Improving your chances of getting accepted to Graduate School By Thomas Gottehrer

Graduate schools focus on:  Grades; Overall Cumulative as well as your major GPA  Extra-curricular activities; Ones that might give you some sort of valuable experience or new knowledge  Letters of Recommendation; Preferably from Professors who know you well and have worked with you frequently  Field Experience; Experience working in the field you have chosen for a career makes you that much more knowledgeable about the field than your competition.  GRE’s; Depending upon your first choice, you may want to take some time to take the GRE

Grades  Make time to study: not only will your grades improve, but this helps your time management skills as well.  Meet with professors: that is why they are here; to help you learn. (this also shows the professor that you intend to do well, which might end up helping your chances of being that professors T.A. thus attaining another letter of recommendation).  Note: Good grades are not the only thing that Grad schools focus upon, however, they can’t hurt

Extra-curricular Activities  Join Clubs: By joining a club you pursue others who are interested in the same things that you are, while at the same time, gaining good group work experience  Becoming an officer of a club: This shows the person looking at your application that others chose you to lead them which says a lot about you (this gives you something else that looks very good on your resume).

Letters of Recommendation  You attain these by:  Impressing a professor in your major with good grades in the classes he/she has taught.  Showing a faculty member that you have good work ethic.  Becoming a teaching assistant for a professor in your major (this proves that a teacher has confidence in your ability to assist him/her throughout the course).  Becoming part of a faculty/student research team by doing an independent study (this will give you invaluable research experience, as well as allow you to impress upon the professor in terms of your research knowledge.  Just get to know the faculty from your major (There’s a reason we call them Ph.D’s).

Field Experience  If by your sophomore or junior year you have a good idea about what field of psychology you would like to pursue, it would be perfect timing for you gain experience in the field of your choice  Internships- un-paid experience working through a member of the faculty and your employer  Other- if you cant afford to work for free like a good portion of us, just about any employment you seek can give you valuable experience that can relate back to psychology

The Wonderful GRE’s  Graduate Record Examinations are offered on college campuses throughout the state of NY  If you know your school of choice requires a GRE score from you, find one or more other psych majors to study with  If you know your school of choice doesn’t require the GRE’s it cant hurt to give them a shot. Graduate schools always look to see how much extra their candidates are willing to do in order to broaden their knowledge.

Last but not least;  Research opportunities are available to all psych majors who have passed the writing exam, and have a 3.0 or higher GPA; taking advantage of this opportunity will give you research experience which will not only help your chances of getting in, but it will also prepare you for doing your own research in grad school  RESEARCH THE SCHOOLS YOU HAVE CHOSEN- Grad schools would like to believe that you are going there because they have something to offer that strikes an interest in you, not because they are the only one that you think you have a chance of getting into.