Perhaps I need to get real

[epete25]

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?

[DBP]

A few questions:

What is motivating you to do quantitative psychology?

Do you HAVE to graduate this year?

If not, have you considering staying a few extra terms and taking a math or stats minor?

If you've talked to a quant psych prof and he complained about inadequate training of his graduate students, ask him what courses would help you to prepare. I too made a transition into a "hard science and math" area by asking mentors what courses would be of most value for me. Everyone had different answers and for different reasons, but the main point is to take more math and enjoy it!

Learn some programming: MatLab, R, Python, etc. This will be an invaluable skill for (1) getting research experience, (2) getting into graduate school and (3) doing good research.

Best of luck!