nessa

for a PhD program, you will want to have a relatively focused interest in one area of research, and have chosen your schools based on that focus. Although being interested in psych in general is great, you will want to demonstrate that you have narrowed your interests down to a few specific areas (child neuropsych is a good start, but will probably need to narrow down a bit further), and that people at the schools you are applying to work in those areas. Interest in schools based primarily on geography is generally a red flag- those are both great programs, but there are plenty of others outside of Michigan as well. I may be overly critical of this but schools will want to know where else you are applying, and may wonder if you only are applying to schools in Michigan. For schools like Michigan and Wayne State, it is all about research research research- experience and fit. That's what you should focus on to get in. Good luck!

for an M.S. I would just focus on getting along with the person and making progress on your thesis. They might not be the best match for you, but you don't have very long to put up with them if things go south.

why those two programs? Your grades and GREs need to be good, as you know, but more important is research experience & fit. Taking a year or two to work full-time in a lab and develop your research interests sounds like a good idea for you. While working, try to be as proactive as possible about getting involved in the studies, rather than just running subjects and submitting IRB proposals (which are important, but will not get you into grad school). Good luck!

This was what I was thinking too- although people with ADHD/LD will usually have issues before grad school, oftentimes you see people who can coast on their intelligence for awhile, until they hit a point where that isn't enough. That point could be grad school. OP, I would talk to your office of student disabilities services or whatever it's called at your school. They should be able to refer you to resources to figure things out. I'm a psychologist in training, which is hardly better than an armchair psychologist, but to me it sounds like something is going on above basic understanding of material & study skills.

does your university have a student disabilities center or something like that? They may be able to refer you for further testing or give you tips on how to adapt to grad school. I do ADHD & other testing in my university's clinic as a part of my training and we see plenty of people who function fine up to a point, since they're intelligent enough to get by, but when they progress in school things get harder their disability causes more of a problem. It may also not be ADHD, but rather a learning disorder, memory problem, anxiety/depression, etc. A good assessment will examine all that- which is part of the reason it takes so long. also, this will vary greatly by school, but at my university, if students are referred by the disabilities office the assessment is significantly cheaper than if the student does it on their own.

in general for clinical psych, you want to look at averages for: -APA-accredited internship match rate (generally above 75-80% is best) -EPPP pass rate (again, at least 75%) -time to completion (should be no more than 6/6.5 years, unless they already require a master's) -cost (tuition, fees, cost of living in area,funding)- keeping in mind time to completion -careers of graduates, including salary ranges if possible this should all be accessible via their website or a quick google search. if the program does not have much funding, be sure to account for the amount of debt you will be taking on, the loan payments you will have to make on that debt (there are online calculators for this), and the kind of salary you will be making as a psychologist to see if it will be worth it. edit: looked up the school, time to completion looks good but that is expensive! and with ~20% attrition and low internship match rate who knows if you will make it through...

The quality of the program is also responsible for the low match rate of schools. Poor clinical training, no research, etc. There are people from programs with low match rates who work hard and are successful, but there are a lot of factors working against that even if someone is motivated/smart/a hard worker.

this. I have all the major journals in my field subscribed to with google reader. I skim through the feed when I need a break in lab and read any papers whose abstracts look interesting. It can get a little overwhelming with journals like PNAS that have a ton of articles but it's the most efficient way I've found. You can also set up alerts for certain authors or for topics with google scholar, although I haven't tried that.

2 years of research experience should put you in a good place, experience-wise. That's great you have an opportunity to publish. One idea would be to see if you can present some of what you're working on at a conference between now and when you apply. Publications can take a long time to get out, and although presentations "count" for less, it's concrete evidence of the work you put in until/if the manuscript about that work gets accepted. What specific research interests do you have? If they are out of my subfield, I may not be able to help much with recommendations, but some of the schools I applied to are on your list so I may be able to comment.

congrats on graduation! Keep in mind, those are all very selective programs. Although you've worked hard to get where you are in college, there will be lots and lots of extremely qualified people competing for slots at those programs. Although your GPA is low, you have improved over time which is good. However, you are somewhat light on your research experience for competitive programs. Could you find research opportunities for the next year while you are out of school? Even volunteering in a lab would be helpful. I would also consider finding some programs that are not the top tier most selective that fit with your research interests.

