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In line with what everyone has said here, it would probably be prudent to prioritize the general GRE. Clinical psych is fiercely competitive and if your Q score is very low (e.g. below 50-60th percentile) you will most likely be cut from consideration in many programs.

From what I understand, this depends a lot on the school. I've found a lot of schools will have this info somewhere in their FAQ section, but usually the consensus is one of the two; i.e. either the school encourages sending multiple scores, from which they will "pick" your best score from each section OR they will only review your most recent test. If this isn't on their website you could probably find out by emailing the program's administrator.

I took the GRE November 21st and was fine for December 1 deadlines.

Eh, let's face it: the GRE(s) test how well you take the GRE. You have to take it, you will be judged on it, it sucks, but it's the way the world (read: grad school admissions) works. At least until it -- one day -- get's overhauled for being rather discriminatory and biased towards high SES.

Great, Thanks TakeruK, this has been super helpful.

Thanks TakeruK. Yes, I think it does make sense. I am going to have to work on how to strike that balance. I guess I'm concerned about my scope, because I do have multiple interests (like most applicants as you mentioned), but I also want to come across like this department is THE department for me. How do I state how my interests and objectives are well aligned for *this* department, without sounding like I could say this about 10 other departments? After all, the best departments are all looking for similar things (interdisciplinarity, critical thinker, willing to contribute to the scholarly community, independent yet collaborative, etc). I suppose that's what I mean by wishy-washy as well -- I am worried that, by mentioning multiple professors, I am simply coming across as desperate and calculated :/ *shrug*. Anyway, these are some good points -- I am going to put some priority into working the "secondary" POIs into my statement, for sure.

Awesome. Thanks, gellert, that's good advice.

Hey folks, I have a kind of dumb question I'm hoping some of you can shed some light on. Throughout my experience and reading on here, it is obviously necessary (at least in psychology) to have a POI in mind. However, as I've been contacting different POIs over the past few weeks, it seems like many professors have recommended that I also show how I align with other faculty members in the department as well. I understand their logic, in that, if accepted, the new student won't be a lost puppy if something terrible happens and their one and only POI can't take a student/leaves, etc. But I still found this interesting, as I always thought that a cleaner, tighter focus (i.e. having one person in mind to apply to) made for a stronger application. A secondary concern is this: are you expected to contact multiple profs in a program? Sigh :/ So I guess I'm struggling to find a way to mention multiple profs without sounding wishy-washy in my interests. Thoughts on how to do this effectively?

I'm not sure of this exactly, but I do know it depends on the program and on the year. It can be as low as 10% and as high as 20%, approximately, depending on the program and on the year.

Hi all, I graduated from the Human Development and Psychology Ed.M program in 2013, mostly with research-oriented interests - currently applying to PhD programs in educational neuroscience. I'd be happy to answer any questions for people interested in the master's program

I guess the most reliable and least-sketchy option would be to order a report from the ETS website to yourself, obviously only ordering your best score, and then scanning and uploading that. However, this will cost us $27. I think if you have 10 schools that ask for this it might be worth it. I haven't finalized my list yet so I'm not sure how many require this, but it might just be worth $27 just for the peace of mind :/ How silly would it be to get rejected because of a freaking ETS score report!

Thanks Fuzzy, I think this is true, but I've also seen instances where the school asks for an uploaded "unofficial report" (i.e. the page you see on the the ETS website of your scores; in same way they ask for "unofficial transcripts"); but they don't explicitly ask for all attempts. It just so happens that the report *displays* all attempts.

I have a similar problem -- I've heard of people blocking out scores that weren't relevant, in an obvious way so that it doesn't look surreptitiously doctored. :/ But I'll be interested to see what others have to say about this.

