Applying to Graduate School
What Do You Want?
The key to a strong application for graduate school is knowing what you want out of your graduate training.
For example, if you want to work in the mental health profession, are you interested in depression, eating disorders, or substance abuse (to name a few)? If you want to work in the business setting, what do you want to do in that setting? If you want a research career, what research questions interest you and who in the field has similar interests? You do not have to limit your interest to one psychological disorder, one business question, or one research area. If you have several interests, explore them all.
Talk to Graduate Students
Pursuing a graduate degree is a tremendous undertaking. Current graduate students are a great source of information about how to prepare and what to expect.
Get to know some of the graduate students in the department and ask them:
- How is being a graduate student different from being an undergrad?
- How did they decide on a program?
- What other options did they consider?
- What do they know about other schools?
- How did they prepare for graduate school?
Suggested Courses
The requirements for the psychology major should be considered the minimum preparation for further work in psychology. Most graduate departments want applicants to have courses in several of the basic areas of psychology; this is provided by the core requirements for the major. To be competitive, you must also have experience outside of the classroom.
Graduate Record Exam (GRE)
Most psychology graduate schools require applicants to take the General Test and Psychology Subject Test of the GRE. The Psychology Subject Test includes the following content areas:
- Learning & Cognition
- Clinical & Abnormal
- Development
- Social
- Sensation & Perception
- Personality
- Biopsychology
- Comparative & Ethnology
- History & Applied Psychology
- Research Design & Methodology
Additional GRE Information
Office of Measurement and Evaluation
G-33 Cathedral of Learning
412-624-6440
ETS
609-771-7670
gre-info@ets.org
http://www.gre.org
http://www.ets.org
Get to Know the Faculty
The faculty in the Department of Psychology are not only excellent teachers, they are also leaders in their respective areas of research. You should make every effort to get to know them outside of the classroom. Talk to them about different graduate programs, about the different areas of research, about what they do and how they decided what path to take. Besides being a great source of information, the faculty are also the ones who will write the all important letters of recommendation for your graduate school applications.
Letters of Recommendation
Most graduate schools require three letters of recommendation. These should be from psychology professors who know you well. The most valuable letters come from professors whom you have worked with on a research project or a supervised field placement.
Steps for Requesting Letters of Recommendation
- Always ask if the person is willing to write a letter before listing him/her on an application.
- Prepare a resume that describes your interests, goals, educational experiences, special skills, and extracurricular activities.
- Meet and discuss the information on your resume. Bring your resume and addressed, stamped envelopes for the schools to which you have applied.
- Give the professor all of the relevant information: Deadline dates, who to address it to, etc.
- After you hear from the schools, be sure to tell your professors where you were accepted and where you are going to attend.