Chance at MA programs in general psychology

[Guitarman12]

I am going to apply to MA general psychology programs this fall.  I have been focusing my research mostly on social psychology topics, such as human aggression.  I want to eventually get a PhD in psychology because I am interested in ultimately teaching at the university level but I am not sure if I would be competitive enough at the moment.  I am also really young (I graduated at 20) and I don't mind spending some more time doing a masters.  Here are my stats:

Psychology major/Pre med (took all the pre-med classes)

3.55 Cumulative GPA (upward trend, 4.0 in last semester) at top university.

306 GRE 4.5 writing

2 years research experience (1 year training and working directly with professor)

2 teaching assistant positions in psychology

1 conference presentation

1 publication (hopefully) by end of semester.

I have excellent letters of recommendation.  All from faculty members at the R1 school that I go to.  What do you guys think?  I had a faculty member tell me that I had a chance at lower level PhD programs but I think I would rather do a masters to improve my chances.  Does anyone have any experience with that?

 

[MargaretSG]

Hi @Guitarman12 . I  have been working in Psych research for the past 5ish years and stumbled on your post! I actually recently decided to go the social work route instead of the PhD route, but I have a lot of friends who are loving their Clinical Psych routes and had a few ideas for you. First, are you interested in getting a PhD in Social Psych? If so, you may be more prepared than you think. Clinical Psych programs require a lot of experience, especially clinical experiences, and often prefer older applicants who have been working for longer. Social Psych programs seem to be a little more flexible. You should look into admission stats for programs you're interested in. They will generally list average GPA/GRE/ years of experience for their incoming students. If you're close to it, you should try applying, if not, it's great to look into other options to make you a more competitive applicant. From what I've heard,  masters programs are often an expensive way to get into a PhD program. If finances aren't an issue for it, go for it! If they are though, you may be able to build your resume/CV even more by getting more experience working at a top tier research institution, getting more conferences, and possibly another publication or two, in the same amount of time you would have been in school. So if you could apply to labs that study topics that are related to what you would want to study in grad school, I would definitely recommend taking that route instead! That way, you can get paid to get your PhD, and likely get a Masters in the process! Good luck with everything!