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8.4 Pursuing Graduate Work in Psychology
 Within two years of receiving their bachelor’s degrees in psychology, 27% of graduates choose to continue on with their education. What are your plans after you receive your degree?
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Given the scope of this textbook, we can only go into a cursory overview of graduate school options in psychology and strategies for applying to graduate school. There are many good resources available, including:
American Psychological Association. (2007). Getting in: A step-by-step plan for gaining admission to graduate school in psychology (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
American Psychological Association. (2010). Graduate study in psychology. Washington, DC: Author.
Karcen, A. C., & Wallace, I. J. (Eds.). (2008). Applying to graduate school in psychology: Advice from successful students and prominent psychologists. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Keith-Spiegel, P., & Wiederman, M. W. (2000). The complete guide to graduate school admission: Psychology, counseling, and related professions (2nd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Wegenek, A. R., & Buskist, W. (2010). The insider’s guide to the psychology major: Everything you need to know about the degree and profession. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Sayette, M. A., Mayne, T. J., & Norcross, J. C. (2010). Insider’s guide to graduate programs in clinical and counseling psychology (2010/2011 edition). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Walfish, S., & Hess, A. K. (Eds.). (2001). Succeeding in graduate school: The career guide for psychology students. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Depending on the specialty area in psychology you want to pursue, and the type of degree you wish to earn, graduate school can be extremely competitive or not so much. Norcross, Kohout, and Wicherski (2006) reported that approximately 27% of undergraduate psychology majors continue their education within two years of receiving their bachelor’s degree. Roughly speaking, more than 40,000 full-time students are enrolled in psychology graduate programs. Table 8.3 provides a glimpse at the different specialty fields, with number of programs, average percentage of applicants accepted, and number of students enrolled in doctoral program and master’s degree programs (from Norcross et al., 2006).
Table 8.3: Graduate school admissions in departments of psychology by subfields | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Doctoral Programs | Master’s Degree Programs | |||||
Subfield | Number of programs | Average percentage accepted | Total students enrolled | Number of programs | Average percentage accepted | Total students enrolled |
Clinical | 211 | 21.2 | 3,324 | 98 | 52.7 | 1,671 |
Clinical Neuropsychology | 20 | 25.8 | 213 | |||
Community | 12 | 31.0 | 43 | 22 | 53.8 | 416 |
Counseling | 34 | 21.5 | 447 | 108 | 65.5 | 2,764 |
Health | 12 | 30.9 | 87 | 3 | 70.3 | 23 |
School | 52 | 37.4 | 392 | 49 | 48.9 | 682 |
Other health services provider subfields | 48 | 25.7 | 477 | 64 | 64.5 | 1,395 |
Cognitive | 88 | 32.4 | 353 | 10 | 52.8 | 25 |
Developmental | 99 | 27.2 | 374 | 19 | 47.9 | 166 |
Educational | 31 | 50.0 | 170 | 15 | 57.3 | 149 |
Environmental | 2 | 39.1 | 10 | |||
Experimental | 31 | 37.6 | 163 | 38 | 55.4 | 261 |
Industrial/ organizational | 53 | 25.7 | 281 | 76 | 56.6 | 849 |
General | 59 | 58.0 | 972 | |||
Neuroscience | 49 | 26.9 | 148 | 6 | 32.3 | 50 |
Personality | 15 | 19.2 | 45 | |||
Physiological | 4 | 39.4 | 12 | |||
Psychobiology | 13 | 25.0 | 34 | |||
Quantitative | 14 | 42.6 | 32 | 5 | 72.7 | 18 |
Social | 80 | 19.4 | 270 | 8 | 47.6 | 29 |
Other research subfields | 76 | 33.2 | 339 | 41 | 60.7 | 443 |
Other fields | 8 | 22.9 | 36 | 2 | 33.3 | 12 |
Total | 981 | 27.4 | 7,247 | 624 | 57.4 | 9,925 |
Source: Norcross et al., 2006 |
The data in Table 8.3 provide some indication about the relative popularity of programs (number of students enrolled), as well as the competitiveness (average percentage accepted). One fact about Table 8.3 to keep in mind is that the category “doctoral programs” includes both Ph.D. and Psy.D. programs across specialty fields. When someone applies to graduate school, it is typically a more involved process than applying to an undergraduate institution.
Here are the types of information that you might be asked to provide in the graduate admissions process (from Landrum & Davis, 2010): (a) curriculum vitae or resume; (b) biographical statement or personal statements with your career interests and goals; (c) overall GPA, GPA in psychology, last two years GPA (verified with official transcripts); (d) list of relevant courses completed in the major; (e) Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores (may include GRE Psychology Subject Test); (f) letters of recommendation sent by you or sent directly from the school from (typically) three recommenders; and (g) application fee (if applicable).
How do graduate admissions committees evaluate and weigh the different components of the graduate admissions package? The answer is complicated and varies greatly by school and type of degree program. But you can get a sense of what is important to master’s degree and doctoral programs based on information from Landrum and Clark (2005) in Table 8.4 here.
“High importance” ratings for postgraduate degree program admission | |||
---|---|---|---|
Doctoral Programs | Master’s Degree Programs | ||
Admissions criterion | Percent rated high importance | Admissions criterion | Percent rated high importance |
Letters of recommendation | 86.7% | Letters of recommendation | 72.8% |
Statement of goals and objectives | 83.3% | GPA | 68.7% |
GPA | 70.9% | Statement of goals and objectives | 63.7% |
Research experience | 69.2% | Interview | 47.0% |
Interview | 63.1% | GRE/MAT scores | 39.3% |
GRE/MAT scores | 53.1% | Research experience | 30.6% |
Clinically related public service | 16.4% | Clinically related public service | 20.4% |
Work experience | 15.1% | Work experience | 19.9% |
Extracurricular activity | 3.8% | Extracurricular activity | 3.0% |
Source: Landrum and Clark (2005) |
One last piece of advice to offer before I point you in the direction of more resources for more in-depth answers: In studying mistakes students make in applying to graduate school, Appleby and Appleby (2006) chronicled the “kisses of death” sin the graduate school applications—avoid these mistakes in your own graduate admissions journey. The following presents the kisses of death to avoid in graduate school admissions.