Improving Acceptance Odds

[Tesalyn]

Hi. I want to apply to PhD programs in psychology. My main interest area is social/personality psychology. I have an undergrad degree in a social science (but not in psychology) and I took several psychology classes as an undergrad. I am currently completing a second masters degree (both in subjects related to technology). My gpa is good, and while I haven't taken the GRE yet, I am studying for it and I typically do very well on standardized tests. 

I am trying to figure out a couple of things. First is how I can best work to increase my odds of getting into PhD programs in this competitive field. I have already started the process of looking for a psychology lab I can volunteer in. I am unsure, however, whether it would be best for me to pursue a second bachelor's degree, pursue a master's degree, or just take post-bac classes in psychology. I am not able to move until I start my PhD program, so that limits my choices to what is available near me and online. I'm not sure how online programs are viewed if they are from schools like Arizona State University? There is only one university near me that offers a terminal master's degree in psychology with a research focus. It's not a bad school, but not the best either and it's a 1 1/2 hour drive from where I am, which I can work with, but only if that's my best option. I can get a second bachelor's from another university that is a better school. My undergraduate degree is from a top 50 ranked university, but they don't offer terminal master's degrees in psychology or allow for a second bachelors or post-bac courses in psychology.

I also am wondering what a realistic timeframe might be for which cycle I should apply for? I'd love to start in 2019, but I am worried I will be a weak applicant for that cycle. I am also worried that my rather varied career and educational history will be to my detriment. 

Any advice or thoughts are greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[t_ruth]

Getting research experience will be the most important thing. If you start working with a lab in the university 1 & 1/2 hours from you, you may be able to do a lot of your work remotely. I  have given some of my research assistants remote work when they are home or traveling.

The other thing you can do is get to know the field. You don't need to take classes to do this. What is the specific topic that interests you or question you want to answer in your PhD work? Start looking up articles about this topic. Read them, contact the authors to ask questions, engage with professional groups and discussions--academic twitter is great for this.

If you already have two Master's degrees I would strongly advise you against getting another (unless it is funded and en route to a PhD). This, of course, assumes you are really set on a PhD program. If you are uncertain and don't have a clear desire to do research in a particular area, a Master's can help focus you. It's just a large expense that might be unnecessary.

[Tesalyn]

12 minutes ago, t_ruth said:

Getting research experience will be the most important thing. If you start working with a lab in the university 1 & 1/2 hours from you, you may be able to do a lot of your work remotely. I  have given some of my research assistants remote work when they are home or traveling.

The other thing you can do is get to know the field. You don't need to take classes to do this. What is the specific topic that interests you or question you want to answer in your PhD work? Start looking up articles about this topic. Read them, contact the authors to ask questions, engage with professional groups and discussions--academic twitter is great for this.

If you already have two Master's degrees I would strongly advise you against getting another (unless it is funded and en route to a PhD). This, of course, assumes you are really set on a PhD program. If you are uncertain and don't have a clear desire to do research in a particular area, a Master's can help focus you. It's just a large expense that might be unnecessary.

Thank you for the response. I am set on getting a PhD. My career goal is to be a professor. I currently work as an adjunct teaching programming classes. I've known for quite a few years that I wanted to get my PhD and become a professor. However, I have a lot of interests, and it took me a long time to figure out which one I wanted to pursue for my long-term career. However, after taking that time, I am confident this is the direction I wish to go. I know my primary interest area is personality psychology. I am already working on reading and becoming more familiar with the field. 

My primary reasons for considering either a master's degree or second bachelor's in psychology are to take the prerequisite classes that some school prefer and to gain additional opportunities for research and extracurriculars in the field. I am going to pursue volunteering in a professor's lab, and I have begun discussions with a professor whose work I am particularly interested in. But it would be interesting to also have the opportunity to do some research of my own as part of either an undergrad or grad program, particularly if I have to wait a few years (while getting research experience in a lab) to be competitive. Ideally, I'd like to be competitive for some of the best rated schools in my desired research area, if it is possible for me to do so. As eager as I am to get started, it would actually be a lot easier for me to be able to relocate a few years from now.

[ResilientDreams]

My friend has an undergrad humanities degree and was working in an unrelated field for about ten years. She volunteered in our lab and took classes for two years and got interviews from half her programs and offers at two, despite having no publications and a mediocre math GRE score. So I think as long as you volunteer in a lab and show interest, you should be fine!

[Psychoplasmics]

If you lack prerequisites, I would suggest taking them at a JC or community college or even a local college. You do not need another degree. Your best course of action is probably picking up the prerequisite courses you need and gaining as much research experience as possible. Focus your interest and be prepared to answer questions about your unusual path to doctoral studies. It's actually not that unusual. Many people come to psychology after beginning careers in unrelated fields.

[pettyaspraxis]

I also had a similar question about improving my acceptance odds, any advice is appreciated and sorry if this is the wrong place to post

 

for context, I applied to 3 PhD programs for the fall 2018 cycle, and 2 MSW programs. I got rejected from 2 phds without an interview, got an interview at one really prestigious PhD but then got rejected post interview. I got accepted into both MSW programs. I will be attending one of the msw programs and will graduate June 2020. I plan to apply again for counseling psych PhD programs the fall 2020 cycle. 

I graduated magna cum laude from undergrad with highest honors in both my majors. I have 2 years of research experience working with a graduate student studying sexualization and objectification and another 1/2 a year of experience with a research org on campus studying campus climate for religious minorities. I also have experience with 2 student affairs internships where I did workshops on preventing sexual violence, supporting survivors, programming for lgbtq students, and critically analyzing and deconstructing gender and sexuality related issues. I have several workshop presentations because of these two jobs, but am unsure if i can list them on my CV because they aren’t psych related persay (some of them were at conferences too). In these two internships I also supervised and counseled peers who were my interns and/or volunteers who worked under me. 

My research interests during the fall 2018 cycle were stigmatization of queer and trans people of color survivors of sexual violence and how people who have multiple stigmatized identities face violence. Are these too niche/specific??

also, I don’t have any publications but am thinking of submitting this assessment report from one of my internships to a student affairs journal. 

My gre scores are pretty wack too. I scored 158 V / 152 Q / 5 W which amounted to 80th / 47th / 93rd percentile. I should probably take the gre again, correct?

Also, is it worth applying to the same program but in different years? What else should I be doing while working on obtaining my masters to improve my chances? 

 

Thank you so much! Any and all advice appreciated 

[t_ruth]

1 hour ago, pettyaspraxis said:

I also had a similar question about improving my acceptance odds, any advice is appreciated and sorry if this is the wrong place to post

 

for context, I applied to 3 PhD programs for the fall 2018 cycle, and 2 MSW programs. I got rejected from 2 phds without an interview, got an interview at one really prestigious PhD but then got rejected post interview. I got accepted into both MSW programs. I will be attending one of the msw programs and will graduate June 2020. I plan to apply again for counseling psych PhD programs the fall 2020 cycle. 

...

Also, is it worth applying to the same program but in different years? What else should I be doing while working on obtaining my masters to improve my chances?

Did you speak direction with the PIs in the programs before you applied? You should maintain communication if you did and start communication if you didn't. I know of plenty of people who got accepted at the same program after re-applying. Good luck!