Cognitive Psychology, my chances?

[Analyticchic]

Hello young travelers,

 

I'm new to this site and I'm interested in applying to a Phd in Cognitive Psychology(my top choice is the University of Delaware) and my research interests visual cognition, cognitive disorders, and development in children of low income situations and in minority populations. My gpa in undergraduate was embarrassing to say the leas(2.5)t and while I'm not the best at math I seem to make up for it when it comes to the Literature portion of testing as well as just having a really good memory(I did really well in my cognitive and my neuroscience classes). I graduated in 2010 but was a research assistant for my cognitive psych professor. In addition, I  have worked in a linguistic and cognitive labs post graduation, was a research assistant for a head-start program, volunteered at a living care center for children with development issues as well as nursing home. I currently work in a popular retail store where I actually ran into one of the clinical psych professor who receives numerous grants every year for her research. While I was helping her we chatted about her research, what I did during undergrad, etc and she stated if I ever needed any help to let her know(She is part of the clinical phd progam) and that the cognitive phd program is the easiest to get into. Sorry for rambling but what do you think I should do to make up for my low gpa and gre/subject tests scores?

 

The recommended minimum gre score for admission is 310 and gpa is 3.5 or "some combination of equal merit". I plan on studying now for the gre(which I have taken about 3 times) and the psych subject test(which I have taken once out of curiousity and had fun studying for) since the deadline is December 15, so I plan to take these tests early/late October. I have never wanted something so bad in my life and even though it's going to be stuff, if I can get really high tests scores hopefully it can make up for my not so stellar undergraduate career.

 

The tools I am going to use are Khan Academy, GRE books, Five Pound Book of Practice Problems from Manhattan Prep(recommended from someone who starting their Phd program in Mathematics), and basically having no social life, lol.

 

Please be honest with me, I really want to get into this program. I am also going to apply to masters programs in mental health counseling and masters in school psychology.

[Quant_Liz_Lemon]

while I'm not the best at math I seem to make up for it when it comes to the Literature portion of testing as well as just having a really good memory(I did really well in my cognitive and my neuroscience classes).... Sorry for rambling but what do you think I should do to make up for my low gpa and gre/subject tests scores?

 

The recommended minimum gre score for admission is 310 and gpa is 3.5 or "some combination of equal merit". I plan on studying now for the gre(which I have taken about 3 times) 

 

 So what were your GRE scores? Typically, you can use a master's GPA or kickass GRE scores to offset a subpar gpa. However, this only works if everything else is great. You do not mention your research experience or rec letters. Those two components tend to be even more important. 

[Jay's Brain]

I think your strong research/volunteer experiences and recommendation letters will go a long way in helping you get into programs. Assuming that your GRE works out well too, then that will definitely be in your favour. Despite all that, though, to be completely truthful, your undergraduate GPA may still hinder your opportunities to get into a funded PhD program (at least right from the get go). Case in point is someone in the lab I'm currently in that applied to a program this past year. She had amazing recommendations, a paper in the works, and her experiences were very versatile (she studied cognitive science so her computational and programming pedigree also really stood out). Unfortunately, her application was triaged by the graduate committee (aka the first wave of people to look at all the incoming applications), because her GPA was low. This was even when her undergraduate supervisor pushed for her to remain in his lab. Fortunately, she received an offer from a different department (Computer Engineering) and she happily accepted. 

The reality is that psychology programs are hard(er) to get into, because there is an underlying expectation of high grades/scores, relevant experiences, and strong LORs. Fit is also equally important, and maybe if you find PIs with similar interests that really think strongly of your profile there may still be a chance. That's not to say you won't get into a program, though! Never think that. It might just take a bit longer than you anticipated. I would say on top of the program at Delaware, you should consider applying to Master level programs (funded/unfunded) and be diligent in the year or so that it takes to complete the program. Score highly on those graduate courses, try to have an even stronger fit of relevant research experiences, and apply again if the PhD route doesn't work out the first time around.

 

Good luck and I wish you all the best! 

[Analyticchic]

 So what were your GRE scores? Typically, you can use a master's GPA or kickass GRE scores to offset a subpar gpa. However, this only works if everything else is great. You do not mention your research experience or rec letters. Those two components tend to be even more important. 

