Psych MAPSS?

[psychologygeek]

Hi, all,

 

I am a college senior applying to PhD programs and the UChicago MAPSS Program. My end-goal is to be a clinical neuropsychologist. My interests mainly center around affective neuroscience, chronic illness/pain, neurodegeneration, stroke/TBI, and neuroplasticity. 

I do understand that as an undergrad applying to PhD programs, my chances of getting in are quite slim. However, I have quite a bit of research experience and internships at other schools, good GRE scores (161V 154Q 6AW), and a good GPA, as well as good LoRs, so I am hoping I get in *somewhere.* I do understand the value that an extra year of research experience could give me, which is why I am interested in MAPSS. 

A lot of the posts I see here about MAPSS are from Anthro, History, and PoliSci students. Has anyone done the MAPSS program with a focus in Psychology? Thoughts? Pros? Cons?

My teacher went there and highly recommended it as she got into all of her PhD programs afterwards, but I would also like to hear from others. Please don't gloss anything over, tear it apart if you wish. At the end of the day, I want to make 100% sure that any program is the right fit for me, and I quite honestly have not found much information on the Psych focus in the MAPSS Program

 

Thanks in advance!!

Edited December 16, 2019 by psychologygeek
Typo

[DeadAccount]

Hi!

I actually applied for the MAPSS with a concentration in Sociology for this coming fall. I'm super nervous because I'm thinking we should hear back today or tomorrow. So, I can't answer your questions, but was curious if you did end up applying and if you've heard anything yet!

[taacc]

From what I hear, MAPSS is a great program for interdisciplinary work, and I think a lot of the research in psychology feels more experimental than clinical. This is just from my impression of the program description and website. I would advise you to look at the current research of students there, and where students have gone on after to see if it fits your clinical interests. I was also wondering if you've considered any of the other research oriented masters programs out there, especially those focused in psych. There are a bunch of threads out there on WFU, william and mary, and villanova. I bring this up because those programs will be more likely to give you psych-focused research and courses, especially in the way of preparing for clinical and neuroscience programs. Most importantly, funding is much more scarce at MAPSS than some of these other programs I mentioned (with W&M there is basically guaranteed funding). Getting out of a master's debt free can be especially important if you're looking to do a PhD right after.

[clinicalpsych2020]

I know someone who went through the MAPSS program and it really is what you make of it. Since you're interests lie under clinical psych and neuroscience, make sure that there would be someone related to that field who would be willing and able to mentor you for your thesis! Most of UChicago's clinical people work through the hospital's psychiatry program, and are not always readily available, so it would be best if you had someone in mind who you could work with. 

[Clinapp2017]

On 12/16/2019 at 2:11 AM, psychologygeek said:

Hi, all,

 

I am a college senior applying to PhD programs and the UChicago MAPSS Program. My end-goal is to be a clinical neuropsychologist. My interests mainly center around affective neuroscience, chronic illness/pain, neurodegeneration, stroke/TBI, and neuroplasticity. 

I do understand that as an undergrad applying to PhD programs, my chances of getting in are quite slim. However, I have quite a bit of research experience and internships at other schools, good GRE scores (161V 154Q 6AW), and a good GPA, as well as good LoRs, so I am hoping I get in *somewhere.* I do understand the value that an extra year of research experience could give me, which is why I am interested in MAPSS. 

A lot of the posts I see here about MAPSS are from Anthro, History, and PoliSci students. Has anyone done the MAPSS program with a focus in Psychology? Thoughts? Pros? Cons?

My teacher went there and highly recommended it as she got into all of her PhD programs afterwards, but I would also like to hear from others. Please don't gloss anything over, tear it apart if you wish. At the end of the day, I want to make 100% sure that any program is the right fit for me, and I quite honestly have not found much information on the Psych focus in the MAPSS Program

 

Thanks in advance!!

FWIW a quant GRE of 154 is the 53%ile, which is not a bad score but is not a good score. Anecdotally I have heard my training director and others at fully-funded PhD programs like their successful applicants to have 320 combined, which means a Quant score being a little higher would help you. This matters at least until schools more collectively get rid of the GRE (which is a dumb requirement for a variety of reasons). Congrats on the AW 6, though. That's awesome!
 

When you talk about research/internship experience, what do you mean exactly? Have you given poster presentations? Co-authored papers? I think a lot of undergrads think that running participants and entering data is all that is necessary when in reality you will be competing against people with multiple posters/talks/papers under their belts who took a few years to work professional in research. I am not saying it is impossible to get in immediately after undergraduate (I did). 

 

I know nothing about MAPSS but maybe a master's program or working as an RA could be a good idea depending on your answers. 

[psychologygeek]

On 3/3/2020 at 12:11 PM, Clinapp2017 said:

FWIW a quant GRE of 154 is the 53%ile, which is not a bad score but is not a good score. Anecdotally I have heard my training director and others at fully-funded PhD programs like their successful applicants to have 320 combined, which means a Quant score being a little higher would help you. This matters at least until schools more collectively get rid of the GRE (which is a dumb requirement for a variety of reasons). Congrats on the AW 6, though. That's awesome!
 

When you talk about research/internship experience, what do you mean exactly? Have you given poster presentations? Co-authored papers? I think a lot of undergrads think that running participants and entering data is all that is necessary when in reality you will be competing against people with multiple posters/talks/papers under their belts who took a few years to work professional in research. I am not saying it is impossible to get in immediately after undergraduate (I did). 

 

I know nothing about MAPSS but maybe a master's program or working as an RA could be a good idea depending on your answers. 

Hi! Sorry for the late reply.

As for my GRE, I know my math is lowish, but for me it is probably the best score I can possibly get. I did get A's in all of my college math courses including Alg, Calc, Inferential Statistics, and Psychological Statistics, which my interviewers seemed to care about more (I can't speak for all programs, but this was a big relief for me). 

As for my research experience, I have first/co-authored/published/presented multiple papers, and did data entry and project analysis for an Ivy League school last summer (I honestly felt like my presentations helped more than the Ivy internship, interestingly enough).

Ultimately, I did get several PhD interviews but not an offer. I did feel extremely honored to get interviews, as I am only 21, was interviewing with some AMAZING applicants, and changed my major to Psych my sophomore year. However, I did get Masters offers from UT San Antonio, University of Chicago, and Southern Illinois U. Since I am interested in clinical work, the critiques I got from my PhD programs were that I did not have enough clinical experiences compared to other applicants. Ultimately, I am happy to choose the Masters route since I can get even more clinical/research work in, and I also received funding offers comparable to those of PhD programs.

Thank you for the advice! I wish someone had told me to look more seriously into more master's programs early on instead of viewing it as a "last resort", and I do recommend it for others who may be in a similar position as me:)