I agree that you seem to be pretty well-placed to apply, but there's also nothing wrong with taking time off. I'm in a clinical psych Ph.D. program, so I'm not as knowledgable about Psy.D.s. However, there are a few partially or fully funded programs- I don't have a list but I'm sure some googling could turn one up. I know Rutgers's program is known for funding its students well. As for jobs, I think working in patient care (like as a psych tech at a hospital) or in a more clinically-oriented research job would be good experience. Some jobs in research labs will be mostly patient interaction, such as interviewing and assessing participants. To find jobs, connections are the most helpful- ask professors, etc. if they know anybody who might be hiring for these sorts of jobs. If that doesn't work out, look on the job pages of major universities and psych hospitals- I used US News and World Report to find the top hospitals in psychiatry. But, personal connections rather than finding online job postings are most likely to get you hired.

If I'm way off about your problem, sorry, but I'm in clinical psychology and when all you have is a hammer everything is a nail ... but have you been feeling depressed at all? was staying on a schedule and getting things done a problem earlier in school? If this is a new problem, then I would recommend looking at when you started having it, and seeing why your motivation has dropped off so much. There might be more going on. If it's always been an issue getting things done, but you've been able to cover for it up until grad school, then the above advice is good. Regardless, if you think your supervisor would be sympathetic, it might not hurt to get feedback from him on how to improve- or if it's even as big of an issue as you see it.

I wouldn't say credit hours are a good measure of experience, although clarifying how these hours were earned would help. In general, schools are looking for significant research involvement and promise, if not demonstrated ability, to be an independent researcher. So, for the research work you did, did you help design studies, analyze data, or write up results for a poster or presentation? Can you talk intelligently about the background of the work you did, what your hypotheses are and why, and how your results add on to what is already known? That is what they will be looking for.

You're right, there are an overwhelming number of schools and it can be hard to know where to begin. I would recommend reading through the literature in the area you want to work in. Who are the people publishing those papers? Are they at programs where you can work with them? If they're senior in the field, it can also help to track down old postdocs or grad students of theirs who have gone on to start their own labs; they are often working in related areas and will be newer researchers with (probably) fewer applicants wanting to work with them. Secondly, if you know any researchers in that subfield, see if they're willing to talk with you about your interests and recommend people or programs to you. They may also recommend you to them, which always helps! Once you find some programs, take a closer look. What is their emphasis on research vs. practice, do they have a good internship match rate, what do their graduates end up doing, etc. I did not use this, but people also found a book called the insider's guide helpful for finding clinical psych programs.

Sorry, didn't mean to worry people unnecessarily! No, I don't know- but I would be in touch with POIs if you are applying again before worrying too much. I think this practice is definitely the minority, but it was pointed out to me as an argument against doing a test run of applications, so I thought it would be good to pass on. But, before people get too worried, remember that POIs throw out applications for all sorts of random reasons. For clinical at least, it's so competitive they have to be pretty capricious to narrow down the applicants. Maybe you already applied, maybe they're looking for expertise in a really specific area, maybe they look for applicants with a certain degree or from a certain kind of school. You never know. Also, if they liked you but someone was a slightly better fit I feel they would be excited to give you a second chance if they could.

another thing to keep in mind is that additional research experience in your area of interest may help you narrow or shift your focus significantly. But, if you have had a clear, consistent idea of what you want to study for a while now, that may not be a factor. Also, if you are looking into labs that focus primarily on EEG/ERP or fMRI, you will definitely be better off if you can show experience with those methodologies (that is, waiting to apply would be better). If a lab does some imaging and some behavioral, that you are learning it in the future may be enough, and applying now may be fine. ETA: a practice application round may be helpful (would have been for me!), but I know some Ph.D.s who said their labs did not consider anyone who already applied previously. But, the process is so random you never know.

professor of importance?? someone has apparently not lurked long enough...

