Selecting and Applying for Graduate School (in Psychology)

 

Selecting a graduate school and navigating the application process can be a daunting and difficult task, here is my guide for prospective students on how to navigate the process and key things to consider throughout.

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Step 1: Think career goals and know yourself

Think carefully about the large picture objective for attending graduate school. You don’t have to have everything figured out at this point, but it is good to keep this goal in mind as applying for graduate school is expensive and involves a lot of time, energy, and commitment.

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• Think what possible careers you can see yourself in after graduate school is done, talk to people with these careers if possible and ask them any questions you have (do they like it, what did it take/what were the requirements, what do they do on a day to day basis, etc.).

• Research what requirements those fields or careers demand (you can ask somebody in the field, look it up online, browse job ads, etc.).

• Consider the question, “Do I LOVE research?” Almost all graduate programs, master’s level or PhD, involve a lot of research (even many clinical psychology programs). If you hate reading articles, doing statistics, or writing, chances are you will not enjoy graduate school and it will be much more difficult for you to be successful.

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Based on your answer to these questions, you can begin to research schools, programs, advisers, etc. (see Step 2!).

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Step 2: Make your list of schools and programs (the most energy/time intensive step)

Based on what your current career goals, start looking up schools and reading about their programs, do they offer Master’s Degrees, PhD’s, Combined programs, etc.? There are three main types of programs:

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Master’s only: This is pretty straightforward, you get your master’s degree (2-3 years average) and if you wish to continue towards your PhD you must re-apply to a PhD program. Great for people whose career goals do not require a PhD.

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Masters/PhD combined: In a combined program, you earn your master’s degree (2-3 years) and then your PhD (2-3 more years, for a total of 4-6 years, generally), and then you earn your PhD. Many requirements for your PhD will already have been met during your master’s degree coursework, however, which cuts down on the total years of schooling most people do when selecting this route. A large plus side to this type of program (over a PhD only program especially) is that if you decide graduate school is not for you, you can “drop out” after your master’s degree and still have a degree earned. These programs generally require a master’s thesis and a doctoral dissertation, but this also varies by school/program.

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PhD only: This type of program enables you to jump right into a PhD program without a master’s, and you will not obtain a master’s along the way (average time is 5 years). Programs vary, but many start with several years of coursework and independent/adviser-student research and then dissertation research, most do not require a “master’s” thesis type of project but expect you to be completing research projects and publishing throughout your program.

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Your List: Once you have narrowed down what type of degree or degrees you will need for your career, you can start your list of programs by looking through school websites. The most information can generally be found on either the department website or the graduate school website/course catalog sites.

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To cut down on the amount of work/how many times you have to re-visit a webpage, I recommend starting your excel document of schools now (see example and blank template), this can of course always be edited and you can ‘delete’ schools off of it later (although I recommend never ‘deleting’ but rather moving to another page or highlighting in a different color as things may change and the information is always nice to have readily on hand). This list should include school name, program type/what type of degree(s) are offered, application deadline, potential advisors, whether or not the GRE is required, minimum GRE scores required, application cost, and slots to check whether you have turned in certain things like your personal statement, CV, writing sample, etc. in for each school. Having all of this information readily at hand in one organized place will make the application process and your life SO much simpler and help you navigate the process with a much lower stress level.

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Once you see whether a school of interest has the degree you are interested in pursuing (before you fill in your excel document list), now it is time to see if there is anybody who you could see yourself working with. In most all programs, you are really applying to an adviser or a person rather than the school. Sure, you have to meet the program requirements, but if there is nobody there for you to do research with, you will not stand a chance. The majority of advisers do not want to waste their time doing research on something they are not interested in or know little about.

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Researching Advisers: There are a variety of ways to approach this, but generally the school’s departmental website will have a list of all the professors and this will link to their personal web pages or will include a bio about them which includes their research interests. You can check out their published work to determine if it is actually of interest to you. Yes, this is time consuming, but it is also the next 2-6 years of your life, so you should be jazzed about researching similar things as they are (these interests do not have to be identical, but should be similar enough that they will be interested in what you are and able to help you). You can also approach this from the other direction, for instance, if you are reading an article you find interesting, see who the authors were and where they are at, look at their other research and the school they work at if they work at one, does it interest you or offer the degree you are trying to pursue?

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**Another tip is to always check out the adviser’s website or email them directly BEFORE you apply to ensure that they are accepting graduate students for whenever you are applying. Don’t waste time/money applying to advisers that will not accept you.

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