Graduate School
Applying for graduate school is nothing like applying for admissions as an undergraduate. Everything from the application process, to who makes admissions decisions, to financial aid is completely different. Fewer than 50% of applicants to psychology programs will gain admissions to masters programs, and fewer than 25% of applicants to doctoral programs in psychology will be admitted. Students who understand the process have a much better chance of gaining admissions, so learn as much as you can!
Resources and information for students planning to apply:
What do I need to give to schools when I apply?
Do I need to complete an internship before applying?
Do I need research experience before I apply?
What if my grades are not good or I do not do well on
standardized tests?
Where can I get accurate and unbiased information?
Do SUNY Cortland students get into graduate school?
What do I need to give to schools when I apply?
At minimum most psychology graduate programs will ask for:
1) An application (often on-line)
2) A statement of purpose (or personal statement); this is NOT a personal essay about your life story, it is a professional essay about what you have done to prepare for graduate school (your knowledge, skills, and experience coming into graduate school) and your professional interests and intensions for graduate school, and ultimately for your career (and it is a writing sample, consequently it should be written very well)
3) Three letters of recommendation from faculty members who know you well (not just someone you had a class with and got an A; someone whom you took the time to get to know well).
4) Transcripts from all of your undergraduate institutions (all colleges attended)
5) GRE scores
6) Some students like to send a VITA if they are applying to a research based program (e.g., social psychology), or a resume if they are applying to an applied program (e.g., an organizational psychology program) but these documents are usually optional
7) Be sure to check each school’s application instructions carefully as the requirements can vary widely from school to school. Some schools will allow letters of recommendation from non-faculty members, for example. Other schools will ask for documents beyond those listed above. Take your time when applying to each school!
Do I need to complete an internship before applying?
That depends on the kind of program you are planning to
apply to. If you will be applying to a clinical, counseling, school psychology,
organizational psychology, or similar applied psychology program an internship
is either required or highly desirable. Speak with your academic advisor at the
end of your sophomore year or at the beginning of your junior year to arrange
for an appropriate internship. There are many exciting opportunities in the
Do I need research experience before I apply?
If you are applying to graduate school you should get some research experience. Period. Research experience is desirable for those planning to attend masters programs. Research experience becomes absolutely necessary for all students planning to apply to doctoral programs in all areas of psychology (including all applied fields, e.g., clinical, counseling, and all experimental fields, e.g., social, developmental, neuroscience). There is “research experience” and then there is “RESEARCH EXPERIENCE”. In other words, there are varying degrees of research experience. The more involved you become in the research process the more impressive your research experience will appear to a potential graduate school. Some students will serve as a research assistant, type and photocopy questionnaires. Some students will administer informed consent and administer questionnaires to research participants. The first example counts as research experience but the second example is more impressive. The first example of research experience would be sufficient for applied master’s programs that do not require research experience for admissions. The second example would be the kind of research experience that would be sufficient for many applied master’s programs, those that do not emphasize research as being important for admissions. Students hoping to gain admissions to doctoral programs, or a master’s programs that indicate that research is important to them should probably consider a more intensive experience. These opportunities could include becoming a lead research assistant who trains and supervises other research assistants, writes research protocol, or works as a data manager/analyst. Ideally, students will elect to conduct their own research project and present the results of that project at a professional conference or at SUNY Cortland’s Scholar’s Day. This kind of research experience is rare at the undergraduate level, it requires a great deal of commitment and sacrifice on the part of the student involved, and it is the kind of research experience that gets students noticed by graduate schools (particularly those hard to get into clinical/counseling doctoral programs)! If you are interested in that kind of experience you need to get involved long before your senior year (how long depends on the kind of research you are interested in doing).
If you are interested in obtaining some research experience contact faculty about your interests as soon as possible! Talk with faculty who are doing research you are interested in. You can obtain a list of the faculty and their research areas from the Psychology Department Office. When you talk with faculty, be clear about your career goals and how involved you would like to become in the research process so the faculty member can let you know if he or she can accommodate your needs.
What if my grades are not good or I do not do well on standardized tests?
