t_ruth

I came to my field (Ed Psych) after a career in an unrelated field and found it was a real benefit. I agree with all that PsyDGrad90 said. Also, you will have a better idea of your path once you have specific research questions you are interested in. A Masters can help give you time and exposure to come up with these questions, but it is expensive. For me, personally, I would love a student with a CS background (but I do work in ed tech). There may be other PIs who feel similarly in developmental and clinical (even outside of computational neuroscience).

Hello!  So I agree with what everything everyone else has said about analyzing existing data (I got 9 poster presentations that way, 7 of which were first author AND 3 under review pubs, 2 of which are first author). Even if you're not working with them, some faculty also welcome students contacting them with interesting research questions related to their existing datasets.
But I also want to add that completing a meta-analysis is fantastic if you don't have access to an existing dataset. Meta-analyses are more quantitatively rigorous than literature reviews, and consequently are more meaningful to publish and more highly cited. There are several excellent books out there on how to conduct one, and if you have a mentor who is well versed and/or interested in learning more about this technique it could be a good option. 

There are two good answers to this question:
1. Talk to your advisor.
2. Look at the CVs of recent PhDs who got TT jobs.

This varies highly from university to university. My university has CT positions that have very similar salaries (if not exactly the same) to TT positions. They aren't short-term contracts, and they have their own tenure process. Also, at faculty meetings, I've seen little hierarchy in how CT vs. TT faculty are treated. Here, CT faculty are professionals who focus on teaching or research only, TT are professionals who focus on the typical combo.
This is very different from other universities I've been at, where there is a much bigger difference in terms of prestige, salary, etc.

It's very difficult to write worthwhile non-empirical articles as a jr. scholar, even post-PhD.
Concentrate on using your content classes to write lit reviews for papers that you write for your method classes. If you can coordinate well, you may be able to get one paper out of every 3-4 classes (2-3 content classes and 1-2 method classes).
Another more reasonable thing to do with class papers is turn them into small grant applications. I know many people who have had luck with this.

I think before deciding on clinical/developmental. Do you want to be a clinician? If yes, know that this is the hardesr area to get accepted in and not a certainty. You would probably need a lot more than a masters for that area. 
Be certain about the questions you like to answer (i.e. research interest), including theoretical approaches. This will probably require a lot of reading, but I would definitely work that out before committing to anything

Hey- sorry for the late reply. All good- it's nice to be able to do something while I wait on my applications lol.
I'm not sure if I'm qualified enough to answer your question, (@Psygeek or @t_ruth if you see this feel free to pitch in!) but I think writing involves a combination of "big-picture" stuff (the structure of your journal article, the story you want to tell, the findings you want to emphasize, the take-home message) and detail (paragraph transitions, punctuation, sentence structure, etc). Both are skills you can develop. Good writing habits are also paramount--you may wish to check out "Atomic Habits" or "How to Write a Lot" for starters. There are tons of articles and books on writing.
I often just write down what's on my mind, then go back and edit. The editing process is where most of the organization happens, and I spend a lot of time working on re-organizing the details of my writing. (For this reply, I spent maybe 5-10 minutes writing and another 5-10 minutes editing). For the big-picture, I like to leave my writing for a few days, and come back to it with a fresh perspective (friends, colleagues, peer-review students etc might also be helpful here).
Hope this helps!

You've received some good suggestions. Master's programs are generally costly and few offer funding, so that should figure in as well.
Also, I note you said you would study more for the GRE when done with undergrad, because you will have more time. Working and/or grad school both take up a lot of time...

I put this note on the Psych board, but if anyone is interested in Ed Psych and wants a consult on where you are applying, PM me. When I applied for my PhD, I was many years out of undergrad and had no connection to the field. Someone I met on here took my list of potential PIs to their advisor and the advisor gave me advice on where I should go. I'm here to return the favor as I am now Ed Psych/Learning Sciences faculty

You've received some good suggestions. Master's programs are generally costly and few offer funding, so that should figure in as well.
Also, I note you said you would study more for the GRE when done with undergrad, because you will have more time. Working and/or grad school both take up a lot of time...

I ended up emailing the PI again, but still no response, and had to email the department twice before getting an email back. They ended up being no help and just said they don't keep a list of who is/isn't accepting students and I should contact the PI directly (sad trombone). In the end I decided to not apply to that program. I've gotten such wonderful and supportive emails from other PIs and even had some great phone calls, so I'm not chasing after this program if they can't even confirm the application status. Maybe I'll regret the decision later, but I think how people (departments, PIs) act during the application process says something about how they value the time and energy of those applying.

Usually 11:59pm Dec. 1st. This year that's likely a very safe bet given that Dec. 1st is a Sunday

Usually 11:59pm Dec. 1st. This year that's likely a very safe bet given that Dec. 1st is a Sunday

One thing I advise if you have novel research questions in mind is working with a potential advisor and use the vast arrays of publicly available data to answer said question. By doing this, you circumvent the issue of a) gathering your own data, or b) asking to use lab data which the mentor way wish to reserve for their purposes or their other mentees (e.g., graduate students). 
 
