Recommendations for preparing for graduate school as a senior

**There are many sources of advice for college students thinking about going to graduate school; I

highly recommend seeking advice from as many sources as possible. Here is my advice:

 Focus on truly mastering the material covered in your classes and continuing to use the best study

strategies to help you do so. If you truly master the material in your classes and put in the effort

needed to succeed, good grades typically follow. Remember learning takes concerted effort and

succeeding in graduate school will take years of concerted, persistent effort; practice now.

o The recommended GPA varies by type of graduate school you are pursuing, but the higher

your GPA is, the better your chances of getting in are.

 If you are struggling to master the material in a class (or classes), seek assistance from the

professor(s) and utilize resources available on campus (e.g., the writing center, the psychology

department statistics tutors).

 If you have not already done so: Explore the sections of the psychology department website related

to graduate school and careers in psychology. Many students do not know all of the various types of

potential careers and graduate schools and thus are pursuing a path toward a degree they ultimately

do not want or may not need.

 If you feel confident in the type of graduate school you would like to pursue:

o Continue reading scholarly articles or books related to that path. For instance, if you are

interested in social psychology, continue reading different types of articles in social

psychology journals to begin to explore types of social psychology research you may want to

conduct in graduate school.

o Take a graduate level course (500 level) in that area if you have met the pre-requisites for

the 500-level course.

o If you are pursuing a graduate degree in a field related to psychology, take courses in that

area. (E.g., social work classes if interested in going to social work school, Pol 306 & 307 if

interested in going to law school).

 Continue being involved in the department, campus and/or broader community through clubs,

meaningful volunteer opportunities (volunteering once for 2 hours is not meaningful, volunteering at

the same place for 2 hours per week for a year or more is), or part-time work. *Be careful you do not

engage in so many out-of-class activities that it negatively impacts your grades though.

 Explore and follow all of the recommendations for graduate school provided on the psychology

department advising website.

 The remainder of this advice is for students who plan to apply during their senior year of college. If

you do not plan on applying during your senior year of college, this advice applies to the time period

before you apply.

o Use the information you obtained during your search of potential programs to narrow down

to the programs you will definitely apply to and create a schedule to make sure you do not

miss any deadlines. I recommend keeping track of potential programs you are interested

in, their requirements, why you like that program, and how to apply to that program in one

location (e.g., an Excel spreadsheet, a document, a notebook) because this will help you

when you go to actually apply in the fall or spring. You will need to apply to multiple

Recommendations for preparing for graduate school as a senior

programs and just like applying to undergraduate schools, you should not only apply to

“reach” schools unless you are prepared to not get in. Many graduate programs are

extremely selective and are thus extremely difficult to get into. The actual number of

programs you should apply to will depend on the type of program you are pursuing, the

strength of your resume and transcript, and strength of your letters of recommendation

(increase the number if the programs are competitive and/or your materials will not be

extremely strong).

o If you have not already taken the GRE (and Psychology GRE if it will be required) or other

entrance exam (e.g., LSAT or MCAT), sign up to take it as soon as you feel is possible to be

properly prepared for it and before applications are due. Once you have set a date,

determine your study schedule and follow your study schedule so that you can perform as

well as possible on the exam.

o If you are pursuing a Ph.D. in psychology, you will need to:

 Determine the type of research you would like to do. Be as specific as possible,

stating you want to study “child psychology” is much too vague. Stating you want to

study “prevention and early intervention programs for Autism Spectrum Disorder in

infants and toddlers” is specific enough.

 Once you have determined the specific type of research you would like to do, look

for a research mentor in your chosen area of research, not just a program that you

like. Most doctorate programs in psychology use a model where you work with a

primary research mentor which means you will essentially apply to work in their lab

(you do not apply to the overall program like you did for undergraduate programs). I

recommend reading research articles in the area you are interested in and then

looking up the programs where the authors of articles you find especially

interesting are located. If the program looks interesting, read some more articles

written by that professor. If you still are interested in working with that

professor, e-mail them a respectful e-mail stating your interest and why you are

interested in working with them and ask if they are going to be accepting students

for the semester you will be applying for. (*Only do this step if you are e-mailing at

least a month before the application deadline. This will save you the time and money

applying to work with someone if they will not be accepting new students because

they are on sabbatical, are retiring, or aren’t accepting new students for any other

reason. This also will put your name in their mind if you do later apply as someone

who was serious about working with them.)

o Edit your personal statement (or other type of written document needed for the type of

program you will apply to) and seek assistance from others to help you further edit it to

make it as strong as possible.

o Edit your Curriculum Vitae (or résumé) in the same way.

o Request 3 strong letters of recommendation at least one month before you need the

letters written.