psychapplicant2011

I am not sure if admitted stats really tell that meaningful of a story. After all, there are stats that show that among people applying to, e.g., Harvard, the average GRE's and GPA's of those admitted are not much different than those rejected. From what I understand, as long as GREs and GPAs are in some sort of acceptable range, they don't matter too much. Of course, what is acceptable probably varies from program to program. What matters the most is research interest match, letters of recommendation, and applicable experience. My non-expert word of advice: Shoot for a minimum of 80th percentile on all GRE sections and a GPA of at least 3.7. Anything below these stats may raise a "red flag," at least at some of the better programs.

POI from USC contacted me via email wanting to set up a time to discuss research interests. Any one else here receive contact from USC yet? If you want more information, please PM me.

The clinical experience most programs are looking for are not necessarily "impressive" (as-in-impressively-difficult) experiences, but rather, simply, experiences. Programs want to know that you have gotten your feet wet in the world of clinical psychology, and that after getting your feet wet, you are still gung-ho about working in clinical psych. Or perhaps, more accurately put, what can be impressive to a clinical psych program is that this clinical experience has some how shaped your desire to become a clinical psychologist (again, this has little to do with whether or not the experience itself was a difficult or out-of-the-ordinary experience). So, yes, working at a crisis line counts as clinical experience. And in your case, you are combining clinical experience with clinical research, which may be doubly impressive. Of course, different programs are looking for different qualifications in their "clinical experience" requirement. So, while I believe this answer to your question applies fairly generally, there may be specific caveats to this answer that may vary by program.

I applied to USC and have not heard a peep.

As far as psych programs go, most of the early postings seem to be for clinical programs and neuroscience programs. I am applying out for social psych. However, even still, the crazy Obsessive-compulsive worrying has already begun! BTW, does anyone here know of any social psych programs that have already started contacting applicants? What about any that you know are going to start contacting applicants this week?

Looking at previous years results for my programs, I really didn't have any expectations to hear from any programs until the later half of January, the beginning of February. However, from the looks of it, a number of psych programs have already started contacting applicants. Now, I am already starting to worry/check email every 15 minutes/check application statuses every couple hours/etc. Is it still too early to let my anxieties get the best of me, or is it really [already!] that time of year? And I was really hoping to try to temper my anxiety until later this month. Oh well!

If you are not looking to get a job at as a researcher and are primarily interested in practicing clinical psychology, the range of schools/programs to which you can apply and still have a decent chance of a successful career is much larger. What this means for you is a final GPA of 3.5, GRE 1100-1200 is not all the detrimental to you. With those stats, you probably will not get into one of the best programs, but you can get into one that will allow you to develop the tools you need to have a successful career as a clinical psychologist. Between now and the fall of the 4th year, take (relevant) tough courses and make A's in them. This would mean more than simply retaking a course you bombed in your first year of college. (Many times admission committees are willing to overlook bad grades in the first year or so, as long as the more recent grades are stellar.) Also, take another stats course and ace this second stats course. Admission committees at PhD programs -- even those that have more of an applied focus -- like to look at your stats background. Make sure to take both the general GRE and the psych GRE. Almost all programs require the former. Most clinical psych programs require the latter. You should shoot for at least 80th percentile on all the tests/sub tests. Also, you need to make sure you have outstanding letters of reference. As long as your stats aren't bad, these letters will matter more than anything else. By the time it gets close to applying out, you should have a candid conversation with the professor(s) who know you best. He/she will be in the best position to tell you what kind of programs you should be targeting. Also, keep terminal MA programs in mind. There are a handful of funded programs in the US. Good performance in a terminal MA program can make up for problems at the undergraduate level.

Are you wanting to become a clinical psychologists or do you want to become a researcher in clinical psychology?

You are doing it wrong, and thus are setting yourself up for disappointment. You need to first: Find researchers who can support your interests. (Given your interests, there should be plenty available). Second, you need to contact researchers to see if they are accepting students for the upcoming year. (There is no point applying to work with a given researcher if they are not accepting students.) Third, you need to narrow your list down, NOT BY NAME BRAND OF THE INSTITUTION, but the quality of the department and quality of the research of the target person of interest. Additionally, you should be applying to a stratification of schools by difficulty of getting in. Apply to a few tough-to-get-into "dream" schools, apply to a handful of carefully selected target programs, and apply to a couple of "backups." Backups could be quality MA programs or programs that a bit less than prestigious but who still have quality researchers who are working in your area. You could also inquire about employment placement records when trying to narrow your list down. (I would direct these questions to the director of graduate studies.) Placement is what is _really_ important, unless of course you are just a name chaser, and in that case, you are doing it wrong. (Of course, there is probably a correlation between name brand of institution and placement, but you may be surprised to learn that this relationship is not as strong as you might thing.) Of course, it is probably too late in this season to follow this advice. Good luck to wherever you applied this time around. If you don't get in, do it right next time. By the way, Wakeforest has a funded MA program with a very good placement record into quality PhD programs.

