2015 Psychology Applicant Profiles and Results

[_kita]

I saw this in the Earth Sciences forum, and loved the idea. So, wanted to see if I can get this going here as well. Who's in?

 

 

Undergrad Institution: (School or type of school, such as big state, lib arts, ivy, technical, foreign (what country?)... Overall Reputation in Psychology?)
Major(s):
Minor(s):
GPA in Major:
Overall GPA:
Position in Class: (No numbers needed, but are you top? near top? average? struggling?)
Type of Student: (Domestic/International, male/female, minority?)

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q:
V:
W:


TOEFL Total: (if applicable, otherwise delete this)

Research Experience: (At your school or elsewhere? What field? How much time? Any publications (Mth author out of N?) or conference talks etc...)

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: (Within your school or outside?)

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: (Such as tutor, TA, SPS officer etc...)

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Special Bonus Points: (Such as connections, grad classes, famous recommenders, female or minority status etc...)

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:

Applying to Where:

School - Department - Research Interest
School - Department - Research Interest
School - Department - Research Interest

Edited March 28, 2015 by psychkita

[sackofcrap]

Undergrad Institution: Private Research University In Boston
Major(s): Psychology
Minor(s): None
GPA in Major: Not Certain
Overall GPA: 3.26
Position in Class: No Idea
Type of Student: Domestic, Female

Applying For: School Psychology (Masters / Specialist)

GRE Scores:
Q: 149
V: 161
A: 4.5

Research Experience: One semester of research at my college. One semester of interning in London, England at a mental health charity.

Applying to Where: Texas State University, St. John's University

 

Accepted: Texas State University, St. John's University

Rejected: None

Attending: ???

[isilya]

Undergrad Institution: Large public research university

Major(s): Linguistics, Cognitive Science
Minor(s):
GPA in Major: 4.0 (Linguistics), 3.85 (Cognitive Science)
Overall GPA: 3.75
Position in Class: Somewhere in the top 14% since I am getting "cum laude"
Type of Student: Domestic female minority

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 162
V: 161
W: 4.5

Research Experience: Worked in 6 labs throughout high school & undergrad. Doing two honors theses so I have my own projects. Also had my own project for a summer research program. All 3 letters of rec were from research advisors

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: nothing besides being on the dean's list for grades

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA for a Cognitive Science class; president of an academic club

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Special Bonus Points: Edit: have taken 3 grad classes

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:

Applying to Where:

 

3 Linguistics programs: accepted to 2, rejected from the other after interviewing

3 Cognitive Science programs: accepted to 2, waitlisted at the other after interviewing

2 Psychology programs: interviewed and rejected at one, no interview at the other

 

Sorry for not being specific about which schools they were, I want to keep some semblance of anonymity I will say that for overall rankings, two were top 10, two were top 20, three were top 35, and one was ~60. All of the department-specific rankings were around top 10.

Edited March 29, 2015 by isilya

[TheMercySeat]

:semi-relevant tangent:

Is being a female in psych really special status? Every psych department I've ever seen is wicked female-dominated at the UG and grad levels.

Side note: not trying to start a debate! I'm seriously ignorant to gender affirmative action in the social sciences, and my (non-scientific) gut/observations lead me to believe that gender balance would be achieved by recruiting more males if such a system were in place.

Edited March 29, 2015 by TheMercySeat

[isilya]

:semi-relevant tangent:

Is being a female in psych really special status? Every psych department I've ever seen is wicked female-dominated at the UG and grad levels.

Side note: not trying to start a debate! I'm seriously ignorant to gender affirmative action in the social sciences, and my (non-scientific) gut/observations lead me to believe that gender balance would be achieved by recruiting more males if such a system were in place.

Yeah, I feel like there are a lot of females in psychology for some reason. It's just my subjective impression though, I'm not sure if this is actually true...

[_kita]

:semi-relevant tangent:

Is being a female in psych really special status? Every psych department I've ever seen is wicked female-dominated at the UG and grad levels.

Side note: not trying to start a debate! I'm seriously ignorant to gender affirmative action in the social sciences, and my (non-scientific) gut/observations lead me to believe that gender balance would be achieved by recruiting more males if such a system were in place.

 

From what I've been told by faculty, it depends on which branch you are aiming for. Counseling is so female heavy, that males and minority cultures actually receive special status. However, in brain sciences, females receive it instead. There are very few females in the cognitive/neuropsych/etc branches.

 

With the field being so counseling/clinical dominate right now, that's what you're seeing. 

