Psychology
Preparation for Graduate School - Time Line
Junior Year
By the end of the junior year, you should have completed your work in Psyc 205 (Experimental Study of Behavior), and it is recommended that you begin to complete some of the courses from Areas I, II, and III. You are required to take one course from each of the three Areas. All courses in Area III are lab courses, and all majors are required to take at least one of the courses as a lab course (a 4-credit course). However, graduate schools look favorably on lab courses and you are encouraged to take more than one if you think you will pursue graduate school. This is especially true if you are interested in an experimental psychology program. A second or third course in Area III may be taken without the lab as a 3-credit course if you choose.
Students planning to pursue a graduate program in clinical or counseling psychology or who would like an internship in a clinical setting are encouraged to take Psyc 310 (Theories of Personality) in the fall semester and Psyc 402 (Principles of Counseling) in the spring semester. Psyc 402 is required before students can take an internship course in a clinically oriented activity off-campus. Internships can be done in a variety of areas including clinical, industrial, public health, hospital, and academic settings.
It is recommended that students take Psyc 316 (Systems and Theories) before taking the Graduate Record Exam. This course is taught in the fall semester, so if you are planning to take the GRE during the junior year, you may opt to take Psyc 316 during the fall semester of the junior year and take the GRE in the spring or summer. Also, remember that graduate schools may begin evaluating transcripts as early as January or February of your senior year, so they will not know about work done in the spring of the senior year.
As noted earlier, graduate schools in most fields of specialization rate research highly. If you plan to do research, we recommend that you meet with a professor/advisor during the junior year, and take Psyc 452 (Prospectus Readings) for 1 credit. Then, during the senior year, you would conduct the research as Psyc 448 (Research in Psychology) or, if your GPA qualifies you, Psyc 398 (Honors Research) in the fall and hopefully complete it by the time graduate schools are evaluating applications. This, of course, would be the ideal time sequence; often students do not start their independent research until their senior year, so if this the case, be sure to mention the research in your letter of application and remind the writers of your letters of recommendation of such research.
Strive to meet the requirements for membership in Psi Chi, the national honor society in psychology, so that that can be listed with your application to graduate school. You may want to read the book, The Complete Guide to Graduate School Admission: Psychology and Related Fields. That book can be purchased from the APA or found in our library. It will inform you about the various steps involved in applying to graduate school in psychology. You should review the latest edition of the book, Graduate Study in Psychology and Allied Fields. That catalog describes the programs, admissions requirements, and application deadlines for almost every graduate school in the U.S. and Canada. It can be accessed online at the APA web site for a fee. That web site is a great source of information for anything related to psychology.
Once you have a list of approximately 10 to 20 schools you are interested in, begin to request catalogs for graduate programs, or look them up on the internet. Get a feel for different kinds of programs, and the different requirements for admission to those programs of interest (such as GRE scores, internships, research experience, letters of recommendation, etc.). This information will help you immensely when deciding which electives, research topics, volunteer work, or internships to work in.
Summer Between Junior and Senior Years
Check to see that you have received the catalogs from the 10 to 20 schools of interest and that you have application materials for each. If you did not receive application materials, including financial aid forms, contact the schools and request them. Some schools do all applications online. Once you have the catalogs, read through them to see if any of the faculty members in those departments have interests that match yours, especially if you have research experience, internship experience, or a major class project or paper to back up that connection. Try to reduce the 20 schools of interest to 8 to 10 based on similar research interests and your resume. Make sure you have chosen schools that reflect a broad range of possibilities: some that are long shots where you do not meet all the requirements (GRE, GPA, research experience), some where you have exceeded the requirements, and some that appear to be good matches. Begin a filing system with information for each school, the required application materials, deadlines, financial aid information, and letters of recommendation.
Use the summer months to begin preparing for the GRE, remembering that most graduate schools are looking for students who score well in the verbal and quantitative sections. Some do require the psychology subject test, but most weight the general GRE more heavily. Also, prepare a draft of your personal/autobiographical statement. This should reflect your personal and educational background, your interests in psychology, the reasons you want a graduate degree in psychology, and your career goals. Be honest, objective, and keep it within 2 to 3 pages. Ask a faculty member who is writing a letter of recommendation in your behalf to review your draft and suggest revisions if necessary.
Senior Year (Fall Semester)
Plan to take the GRE early in the fall semester if you have not already taken it. The new policies on GRE examination allow you to take the general exam immediately over the internet. Remember that not all schools require applicants to take the subject test in psychology, but if you need to take it, consider taking the verbal and quantitative tests at one sitting (perhaps in October) and the subject test later after you have had another semester of study (perhaps in December).
Prepare a letter for faculty members who are writing recommendations for you and give them the recommendation forms as well as addressed and stamped envelopes to send them in. Your letter to the faculty should include a resume, a list of the courses and grades in psychology and related courses, GPA and GRE scores, your strengths and weaknesses (maximize your strengths, minimize the weaknesses), work and service experience, how your interests match someone in the department(s) to which the letters will go, and a list of the graduate school addresses arranged in order of deadlines to which letters should be sent. They will probably want a description of your professional goals if you have not already discussed this with them.
Request that your transcript be sent to the schools you are applying to after fall grades have been turned in.
Senior Year (Spring Semester)
Complete all applications with January deadlines first, making sure to send all the required materials. Check your files for each school, making sure all materials are ready. Then type all application materials, proofread them for grammatical and spelling errors, and photocopy all materials before you send them. Proceed through your list of schools and do the above with February to April deadlines.
After all application materials have been sent, check with the departments and be sure they have received your GRE scores and letters of recommendation prior to their deadlines. Most graduate schools will not consider incomplete applications. If there are any outstanding letters of recommendation, check with the faculty members to be sure that they have been sent.
Most graduate programs notify you of your status in their program by or around April 15. Possible status levels include: accepted, provisional acceptance, waiting list, or denial. Upon receiving notification of acceptances, consult with faculty if you need help in making your final decision. Once you have decided, notify other schools where you were accepted so they may offer your place to another student. If all of your applications are rejected, consult with faculty about your options. You might consider working for a year, preparing more for the GRE and re-taking it in the fall, getting research or applied experience, and then re-applying to graduate programs. Or, you might consider applying to degree programs in fields related to psychology such as social work (M.S.W.) or education (M.Ed., or Ed.D.
Visit campus
Call our office at 1-800-960-7583. An admissions counselor will be glad to help you arrange a visit and meet with faculty, sit in on a class, or stay overnight in a dorm.
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