<p>Hi everyone. I am a psych major getting ready to graduate from UM-Dearborn within the year, and I am trying to sort out the right path for graduate school. I ultimately wish to obtain a PhD, and I had originally intended on obtaining it from UM-Ann Arbor after getting a B.A and M.A at UM-Dearborn, until I recently heard that most schools tend to oppose that sort of "inbreeding," and I also heard that M.A.s are pretty much irrelevant if your ultimate goal is a PhD anyway. With UM-AA already being highly competitive for their graduate programs in psychology, I'm starting to wonder if maybe my chances would be slim to none if I took this route, so now I'm trying to reweigh all of my options.</p>
<p>I kind of feel like an idiot now, because I knew from the start that my ultimate goal was a PhD from Ann Arbor, but I didn't know about the whole inbreeding thing as an incoming freshman at UM-D. I chose UM-D because it seemed like it was just the best option for me; great faculty, smaller class sizes, and close to home. Plus, I thought it would be a great way to eventually make my way to Ann Arbor. Had I known that it is generally expected of you to get your degrees from different institutions, I probably would have went to Wayne State for undergrad, and then to UM-Ann Arbor for grad school. But since I cannot undo my last four years of education, I am kind of stuck trying to figure out the next step.</p>
<p>I guess, to sum things up, I have a few questions here.</p>
<p>1) Does anyone know if UM-Ann Arbor has some sort of policy about admitting students who have graduated from UM-Dearborn? I have tried looking online to no avail, and I am pretty hesitant to call them about this, as I feel like they may not even disclose that sort of information to me. I'm hoping that someone on here will know from personal experience. I know that UM-D students can transfer there during undergrad fairly easily (providing they have good grades) but I am not sure how admittance works for graduate studies. I also do not understand if the whole inbreeding thing really fully applies to this situation, because even though both universities are UM, they have entirely different faculty with different backgrounds and specializations, and I'm sure they are just as aware of that as I am. </p>
<p>2) Is it really that irrelevant to get a M.A. before a PhD? I know that you can technically skip the masters and head straight to the PhD and skip out on a great deal of tuition in the process, but I would ideally like to have a lot of experience on my hands before I apply to Ann Arbor, since they are highly competitive, having one of the best psychology programs in the nation and all. This was why I had originally planned to stay at UM-D to complete a masters first, in order to have a stronger educational background and more research experience before Ann Arbor, but now I am scared to continue on my intended path as I am not sure if it will help or hurt me. In your opinion, do you think my initial plans of BA/MA at UM-D and PhD at UM-AA would work out, or would you suggest doing an MA elsewhere first, or applying to the ever-so-competitive UM-AA PhD program straight out of undergrad?</p>
<p>3) Would it be a bad idea to take a year off between undergrad and graduate studies? Do universities look down on this? I have considered taking a year off after my BA, as it might give me more time to get the real-world experience and research under my belt that I need before applying to graduate programs. In addition to that, the added time to sort out my graduate plans would be a major plus. However, again, I am scared that this could also hurt my chances. (I'm just trying to have the best odds of getting in as I can here.)</p>
<p>3) Does anyone have any other suggestions as to what route I should take for my graduate studies? I would appreciate any advice that you could give me, as I am honestly having a really hard time figuring this out. I love psychology, and I intend on staying in the field for the rest of my life, so an education from a top university like UM-AA (or somewhere similar) is extremely desirable.</p>
<p>I apologize for this being such a long thread overflown with questions, but I am sure you can see how this could be very frustrating and upsetting from where I'm coming from. I just want to have a plan for my future!!! Haha.</p>