I believe my verbal was 145 and my Quan was 144, Writing was 4.4. My recs were good but I know in the admissions office there are people that scout for gpa first before anything else but I plan to get get very high scores on my next gre. Nothing to it but to do it, you know? I was a research assistant to my cognitive psych professor, worked in a linguistics and clinical labs as a RA after graduating, volunteer at a care center for children with disabilities, retirement home, Christiana hospital, etc

[Analyticchic]

I think your strong research/volunteer experiences and recommendation letters will go a long way in helping you get into programs. Assuming that your GRE works out well too, then that will definitely be in your favour. Despite all that, though, to be completely truthful, your undergraduate GPA may still hinder your opportunities to get into a funded PhD program (at least right from the get go). Case in point is someone in the lab I'm currently in that applied to a program this past year. She had amazing recommendations, a paper in the works, and her experiences were very versatile (she studied cognitive science so her computational and programming pedigree also really stood out). Unfortunately, her application was triaged by the graduate committee (aka the first wave of people to look at all the incoming applications), because her GPA was low. This was even when her undergraduate supervisor pushed for her to remain in his lab. Fortunately, she received an offer from a different department (Computer Engineering) and she happily accepted. 

The reality is that psychology programs are hard(er) to get into, because there is an underlying expectation of high grades/scores, relevant experiences, and strong LORs. Fit is also equally important, and maybe if you find PIs with similar interests that really think strongly of your profile there may still be a chance. That's not to say you won't get into a program, though! Never think that. It might just take a bit longer than you anticipated. I would say on top of the program at Delaware, you should consider applying to Master level programs (funded/unfunded) and be diligent in the year or so that it takes to complete the program. Score highly on those graduate courses, try to have an even stronger fit of relevant research experiences, and apply again if the PhD route doesn't work out the first time around.

 

Good luck and I wish you all the best! 

 

Thanks, I really appreciate that. I know my gpa score and my gre scores(Verbal 145, Quan 144, and Writing 4.4) are not that strong but I plan to study my ass off to get even better scores. No way but up! I am also applying to a masters programs in sociology, Family studies/school psych, and English. How long did you study for your gres? I'm planning on studying today and taking them in early/late October, early November since some of the deadlines are the December 13(phd in cognitive psych) and mostly Jan 1st-5th for everything else. I really appreciate your input! *hugs*

[avidman]

Here is my advice:

 - Get 165+ on both sections of the GRE

 - See if you can network with people in the departments you are interested in. Basically, if they like you, the GPA won't matter that much as long as your other credentials looks good.

 - Maybe consider getting into a master's program and try to get a high GPA to offset the undergraduate gpa.

 

Out of curiosity, why did you get a low GPA? I mean, I know that may sound strange, but if the reason is understandable, then maybe you will have a better chance vs. a reason that isn't so great (decided not to study because reasons).

 

Grad schools have the pick of the litter when it comes to admissions. Since you are operating on a busted leg (low GPA), you have to make it up and (quite frankly) be better than your competition in other domains. Otherwise, you won't have much of a chance.

 

On a positive note, I like your optimism.

 

EDIT: Also, please don't take this the wrong way, but Cognitive Science ≠ Cognitive Psychology. While Cognitive Psychology is a ramification of the domain of psychology in general, cognitive science is the union of a bunch of different domains (Anthropology, Philosophy, Neuroscience, Computer Science, Psychology, Linguistics, etc).

Edited June 24, 2015 by avidman

[Analyticchic]

Here is my advice:

 - Get 165+ on both sections of the GRE

 - See if you can network with people in the departments you are interested in. Basically, if they like you, the GPA won't matter that much as long as your other credentials looks good.

 - Maybe consider getting into a master's program and try to get a high GPA to offset the undergraduate gpa.

 

Out of curiosity, why did you get a low GPA? I mean, I know that may sound strange, but if the reason is understandable, then maybe you will have a better chance vs. a reason that isn't so great (decided not to study because reasons).

 

Grad schools have the pick of the litter when it comes to admissions. Since you are operating on a busted leg (low GPA), you have to make it up and (quite frankly) be better than your competition in other domains. Otherwise, you won't have much of a chance.

