TommySotomayor

Another INCREDIBLY important thing that (I think) no one has touched on yet is the role of your personal statement(s) and letters of recommendations.  As @Takeruk pointed out, admissions committees (ideally) evaluate an applicant's profile holistically.  Therefore, it is of the utmost importance to ensure that your personal statements are succinctly written and actually answer the questions in the prompt.  Also, we all have a tendency to self-aggrandize (especially when you're a faceless applicant in a sea of other faceless applicants), so, if you haven't already, seek opinions from several sources on your statements.  They'll aid you in crafting a statement that is palatable to the reader (i.e., doesn't include cringeworthy self-endorsements), yet still emphasizes what unique and positive qualities you have to possess.  Also, since you plan on going into academia, committees will pay attention to how well you write, given that you will writing research papers, applications for fellowships/scholarships, and grants.  Therefore, please do not neglect this portion of your applications!  
Obviously, you may have already done these things, but it seems that many of the threads on this site revolve around finding ways to compensate for an subpar GRE score and/or GPA.  And while your score in the 50th percentile on the quantitative portion will definitely hurt your chances, this can be improved upon.  Additionally, and I cannot reiterate this enough, your personal statement(s) are extremely important.  Basically, these statements are the admissions committee's first, and probably only, exposure to your writing abilities.  So, these statements should be written such that they immediately catch and hold the reader's attnetion.  Also, especially in cog neuro, I think it's important to describe what kind of research you're interested in conducting while trying to be as detailed as possible (i.e., you don't have to write a proposal).
Finally, I wonder how strong your letters of recommendation are.  I'm assuming that most programs require three ref letters, so if only one is strong and the rest are blasé (because they aren't very familiar with you or your work), that will certainly factor in.  I apologize if some of these questions/comments have already been answered, but I'm extremely tired and was only able to skim over the thread.  
Best of luck.

Note that publications in itself are not necessary - it's also about experience. I've seen plenty of people enter grad school without a publication. My belief is still that publications can also be right place right time during undergrad. Some profs are also more willing than others to put student names on papers. Although I wouldn't know how much studying abroad in itself may help tbh - I've lived 2 years in Asia (although I'd like to do a PhD related to cultural psych so it may help for that reason), but I've also been involved in things that I'll just leave for my resume and will not discuss as they only distract from what I'm trying communicate. Like my student council time has no direct relevance for what I want to tell and I leave it for my SoPs to communicate that I have leadership skills and am a great teamplayer and open to new people or smthing. In the end you want to say I want to communicate I want to be an academic researcher and this is why I want this PhD on this topic. 

Nothing is official yet, but NSF has mentioned that would be one of the costcutting measures if their budget is reduced by 11%.
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/06/nsf-offers-arm-s-length-defense-trump-s-2018-request
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/05/how-nsf-cut-11-its-budget

I'm not sure you are understanding what I'm saying. The work you are describing as a school psychologist is clinical work. I can guarantee you that. Performing assessments is clinical work. This does not mean you attend a program in "Clinical Psychology," It just means you graduate and become a sort of clinician (although you can also go into academia/research). Part of the School Psych PhD program is a clinical internship.
What some states call a "Licensed Educational Psychologist" is actually a School Psychologist. In my field, Ed Psych, most do not engage in clinical work--although it looks like in some states you can transition from an ed psych program to earn your LEP (like California: http://www.bbs.ca.gov/app-reg/lep.shtml), but none of the Ed Psych programs I know will train you for this--School Psych programs do. In Ed Psych programs, such as the one in which I am a faculty member (R1, within a College of Ed), our graduates go on to academia or to work in think tanks or school systems/other organizations in data analysis or program development/evaluation (non-"clinical" work).

Why such dark interests, bro??

Why such dark interests, bro??

Why such dark interests, bro??

Why such dark interests, bro??

Why such dark interests, bro??

"My writing skills are amazing" he/she says...