Rachele

Thank you both! Sounds like it will be a busy Winter break for me!

Hello Grad Cafe Members! Ignore the poor spelling there (shoulders). I am working on my undergraduate degree (right now I am a jr.). Over holiday break I want to do the best I can to get a leg up on next years application process. I was going make a master document with all schools I was planning to look into applying to in Fall 2011. Here are some of the details I was going to look for. First here is a little about me -Jr at a state school in Illinois -3.75 over all -3.9 in psychology - as of now 1 year of research experience, but continuing -extensive volunteer work all relating to community or mental health - no poster presentations or papers yet What I am going to apply for PhD Community psychology (undecided about clinical track) What I was going to research over break 1. Median GPA, GRE scores 2. Percentage of applicants receiving funding 3. Bios of professors I might want to work with in the future 4. Community affiliations with the school 5. Size of community department relative to the entire psychology department 6. How they package their degree (is it combined with a masters in public health or a clinical degree) 7. Amount of grad student 8. Details about application (how many essays, cost, supporting info needed etc). Any help or input would be greatly appreciated, Thanks!

Thank you so much!

I am an RA at my university and two of the Grads students married during their 4th year. For them it was easier to make it work because they were going to the same institution and they had full funding.

Hello All! I am about 1/2 of the way through my Junior year. I have decided I want to enter into community psychology studying violence prevention in dating relationships. I have narrowed down my list of schools to 10. I have three that are geographically close. Does anybody have any tips for taking with faculty? I don't know what is the proper 'protocol" for inital contact so to speak with a faculty member or department. Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

I am currently in my Jr. year at University of Illinois at Chicago. In spring I can graduate with an Applied psychology degree. I have a year of research experience but none in the area of psychology I hope to enter (my experience is in cognitive and I hope to enter a community program). My extracurriculars and my letters of rec are outstanding. I am contemplating graduating this year with one BA or staying an additional year to finish up my degree in Crime, Law and Society (if I stay to get the second degree I can boost up my GPA). My question is would it be better to go to school and get a second degree or take a year of school off work as a research assistant in my field for a year then apply. (Irregardless I want to apply in 2012). Any thoughts or feedback would be greatly appreciated!