Let's be honest: The probability that there is someone on this particular board that is in a position to offer you good advice for the specific problems you raise is very small. If you are already taking courses at UC-Berkeley, you need to try to contact someone in their economics department, preferably someone who works in behavioral economics, and talk with them in person about your goals. These are the people you need to be getting advice from, as these are the people that actually know what behavioral economists are looking for. I am sure you are smart enough to figure out who at UC-Berkeley specializes in behavioral economics, but just in case that would be too much of a hassle for you, here you go: Psychology And Behavioral Economics George A. Akerlof, Stefano DellaVigna, Shachar Kariv, Botond Koszegi, Matthew Rabin Hit up Kariv and Rabin first. Don't send them some long-winded email. They won't respond. Once the semester begins, ask them if they are around for the spring and if they will be holding office hours. Give them a short (two sentences) synopsis of what you want to talk to them about, and then show up.

30! five years off after high school BA to MA MA to PhD?

I've talked with several psychologists who regularly sit on admission committees. While there does not seem to be a consensus concerning the importance of the psych GRE score, the following are the type of responses I received: from a social psych admissions chair at an Ivy: "They don't mean [explicit]. ... We don't even look at them." from a developmental psychologists at an average state school: "Good scores could help put you over the top. I really recommend taking the psych GRE. Bad scores shouldn't hurt too much." from a cognitive psychologists from an average state school: "Don't waste your time. No one looks at them." from a neuro-cognitive psychologist from an average state school: "We look at the scores, but they don't mean too much. Sometimes when we see a really high score, we wonder if the applicant wasted a lot of time studying for the exam rather than focusing on more important things." from a social psychologists at a good state program: "It really depends on the program. In general, clinical and developmental psych tracks care more about the scores than others." from a social psychologists at an above average state program: "I recommend taking the test. Our program looks at the score as one factor among many. A good score can definitely put you over the top. ... However, it is true that not all social psych programs look closely at the scores." Yeah, I asked a lot of people about taking the exam. I went ahead and took it. I figured it might help but probably would hurt (I say this knowing I was fairly confident that I would do at least decent). How much will a bad score hurt you? Well, according to many that I talked to, the scores probably won't help or hurt. However, I cannot help but think that if one at least glances at the score, it could make a difference on the margins. (Again, does "on the margins" transfer into any kind of meaningful effect in at least some cases?)

Hi moralresearcher, If you don't mind me asking, to what schools did you apply? Given some shared interests, I am assuming your list probably overlaps with my last quite a bit.

Wow! Not even January and you have already received a phone interview. Congrats. It sounds like you are off to a productive start thus far. I am not really expecting any notification until late January at the earliest.

Currently living in Atlanta. My advice to any graduate students who might be attending GSU, Ga Tech, or Emory, would be to check out Candler Park. It is a very nice (and safe!) neighborhood. It is also very family-friendly and is home to one of the few good public school (elementary) in Atlanta. Additionally, there are restaurants, shops, and public transport w/i walking distance. Candler Park is less than 2 miles from Emory and just a few miles from GSU. It's a slight bit further to Ga Tech, but definitely doable. Other places to consider would be Virginia Highlands, Inman Park, Decatur (near downtown Decatur). Midtown is hit or miss.

I am applying to primarily social psychology programs. My interests are in moral psychology, folk psychology ("theory of mind"-related stuff), and action representation. Targeting psychologist who share these interests and have a track record of working with philosophers or, at the very least, work on philosophically interesting research in these areas. I've applied to 9 programs total (6 social psychology): Boston College (Social) Brown (Psychology) Cornell (Social) Emory (Cognitive and Developmental) Harvard (Social) Maryland (Social) USC (Social) Virginia (Social) Yale (Developmental) Undergraduate from average state school, 4.0 GPA, major in philosophy and psychology MA from exceptional philosophy program, 3.96 GPA GRE 570 verbal, 780 quantitative, 6.0 AW GRE Psych 770 Included a writing sample that is looking the MJT's C-scores based on level of philosophical training and ethical views. 2 letters from philosophers 2 letters from psychologists My letters from the philosophers are much stronger as they know me better. Luckily, several of my targets actually know one of my philosophy letter writers fairly well. Anyone else willing to share interests, lists, stats, etc.?