epete25

The graduating early part is pretty much decided for me, so that's not the part I can really change....Would there be a huge difference taking undergrad math classes after I graduate?

First off, I guess it will be helpful to say a little about me. I'm graduating a year early with an undergrad degree in psych. I have credit up to calc 2 and I took 2 stat courses. my plan is to brush up on my math over the summer and take courses for calc 3, linear algebra, some stat in fall 2012 and continue taking classes in spring 2013 (would they take this into account if I let them know about this as I apply?). I want to start as soon as possible, which seems to be fall 2013 for me. as far as graduate school, where am I supposed to start off? It seems from looking over the forum that people applying to phd programs already finished a master's program. So should I be looking into a master's for biostatistics and/or epidemeology? I happened to stumble on the berkeley website that has something about a 2 year mph biostat/epidemiology program. Is it something like that that I should be aiming for in my current state? And a somewhat unrelated question, if anyone has an answer. I've looked into so called 'distance learning' programs to see if that might be something I can do to take my math classes. there seems to be one offered by u of wisconsin madison and a few in the england. If I took such classes, do graduate schools treat them the same as any class I would have taken as an undergrad? what are their stances on overseas courses in general? Sorry for such a long list of questions and thank you in advance for your help.

'm trying to keep my eyes open to things that I wouldn't have considered or thought about. I'm a psyc major graduating a year early. I like numbers and i think i have a liking to statistics so I am currently seriously considering quantitative psychology, except i'm taking a class on testing and measurement (iq tests, personality tests and such) and i'm a little doubtful that I really like this part of quant psych (which is basically 2 parts, test theory and stat for data analysis). I really think biostatistics is interesting because of the material it deals with (in comparison to data generated in psychology departments, some parts of which I really could not get excited about) and I've applied to a short summer program which is like an intro summer school program for people interested in biostat. But I feel that I lack both math (I've taken 2 stat classes in the psych department) and bio (i have credit for 101; i didn't take any more after that because i was eager to finish off my major classes) knowledge and feel that that might be a big obstacle. If by some miracle I do have a chance, I do plan on taking as many classes in math/stat and bio, but realistically, does anyone think it would be feasible for me to apply in fall of this year (to start grad school in fall 2013)?

Okay, so I'm graduating a year early, and I'm half panicking now starting my last semester. I wasn't planning on doing so in the beginning, but I've completed all my requirements for both the psych and german majors (majoring in german was just for the sake of not forgetting my german), so I'm not sure what I would do if I didn't graduate. I haven't taken my GRE yet either (although I feel this one's the at the bottom of my list of worries). I saw someone below me post about him/her graduating two years early and the general consensus seemed to be that graduating that early might not be too detrimental if he/she had good research experience etc. I'm thinking of applying to quantitative psychology although my math background doesn't look too attractive on my transcript (I have credit for up to calc 2, and then there's one upper level psyc stat class I took after the required psyc stat class that every psyc major takes). I guess one thing I could do is take a class somewhere in the summer after I graduate and before I apply? So that's that. I don't have much research experience; I just started working last semester (and continuing this semester) at a center that does developmental psyc work on a large scale, but most of the work I do is just coding drawings and conferencing with other coders, so it doesn't seem like the best research experience to have under my belt, and it would probably look especially unattractive to a quantpsyc program that might want to see me having done more data intensive work. I'm on the lookout for more, but even if I did get into another lab, there's only about 5 months left till graduation; unless they wanted me working in the summer too. I'm also on the lookout for a position that might want people that already graduated (those positions seem to be more full time and more involved) although I have no idea where to look for such positions and even those would want people that had a lot of research exposure during their undergrad years. that's it really. All I have to show is a gpa that's almost 3.9 (hopefully i dont let it drop in the last semester), but I don't know how smug I can be about that given the fact that I haven't taken any really hard classes (e.g. bio, chem, physics, math etc.). And then there's a year's worth of coding work, which in my opinion is not very high quality research experience. And I think I can get quite a decent GRE score. So as of now, that is all I have to present. Sorry for the long story, but the questions I want to ask are 1) I feel very impatient about moving along; would I have a chance if I applied in fall 2012 (assuming that I did a bit more work after I graduated, such as research and/or taking classes that quantitative programs would want to see?) 2) On the first day of classes, my TAs have always talked about how they got to work at hospitals or centers for a year or two after they graduated. Maybe I'm just blind or something but where in the world do people find these things? Is there some sort of resource out there that I am not aware of? 3) Specifically about quant psyc: I know I can't get involved in a quantitative psychology lab directly (a quantitative professor talked about how he even has trouble finding work first year grad students because they haven't learned enough to be of much help) so would research experience in any psyc area help, whether it be developmental, social or clinical? 4) If you are applying to a quantitative program, should your primary interest be in things like testing and statistics, or applying that knowledge to another area, or both? i.e. can you be interested in just the quantitative material or would you have to have interests extending beyond that to other areas, if that makes sense (e.g. applying quantitative knowledge in a clinical psyc setting). Sorry again for writing a lot, but I'm really lost right now, so any wisdom you can offer would be incredibly appreciated. Thank you again so much oh and if I happened to find a research opportunity abroad (im korean), would that carry the same weight as doing something in the US or is there some stigma against that?