English Literature undergrad student contemplating on MA/MS in Psychology?

[shinigamiasuka]

Hi! This is on behalf of a close friend.

 

My friend is a 3rd year English Lit major who's really thinking of switching fields to Psychology after she graduates. Thing is, she doesn't have any experience or coursework (her uni doesn't offer any) aside from self-learning. She's going to sit for the Psychology GRE subject test obviously, and she's been doing pretty well in her studies as of now.

 

Without having done courses on psychology, I doubt it'll be easy getting a funded offer. However, having experience as an IELTS instructor part-time (which she's been doing since the beginning of her undergrad), she could probably get herself a TA in the English or ESL departments.

 

Now, assuming she does well (or adequate) on her subject test, how competitive is she really as an applicant? 

 

Also, what would you advise her to do right now besides reading books on psychology? Anything will do, I'll relay them to her.

 

Thanks!

[Jay's Brain]

Besides the Psychology GRE, she'll also have to do the General GRE as well. Most schools actually look closely at the latter rather than the former. Beyond that, assuming she has the grades and scores well on the GRE, she will definitely need to pick up on some of the fundamentals that will make her application sufficient. Namely, she will have to dedicate some time to actually exploring through work/volunteering in research. There's almost no way around it given the climate that psychology graduate programs are like these days. Without proper training in labs or experimental settings (or clinical if that's what she wants to pursue), she will find it hard to adjust and also be competitive. 

So after the standardized testing, make sure your friend is well aware of what area of psychology she is interested in pursuing and then look for opportunities that allow her to be exposed to that particular line of research and maximize her chances. This may take a year or so, but where there's a will there's a way!

 

Good luck to her!