randompsychologist

I second 3point14's NIH suggestion-- that's a great program. I also recomend that you look at the Hot Metal Bridge Program at the University of Pittsburgh...its funded and there's a stipend. There are two other funded fellowship-type programs that will get you good research experience, one at Duke and the other at the University of Florida that are geared towards neuro people...but I don't think that's your thing... unless if you're into social/personality in the neuro literature? These programs have deadlines in the spring semester of your senior year and I recommend that you submit those applications when you're doing your grad school apps. MA programs are a good idea for students who come from a different field and want to do psychology, or were psych undergrads but did not have a good GPA. As someone else here said, it is a really expensive way to get RA experience and even then, it may not be the best way to do it. That is, of course, unless you get a funded MA . With your GPA that's not a good way to go. However, that said, does your school have a BA/MA option? If it is cheap enough to be feasable, and you find an advisor you really really want to work with over this summer you may want to pursue this option. This way, you will see a project from start to finish, perhaps get a poster or two out of it, get a thesis out of it, and have a good letter without having to go through that period where you acclimate to a new department. This option worked for me. Explore it if this is available to you. Also, unfortunately, it may be too late in the game for this now, but NSF-funded Research Experience for Undergraduates programs are a great idea if you have another summer and/or year of school left... but the deadlines for the summer should have already passed. However, if you end up spending a fifth year at Binghamton, it may actually be a very good idea to apply for REU opportunities for next summer. If you stay for a fifth year, you should also consider the APA Summer Science Fellowship for next summer. With your lack of research experience, I would recommend taking a gap year and applying later. You can obviously do the school work (your GPA shows this) and, with good research experience and strong GRE scores, you will be a competitive candidate. Don't shortchange yourself now--you may be cheating yourself out of amazing acceptances and/or funding opportunities that you could get if you had waited.

I have absolutely no idea how many applications they had... and they don't have any stats on the number of past applications because it is a brand new program (this is THE first cohort).They only have 9 slots spread amongst the four different disciplines (CS, English, Psych, and Bio) so there is the potential for it to have been very competitive. It was also open to post-bacs who were not applying to the PhD programs also (that is what I did). Personally, in my field, paying for an MA would definetly not have been worth it...I think you made the right decision... I only got an MA because I didn't pay for it (I think I paid like 2,000... at most... out of pocket for my undergrad degrees). I don't know if anyone is going to care about the name, just who you work with during your time at Pitt but I'm not sure if that's how your field works. The way they have set up the mentoring at this program, though, it looks like you should get a lot of personalized attention that you may not have gotten at Boston

I meant as compared to any US program...but that's really vague and the answer, it seems, is that it depends on the US program. I am still in the process of putting my schools together so I don't know what or who I'm comparing anything to or even if I am applying this year. I know that my list of schools would include some Ivy schools/honorary Ivy schools, some state schools and places McGill, University of Toronto, and University College London. Okay from what you are saying, with foreign schools, as with any school within the US, it comes down to reputation of the program. It is reassuring to know that grads from your program have been offered post-docs/faculty jobs to awesome places. I won't strike schools from my list now simply because they are not in the US.

Thank you so much for the info on the NIH program and for your advice! I'm going to apply to the program (wish I'd done it earlier... but I'm glad that the deadline's rolling).

I have just starting researching programs and was wondering if getting a PhD in the UK or Canada would hurt my chances at academic jobs in the US later.

I also wanted to say, every time I read the posts on here, I am amazed at how bright everyone is but the vibe is not as intimidating as College Confidential.

I am (sort of) new to these forums. Although I have been reading posts on GradCafe for a while, I finally decided to sign up. I am a BA/MA student in the Honors College at one of the CUNY schools (don't want to say which one) and I should be getting my degrees in Psychology this September. I will be done with all my coursework by next week and all I have left to do is defend my thesis in July. I have a good GPA (3.93 overall GPA and a 3.96 psy GPA... but a 4.0 psy GPA if you only count my undergrad classes) but horrible GRE scores after totally flipping out on the day of the exam (V: 570, M:670 A: 4.5 and I don't remember the percentiles). I was surprised by how horrible my GRE scores were because I was doing very well (1400+) on the practice exams. I am planning on taking the new exam in August. I have not taken the Psych GREs yet. I do not have any publications, but I have presented three posters at conferences (I presented at EPA, APS, and at the annual meeting for the associated professional sleep societies… yeah… I know that's not even close to having actual publications ). At this point, I have 3 years of research experience and I will have defended a thesis on the effect of circadian-rythm related mood changes on emotional memory. All of my work to date has been in the emotion/cognition/sleep areas-- I know that this is not very well-defined. I feel that for me to be able to explore the things I am interested in, I have have to leave my department (although I have some amazing mentors here). So, for this gap year (the 2012-2013 academic year) I applied to two post-bac fellowship-type programs. I was rejected from one after a great interview (the PI who was considering me was amazing... unfortunately, logistically, it ended up not working out). I have not heard from the other yet but apparently acceptances/rejections should be out soon and one of the other posters on these forums heard back last week. If I don't get the other post-bac program, this next year, I want to spend some time working in a lab that uses some neuroimaging techniques, take some bio and stats classes, and work as a TA/adjunct. So, basically, do you think it is wise for me to apply to PhD programs for the 2013-2014 academic year? Or should I take two years off and apply for the next year? If I do apply for fall of 2013, would neurocognition programs be feasable for me?

run Forrest!

How did they let you know? Did they send you something in the mail or did they contact you via email/phone? I applied to this program for Psychology and I have yet to receive a response. I contacted them earlier last week to see if they had sent out acceptances yet but they told me to wait till the end of the month. Just wanted to know if I should start freaking out yet. Regardless of the path you choose, good luck! Personally, if I had the option, I would choose the Hot Metal Bridge Program because there are many people there I want to work with and I do not want to get an MA in my field (I already have one that came with my BA/MA). I applied because it was 24 free credits that I could use to take science/math classes. I want a more technical background because I'm switching subfields in psychology. My other options are unfunded post-bac programs--forget that . For you, however, I think doing the MA or the unfunded masters program would not make a difference course-wise. So, I think the question here is, who would you most like to work with for the next year or so and can you afford to pay the grad tuition on your own? The Hot Metal Bridge Program is a chance for you to work with the people you applied to for the PhD at Pitt without having to pay the tuition and without any strings attached. However, if the people you really want to work with are at Boston College, it might be worth your time to go there to forge those contacts. Also, how big a factor is money for you? Can you afford the MA? The Hot Metal Bridge Program does not have a reputation yet because this is, I believe, the first cohort they are recruiting. So, I don't think anyone on an adcom committee will know what to think when he/she sees that line on a CV (unless they're at Pitt of course... but then they probably actully know you). However, maybe an MA at Boston College might have some weight to it on a CV (I don't know, it's not my field). Also, keep in mind, you can start an MA, but you don't have to finish it. I don't know how that's looked upon in your field but everyone in my program seems to do it all the time. There is nothing keeping you from applying again next year even if you do choose the unfunded masters program.