hmh001 Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 (edited) So here is the deal, I am a terrible test taker. My GRE scores were not impressive. I earned a 1050. My GPA is a 3.5. I have a ton of research experience and have presented at 3 large conferences. I have great letters of recommendation and I believe my personal statement etc. to be very strong, and I speak another language. I am wondering what my outlook is for PhD programs in Social and Experimental Psychology, Neuroscience. I also applied to a dual degree MA/MPH program (Latin american studies and Public Health). My undergraduate degrees are B.S. Experimental Psych., Minors in Latin American Studies and Spanish, Certificate in Leadership Studies. Edited January 18, 2011 by hmh001 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psygrad81 Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 Where are you applying? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmh001 Posted January 18, 2011 Author Share Posted January 18, 2011 Psyc: Tulane, Penn State, Virginia Commonwealth, Clark, Toledo, Univ. Cali. at Santa Cruz, Univ. Cali. at Davis, University of Utah, Saint Louis Univ. Neuro: OSU MA/MPH: San Diego State Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maath805 Posted January 19, 2011 Share Posted January 19, 2011 I'm working with neuroscience faculty as part of their labs and they showed me around the grad selection process to help me out. What they told me was that basically they aren't looking for the most artistic or creative person or anyone with a compelling life story. What they want is someone that is smart and reliable and has shown consistently that they have the smarts, no matter what the testing medium. Unfortunately this means that GRE and GPA is a really big factor when my lab group has to choose applicants! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neuropsych76 Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 So here is the deal, I am a terrible test taker. My GRE scores were not impressive. I earned a 1050. My GPA is a 3.5. I have a ton of research experience and have presented at 3 large conferences. I have great letters of recommendation and I believe my personal statement etc. to be very strong, and I speak another language. I am wondering what my outlook is for PhD programs in Social and Experimental Psychology, Neuroscience. I also applied to a dual degree MA/MPH program (Latin american studies and Public Health). My undergraduate degrees are B.S. Experimental Psych., Minors in Latin American Studies and Spanish, Certificate in Leadership Studies. Your stats are kind of similar to mine and I can tell you that a bad GRE can be killer to one's application even if the rest is excellent. Also, I'm not sure what you discussed in your presonal statement, but you seem to be all over the place in what you want to do academically. I don't think that would look favorably to ad coms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmh001 Posted February 8, 2011 Author Share Posted February 8, 2011 Your stats are kind of similar to mine and I can tell you that a bad GRE can be killer to one's application even if the rest is excellent. Also, I'm not sure what you discussed in your presonal statement, but you seem to be all over the place in what you want to do academically. I don't think that would look favorably to ad coms. Thanks for your input. I am a little worried about my GRE scores, it really is an issue. I got a couple interviews so far which is exciting. As far as my interests being all over the place, I am really focused on cultural psychology/prejudice/stereotyping/belief systems which is currently being studied in all 3 of the areas I applied to...public health to a lesser degree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neuropsych76 Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 Thanks for your input. I am a little worried about my GRE scores, it really is an issue. I got a couple interviews so far which is exciting. As far as my interests being all over the place, I am really focused on cultural psychology/prejudice/stereotyping/belief systems which is currently being studied in all 3 of the areas I applied to...public health to a lesser degree. That's great you got interviews! That means your GRE didn't affect you for those schools since you got past the first cut! Ah okay, you are not all over the place at all, I just saw your list of programs and I assumed you were. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cherubie Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Hey, if you're getting interviews, I bet you're doing better than a lot of people who scored higher than you (GRE wise). Don't worry about it, seems like you're mid application cycle so even if you worry, it's not going to change or help anything. It may hurt you more since it may distract you from showing the positive aspects of your application. For the "all over the board" comment, I'm not an adcom, but as long as you have a cohesive explanation, I'm sure it's fine. I'm applying next cycle, and I'm looking at cognitive science, neuroscience, as well as psych departments. I don't see anything wrong with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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