Quantitative Psychology, anyone have advice to give?

[brittgorrall]

I am entering into my senior year of undergraduate studies. I am majoring in psychology, however my first two year I was a mechanical engineering major. I have taken a great deal of math courses, Calculus I-III and Differential Equations. I am planning to take more research methods and statistics class to help my chances. I started working on research project this summer regarding the use of state-space modeling and how it can be applied in psychological research. I am hoping to join another research project in the fall. I have not been on any publications. Does that hurt my chances at getting accepted into a PhD program? I am researching programs this summer and will be applying in the fall. I plan to take the GREs in October, so I am using the summer to study. I have a 3.5 major GPA, I had a rough year junior year them entered the Navy for 2 1/2 years and now am returning back to school. Can anyone give advice as to how to go about applying for programs, emailing professors, ways to better my chances, etc. Thank you so much to anyone that can help!!

Britt

[lewin]

Here's a good general guide:

http://www.psychology.uwaterloo.ca/gradprog/preparation/grad_school_in_psych.html

To answer your specific question, most undergraduates won't have any journal publications when they apply for graduate school. The most you can hope for is a conference presentation or two, and even that is not mandatory.

[Ennue]

Make sure you get a high score on the math portion of the GRE. It's not difficult math, so Calc III won't help you - but don't underestimate it, so do some practice quizzes beforehand (even though math is your strong side).

Taking statistics classes (in the Psych department and in the Stat department) seems like the most important thing to do now. Use your statement of purpose to explain how you have grown since your rough junior year. Unfortunately you won't be able to show how well you're going to do in your senior courses when you apply... I think your best bet would be to get at least 1 current professor to write a LoR praising how much more dedicated you are now compared to three years ago.

Do email professors. Figure out your research interest and approach people with the same interest to ask if they're taking students. I would apply only to schools that guarantee funding for all their phd students.

Good luck!

[brittgorrall]

Thank you both for the great advice. I am utilizing Magoosh for my GRE prep, do you have any other recommendations for the math portion besides Magoosh?

[Ennue]

I don't remember what I used, but I do remember on Amazon some of the GRE prep books were 'look-inside' books and you could view their practice quizzes. I had some guides I found easily through google going through the type of math you'd need to know, so that was useful too Good luck!

[Green bean]

I had a weak foundation in math so I found the material from Barron's New GRE very helpful as it focused on the basics. It reiterated and provided detailed explanations for high school math concepts. The ETS book was useful in that it provided a few tips and tricks to improve speed and efficiency. I only studied from these two resources and found the GRE questions straightforward with no surprises. Good luck Brittgorrall!

[brittgorrall]

Tu-vy have you taken the new GRE yet?

[lewin]

With your background, you might also be interested in interdisciplinary cognitive science programs e.g., this one: http://philosophy.uwaterloo.ca/CogSci/index.html