[TheMercySeat]

From what I've been told by faculty, it depends on which branch you are aiming for. Counseling is so female heavy, that males and minority cultures actually receive special status. However, in brain sciences, females receive it instead. There are very few females in the cognitive/neuropsych/etc branches.

With the field being so counseling/clinical dominate right now, that's what you're seeing.

That makes sense!

I'd argue social/community is female-dominated, too. I speculate the same with UG programs.

[TenaciousBushLeaper]

At my university at the graduate level, women dominate (speaking in terms of the number of graduate students) every area of study(social,neuroscience,developmental,cognitive)

Edited March 29, 2015 by TenaciousBushLeaper

[_intrigue_]

If you look at the membership of SPSP (Society for Personality and Social Psychology), it's majority women at the early career level, but that changes dramatically at the more senior levels.

[thirdfromthesun]

This is a great idea! It would've been really helpful this year to see other applicant profiles and get a bit of a sense of how I stacked up. For reference, I applied to PhD programs in social psychology (and one master's program in general psych, which is where I'm ending up going). 

 

Undergrad Institution: Top public research institution (Top 30 for social psychology) 
Major(s): BA Psychology 
Minor(s):
GPA in Major: 3.94
Overall GPA: 3.80
Position in Class: Top 10% 
Type of Student: Domestic/Female/Minority

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 151
V: 159
W: 5.0


Research Experience: 3 years research experience in social psychology at two top-30 public research institutions. Will have 2 publications by the end of this year.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Member of Psi Chi and Phi Beta Kappa; graduated with distinction from college.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Undergrad tutor for Intro to Neuroscience; exam proctor for my school's psych department. 

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Graduated early from college and took a semester-long research apprenticeship. 

Special Bonus Points: Female with minority status, family and friends in field, one *famous* recommender (lol)

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: N/A

Applying to Where:

I applied to 13 PhD programs in social psychology and 1 master's program in general psychology. I was accepted to 1 top-60 PhD program and the master's program in general psych, waitlisted at 1 top-40 PhD program and 1 top-100 PhD program, and rejected (without interview) from the last 10 schools. Prospective applicants, take note-- the social psych PhD programs are cutthroat! Make sure to apply to a range of programs

[sprocker]

Undergrad Institution: Foreign school in Bulgaria, not much reputation
Major(s): Psychology
Minor(s):
GPA in Major: 4.00
Overall GPA: 4.00
Position in Class: 1
Type of Student: International male

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q:170
V:167
W:5


TOEFL Total: 116

Research Experience: 2 years at a cognitive psych lab at my university. 1 first-authored journal publication (it was conditionally accepted at the time of application), 2 first authored full conference proceedings publications, 4 abstracts at proceedings, several posters and oral presentations at prestigious international conferences

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Full academic scholarship, several research excellency rewards 

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: lab manager

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Several graduate summer schools attended, weekly graduate seminars, advanced use of R for data analysis

Applying to Where:

Harvard, Stanford, UPenn, UCSD, Carnegie Mellon, Northwestern, all psychology departments, interest in cogntive psychology and cognitive neuroscience

 

Accepted to:

 

Carnegie Mellon and Northwestern

Will attend:

Carnegie Mellon
 

[laminator]

Since I've decided to go psychology, thought I'd copy over here from the Neuro thread. It's possible to get in with limited psych experience, especially if you're heading for the more quantitative areas!

 

Undergrad Institution: One of the better known UCs
Major(s): Math, physics
Minor(s): 
GPA in Major: 4.0, 3.8
Overall GPA: 3.9
Position in Class: Not sure exactly, but pretty high.
Type of Student: DWM

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 170
V: 170 
W: 5.0 
Subject: Did not take.


Research Experience: 1 year at DOE Lab in particle physics (computational & experimental), summer at another public university in (loosely biophysics), summer internship in another country in computational physics, currently employed in a career-track job at a research institute associated with another well known university, doing some modeling & simulation work (a little in systems biology), and a lot of machine learning. No publications yet, sadly.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: High honors overall, highest honors in math, award for excellence in scholarship in math, a couple of minor physics scholarships for research and stuff.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Three semesters teaching math (UGSI, basically a TA but I was leading 3 hours of class per week per section I taught), TA for under-resourced high school outreach program for a summer. For jobs see research.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Might be clear already, but I have a substantial amount of CS experience, a few classes but mostly hands on. 

Special Bonus Points: Contact with professors at Stanford, U Penn, Berkeley, and Princeton. (more than just an email exchange)

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:  Currently taking neural networks and a physiology-neurophysiology sequence. Background is a little broader than my majors would indicate, with some small number of psychology courses thrown in.

