Typical "Am I competitive?" post

[anxietytreadmill]

Hey all,

So I have been trolling the threads here and reading previous posts, and was hoping to get some personalized feedback. Before I ask any questions (I have a few) here are my stats:

Major/Minor: Psychology with a Business minor at an large R1

GPA: 3.3 cumulative, 3.68 major. Didn't switch into psychology until my junior year, and I didn't have a real interest in my major (business, hence why I have the minor) my first two years. Along with that, I had a parent pass away my freshman year, which didn't help matters. 

GRE Scores: Taking the test in August. A 315-325 and at least a 4.5 is achievable based on my practice test results.

Research experience: 1 full school year in a lab. I'm working in two labs this summer (one of them the same one), will start in a third lab in the fall, and I will be doing a supervised, independent project with a thesis starting this fall as well. I also am conducting research in an unrelated field and will be presenting at a conference in November. This is an independent project, and is more of a qualitative endeavor.

Research interests: I am interested in political psychology and human development and public policy. Within political psychology, I am interested in: the influence of religion on how conservative politics are shaped, the protestant work ethic and how it influences voter attitudes towards progressive politics, dog-whistle politics, racism, and fear of diversity, and individual vs. group morality and behavior. Within development and public policy, I am interested in: the mass incarceration "system" and how it affects the development of children affected by it, education policy, climate policy (pretty much anything within this topic gets me excited, I love development and I think policy is a great way to spur change)

 

So, my questions are as follows:

1) What are my chances of admission to top 25-30ish PhD in either area? Beggars can't be choosers I know, but as academia appears to be quite the beast, I don't think I would want to go to a school any less prestigious. 

2) Is my research experience competitive? To elaborate more on what I actually have done; I basically gained experience in the standard undergrad RA drill during the school year (running participants through the an experiment) and this summer I am working on coding spoken word and text. I'll be working on the supervised project mostly with a profs grad student, and am jumping in on a study as a part of his dis. A pub may or may not come out of this, but regardless it would not be there by the time application season rolls around. The conference presentation is for a literature related field, and is all independent.

2) How forgiving will admissions committees be of my lower gpa, given my circumstances? My GPA has only gone up since I have switched majors, and have never been below a 3.0.

3) I have loads of campus/community involvement and leadership experience, is this worth mentioning?

4) Are my research interests specific enough? As in, should I know right now what I would write my masters thesis on? I'm passionate about these two topics and love learning about them, and would absolutely enjoy pursuing vocational training in either area. 

5) If I was denied admittance to a PhD, am I competitive for a top masters program? If yes, how in the hell do you pay for that? I will graduate with some debt from undergrad, and am astonished at how someone (who doesn't come from wealth) manages to shell out $60,000+ to pay for a masters program.

S/O to you if you are still with me on this post thus far. Please let me know if further elaboration on any of my experiences are needed, and I will happily provide. Thank you so much!

 

[Plasticity]

Political, Social, and HD programs have become incredibly competitive in recent years. Personally I would take some more time to get relevant research experience, narrow down your interests (you come across as someone who fits better in a political science program than psychology), and get some pubs/presentations to help offset your low GPA.

 

Edited June 14, 2017 by Plasticity

[8BitJourney]

I would take a year or two off and seek a paid RA (or even better coordinator position). Better yet if its in a relevant area. This way you can have your pub on your CV, take on more independent roles and save money for grad school while paying back some of your debt. For reference: my gpa was a 3.5 (3.7psych), 4 years of research plus honors thesis, and 2 NIH fellowships and I still had a tough time and had to apply twice (finally got into a juvenile justice psych lab). Its not easy so rather than roll the dice and spend a ton of effort and money on apps I would wait.

[anxietytreadmill]

3 hours ago, 8BitJourney said:

I would take a year or two off and seek a paid RA (or even better coordinator position). Better yet if its in a relevant area. This way you can have your pub on your CV, take on more independent roles and save money for grad school while paying back some of your debt. For reference: my gpa was a 3.5 (3.7psych), 4 years of research plus honors thesis, and 2 NIH fellowships and I still had a tough time and had to apply twice (finally got into a juvenile justice psych lab). Its not easy so rather than roll the dice and spend a ton of effort and money on apps I would wait.

Thank you for your kind advice! I've been considering that option a little more heavily as of late, as I don't think I don't have the resume just quite yet. Any advice on getting a paid RA position/where to look for one? 

[8BitJourney]

19 hours ago, anxietytreadmill said:

Thank you for your kind advice! I've been considering that option a little more heavily as of late, as I don't think I don't have the resume just quite yet. Any advice on getting a paid RA position/where to look for one? 

School websites/employment portals are always helpful. ihirementalhealth is also useful along with the SANS google group. You could also cold email a lab you're interested in with a brief into and reasons why you're inquiring on open positions (also attach an updated CV). The biggest problem is many places prefer to do internal hires so if you find a very relevant lab you may have to volunteer for a bit before the possibility of a paid position comes up.

I personally was not up for the debt of a masters program and since you already have some research experience I don't think it would be incredibly useful for that. What it could be useful for is working on a fellowship application, having a high graduate gpa, and narrowing your interests as they're kind of all over the place (not an insult I want to do everything too lol. but for the sake of applying to grad school you should narrow it to one field).