HAC

I have 11 poster presentations on my CV. I applied this application cycle and still do not know if I will even be accepted anywhere as I have not received any interview invites yet.. As others have already said, it's just a very competitive process. You can be a GREAT applicant and still get rejected. 
So, none of us can give you a magic number as to how many years of research experience or poster presentations you should have to be a competitive applicant, unfortunately. There's so many factors that play into which applicants stand out and which don't. 

Hi! None of my following points are definite facts or professional advice, just my two cents (more like 6 cents).
1. Congrats on your successful undergrad performance. I think that if you cogently illustrate your time-efficient journey, it can vouch for your certain strengths.
2. GPA/GRE scores will mostly only help you to pass the very first bar (e.g., GPA>3.0 / each GRE section>65th %) of the admissions process (i.e., your application won't be immediately dropped) and adcom/faculties won't look at those scores again once you pass that first bar. Also, GPAs are evaluated regarding the competitiveness of originating schools (e.g., 3.5 from Harvard =/= 3.5 from X Community College).
3. Relevant research experience and substantial byproducts (e.g, specific statistics/clinical/programming skills, presentations/publications, grant approval, leadership roles, etc) are definitely the core factors that will help you pass further bars during the admissions process. Some people accrue enough research experience during their undergraduate, however, most people find it practically hard to gain a competitive research profile (not just a few lines under your CV's "research experience" section but YOUR competitive research profile) while committing as a full-time college student. That is why most people do Master's and/or post-bacc research training in labs/hospitals/etc with matching research/career focus. I also want to add that many of those who do Master's and/or post-bacc before applying to PhD are also the ones who actively worked as student RAs during undergrad, wrote senior theses, and were well-exposed to presentation/publication efforts during their undergrad. And that they (we) do Master's and/or post-bacc years to further advance and well-compete for the narrow PhD opportunities, not because they (we) lack certain qualities or were lazy during undergraduate. It is just that competitive and limited.
4. Strong recommendation letters are other important factors that will help you move forward during the admissions process. I believe that the strong letter not only speak for your research/academic achievements, but also your overall attitude/passion/work ethics/growth/and more which are all important characteristics regarded by grad schools to determine if you are a good fit for rigorous graduate curriculum (e.g., competitions, stress, mentor-student attitude, independence, etc). And for someone to strongly voice for your such characteristics, you need to maintain more professional relationship with the letter writer than a regular undergrad-professor one (e.g., Master's advisor, lab supervisor, etc). Of course, PhD applicants bring at least one strong letter from their undergrad, however, you need to submit THREE strong letters and you don't want these three to all sound the same. This is easily another reason why people often continue their research training after bachelor's.
5. I sincerely don't mean to be rude to you in this 5th point. But it seems like you don't fully understand why the replies on this thread (and everywhere else on the internet) emphasizes "research experience" for Psychology PhD application. Just as one can't ask, "How many coffee dates qualify me to kiss my date without asking her or considering the overall chemistry, etc?", I think it just out of touch to ask how many pubs/presentations you should have to qualify for a psych PhD.
6. Talk to your faculties about this stuff! It sounds like you have a few professors from college who are happy to chat about your plan for advanced education in psychology (and write your letters, I am assuming?).
I didn't mean to write so much initially but oh well. Wish you the best in your academic/professional career!

To be honest, I personally don't. But I'm not an admissions committee. Research papers are pretty par for the course in undergrad and don't really count as research experience unless they're published in a journal. Honors thesis helps, but a lot of people are going to have that. It's very competitive. 
 
The way to increase your chance of getting a job in academia is to publish once you are working towards your PhD. Publish or perish. And network. 

I would definitely recommend a 2 year post bac to gain more research/work experience. I didn’t go to a “top tier” undergrad institution but I did my post-bac at a R1. I also don’t know how much a PhD admissions committee would care about a perfect SAT score because it’s from high school, as opposed to a perfect GRE score from college but that’s just my two cents about that. 

Are you a new graduate, age 19?
 