Applying to Where:

Cognitive Psych/Neuroscience

 

Rejected:

UCSD - Neuroscience - Computational

Duke - CNAP

 

Accepted:

Princeton - Neuroscience

U Penn - Neuroscience - Computational

Stanford - Psychology - Cognitive

Berkeley - Biophysics - Neuroscience

Edited March 30, 2015 by laminator

[cw01]

Undergrad Institution: Foreign school in Bulgaria, not much reputation

Major(s): Psychology

Minor(s):

GPA in Major: 4.00

Overall GPA: 4.00

Position in Class: 1

Type of Student: International male

GRE Scores (revised/old version):

Q:170

V:167

W:5

TOEFL Total: 116

Research Experience: 2 years at a cognitive psych lab at my university. 1 first-authored journal publication (it was conditionally accepted at the time of application), 2 first authored full conference proceedings publications, 4 abstracts at proceedings, several posters and oral presentations at prestigious international conferences

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Full academic scholarship, several research excellency rewards 

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: lab manager

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Several graduate summer schools attended, weekly graduate seminars, advanced use of R for data analysis

Applying to Where:

Harvard, Stanford, UPenn, UCSD, Carnegie Mellon, Northwestern, all psychology departments, interest in cogntive psychology and cognitive neuroscience

 

Accepted to:

 

Carnegie Mellon and Northwestern

Will attend:

Carnegie Mellon

 

So excited to see another CMU incoming student

[cw01]

Undergrad Institution: Small top 50 liberal arts college. No reputation in psych...
Major(s): Psychology, German
Minor(s): Math
GPA in Major: 3.85 (Psych), 3.93 (German)
Overall GPA: 3.85
Position in Class: 5%, will graduate Magna Cum Laude
Type of Student: International male

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 162
V:158
W:4.5

TOEFL Total: Waived at most places since I have been studying in the US for almost four years

Research Experience: 

One summer at my school in color perception (psychophysics)

Two projects on narcissism and self-esteem at my school(social psych)

One summer at Harvard studying executive function and sentence processing (psycholinguistics)

One semester at a Language Cognition lab in Heidelberg University doing cross-linguistic differences in sentence processing when I was studying abroad (psycholinguistics)

One summer at Stanford doing experimental pragmatics (also psycholinguistics)

One senior thesis (equivalent to an honor thesis) continuing the project I did at Stanford

 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 

Several grants from my school
Psi Chi undergraduate research grant

 

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:President of Psi Chi, Chinese tutor, one conference abstract, multiple presentations

 

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Two grad classes in computational neuroscience that might potentially have helped

Special Bonus Points: 

I had both of my PIs from the summer research from Harvard and Stanford write me rec letters--both of them were fairly well-known in the field, and both letters are presumably very strong. International student but since I'm Asian, I don't think I'm considered minority in the science community...

 

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:

Applying to Where:

1 linguistics: Northwestern

3 cognitive sciences: MIT, Brown and Rochester

9 Psychology: Stanford, Princeton, Cornell, Harvard, Penn, Carnegie Mellon, UIUC, UCSD, Michigan

1 Speech and Hearing: Maryland

 

Results

Interview: CMU, Brown, Rochester, UCSD, Cornell

Accepted: CMU, Brown 

Waitlist: Cornell

Rejected from some places but withdrew my apps to other places as soon as I was accepted to CMU

Attending: Carnegie Mellon psychology, studying auditory neuroscience of speech!

 

Weaknesses:

I do very badly in exams (due to intense fear), especially big exams. So my GRE scores were not great. 

Looking back on it, my PS was very similar for the diverse programs that I applied to, so my interests didn't align well with some of the departments

The first couple interviews were not good because of inexperience

Being international makes it somewhat a disadvantage because I don't have outside funding

 

Strengths:

My research experience definitely helped judging from responses I got before I applied and the interviews 

My last couple interviews went really well--I did great preparation and the conversations went very smoothly. For future applicants: read as many papers of your potential POIs as possible, and be sure to talk about them at your interview, focusing on one or two. Don't be too abrupt though, see where the conversation goes, and appropriately insert it into your conversation. 

I think taking math, computer science and comp neuro classes also helped considering the technical skills that are favored in the field.