Googling your field + public data is a good place to start. You will still need to a) identify the mentor, and b) go through appropriate university-IRB approvals to get access and use the data ethically. 

It will be important to find a mentor who is willing to help you. Whether that’s your current PI, your former professor, or the PI of a new lab. At this stage in your career, it would be really unusual and not advisable to publish or present without direct supervision, and it’s unlikely you would get anything accepted (not a jab at you, all students need help with this).
Also, be proactive in seeking out opportunities. Maybe not right away after joining a lab, but eventually you should ask if you can take on more advanced roles or use lab data to prepare an abstract, etc. Many labs are happy to have students do independent research but they won’t necessarily go out of their way to offer it.

Sounds like you are asking the right questions and doing some good things to enhance your application. Have you talked to your current lab PI about your interest in doing more research things and the opportunity to get published or to present?
Regarding your lit review, your professor should have some suggestions on where you can publish. You could also ask if they could come on as a co-author to help you polish the manuscript and prepare it for publication.

I am applying for Ed psych too .  Good luck

I came to my field (Ed Psych) after a career in an unrelated field and found it was a real benefit. I agree with all that PsyDGrad90 said. Also, you will have a better idea of your path once you have specific research questions you are interested in. A Masters can help give you time and exposure to come up with these questions, but it is expensive. For me, personally, I would love a student with a CS background (but I do work in ed tech). There may be other PIs who feel similarly in developmental and clinical (even outside of computational neuroscience).

I came to my field (Ed Psych) after a career in an unrelated field and found it was a real benefit. I agree with all that PsyDGrad90 said. Also, you will have a better idea of your path once you have specific research questions you are interested in. A Masters can help give you time and exposure to come up with these questions, but it is expensive. For me, personally, I would love a student with a CS background (but I do work in ed tech). There may be other PIs who feel similarly in developmental and clinical (even outside of computational neuroscience).

I agree with the others. Look at the pre-req courses for PhD programs and see if you have those courses. If not, then a master's is a good route. I would suggest CUNY. They are significantly cheaper than Teacher's College and NYU, and there are tons of research opportunities. Depending on your niche subject area, you can choose which CUNY would be most appropriate for your interests. John Jay is more forensically based, Queens college is more neuroscience heavy, etc. As far as your concern about prestige, CUNY is a very highly rated R1 research university (for reference, while Columbia is an R1, Teacher's College is an R2). CUNY carries a lot of weight in the psych field. 
If you have that pre-reqs, I would just look for paid RA positions. Columbia Medical Center hires a ton of RAs. You can look at the other hospitals in the city as well. The Manhattan VA also has a ton of research, so you can check out USAJobs.gov to see if they are hiring (although that process may take awhile). 

Not sure if I agree with this. Recent papers are good yes, but I certainly have lines of research from > 5 years ago that I haven't recently published on, but are still part of my world. If a smart and interesting student came around who wanted to work on that line of work, it would be exciting to me. If you email them noting you want to work on something they are no longer pursuing, that's good information for you to know too.

What does your mentor think? My quant scores are okay-ish (just above 50th percentile) but I have taken every stats class my program has to offer (about six classes including a number of advanced topics). Faculty I've discussed this with have said that this, along with my quantitative research, is likely to make up for the mediocre GRE score. The place they suggest I focus my effort is on the personal statement -- that's where you really sell yourself to the program. The main thing is to make it past the cutoffs. But other professors might give different advice? 

You only have so much space in your SOP to convey what your goals are, how X program can help you achieve them, and why you would be a good fit for said program. While it is great that you have experience in administering the BDI, the more important message is that you have in some context worked with those who (possibly) have MDD. The BDI doesn't require much training/skill to administer and interpret. If you were interpreting the scores on a WAIS or PAI or something, there's a bit more complexity in that, which may warrant more discussion. 
What exactly is it that you want to say about your administration of the BDI? If you can frame it into a larger context, such as your administration of this measure has led you to want to pursue research examining the cognitive-affective aspects of depression, then thats a clear explanation of the importance of this. If it's to say that you administered the BDI as part of your duties as an RA, that can just go into the CV, as most clients just complete the BDI in the waiting room and you count up the ratings to see if they meet the cut-offs. 

Not sure if I agree with this. Recent papers are good yes, but I certainly have lines of research from > 5 years ago that I haven't recently published on, but are still part of my world. If a smart and interesting student came around who wanted to work on that line of work, it would be exciting to me. If you email them noting you want to work on something they are no longer pursuing, that's good information for you to know too.

I'll put in another plug for considering Ed Psych, Human Dev, Learning Sciences programs--lots of work in this area studying development and media!