If so, it's gonna be reaaaallly tough to get in with no work experience and hard to convince them you're emotionally/academically mature enough for this. 

School: Florida State University
Type: PhD
Date of invite: 1/2
Type of invite: Email from POI
Interview date(s): 1/30-2/2
 
School: University of Utah
Type: PhD
Date of invite: 1/4
Type of invite: Email from POI
Interview date(s):  2/6-2/8
Feel free to DM for POI

You should talk to someone at the schools you have interviews for. I’ve heard of some schools being able to offer financial assistance with flights. It never hurts to ask. I wouldn’t open a credit card unless you are absolutely sure you want it as most of the airline cards you have to spend a certain about of money before getting the miles.  Consider flying on the smaller airlines (Spirit, Frontier,etc) the planes are worse than the bigger airlines but cheaper. Also make sure you clear your cookies/history on your browser because people say prices go up when you have been looking at multiple sites. Hope this helps! 

I am open to coordinating with other students who are traveling to interviews. Feel free to contact me about any programs in my signature to which I have been invited for interview! 

Hi all! Just wanted to ask for your thoughts on planning interview trips.
Some schools are located at where you have to fly into the nearby city with decent airport, then take an hour or two shuttle rides to get to the campus. I figured that these shuttle services often offer "group discount" for 2/+ people and I honestly would feel more safe if I have a company on these long van ride in an unfamiliar region... So I did email schools about being connected to other interviewees traveling in for the same interview event and am still waiting for the response.
If I can't be connected to other interviewees through school, what do you all think about finding a travel mate on grad cafe? I believe that there are several risks due to the anonymity of this forum but still wanted to hear anyone with past experiences or suggestion?

I like this idea! We should make this the official thread for finding travel mates if we need them. ?
I haven't gotten any in-person interview invites yet, but I am very on board with this idea if I do in the future! 

I received an invite to UCSB

I received an invite to UCSB

School: University of Oregon
Type: PhD
Date of invite: 1/3
Type of invite: Email from POI
Interview date(s):  1/31-2/2
Feel free to DM for POI

Hi,
I am new to this thread. I know I am a bit late to the game but still wanted to sign up and say hi and best of luck to everyone! I have applied to 9 schools so far. I am listing them below:
Ohio University, Case Western (Experimental Program), Texas A & M, Texas Christian University, U of Kansas, U of Missouri- Columbia, U of Arkansas, U of Florida and U of South Florida.
Got interviewed at Mizzou and heard back from U of Florida. Was wondering if anyone has heard back from the schools I have listed.    

Does anyone know what the interview day schedules look like? I have heard it is all day meetings and a group dinner at night. Any insight into what to expect would be amazing. 

School: UCSB
Type: PhD
Date of invite: 12/17
Type of invite: Email from POI
Interview date(s): 2/7-2/8
 
School: UMass Amherst
Type: PhD
Date of invite: 12/17
Type of invite: Email from POI
Interview date(s):  1/31
Feel free to DM for POI!!
 

Just got an unofficial Skype interview invite from Stanford! Damn, didn't expect there to still be schools screening applicants.

School: Tulane
Type: PhD
Date of invite: 12/23
Type of invite: Email from POI
Interview date(s): 2/9-2/10
DM me for POI!

Heya! 
I got an email from them a week or two back saying that my app was admissible. A few days later, my POI (RN) got in touch with me to schedule a preliminary phone interview

I just got an in-person interview invite for Davis today! Feel free to DM for POI

I did an unofficial interview with Yale few days ago!

Thanks❤️  Every program is different and looks for different things, I'm sure you'll stand out to someone. Getting an informal interview is still a great accomplishment, and it goes to show how qualified of an applicant you are. You got this!

YASSSSS

School: UGA 
Type: PhD
Date of invite: 12/18
Type of invite: Email from POI
Interview date(s): 1/16-1/19
 
DM me if you're interested in POI's initials

School: UT Austin
Type: PhD
Date of invite: 12/19
Type of invite: Email from POI
Interview date(s): 2/6-2/9
Feel free to DM for POI!!