 

On a positive note, I like your optimism.

 

EDIT: Also, please don't take this the wrong way, but Cognitive Science ≠ Cognitive Psychology. While Cognitive Psychology is a ramification of the domain of psychology in general, cognitive science is the union of a bunch of different domains (Anthropology, Philosophy, Neuroscience, Computer Science, Psychology, Linguistics, etc).

 

There were a few reasons that I didn't do well(besides not being as focused as I should of been) but the main one was my depression during my junior year of college. I plan to be better than myself and then my competition because even though I'm in a race to win with others, I have to prove that I can do this for myself

 

I don't take anything the wrong way(most of the time ) but I do understand where you're coming from. This program has listed Cognitive psychology as the main focus of the program with your definition of cognitive science. 

[avidman]

There were a few reasons that I didn't do well(besides not being as focused as I should of been) but the main one was my depression during my junior year of college. I plan to be better than myself and then my competition because even though I'm in a race to win with others, I have to prove that I can do this for myself

 

I don't take anything the wrong way(most of the time ) but I do understand where you're coming from. This program has listed Cognitive psychology as the main focus of the program with your definition of cognitive science. 

 

Well it sounds like a pretty cool program.

 

Back to the GPA bit, something like that makes plenty of sense. Unfortunately, admission committees have a tendency of not looking twice at any application from an applicant with a psychopathology (or signs of it). I would like to hear what other people have to say about that, but from what I have heard, mentioning or indicating anything like that in an SOP can only hurt you.

 

That said, I think you have a chance with the right GRE scores, great LORs, some networking, some technical skills (programming helps), and some luck.

 

Anyway, best of luck!

[Jay's Brain]

Thanks, I really appreciate that. I know my gpa score and my gre scores(Verbal 145, Quan 144, and Writing 4.4) are not that strong but I plan to study my ass off to get even better scores. No way but up! I am also applying to a masters programs in sociology, Family studies/school psych, and English. How long did you study for your gres? I'm planning on studying today and taking them in early/late October, early November since some of the deadlines are the December 13(phd in cognitive psych) and mostly Jan 1st-5th for everything else. I really appreciate your input! *hugs*

 

I would say the time frame for studying the GREs should be based on how comfortable you are with the content. For example, I knew I needed to refresh myself on my basic mathematics so that took a bit longer. If you start now, you should be good to go by the end of the summer/September. I would suggest avoiding to do your GRE too late (i.e. late October/November), for such reasons as 1) potentially having to retake them, and 2) having to worry about cutting it close while doing other aspects of your applications.

The story of my GRE trials is overly complicated, but a good story for experience nonetheless. I took my initial test at the end of August 2013 (the summer before my last year at university) after starting to study in May. I did well, but decided to redo them. Due to a change to one of the universities I planned to apply to, I had to expedite the process and did my GRE the second time in early August 2014. Did pretty horrid, and feeling gutted by my performance decided to do it a THIRD time. Completed it the third time by the start of September 2014 and still had to worry about doing my Psychology Subject Test (I was applying to Clinical Psychology). Of course, this story isn't a lesson if I told you that I ended up doing extremely well on my last attempt. Ultimately, as I've reiterated this story a few times in these forums, I submitted my first set of scores(!) during my application.

So long story short, continue to remain positive as I clearly see you have been throughout this thread, and pace yourself as much as you can. For sure, you will need to improve your GRE scores. Is it necessary to get 165+ for both QR and VR? Perhaps like avidman said it will be helpful given your GPA. I got accepted into my program, however, with lower scores than that. I think you should have a conversation with the cognitive psychology professor who you've been working with. See if they can recommend schools to you, or have any suggestions/connections that can help you out here.

 

One thing I do want to add is that I've read in some of these threads that doing a Masters in a different field may not be in your best interest. Perhaps if you looked at Masters for psychology primarily (maybe even the general ones), they could be of better use for you. Unlike some of the applicants on these pages, you know which area you want to pursue and you may be using your Masters as a booster for your lower undergrad GPA. If you can do excellent on your Masters (if that's the route you end up taking), it will only help. Make sure you know what your goals are, find the best fit for yourself, and go with it!

*hugs back*