honkycat1

well, morality aside 1) there is a difference in the type of training that a terminal masters program give you compare to a phd program. so it might even put you at a disadvantage compare to people that went to a masters program. 2) your not the first brilliant mind to come up with this plan and employers/professors are not dumb 3) addition to #2, what kind of letters of recommendations are you looking for? and from whom? you might have faith that you can pull this off by getting in, but it doesn't seem like you have a solid plan how to get out clean.

at this point definitely try to get as much research experience possible. Your gpa and gre are below average, so to get in the schools you want, you need some very impressive research experience (first author on posters, secondary author on papers)

your GRE is very good but what do you mean " I completed two faculty-supervised social research studies (one survey, one experiment)"? does that mean you were a subject? if thats the case, its not something that can be used to your advantage at all. LORs from profs that taught you might be ok but you should shoot for at least one GOOD letter, preferably from someone that knows your ability as a researcher, seeing you don't have experience, I would wait a year and get involved in a lab. Grades/scores will only get your applications looked by the committee, but if you don't have research skills and experience you will very likely get passed over. and I never heard of restrictions on research participation due to your international status... I think your looking in the wrong place. Just talk to some professors in the school that are doing research that interests you and ask them if you can be in their lab. Most of it is not formal or anything. Also, if you never done research, why do you want to do I/O psychology?

first of all, that type of dude would not make a thread about if its wise to get a dog but my ex decided she would get the dog... seeing I broke up with her and she doesn't want anything to do with me, its the least I can do. I do mail treats and toys to her house for the pup though...

bingo, it really doesn't sound like you have a passion for research which you really need for psychology ph.d programs. so I would do what neuropsych said and try to figure out what you love to do. There are many options available such as a masters, where its less demanding, less competitive, and have a very good job prospect as well. PhD might be impressive, but its not a one-way ticket to riches... you really need passion and drive and willingness to do a lot for a scientific endeavor.

you need to do some research on what kind of non-academia jobs are available to you. As far as I know most of the phd programs in psychology will be heavily focused on academia afterwards. I'm not sure if this applies to community psychology, but social psychology ph.d programs definitely produces academics. so think through if applied work in the community is what you want to do, is a ph.d program for you. and there are good universities in europe as there is in the US so just do your research and make sure you are getting a good degree. best way to get a sense of whats out there is talk with a prof in your department about your interests and see if they can guide you to the right source or person to talk to.

also, I don't mean to come off harsh but I know a lot of people that hate grad school because they didn't know what they were getting themselves into... as for making yourself competitive, there are certainly quantifiable things you can do but in the end, in a field like cognitive science, most professors have funding for 1 or 2 students over 5-6 years, so ask yourself, if you were a professor, and you can hire one grad student to help you with your full time work and publication, what kind of qualities would you be looking for? and what makes you stand out from the other potential applicants. talk with professors and other grad students would be a good start. if they don't think you know what your getting yourself into, the best GRE, GPA, won't help you. good luck

and I'm sure hes also the type that puts PhD behind everything anyone will ever read about him... its people like him that gives other humble folks with this degree that actually do it for the science a bad name =/

phd or m.a or b.a or b.s is only your academic title, it has nothing to do with how you are as a person or a friend... why should who you befriend has ANYTHING to do with their title whatsoever is beyond me... I'm a undergrad going into a phd program and I have friends who are my age, phd students, post docs, professors etc etc. and I'm fully ready to befriend whomever that I feel like I can have a good time with and I can trust, regardless of their academic interest or achievements... I mean... is a phd student more capable of carrying on a conversation? more fun? more loyal as a friend? this title of the thread just seem offensive to me to be honest. in addition, you guys do realize that a LOT of people that make decision to go PhD or Masters do not make that decision based on ability but rather, interest or other facets of life.

I tend to agree, not everyone will think that, but enough people might for you to take the extra 1 sec to not leave your signature in every email I think a good rule of thumb is, only put your credentials in when the recipient would ask you about these credentials if you didn't provide it. also, this is just my opinion, if its an email that I don't bother checking every spelling and punctuation, then its probably not an email worthy of a professional signature. and if you really want people to know, you can always attach your CV. but I'm probably preaching to the wrong crowed since I see people with these lengthy signatures in mundane emails all the time and I think its a little pretentious... and I also agree with not putting in thesis...

Yes, I have definitely considered this as well. Good thing is my parents live 1 hr from here and we've all taken care of the dog my gf and I had. So the dog will definitely be in good hands if I am to be out for the weekend. Being in I/O psychology means there isn't much "field" work to do, nor is there a lot of experimental time I need to put in the lab as far as I know.

you can't play, you can't pretend. you need to know what you want to do, know what your getting yourself into, and be honest with yourself on this one. here are a few reasons 1) they can see through people that pulls a few quotes and say they are interested 2) if you pretend your way into a program, you will hate it, so do your self a favor. see through the flashy "phd" title, and really know what your getting yourself into. talk to your profs, talk to grad students, secondly, phd programs are all about research, if you are as passionate as you say you are, you need to show it. especially in cognitive psychology, where is soooo competitive, you need to show why your special, why your are a good FIT, and why they want to pay you for 5 years for your original thoughts and ideas in science.

I would recommend emailing the programs and tell them that your GPA is not stellar but you have your names on multiple publications, just be honest and ask them to review your app... the process isn't all done by computers if you talk to them, they will make exceptions.

