8.4 Pursuing Graduate Work in Psychology

8.4 Pursuing Graduate Work in Psychology

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.