Hum, grades/GRE scores, it is all relative. It is your total package that is considered for admissions. It is surprising for students to find that their grades or GRE scores alone do not count for that much, particularly when they are considered in light of strong letters of recommendation and great research and internship experience. You do need to meet the minimum cut-off points for the school you are applying to. Many schools do not waive their minimum cut-off points. However, schools are forgiving and a year or two can make a big difference. A bad freshman year is not a death sentence for graduate school. Neither are low GRE scores. Talk with your advisor about your concerns and make some short and long term goals. Formulate some strategies for overcoming weak portions of your application. When you apply, make sure all of your letter writers know about low grades or low GRE scores! That gives them an opportunity to tell the schools that those GRE scores or freshman year grades are not representative of your academic promise.
Where can I get accurate and
unbiased information?
If you ask 3 faculty members to help you write your statement of purpose I am certain you will get 3 different, sometimes conflicting, pearls of wisdom. I did when I applied to graduate school. There is not a 100% correct method for applying to graduate school. Each faculty member has had a different experience because each of us graduated from a different graduate school, and we each worked with different graduate professors. All of those graduate professors we worked with had different things they liked in graduate students they admitted. That makes everyone right and you still don’t know what to say in your statement of purpose!
When this happens I like to refer students to the American Psychological Association’s publications on getting into graduate school. It is the definitive resources for our field and there is no other. They are the accrediting agency for all clinical, counseling, and school psychology programs in the nation and they keep statistics on graduate school admissions (who is getting in and why they are gaining admissions). Their publications give solid, data-driven advice. Here are the two publications you should know about. Refer to them early and frequently (both are available in the Psychology Department Office or you can purchase them from the APA web site www.apa.org/books):
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"Getting In: A Step-by-Step Plan for Gaining
Admission to |
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“Graduate Study in Psychology, 2006 Edition” “The Graduate
Study in Psychology is the best source of information related to graduate
programs in psychology and provides information related to approximately 600
graduate programs in psychology in the The Graduate Study in Psychology
publication contains information about the number of applications received by
a program, number of individuals accepted in each program, dates for
applications and admission, types of information required for an application
(GRE scores, letters of recommendations, documentation concerning volunteer
or clinical experience, etc.), in-state and out-of-state tuition costs, availability
of internships and scholarships, employment information of graduates,
orientation and emphasis of departments and programs, plus other relevant
information.” |
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I also have a handout in my office I recently picked-up at a conference that has some valuable information in it. Stop by for a copy.
Do SUNY Cortland students get
into graduate school?
Oh YES! The Psychology Department at SUNY Cortland has a really good track record of getting students into graduate school! I have been keeping track of the students I work with who have gotten into graduate school. I like to brag about them because I know how hard they have worked. Below is a list of the students from my laboratory who have gained admissions into graduate school and where they went. While the national average is at 50% or below, the average for our laboratory is above 80%, because these students work hard, they are excellent with experimental and non-experimental designs, quantitative methods, and can smear electroconductive gel better than anyone I know!
Masters Candidates:
Courtney Beauchamp (Class of ’05)
Jessica Beck (Class of ’06)
April Byers (Class of ’06)
Erin Coon (Class of ’03) Mount Saint Mary’s College
Kim Doherty (Class of ’05)
Jennifer Gaeta (Class of ’06)
Patrice Gordon (Class of ’04) CUNY
Tasha Hamm (Class of ’05)
Andrea Herbert (Class of '04)
Joann Lanari (Class of '03)
Sarah Luchansky (Class of ’06)
Meghan Nash (Class of '04)
Kelly Nolan (Class of '04)
Joan Marie Pagan (Class of ’06)
Michele Paladino (Class of ’05)
SUNY Oneonta
Janelle Pruden (Class of '04) C.W.
Post
Emily Raynor (Class of ’04) SUNY
Lauren Rausch (Class of ’05) SUNY Stony Brook
Lauren Reinhardt (Class of ’06)
Marisa Sano (Class of '03)
Jamie Valentino (Class of ’05) SUNY Oneonta
Rebekah Widrick
(Class of ’06) SUNY New Paltz
Doctoral Candidates:
Eileen Moore (Class of ’05) SUNY
Mary Jo Mortensen (Class of ’05)
Sarah Weatherbee (Class of '04)
North Carolina State U. (Developmental)