Fall 2014: ETS Powerprep #1: 08/31/2014 147Q 156VManhattan Prep #1 (Free): 09/06 152Q 157VManhattan Prep #2: 09/15 151Q 159VManhattan Prep #3 09/20 153Q 156VManhattan Prep #4 09/27 150Q 156VETS Powerprep #2: 10/04 148Q 158VManhattan Prep #5 10/14 158Q N/S First Actual Test (10/18/2014): 161V 152Q 4.5 AWASummer 2015: PR 1: V 155 Q 151 PR 2 06/14: V 162 Q 153 PR 3 06/23 V 157 Q 151 PR 4 07/12: V 156 Q 153 PR 5 07/19: V 161 Q 159 PR 6 08/02: V 160 Q 155 ETS PP 1: Q 157 ETS PP 2: Q 155 Manhattan 1: Q 156 Manhattan 2: Q 154 Manhattan 3: Q 155 Final Actual Test (09/01/2015): 160V 160Q 4.5 AWA Hours studied: hundreds.

I'd include some private schools as well. Public schools tend to look on international students less favorably (unless you come with your own money, of course).

Sorry to bump this thread -- but I figure this is a time many (including myself) are contacting POIs! This is a good point, and totally true! It's not like they are lacking interested applicants, why wouldn't they want the person who needs least supervision and can hit the ground running from day 1? I would also say that reading papers too intently can be sometimes be fruitless as these can be projects have been done and dusted for months (given the timeline for publication can take FOREVER). I tend to look at publication "trends" (e.g. what is a theme for the last 3-4 pubs, preferably ones from this year/are in press), and most importantly, the methods they use (this ties back into mb712's point).

Hey all, It seems there isn't yet a cog neuro thread for 2016, so I thought I'd start one! =) Specifically, I thought I'd target fellow cog neuro enthusiasts applying to psychology departments, as opposed to neuroscience or biology programs (integrative/interdisciplinary neuroimaging program applicants welcome)! As this is my 2nd time around applying, I recently retook the GRE so I'm a little late to the game in doing research on schools, but aiming to reach out to POIs in the coming weeks. Where you applying? Have you contacted POIs yet? Taken the GRE? First time applying? Here's to a successful application cycle!

The first time I applied I took the GRE on November 18th (!) and it was still perfectly fine for December 1 deadlines. This might be a bad idea for other reasons (i.e. late-minute panicking) BUT it's possible. ETS says 15 days but in my experience it's more like a week.

This has nothing to do with history but my SO applied to 7 PhD programs in biology, and only got 1 interview (and acceptance): at Harvard. Random, yep!

It's also worth noting that historically MS & MA programs typically receive decisions much later than PhDs. When I applied to several masters programs a few years ago, I didn't hear a peep until the end of February for any of them.

I found this question pretty annoying. I mean, yes, I get why they are asking but it seems there isn't a right or wrong answer. For instance, if you have other offers, then it might bode well for you in that the program interviewing you may consider you to be competitive for other schools and -potentially- offer you a more competitive stipend (as an above poster mentioned). However, on the flip side, if you mention you are applying to many other places, this may taken negatively in that you are statistically less likely to accept an offer at their program. In another scenario, if you only have 1 interview, then you are faced with saying they are your only option..which may indicate you are not a strong applicant, etc.. Anybody else find themselves debating how to answer this?

It seems to me that scores become significantly more important when it comes to funded programs - with more competition and needing to "justify" funding a particular applicant, a cut and dry score becomes an easy way to go about this. Based on my (anecdotal) experience, the first time I took the GRE I got a shockingly low Q score (28th percentile!) and was admitted to 6/7 unfunded masters programs (many of which were at prestigious/ivy institutions). Based on this logic, relatively unfunded PsyD's might not put as much weight into something like a low Q score. Anyone else find this?

Agreed. One POI in particular - who I had a positive interaction with over email for a number of months - completely lost interest in corresponding with me after hearing about my 50th percentile Q score. It was definitely disappointing, but at the same time I don't think I would want to work with someone who held a 4-hour exam in such high regard.