HOTTEST commodity next to a Ferrari and your university HAS to have you. How would you sell you? You have a solid foundation. I think its lackluster in how you can match up with specifics to the university, what you can bring, and how you can become a useful asset to them. I like the end of your opening paragraph, but I wonder if there is a more "BOOM" way to grab attention for the opening. How many other thousands will start that way too? Keep diggin!! Keep me up to date!!

Hello everyone, I am looking for a few pairs of eyes in the Psychology field to review the opening portion of my Statement of Purpose draft for a few Ivy League schools. I am interested in feedback regarding content, flow, and overall composition of the work. I am aware of grammatical errors that are within the body of the manuscript excerpt. I have an editor friend who is tagging that currently. I appreciate your time and energy. Draft 1 Portion 1 “Shh. They want me to kill you and I don’t want to Ms. Danielle. You have to be quiet. Shh. Shh Shh.” It was November 2008, on a particularly hot winter day in Southern California, when my 6’ 6”, muscular, African American client’s mind betrayed him for the third time that year. His eyes darted from me, to the corners of the empty room, and settled emptily back to me. Like a bolt of lightening, he crashed through the safety door and began tearing the flesh from his forearm atop the barb wired fence. A code blue was called, safety protocols were in effect, but my instincts had already led me outside; I had removed my client’s bloodied arm from the fence and persuaded him back inside for emergency medical treatment. My tenure in the mental health field has provided ample exposure to a battery of mental illnesses, comorbidities, and those who battle proverbial demons daily: the Bipolar parent, in unbridled mania, abandoning three children to a hypnotic world of Crystal Meth and Ecstasy, the Paranoid Schizophrenic threatening to jump off the local interstate if he didn’t receive his medication by 4:52pm, and the Major Depressive who literally lie in waste because of loneliness. It was humbling. I naively believed that my clinical role-playing, my courses in Marriage and Family Therapy I and II, and identification of family systems models would give me an edge. I found that creativity, following my instincts, and having access to a team were some of the greatest indicators for my success. Utilizing my creativity has been a resource I draw upon often. I developed a cutting-edge group for those with Major Depression aimed at reducing reported symptoms and improving community connection. Outcome measures indicated that consumers who enrolled in the program required smaller anti-depressants doses than those consumers that were not enrolled in the program. Enrolled consumers also demonstrated an ability to sustain a better mood over a longer period of time. My ingenuity was consulted when a domestic violence safety group was to be developed in the clinic. The group was unique such that it was comprised of both males and females. Through out the process, the men and women were able to develop and then demonstrate safe relationships with the opposite sex. Management of the group dynamics required cunning and patience, but it was revolutionary in its design. ........ Draft 1 Portion 3 I wish to pursue a PhD from XXX University as my research interests focus on clinician efficacy and competency, the clinical team’s comprehension of pre-existing or new empirically based models, and treatment outcome analyses - interests that mirror the research at Harvard. I am especially impressed by Dr. XXX’s research in empirically supported treatments, clinical treatment outcomes, and the development of the XX model which calls for treatment measures and modalities that ought to be used in typical care settings. I admire Dr. XX as he fortifies his mission of improving mental health care for children and adolescents. He was recognized in XX Magazine as the recipient of the 2015 XXX Award for his ongoing efforts on evidenced-based interventions. I am deeply interested in the Laboratory for XX, XXX University. I most closely identified with the research projects 1) Consumer and Clinician Feedback, 2) Clinic Treatment and Sustainability Projects, and 3) Meta-Analyses of Youth Treatment Outcome Research. In practice, I have seen a need for more information regarding treatment and consumer feedback. Clinicians often consult with team staff about being “stuck” with a consumer on how to progress forward. Dr. XX lab offers access on how to identify the assessed symptoms, consumer identified objectives, or problematic behaviors a consumer feels they’re improving upon. This can help clinicians identify what is working, how to adjust therapeutically, and identify additional needs that may have risen. For Clinic Treatment and Sustainability Projects, I find it critical to the research that it has been taken out of a safe lab and placed into a clinical setting. In a “usual” setting, the treatment modality has an opportunity to be tested against the realties of daily stressors: students playing interpreters for parents, families torn by money, trouble getting to therapy because of car problems, scheduling issues, basic no shows, and cultural differences. As more data regarding their validity and reliability is available, the interventions can be refined until they can be delivered across of cultural divides. Finally, the meta-analysis of whether the methods actually work better than usual care demonstrates that the lab and its researchers are constantly checking itself morally and ethically. Everyday, we are forced to ask difficult questions with respect to our research or when peer-reviewing the research of our colleagues. These questions remind us to remain open minded, objective, and true to the ethical standard by which we conduct ourselves. .............. © DNKG

I am doing the same thing. 90% of my schools are out of California. However, most schools now a days are highly competitive. Every school takes each applicant seriously. I think coming from California or Rhode Island or Alaska doesn't matter. What matters is your application and how you make it work. Its your piece of art. So make it speak for you! I think we must look outside the box. Remember that everyone is coming in with amazing extra-curriculars, volunteer work, some with professional experience, letters of recommendations, or GRE scores that are phenomenal. You have to take an honest look at yourself and present that which is MOST UNIQUE. Select that and run with it. How does that contribute to the university and the area that you are looking to research or the faculty that you are wanting to have tutelage under. Read the prompts that the universities provide. They are thorough and ask quite a bit from each of their applicants. My favorite is to read one or two articles of research under a professor that you like. See what ties into your strengths, your ideas from your soul, and if you have ever imagined yourself doing something better/differently/or wanted to change some iota of a preexisting program. You must sell yourself and not present yourself as being timid. A university can sense who WILL give all they have and those who are uncertain by the SOP. The weeding out of the no's, the possibles, and those with potential can be screened simply by reading the first paragraph of your SOP. I think you could discuss how serious you are about your education and devotion to your profession and the university as you wrap the SOP up. This way you can tie it all nicely together. Open strong with your interests, have your breadth of work, faculty information etc and then close with why you are the best choice emphasizing your commitment. Good luck and don't give up!

I have the same problem; low GRE scores and I have already completed a Master's. It is a question that I wonder about. Should it even be put into your SOP and explained? Or should one's strengths and how you line up with the university's research, faculty, and why you are a great fit for them. How will you become a tribute to the school. I am looking at PhD programs. I have heard of supplemental essays but they aren't all that common. Its usually in the interview when you have the chance to explain the poor GRE or academic record. I have it on good authority from a Harvard alumni that its better to make a comment on how your positive attributes and work ethic are better indicators of your abilities than your academic record/GRE scores. That one does not need to go into detail about your scores in another essay. Include it in your SOP if you are still able.