Lauren210

I recently graduated with my bachelors in psychology and I worked as a research assistant for two years for two different labs. As an RA, you typically work about 9-10 hours per week. For both labs, we had 1 lab hour dedicated to mandatory lab meetings 1 day of the week while the remaining hours you spent in the laboratory itself. Some tasks I had was entering data into the computer system on excel, typing up transcripts from observational data (i.e. recorded interviews of previous graduate assistants working with their participants), running through drafts of questionaries, running through protocol to participants, etc. For my junior year, I worked in a psychopathology lab that related to the classification, description, and measurement of personality and psychopathology. For my senior year, I worked in a lab that focused on the significance of close relationships (i.e. friendships) in the lives of children and young adolescents. Also, there was at least one graduate RA in their office who we would be able to ask for any help if needed while in the lab or notify them in regards to any of the projects we were helping them on. For the psychology department at my university, there were a variety of different labs to choose on when it came to working in and I found out about some of them through research fairs and the department website. I emailed the lab directors of the labs and expressed interest in working with them the following semester/year and they referred me to their graduate RAs when it came to the application process. After I applied, I had a short interview with one of the graduate RAs and they contacted me back in regards to deciding if I got in or not. Hopefully this helps!

Wow! Great advice! Thank you so much for the wonderful response. I will definitely look into the research fairs.

Hey everyone! I'm really looking into PsyD programs (no, not PhD) and it seems applications with some research experience fare better than those without.
Any ideas on how to gain research experience? I completed my Second Bachelors (Psychology) online in 2017 and am not currently enrolled anywhere.
Also, what are the typical hours like for a research assistant? Thank you kindly!

I am going to be studying school counseling at Fordham University in their masters program.  

Hello everyone! I'm feeling a bit low tonight and thought I would reach out to the kind people of the Grad Cafe :)
Today, a fellow lab member mentioned I am "so quiet." She mentioned a few other things related to my quietness, but long story short, I found this really disheartening, as I am overcoming social anxiety, and the past few months (and the past couple of weeks especially) have personally felt really triumphant as I was so much more vocal in lab, class, and in social situations. I honestly thought I got over my social anxiety recently, and someone pointing out my quietness today really gutted me.
I'm sure my peeps who are likewise shy, socially anxious, or simply trait introverted, are tired of their quietness being pointed out to them. My questions for the crowd are:
(1) How do you respond when someone points out you are quiet? I never understood why people are comfortable pointing this out to someone. Someone's quietness may be characteristic or something they are trying to work on, and I do not know why people think it is helpful or worthwhile to point out someone's quietness to them.
(2) For my friends that are shy, how are you coping with this in academia, where there is pressure to present confidently, competently and consistently? I think I have the competence bit down, but its the confidence that I am working on. I'm in research because I love it, but secondary skills, like presenting, do not come naturally to me. I am working on it. I'd love to hear anyone else's thoughts, struggles, etc.
While there are a lot of people who are both strong researchers and have the gift of gab, I suspect academia also attracts a lot of us brainy people who haven't quite mastered communication, or are a bit eccentric, or whatever it may be :) I hope I'm not alone! Would love to hear from anyone who shares in the struggle, or kind folk in general with a sympathetic word. Thanks, all!

Good luck to both of us....
I will opt for NYU if they don't send me any message by the end of next week too.

Hi there, did you hear back from TC this Friday? Also do you know if they ever send out rejection letters to people? Thanks

I applied for their EdM Psychological Counseling program and submitted my application back on January 15th, which was their priority deadline. A few days ago, I emailed them and they said that students usually hear back from TC at the end of March at the latest though some programs do take a bit longer to send out decisions. If I don't hear anything back from them by this week, then I guess that the first week is when I'll probably be hearing back from them. They are the very last school I'm waiting to hear back from.

I am also going to be the very first person in my family to ever attend graduate school, which is such an honor to hold and could not be any more proud. Both me and my older brother attended the University at Buffalo for our bachelors, though while I'm about to graduate in May, he already graduated back in May 2016 with a BS in pharmacology and toxicology and spent the last three years working as a research technician. He is also returning back to UB for his second bachelors degree in nursing right after I graduate, which will be an accelerated program that takes him one year to complete. I'm going straight into my masters right after undergrad. I'm completing my BA in psychology with a minor in counseling and will be pursuing my masters in school counseling.
Both my parents never attended community college for an associate or a four year university for a bachelors. My mom did, however, attend Lehman College for a 1 year program about 2-3 years ago to receive her certification in medical assisting after co-owning a jewelry store with my dad for 15 years before closing their business. In addition, both my parents were not born in the U.S., come from two different countries (my mom is from Ecuador and my dad is from Vietnam), and arrived to NYC in the late 70s-early 80s. It's definitely not easy handling the fact that I'm the first in my family to pursue an advanced degree given that they don't really know how it's like and can't help me on certain issues like funding or the general experience of going to grad school, so I can only rely on help from mentors I've had, other graduate students, my best friend who's about to graduate from grad school this year, professors I know, etc. 