Edited March 30, 2015 by cw01

[Ilspflouz]

Undergrad Institution: Big State School, Moderate Reputation in Psychology (Ranked in top 50 psych grad schools in the US)
Major(s): Psychology, no minor
GPA in Major: 3.67
Overall GPA: 3.50
Position in Class: Graduated Cum Laude
Type of Student: Domestic applicant, female

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 151
V: 160
W: 4.5

Research Experience: About 5 years research experience = 3 RA positions (at undergrad school) + 2 lab manager positions (at undergrad school) + 1 data processing/analyst position (at top 10 ranked US psych grad school), 2 poster presentations (regional conferences), 1 symposium presentation (regional conference)

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Won award for 1 poster presentation

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: undergrad TA, 1.5 years intern at clinical psych outpatient clinic, 2 years conducting intake assessments at substance abuse/DV clinic

Special Bonus Points: 1 recommender does research similar to my interests, pretty well known

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Only had 2 PhD recommenders, then 2 MSW recommenders

Applying to Where:

4 Community Psychology (NC State, Portland State, DePaul, Virginia)

3 Clinical-Community Psych (Bowling Green, GA State, Illinois@Urbana)

2 Psych-Law (Nebraska, CUNY)

1 Psych&Public Policy (Georgetown)

3 MA Programs (MSU, Wayne State)

 

Outcome: 1 Phone Interview with Illinois@Urbana, then rejected at all PhD programs, accepted at all MA programs. Hoped experience+high verbal GRE would make up for low quant GRE&OK GPA....guess not. 

 

Conclusion: If you have a moderate-low GPA, you really need a GRE score that is high in both areas to counteract it. The opposite also appears to be true (moderate-low GRE scores = need high GPA). I know multiple people who got in to multiple places with a high GPA but low GRE (read as ~75% verbal, ~44% quant). I also know multiple people who got into multiple places with a high GRE and low GPA (lowest I know is a 3.3).  So as long as you have high levels of one (GPA/GRE) to counteract for low levels of the other and the experience to back up that you are a good candidate, you can totally get accepted! However, if both are mediocre, or one is low and one is mediocre, there is a really good chance your application will be overlooked or tossed out -- because there are plenty of people that have high levels of EVERYTHING. Good luck everyone.

Edited March 30, 2015 by AliasJane2342

[_kita]

Cw01, did you happen to interview at Princeton or Penn at all? I'll be applying there next year, and am curious about any info I can get. 

[cw01]

Cw01, did you happen to interview at Princeton or Penn at all? I'll be applying there next year, and am curious about any info I can get. 

No unfortunately...I got rejected by both. But my POI at Penn told me before the application that he would very likely go on sabbatical this year, so I wasn't surprised that I got rejected. As for Princeton, I think I was just not qualified...

Good luck! What area are you applying to study?

Edited April 4, 2015 by cw01

[_kita]

I'm looking at research labs focused in moral decision making processes. I'd like to examine how different moral processing might affect treatment outcomes, especially in psychopathology. I've worked with a lot of schizophrenic clients, and it seems like a concern. As does the actual treatment plan development. 

 

Princeton also has a social justice and psychology program that intrigues me. Also, one of the professors has researched neuropsychological components of moral thinking. UPenn has a ton of professors examining morality and evolutionary psych, even.

Edited April 4, 2015 by psychkita

[cw01]

I'm looking at research labs focused in moral decision making processes. I'd like to examine how different moral processing might affect treatment outcomes, especially in psychopathology. I've worked with a lot of schizophrenic clients, and it seems like a concern. As does the actual treatment plan development. 

 

Princeton also has a social justice and psychology program that intrigues me. Also, one of the professors has researched neuropsychological components of moral thinking. UPenn has a ton of professors examining morality and evolutionary psych, even.

Sounds pretty cool! Social psych is really competitive, though. Especially in the above mentioned top-notch schools. So you might want to apply to a wide range of programs. Good luck to you next year

[_kita]

Sounds pretty cool! Social psych is really competitive, though. Especially in the above mentioned top-notch schools. So you might want to apply to a wide range of programs. Good luck to you next year

 Thanks! It is. I'm applying to some cognitive and clinical programs as well, since my interest area crosses a few categories, but yes, I'm in an intensely competitive branch :-/

[lxwllms]

Like a previous poster I've also decided to go into psych, so I figured I'd post here.

 

Undergrad Institution: Big state school in MA. Not sure of reputation in psych.
Major(s): Biology
Minor(s): Cognitive Science, English
GPA in Major: 3.3
Overall GPA: 3.4
Position in Class: No idea
Type of Student: Domestic, female, minority

GRE Scores (revised/old version): I don't remember the numbers but I'll post percentiles.
Q: 40%
V: 70%
W: 99%

Research Experience: Two different experinces, both at my uni. One in cognitive psychology (it'll be about two years when I graduate in may) and another in neuropharmacology (about 1 year when I graduate). Two pubs in the works (probably a mid-name authorship). By the time I graduate I'll have 7 poster conference presentations and 1 oral presentation at a national biomedical conference. Applied with 5 poster conference presentations.

