How do I get into graduate school | What do graduate schools want? | Application process | Undergraduate timeline

Application Criteria

Although application criteria vary significantly from place to place, the basic requirements for nearly all graduate schools include:

• Reasonably high GPA, especially a Psychology classes only GPA. This is usually used as a "weeder" criterion; in other words, if it is too low many graduate schools won't consider you at all, but if it is above the threshold (varying from school to school), you are in the pool. You will be asked to submit many different varieties of GPA--overall GPA, upper division GPA, lower division GPA, psychology only GPA, psychology upper division only GPA, GPA based on particular lists of classes, and so forth. Be sure to have an up-to-date transcript so you can easily calculate these varieties of GPA.
• GRE scores (general and Psychology subtest). Like GPA, GRE scores are used as a "weeder." Pay close attention in the "Graduate Schools in Psychology" book to whether the GPA and GRE scores they list are "average" (in which half of the scores may be below the scores they list, so you may get in with a lower score) or "minimum" (in which case your application with sub-minimum scores would be a long shot).
• Statement of purpose, telling about yourself, your future plans, and how you fit in to their program.
• Letters of recommendation.
• Research experience, ideally publishing or presenting at a conference. Working as a research assistant for a faculty member helps here, too.
• Some clinical-related experience, if you are applying for a clinical program.

Suggested Plan of Action

1. Be sure to keep up with the undergraduate timetable throughout your college career.

2. Take Psychology 319 (Career Colloquium) during your Junior year.

3. In the Winter and Spring of your Junior year, look through Graduate Schools in Psychology, available from the Psychology Department office. Make a list of about 30 schools that look like good possibilities.
In August before your Senior year, send out letters requesting information and application packets for those 30 schools.

4. Read the packets that come in. You will eventually have a stack about .5 to 1 meters tall, and it will take a while to get through it all.

5. Choose about 10 programs to apply to. Paying attention to how likely you are to get in to the programs (based on GRE & GPA's, along with how good a match you think you are for the program). Most of the programs should be within your range, but it's a good idea to apply to one or two programs that are sure bets (as "plan b" schools), and one or two programs that your would like to get in to, but to which you are unlikely to be accepted (you can dream, right?).

Be sure to follow the timeline for getting letters of reference, transcripts, editing your statement of purpose, and so forth.

Information Request Letter

Several months before you apply to graduate school--usually the end of the summer between your Junior and Senior years--you should send letters to all of the graduate programs you might consider applying to. This can be a simple letter, but it should be a professional letter (remember all those letters from typing class?). You see, in some graduate schools, your letter of inquiry will be the first thing in your application file, if you choose to apply to that school. So, when a group of faculty sit around to look at your application, the first thing they see when they open your folder will be your information request letter. It doesn't have to be fancy, but don't scribble a note on scratch paper, either.

The GRE

The GRE general test (focusing on verbal, quantitative, and analytic skills) and Psychology subject test are required by most graduate programs in Psychology. You should plan to take the subject and general test sometime during Fall quarter, a year before you want to start graduate school. 

If you can't take the test until December or later, you may have to send your GRE scores to some schools after they have already begun considering candidates. Try to take the tests in September or October, if at all possible.

Personal Statements

Most graduate schools to which you apply will ask for some sort of a "personal statement," or "statement of purpose," or "personal essay." In this statement, they will ask you to describe yourself and/or your academic career and/or your extracurricular activities and/or your career plans and/or why you think you would be a good match for their particular program.

The most important thing here is to proofread and edit. Let me say that again in case you missed it: Proofread your statement of purpose, and edit it carefully and thoroughly. If you turn in a statement of purpose with typos or grammar problems--or that simply isn't well written--you may have blown your chances for getting into graduate school. After all, if you can't manage to write a couple of pages without errors--especially for something involving the next several years of your life--then how do they know you can write a paper, or thesis, or client notes adequately?

You should plan on writing your statement of purpose a few weeks before it is due, and then ask classmates to read it and give suggestions, as well as a professor or two. You should probably turn in a fourth or fifth draft, rather than a first draft.

Here are some other tips for writing statements of purpose:

• You are writing advertising for yourself, so make yourself sound good. But don't brag--let the data support your talents.
• Try to make yourself unique in good ways. Saying that you want to go into clinical psychology because you "want to help people," for example, won't make you stand out in a crowd.
• Try to make yourself sound balanced. It's OK to talk about your hobbies, for example, but don't come across as a fanatic.
• Customize your statement for each school. Make it clear that you have a particular interest in their program, and why.
• Proofread.
• Edit.

Sample Personal Statement

I became initially interested in psychology when I was helping a friend who was having problems at home and was considering suicide. I felt so helpless trying to deal with his problems that I decided to learn more about human behavior and how to help those in need. This experience led me to enroll in an introductory psychology course in order to understand more about what motivates people. I have become more and more interested in the field of clinical psychology during my four years as an undergraduate.

In addition to my educational experience as an undergraduate, I actively pursued work experience in psychology-related fields. I worked for Marian as a resident assistant in one of the dormitories during my junior year. In this role, I encountered students who had problems relating to their family, depression, suicide, alcohol, and drugs. I attained a Co-op position during my senior year as a residential supervisor at the Indianapolis Center for Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, a facility dedicated to teaching brain injured individuals not only to deal with their handicaps, but to overcome them. I witnessed counseling of both clients and their families. My work experience has proven to me how much more I need to learn before I can attain my goal of becoming an accomplished researcher and teacher.

I became interested in research as a sophomore when I enrolled in a senior level research class (i.e., Computer-Assisted Research). By the time I graduate, I will have presented a total of five papers on a variety of topics at undergraduate research conferences. My experience with the first study, an examination of mood effects on time perception, led to other research endeavors on topics including student evaluation of faculty, academic integrity, and comparisons of personality profiles of brain injured individuals. At St. Louis University, I am specifically interested in the research efforts of Harvey Austrin (hypnosis), Nancy Brown (child adolescent psychotherapy outcomes), and Thomas Grisso (clinical, personality, and community assessment). As an undergraduate, I have learned the importance of working closely with members of the faculty. A great deal can be accomplished by working with someone who is already an expert in the field.

I have become firmly committed to the beliefs that the most appropriate way to answer "real world" questions is through basic research and that these answers should be communicated in a professional manner to those audiences who can benefit most from them. My undergraduate experiences have inspired me to continue my education in graduate school so I can further my research and make a meaningful contribution to the field of psychology.

The author of this personal statement, Matt LaGrange, went to Purdue for his clinical psychology graduate degree. Please note how he stressed the reasons for his interest in clinical psychology, his research experience, and how clearly and honestly he described his undergraduate accomplishments and future goals without assuming a tone of egotistic superiority or false modesty.

_{Portions of this page were adapted with permission of Herbert Friedman, College of William and Mary.}

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