I was worried in regards to a similar case that happened to me while in college. During my very first semester, I dealt with a lot of personal issues as well as a difficulty transition from high school to college and my grades during that time started off not so good. I got 3 Cs/C+s, only 1 A, and a P for a Pass/Fail class. For the next 3 years, I drastically improved on my work ethic in college, got tutors for classes I needed help in, and my grades turned a complete 180 to where I started getting a mix of As and Bs and then eventually, mostly straight As with one or two A-s in the mix.
When I was applying to grad school, I wrote a short explanation in my SOP in regards to that rough start in my college career where the grades on my transcript would be very visible to them and said something along the lines of: "I've experienced difficulties with studying effectively in school like the students I plan on working with. As reflected on my transcript, I struggled in my first semester of college but learned how to improve my studying skills after reaching out for help from an academic coach and excelled in my courses since then."
Just be very honest when writing the short explanation in your essay regarding that F in your transcript, but also make sure to state what you learned after that incident and what you did to improve your work in college after getting that grade and so. Think of it as when you're asked by an employer about any weaknesses you have and then explaining how you plan on turning that weakness into a strength.
Hope my advice helps. 
 

Well you're right that some explanation is necessary and it is perfectly ok to not share your mental health issues.  You can say "personal matters" or "issues at home" or whatever other broad statement makes you comfortable and indicates you do not wish to be specific.  I do wonder about the academic dishonesty charge however.  Is that something that is listed on your transcript?  If so then that is definitely something you're going to have to come clean about in the sense that "due to personal matters a poor decision was made that resulted in...."

Hi all! 
So, I have been working so incredibly hard for the past four years to get into a graduate program for Audiology. I'll have stellar letters of recommendation, a pretty good GRE score, volunteer and work experience in the field, and a relatively good GPA.
But, my spring semester of sophomore year of school was a rough one - without going into too much detail, I had lots of mental health issues and it overwhelmed most things in my life, and unfortunately, my grades during that semester suffered greatly. I made the grave mistake of using a previous paper I had written from an earlier semester and turned it in for one of the courses I took that semester. Since my school used an online database to check for plagiarism, it of course came back as partially plagiarized. Regardless of it being my own work, I was charged with academic dishonesty and was given an F in the course. To say that the rest of my semester was a disaster is a bit of an understatement; my GPA for that semester is FAR below what my GPA was in every other semester I had before that, and after it.
To get to the point - I am absolutely horrified at the idea of telling future grad application panels the reason for my F. I do plan on lying about the reason for the F, but I also don't want all of my hard work to be overshadowed by this stain on my transcript. In the semesters following that horrible time, I only received A's and a few B's, so my GPA was able to rebound a bit.
I just want to know if anyone has any experience with this, or any thoughts on it. I already realize that I messed up, so only helpful replies, please. Thank you all for any help or advice you may be able to provide. 
 

I'm currently waiting to hear back from Teachers College, Columbia University in regards to their EdM Psychological Counseling program (and this is the very last school I'm waiting to hear back from). I emailed them a few days ago and told me that students should hear back by around the end of March at the latest. I really want to make my decision pretty soon before April 15th.

I'm currently waiting to hear back from Teachers College, Columbia University in regards to their EdM Psychological Counseling program (and this is the very last school I'm waiting to hear back from). I emailed them a few days ago and told me that students should hear back by around the end of March at the latest. I really want to make my decision pretty soon before April 15th.

It's really a torture for me coz NYU's I/O Psychology is even better in some aspects....but still I wanna go to Columbia so bad. 
Do you think it is a good idea to email the admission office about the approxiamte date of getting results?
Btw, hope you hear from Columbia soon too!

Thanks a lot! So I guess it is very likley that they make decision on Fridays like March.22 or 29... Hope we both get what we want!

I just received an email from them and they told me that I should receive my result into the counseling program by around the end of this month at the latest though some programs do take a bit longer to make decisions. 

Hey guys,
I am wondering if you or your friends have heard anything from Columbia University Teachers College about the admission into M.A. Program in Socia-Organizational Psychology (S/O Psychology). I have been admitted to the M.A Program of I/O Psychology from NYU, but still waiting for Columbia's decision since it would be my top choice to study at TC. (it's a long wait and kinda drives me crazy...)
Lemme know if you are also waiting for hearing from them. Thanks!

I'm from New York and went upstate for my undergrad and I applied to four graduate programs back home in NYC for my masters in school counseling. 
Teachers College, Columbia University (EdM)
New York University Steinhardt (MA)
Fordham University Graduate School of Education (MSE)
Hunter College School of Education (MSEd)
I recently got accepted to Fordham's school counseling program for this upcoming fall, which is going to be right after I graduate from my undergrad this Spring, which is exciting!  I'm still waiting to hear back from the other three schools and then I'll come to a decision once I get all of them.  

I got my first acceptance last Wednesday to Fordham University for their school counseling program. I walked into my lab shift in the morning at school and as soon as I sat down, I opened my email on my laptop, saw an admissions decision email from the school and immediately, my heart started pumping and hands getting sweaty. I was so ecstatic about my acceptance but had to react quietly without causing a disturbance since there were participants working in the lab room. I'm still waiting to hear back from the other three other schools I applied to.