Worried about mismatched experience

[jakem]

I'm getting a little worried about my chances for a PhD program in social psychology. On paper, I think I'm a pretty good applicant. GREs 165-V, 165-Q, 4.5W, and a 3.65 GPA. I have a good amount of research experience, with two published papers (one peer-reviewed journal, one university undergraduate journal), multiple conference presentations (three national, one local), and strong letters of rec from 5 professors I know fairly well, some of whom are very well-known in their subfields. THE PROBLEM IS: none of this is related to social psychology at all. To be honest, I didn't realize until recently that social psych. was what really interested me. I had to try out a few clinical and behavioral labs before I came to that realization, so all my research is in clinical and behavioral analysis. I have letters of rec from biology professors, psychology professors, even a lit professor - just no social psychologists. To add to this, I'm not even a psychology major. I'm a double major in cognitive science and anthropology. Worst of all, I have no class experience in social psychology.

 

TL;DR - Will schools shaft me because I so little experience in my subfield? Or will my extensive experience in general sciences and cultural studies (anthropology) be enough?

[Lisa44201]

I think your stats make you competitive somewhere, for sure. There are folks who would trade their right arm for your GRE scores, and your research experience shows you can definitely do research. The fact that it hasn't all been social psych is really your only weak point, and I would think the rest of your stats more than make up for that. If you can explain your interests in social psych in your SOP, you should be okay. Just make sure you have all the prerequisite courses you need for the various places you're applying to.

[PsychGirl1]

The problem will be convincing someone you're interested in doing social psych for the rest of your life, when you've never done it before on any level. A few PIs might be willing to take the chance on you, esp since you can clearly handle grad school.

 

Your stats are competitive, but if I were you, I'd probably take a year off to take some social psych courses, get some social psych research experience, and then reapply. Somewhat to make you more competitive, but also to convince yourself (amongst others) that you know what you're getting into and that you really like it. 

Edited October 19, 2013 by PsychGirl1