I have emailed some profs but to be quite honest, I think it made 0 difference in the outcomes of my applications. Most people will tell you differently but with I/O psych specifically, emailing POI is just not as important because I/O does not use a fellowship model in gradschool unlike ALL the other programs. You do NOT work with one prof specifically and you do not apply to work with one prof. Most I/O programs admit you into the program and work it out from there. Unlike cognitive psych or social psych where its important for your interest to mesh with one or two of the faculty, this is not expected in I/O, I think the interest requirement is MUCH more general in I/O than the other psych fields. So, will it hurt to email POIs? never, but will it increase your chances? I'd say its insignificant, now if you were applying to social psychology, then it would be a totally different story. also, as previously mentioned, departments accept students into the program, so this is also different with other programs where your POI might not have enough funding for another grad student, you want to know before you apply. This, also, as far as I know, do not apply to I/O psychology because their model is different

good replies everyone I think my plan will be to first wait until I get a sense of my schedule, and definitely talk to some folks in the department with pets and see how it works out for them, and in terms of actually getting a dog, I will probably start by fostering where its less of a financial burden and not a long term commitment and see if it fits my lifestyle, and then go from there and decide if and what to adopt. and if anyone else is interested in getting a new pet I think there are lots of good info in this thread. and I would def recommend my method to anyone wanting to testing it out.

Hi guys, I'm considering in adopting a dog to live with me in my 1 br apartment. I'll be starting my first year of my phd program at bowling green and was wondering those that have pets/dogs, what is it like? Is managing a dog by myself possible? and this is more to do with time than finances... my apartment is about 10 minutes from my office and if I bike, it will be even quicker. its a small college town so walking the dog around the neighborhood will be pretty easy. so my main concern is how if a few hours a day to walk and train the dog is something I can manage. chances are I'll wait for a bit once school starts before making any decisions but I just want to hear your opinions.

I don't think not having a first authorship will keep you out of any program... I doubt every harvard admits have a first authorship.

to be honest, the only advice I have now is study for the GRE and aim for 1350+ its not like you can get more research experience now that your applying in 3 months... and start the application as early as possible. but i'm sure these are things you've heard before. though, one thing I would like to add is, don't be afraid to apply to some "long shot" schools because the process is so unpredictable that no school is really a "long shot". if they have a program that you think fits your interest well and you can demonstrate that in your application, go for it. the thing is, what you have done in the past 2 year should say what you should do. just make sure you demonstrate that in your application. just know, that they are looking for people they can WORK with, not just a composite score of GRE, GPA etc etc... also, do a lot of research and talk to graduate students. I had a lot of graduate student friends and I felt when I applied, I had a good grasp of what graduate school is about, demonstrating that in your application and especially your letter is huge. If you just say things like "I did this, that that and I want to be in grad school" without demonstrating that you know what your getting yourself into, doesn't matter how good your credential is, professors might not want to take you because more than anything, they want to see that your FIT for the program, and FIT to be an academic.

Ok so I'm not a HUGE fan of laptops as the performance can't be compared with PCs and they are a bit clunky and more expensive. I'm considering the following options: 1) 2 desktops, 1 at home, 1 at office in school 2) 1 desktop, 1 tablet (ipad or some sort for carrying) 3) 1 desktop, 1 laptop. so I'm just curious, how ESSENTIAL, is having a laptop as a graduate student in psychology. I understand there will be a lot of reading and notetaking in class, but I feel a lot of that can be done in a tablet then transfered to a desktop or whatever later on. there are things a tablet can't do like run SPSS or SAS or whatever so I guess if we have to do that IN CLASS, then I'm SOL but again, the alternative is have 2 desktops. I'm not worried about transfering stuff as USBs are more than sufficient. anyways, just curious if anyone here went through graduate school without a laptop or know people that doesn't have a laptop and have a similar setup as my 1) or 2). or is there no way of going through graduate school w/out a laptop. ttyvm

it totally depends on what you want to do: a lot of the behavioral economics faculty come from social or cognitive psychology. and they usually view psychology experience quite highly. Maybe more so than experience in economics. so the schools and people that have been listed ie Ariely, Kahnneman, are all psych folks, they just happen to hold positions in business school. some other schools to consider are University of Chicago, NYU. you might also consider organizational behavioral programs as well within the business school, again, those are very psych focused. which is probably why you are here I was wait listed by Chicago's OB program and I had 0 experience in economics but have worked quite a bit with judgment and decision making type of stuff. and I can tell you almost everyone on the staff are psych grads.

with GPA it matters what classes you did badly in... if they are "hard" courses such as physics, calculus, etc... that will hurt more than if you just did bad on some random humanities course or something. my gpa wasn't stellar but I got good scores on all my math/research methods/physics etc type of tecnical courses, so what if I flunked a course in architecture, it doesn't say anything about me as a researcher.. people will look at EVERYTHING and put together a story about you based on your application. its not just an arbitrary scoring system. and research is super important, given your GPA you really need to shine in research. that means not just "research experience", but authorship on papers, presentations at conferences, perhaps take some graduate courses and do well in them. know that phd programs look for researchers, thinkers, and curious minds.

biopsych is hardly a necessary field for social psychology where math/stat/method courses are much more heavily weighted.

I wish the same with every school that rejected me...

lol I barely got a 70 in my social psych program and I did fine (I think... even though if my GPA was higher, I might have better chances.) but in all seriousness, its not gonna kill your chances in a lot of very good programs.

I guess its more of a problem of content validity than measurement error