 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: honors in biology, deans list, probably graduating cum laude. Not sure if that counts.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Writing tutor for about two years (freshman english, ESL). Something like a tutor/peer counselor for high school students taking life science AP courses.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: I'm in a special program that specializes in training undergrad researchers/promoting minorities in science. Not sure if this helped, but it came up a lot during my interviews.

Special Bonus Points: I've taken three graduate-level courses (one in programming, one in bioinformatics, one in English). One of my recommenders had friends at Brown, probably why I got an interview...

Applying to Where:

2 Psychology (UC Davis, UChicago)

7 Neuroscience/Behavioral Neuro (UW, Tufts, Brown, UIC, UMass, Brandeis, Rutgers)

4 Biology/Biomedical Science w/behavioral neuro faculty (UMass Med, UIC, UMiami, UArk)

 

Results:

 

Interviewed: UC Davis, Brown, UIC (both programs), Brandeis, UMass Med, UArk (phone)

Declined: UMiami, Rutgers, UArk (in-person)

Accepted: UC Davis, Brown, UIC Neuro, Brandeis, UMass Med

Rejected: UChicago, UW, Tufts

Edited April 5, 2015 by lxwllms

[VulpesZerda]

Undergrad Institution: Small, unheard of liberal arts college
Major(s): Psych
GPA in Major: 3.98
Overall GPA: 3.87
Position in Class: Not sure but probably near the top 15%
Type of Student: Domestic, female

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 153
V: 158
W: 5.0

Research Experience: At my school since sophomore year, then at two labs in the city for about 2 years, then a summer REU at a top program. I think I had 6 posters/papers presented when I submitted my apps, and one publication. All in psych, but various subfields including clinical, health, cognitive, and social. Did a senior thesis that was of publishable quality and I emphasized that experience in my apps.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: One regional award, plus Dean's List/scholarships at my school

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Eh, no jobs. Active in national, regional, and local psychology associations - volunteering, reviewing papers for awards, that type of thing. Psi Chi leadership, too. I honestly don't think this mattered much to programs.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Pretty much summed up above. My REU probably made my application much stronger for many reasons!

Special Bonus Points: I'd say my recommender from the REU was famous enough to impact my application. 

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Relevant community service experience with a very specific population I want to study

Applying to Where: 8 Social or general psych PhD programs, ranging from Top 30 to unranked. Accepted to a top 40 department and one that I believe ranks at about 100. Interviewed and waitlisted at a couple others, but mostly rejections!

[Dedi]

Well, I did not end up in a psychology program, but here I go anyways...

 

Undergrad Institution: Very small, liberal arts university (not well-known at all!)
Major(s): Psychology and Animal Behavior
Minor(s): Biology
GPA in Major: 3.8-ish?
Overall GPA: 3.605
Position in Class: Between top 35% and top 10%
Type of Student: Female US student applying to Canadian programs

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 161
V: 156
W: 3.0

 

Research Experience: One independent research project with zebrafish (one talk, one poster, one manuscript submitted), a multiple choice probability learning project with rats (one poster), a line of research with the effects of sucrose on performance in an omission contingency in rats (one poster, one talk, another poster in submission. Hoping to get a manuscript out of our current project), one experimental psych class project (one poster), a zoo project with ring-tailed lemurs (one talk, one poster). Finally, at my top-choice school, I had the opportunity to create my own project with the role of maternal care on the prevalence of rat caged stereotypy (one poster). With the exception of one poster (2nd author), all of these works have been first author...

 

Phew! I hope i didn't miss anything..

 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Tri-Beta (Honors Society in Biology), Psi Chi (honors society in psychology), a Tri-Beta research grant, a couple of conference travel grants.

 

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Head rat caretaker at my university?

 

Special Bonus Points: I was a research volunteer for my top-choice university for one summer. That was certainly enough to get support from the POI.

 

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I can't think of anything...

 

Applied to Where:

 

University of Toronto -- Psychology

University of Toronto -- Cell and Systems Biology

University of Waterloo -- Health Systems and Gerentology

University of British Columbia -- Animal Welfare

 

Results:

 

Rejected:

 

University of Toronto -- Psychology (presumed)

University of British Columbia -- Animal Welfare (POI going on sabbatical)

 

Accepted:

 

University of Toronto -- Cell and Systems Biology

University of Waterloo -- Health Systems and Gerentology

 

Attending:

 

University of Toronto -- Cell and Systems Biology + Connaught Scholarship!

 

It was a rather surprising turn of events, to be honest...