ResilientDreams

Sorry if this sounds dumb but...why can't you just say you took off a few months to study for the GRE and take an online course? That's a productive use of your time. I don't see why you can't say that.

Hello everybody! I'm really interested in first language acquisition, particularly how language is related to theory of mind development and how language & cognition are connected more broadly. I've been looking mostly at developmental psychology programs, but I was wondering if anyone knew of any linguistics PhD programs with a strong first language acquisition focus. I plan on applying to the program at the University of Maryland for sure. Thank you!

Can't you send both?

Right, I'm planning on getting all that done by the end of September/early October, so I think that will be enough time.

I believe another way to get into the gate with psych is with research fit. If you email a POI and they're really interested in you, that can get you through the first round in spite of mediocre test scores. I have had friends who applied to grad school and that was the case for them. I feel like the people on here (maybe just by nature of the type of people who use GradCafe), are a little too invested in the GRE. And who knows, for other disciplines maybe the score is incredibly important. But in psych all you need is to pass a certain threshold, which I believe you have crossed. It matters more how good of a fit you are for your advisor and for the program. In my personal opinion, you could either devote extra time to writing your personal statement, procuring recs, etc, or you could use the time to study extra for the GRE, and both would achieve the same end. That's just my two cents.

Thank you! I'm going to go through all the schools' websites and figure out what their individual requirements are and get that sorted out within the next few weeks.

My friend got offers last cycle and she has no publications, so don't worry.

Wow, I feel like you people are way ahead of me. I have a draft of my personal statement now. I'm going to have my honors advisor read it on Wednesday. I need to figure out how to get my GRE scores and transcripts sent everywhere. That's my next step. And also actually plugging my recommenders into my applications. Oh, and I have a Skype interview on Friday with a potential POI so I'm preparing for that.

You should still retake it because what I meant by a "low" score is a score above 150. It doesn't look good to have a score in the 140s.

I finally finished a draft of my personal statement!

Hello everyone, When writing your statement of purpose, should you mention specific labs & professors that you're interested in and why you think you're a good fit (like mention the professors by name and such). Does it matter if you mention a professor you haven't sent an email to, and about how many specific professors/labs should you mention? Thanks!

I think with your score it's a personal choice. If you think you can increase it, take it again. But if you think you've maxed out on what you can do, don't. Your overall GPA is a bit on the lowish side, but your major GPA is great, so I think that balances it out.

Where's everyone at in the application process so far? I think I finally finalized my list of schools and I'm working on my statement of purpose now.

Hmmmm. I feel like it could be okay depending on what the rest of your application looks like.

Writing my statement of purpose is a lot harder than I thought it was going to be.

In the future, it's better to start a separate thread so that the original thread can be focused on the OP's question. I think your score is fine though. In my opinion, two high scores make up for one low score, especially if the rest of the application is strong. In OP's case however, they had two low scores so I would suggest a retake.

If you ask them direct questions they will usually answer you. It is kind of a hit or miss sort of thing...they're most likely not going to say you're perfect and they're going to definitely admit you without considering all the other applications they'll get...especially if they're program is popular. Most of the professors I've emailed have seemed excited about my background and have wanted to talk more. I did have one kind of generic response because at that school the individual faculty don't have as much say in who gets admitted. That could be the case with the professor you emailed. At some schools the professors can sort of influence the decision, at others they're more at the mercy of the department as a whole.

Lol I was in the same boat about the math.

Are there clinical psychology programs that are GRE optional? I don't know much about clinical. If not, I would really advise taking the GRE again.

I just say "Prospective Graduate Student".

If you don't want to do clinical work, don't apply to a clinical PhD.

I sent you a PM.

I actually didn't always ask a question. If I had a specific question I asked it, otherwise I just said "I would love to hear more about the work going on at your lab and the graduate program at [university]." I included my CV and I think that was a good decision.

Hello! I'm in developmental psych, so it may be a little bit different, but I think generally you want to look for a potential advisor who is interested in the same research "theme" as you. So like for me I'm interested broadly in children's cognitive development, so I look for professors that study that and read about the other work that's being done in their lab and ask myself if I think I can see my specific research interests fitting in there. It doesn't have to be a perfect fit, it just has to make sense somehow in relation to the work they already do. Then I send an email and talk about what I like about their work and how I think it relates to what I've done/am interested in. I would think a similar approach would work for you.

Sorry lol. That definitely was not helpful. I did have one friend who took it and she just got a prep book and read through it and took it. We're in undergrad now though (not sure about you), so all the psych stuff is really fresh.