Discouraged and need constructive advice?

[gnomechomsky22]

I graduated college with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology last summer. I really struggled my entire undergraduate career because I funded my entire education by myself: through loans and working full-time, at various local bars/restaurants, a scholarship. I legitimately had no idea how I would pay for some semesters, so I just kept working as much as possible to compensate. I'm not making excuses, but I feel the stress of financing my education really affected my performance. (In high school I had an amazing GPA and was an I.B. student so its not laziness or lack of motivation). I originally wanted to go to medical school, but I soon realized that I am just not cut out for pre-med. After failing organic chemistry, I had a change of heart. I jumped around from political science to psychology. I did ok my senior year but my overall GPA is a 3.0. I graduated hoping to take a few years off to work, but I have been unsuccessful in finding full time employment. I even enrolled in a paralegal certificate at a community college right after graduating hoping to find employment through that program, but I soon realized I hated the work and would be miserable as a paralegal. I really do have the drive for graduate school, I have the experiences to prove that I know this is what I want; however, on paper I look horrible to an admissions committee.

 

I want to go to graduate school to get my Ph.D. in Human Factors Psychology; however, I had a meeting with the director of the program yesterday and I feel even worse about my chances. I have not yet taken the GRE, but he informed me they only accepted 4 of 40 students that applied for this year. Two were Presidential Fellowship scholars. I have approximately a year of research experience in the I/O psych lab and I am currently volunteering in a Human Factors lab on campus in an undergrad RA position. I am currently attending grad school as a non-degree certificate student, I am doing well in my grad classes now, but I'm wondering if I'm just a lost cause? Will they even consider those as part of the admission process? Any advice on how I can strengthen my application? I am taking some experimental psychology undergraduate classes this summer and some higher level statistics courses.  

 

These are my stats:

3.0 overall

3.4 major GPA

1 year research experience

GRE-will take in the next two months after studying/preparing

No publications

No awards/honors

 

By the time I apply I will have:

 

2 more semesters of relevant research experience

3 letters of rec (two from graduate students, my research experience is primarily helping them create stimuli and run studies for their dissertations)

Hopefully competitive GRE score

 

I really, really want this Ph.D. and I am willing to work my butt off. I just know don't how to get there and I feel really stuck.

Edited March 30, 2013 by gnomechomsky22

[midnight]

gnome (great name btw), all you can do is make your application as strong as possible and go for it.

 

It sounds like you're doing everything you can to strengthen your app. I think you'll need an extremely competitive GRE score to balance your GPA (as far as the GRE can balance four years of work), but a memorable, compelling SOP and dazzling LORs can go a very long way, too.

 

How many programs are you considering?

 

Best of luck!

[gnomechomsky22]

Thank you! My only concern is that I won't even make it because my GPA is so low. Most of the schools I am applying to have a cut off of 3.0, but the median GPAs of acceptances are around 3.8s. I'm considering 3 Ph.D. and 3 Master's programs. The problem is my state only offers two Ph.D. programs in Human Factors. Even if I got funding, the private school is out of the question. I could never afford it. As a whole there are not many HF programs around the U.S. Its cut throat and super competitive.

 

I know getting a Masters may be the way to go, I'm just concerned about funding. Since I really love research and I thrive in those type of environments I know my Ph.D. is the way to go. I'm not sure I have the money to go from a Masters to a Ph.D. since I already have so many loans from undergrad and cannot find stable employment. Plus there is really no way to work in Human Factors unless you have a graduate degree. I have considered changing my academic course and going for a degree in another field, but this is really what I want to do. 

 

I also feel stuck with regard to the SOP. I don't feel like there is really anything that makes me unique. I don't have a stellar GPA. I have research experience in an HF lab, but so do all the other applicants applying. I do have some grad classes under my belt now, but I don't know how to convey that I should be accepted despite my crap GPA (other than the fact I know this is my calling and that I worked 50 hours at two jobs with a full course load of classes to put myself through school). It just sounds stupid. In hindsight I should have taken classes part time and focused on two classes and work instead of taking 4 monster science classes and hoping to pass all of them with As and Bs.

Edited March 31, 2013 by gnomechomsky22

[mop]

If you think your chances are not great you could wait another year to improve your application, doing things like continuing your research experience. And it is not impossible to get in with a 3.0, there is a thread around here somewhere called "3.0 acceptance thread" or something to that effect, so people have done it.

[BulantMichale]

It sounds like you're doing everything you can to strengthen your app. I think you'll need an extremely competitive GRE score to balance your GPA (as far as the GRE can balance four years of work), but a memorable, compelling SOP and dazzling LORs can go a very long way, too.

Edited April 7, 2013 by rising_star
to remove advertising link

[JungWild&Free]

I also feel stuck with regard to the SOP. I don't feel like there is really anything that makes me unique. I don't have a stellar GPA. I have research experience in an HF lab, but so do all the other applicants applying. I do have some grad classes under my belt now, but I don't know how to convey that I should be accepted despite my crap GPA (other than the fact I know this is my calling and that I worked 50 hours at two jobs with a full course load of classes to put myself through school). It just sounds stupid. In hindsight I should have taken classes part time and focused on two classes and work instead of taking 4 monster science classes and hoping to pass all of them with As and Bs.

 

In my experience, all of the flowery and interesting to read things I wrote in my SOP were the first to go when I was met with word limits.  Basically, you want to make your SOP interesting to read, especially the opening so they keep reading, but you mostly want to communicate why you are a good fit and what you plan to study.  Spending a lot of time talking about other things like your uniqueness, or just writing things to make it interesting to read, will likely just take word count away from the things you should be emphasizing.  Didn't you say that you were a server in another thread about this?  I think that has the potential for an interesting and thoughtful opening about your interest in (and real-life application of) HF psych, while also communicating the fact that you worked during undergrad in a subtle way.  I would approach it from the aspect that interacting with people in that setting made the vast application of the HF field apparent to you and stoked your passion for the field.  But don't dwell on these interesting parts.  You want to dedicate your word count to emphasizing why you are a great candidate.