VG/G E/G I'd been debating about applying, since most of the programs I was applying to are clinical psychology and my research is pretty health-focused, but I figured it was at least worth the practice. I shied away from discussing my research's actual (clinical) broader impacts, which didn't leave me much, and the reviewers noticed. The IM scores made me pretty happy, though! I'm starting grad school in the fall, so I may try again (with beefed up BI) next year.

I had to reply, just to stick up for Duke As for your questions: -I'm a vegetarian, and haven't had any issues. Really, Durham isn't that Southern culturally, and it's enough of a university town that being a vegetarian, at least, is easy. I don't know of any vegan-specific restaurants, but there are plenty of places that offer dishes. Just in the few blocks near my apartment, there is a chicken and waffle place that offers vegan waffles- obviously without chicken, too (http://www.dameschickenwaffles.com/) and a coffeeshop/deli that has several vegan offerings on the menu (http://beyucaffe.com/). I wish I could offer a more comprehensive list, sorry! Just avoid the barbecue places... -you can bike around Durham, I do it, but the streets are narrow. Durham is making a serious effort to add as many bike lanes as possible, but some roads just can't accommodate them. The closer you get to campus, the more bikeable it will be. Check out the bike co-op (http://www.durhambikecoop.org/) for some really friendly fellow cyclists. Also, as you've guessed, the weather will be much more bike friendly than Toronto! -like lslavic, for real wilderness hiking I would point you farther west, towards Asheville. There are plenty of trails around here, but they are still in populated areas. Once you get out west, though (maybe starting 2 hours out), there is a lot. -for dancing, I know Duke hosts the American Dance Festival- can't say more than that personally but they might be able to point you towards some classes. Congrats on your acceptance! As a midwesterner, I've had a lot of fun experiencing the South; I hope you do too!

I would also look on universities' HR pages. That's how I found my RA position, but word of mouth and contacting people directly usually works better. good luck!

UCLA is done, sorry they sent out their interviews last week. There have been some pre-interviews for Texas but I think on-campus interview notifications are going out this week- cross your fingers!

get good at recognizing the tricks in the questions and learning shortcuts- this is where I found the books to be helpful. The math is not difficult, but figuring out how to get from the question to the answer within the time limit is. good luck!

you could try emailing your top choice to see if they have a set interview date- I'm actually surprised that your second school lets you schedule it, since they usually have one weekend for everyone. I'd assume schools would have the interview date scheduled by now if they have one. congratulations on your interviews!

I'm applying to grad school in clinical psych, and I also was surprised to see personal mental health issues noted so strongly as unacceptable in SOPs, especially considering that clinical psychologists should be more accepting than most of mental illness. However, that this is specifically in psychology is significant- and if you read more closely, it seems to me that mental illness itself is not the issue. this is the actual quote from the article (emphases are mine): Personal mental health. The discussion of a personal mental health problem is likely to decrease an applicant’s chances of acceptance into a program. Examples of this particular KOD in a personal statement included comments such as “showing evidence of untreated mental illness,” “emotional instability,” and seeking graduate training “to better understand one’s own problems or problems in one’s family.” More specifically, one respondent stated that a KOD may occur “when students highlight how they were drawn to graduate study because of significant personal problems or trauma. Graduate school is an academic/career path, not a personal treatment or intervention for problems.” It seems like the real issues are 1) having an untreated illness (and having any unresolved issue is a red flag in an SOP) or 2) only caring about the field because of your experiences with mental health. Think about it this way: if you were applying to an immunology program, and your entire SOP consisted of a discussion of your own autoimmune disorder, and how you want to go to grad school to figure out what was going on with your disorder, that wouldn't be looked on very favorably either. However, I want to emphasize that I do believe discrimination based on mental illness happens all the time, including (especially?) in graduate admission, and that I do believe mental illness, and the skills gained in overcoming it, are not viewed the way they should be. But, in psychology, there is good reason to warn against dwelling on it in the SOP.

well, in that case, explaining you have test anxiety may help (vs. just saying you were stressed overall). Make sure you come across as someone who can handle the inevitable stress well.