<p>I was an undergrad psychology major. Unfortunately I transfered to the school, so I needed to start from scratch when it came to a few of my general ed classes - I had to take Calculus and science during my junior year which severely brought down my GPA.</p>
<p>Basically this is how my semester GPA went:</p>
<p>Sophomore year, 2nd semester (when I transfered in): 3.7
Junior year, 1st semester: 3.6
Junior year, 2nd semester: 3.0 (this is when I got 2 Cs, in Calculus & Science)
Senior year, 1st semester: 3.1
Senior year, summer semester (only taking one class): 3.7
Senior year, 2nd semester: 3.5</p>
<p>my Psychology GPA ended up being a 3.6, and my CGPA upon graduation was a 3.41</p>
<p>So, not fabulous by a long shot but hopefully not incredibly dire? I know that whole 'upward trend' thing isn't really there..I sort of bounced all over.</p>
<p>Unfortunately I have no research experience aside from an Experimental Psychology class. I have 3 LOR, and two internships working in psychiatric clinics.</p>
<p>So what are my steps? Is it possible for them to look past a less-than-great GPA if I get good GRE scores? Should I also take the psychology subject GRE? Do I need research experience before I apply, and if so, how much?</p>
<p>Right now I'm feeling a little hopeless and like a crappy student but I really want to turn this around. Any and all suggestions are appreciated, I'll do almost anything.</p>
<p>Can anybody at all help?</p>
<p>I’m not very familiar with psychology admissions, and I’ve heard they can be extremely competitive, but I wouldn’t totally despair over your GPA. In most fields GPA is only a small part of admissions, and yours is pretty good in your major field. A good GRE score will help as well, but neither GPA or GRE scores are enough to get into grad school in most fields.</p>
<p>Most fields require prospective graduate students to have extensive research experience. I’m not sure if this is always the case in psychology, though… are you more interested in clinical or research work in the future? My guess would be that both types of psych grad school will require at least some research experience.</p>
<p>Does your college have an alumni network or career center? If someone from your school has gone to psych graduate school in the past few years they may be able to give you a much more informed answer. If no one else gets back to you here that might be your best bet.</p>
<p>I doubt that your GPA will keep you out. I had a 3.42 and I’m at a top 20 psychology program. I only applied to this one, but I was told by my advisor (25 years in the field, and a well-known psychologist) that I would’ve been competitive at many other places. My major GPA was also a 3.6, and that’s what they really care about. Calculus is nice, but if you didn’t do that well I don’t think they’ll care much.</p>
<p>Your main problem is your lack of research experience. You definitely need research experience before you apply - at least 2 years under your belt will make you competitive. Even if you are going clinical, you’re going to need research, although your experiences with the psychiatric ward will help.</p>
<p>Best way to get research at this point, assuming that you are finished undergrad, is to apply to psychology labs or related fields to become a lab coordinator. Lab coordinators (also called lab managers, project coordinators, research coordinators, or project managers) run all aspects of different research projeccts within a lab and usually get involved with 1-3 of them, sometimes getting publications. It’s a great way to get to know another professor closely for an LOR and to get some deep research expereince, and lab coordinators are usually pretty successful in grad admissions. Most labs have between 1 and 3. I know that NYU’s Couples Lab is hiring a lab manager right now as their current one is off to UCLA. My lab’s first coordinator is off at UNC-Chapel Hill and the most recent one is coming here to Columbia in the fall. So it’s good prospects.</p>
<p>Ask your former professors if they have professional listservs you can look at, or if they know of colleagues who need lab managers or research assistants, and also peruse the employment websites of big universities (especially those with medical centers) and look for the titles I posted above. Another alternative is to find a full-time job to pay the bills and to volunteer a couple hours a week as a research assistant.</p>