How many grad schools should I apply to? Recommendations?

Graduate School
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<p>How many schools do people usually apply to? I've heard numbers ranging from 4 to 15 and was wondering how many safety, fit, and reach schools I should be looking at. </p>

<p>Would professors have a limit on how many schools they would send recommendations to? (I know they usually use the same letter, but they would still have to fill out multiple forms) How important would having a letter from a tenured professor be?</p>

<p>Also, I've just started thinking about grad school and could use all the advice I can get to help me increase my chances and prepare for the application process next year. What kind of schools (in terms of prestige) should I be considering for Psychology? Here's my current situation:</p>

<p>I'm currently a Junior majoring in Psychology at Michigan.
I have a terrible GPA of 3.3 due to an unfortunate freshman year...
2 years of research experience and published in a top psychology journal
Been to a couple conferences etc.</p>

<p>Pretty much all I've got at this point, this forum deflates my self-esteem lol</p>

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<p>A good number for most people falls between 8 and 10, although a super-strong applicant can afford to apply to fewer programs and one with a few questions may need to apply to more. Really, though, there’s no set guidelines for finding “safeties,” since you can get into a top 10 program while being rejected from schools with less prestige. In addition to the usual trio of LORs, research, and grades, you have to add the all-important fit.</p>

<p>With research and a publication, a 3.3 won’t be a factor, especially since your lowest grades were during freshman year.</p>

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<p>Did the person who mentioned applying for [4-]15 programs get some sort of application fee kickback?!? Unless things are very different in your field, I can’t imagine why anyone would apply to 15 places. I applied to 8 and felt a bit overwhelmed. Whatever number you choose to apply to, make sure that each program would be one you are happy with otherwise there really is no sense in wasting your time, effort and cash.</p>

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<p>I applied to 10, which was too many in hindsight.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

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<p>A GPA of 3.3 isn’t terrible - I had a 3.4 and I got into Columbia’s psychology program.</p>

<p>How many programs you should apply to depends on you and your goals, and your subfield in psychology. In general most psychology students with their eyes on PhDs that I know of (and I am one) applied to between 6 and 12 schools. Students in less competitive subfields (cognitive, experimental, quantitative) applied to fewer programs; students in more competitive subfields (social and ESPECIALLY clinical) applied to more. I didn’t know many applicants to social or clinical programs who applied to fewer than 7 programs. If you are seriously interested in clinical, I recommend you stay closer to the higher numbers - clinical psychology is currently about as competitive as medical school, but unfortunately lacks the centralized process. Nonetheless most of the clinical students I knew applied to 9 or 10 programs. They had crazy fall semesters, but apply they did.</p>

<p>Personally I applied to 5 programs - but don’t go by me. My original goal was to apply to MPH programs and then once I finished the master’s, to return for a PhD in psychology. So I applied to 4 master’s in public health (MPH) programs and my one “dream” PhD program, which was a interdisciplinary psychology and public health program. Surprise surprise, I got in :D</p>

<p>Most professors do not have stated limits in my experience - since they copy the same letter over again and you will provide them with the envelopes and stamps they need to snail mail letters (and electronic uploading is free), it’s not as time-intensive as it seems. I do know of a FEW professors who have stated limits - not from personal experience but hearing from friends who asked professors I didn’t ask.</p>

<p>As far as tenure goes: There is, of course, a hierarchy of whose recommendation carries the most weight. Associate professors’ recommendations (who are usually tenured) are more weighty than assistant professors (who are usually not)'; in turn, a full professor’s recommendation would mean more than associate professor’s. The assumption is that these more senior professors have been in the field longer, and have more experience with successful students; they know what makes a good graduate student more than a new professor in the field.</p>

<p>However, if you worked under an untenured professor as a research associate or got strong grades in an untenured professor’s class, do not shy away from getting a letter from them if you feel they will write you a strong one. It’s far better to get a strong letter from an untenured professor than a lukewarm one from a tenured one. It’s also far better to get a recommendation from a professor who knows you really well than it is to get a recommendation from a professor who does not know you well, or at all.</p>

<p>As an added note, I also recommend that students who want recommendations from graduate student TAs or post-doctoral scholars they’ve worked with use this as a fourth/“extra” recommendation, if they can submit an extra. It’s really best to have three from professors.</p>

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<p>Thanks everyone for the extremely helpful replies! </p>

<p>Just feeling pretty bad about my freshman year. My grades have greatly improved since then, but I don’t know if admissions would be at all forgiving. In every semester past freshman year, I’ve earned at least a 3.6. (lol that gives you an idea of just how bad my freshman grades are…)</p>

<p>Also, how long have you guys known your recommenders before asking?</p>

<p>I’m aware that fit may be more important than prestige in considering grad schools, but would you guys say that there’s really no limit as to how high up the list of “rankings” I should be aiming?</p>

<p>Any more advice? Thanks again :)</p>

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<p>My three recommenders:</p>

<p>The first was an associate professor I had known for 1.5 years before asking her for a recommendation. I worked with her as a research assistant for those 1.5 years, and she also taught a statistics course I took one semester.</p>

<p>The second was a brand-new assistant professor I had known for 1 academic year before she wrote me the recommendation. I had worked with her as a research assistant as well, and was in her lab.</p>

<p>The third professor was my advisor from a summer research program who absolutely loved me, and I asked him because I was going to an interdisciplinary program but no professors from one field out of the two I would be entering had written me a letter (aside from the fact that he loved me, of course). So I had known him for what…four months? But the two months I worked there were two very intense months during which I saw him every day.</p>

<p>To answer your second question - you mentioned your cumulative GPA, but what is the GPA for your last 60 credits and - more importantly - your major GPA? I only had a 3.4 cumulative GPA but my major GPA was between a 3.6 and a 3.7, which is what I think mitigated the lower GPA. I think it’s safe to say no one cared what I got in my freshman year acting course or sophomore year history course, since I was going into psychology. I think if you have a high major GPA then no, you shouldn’t limit yourself as to prestige. Either way I don’t think you should limit yourself as to prestige because that program may think you are an excellent fit.</p>

<p>Also, you must remember, the GPA is only ONE piece of the puzzle, a puzzle that will also include excellent recommendations, a publication in a top psychology journal, a degree from a university with a top 5 psychology program (seriously, Michigan is amazing), 2 years of research experience and hopefully solid GRE scores (get at least a 1200). Particularly if your major GPA and the GPA of your last 60 credits is high, they won’t even blink an eye at the freshman GE requirements and just look at the rest of your solid application.</p>

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<p>Thanks Juillet, your replies are extremely helpful! I’ll keep all this in mind :)</p>

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This has been really helpful! I am interested in Columbia’s OT program. I am currently a Junior in college majoring in Psychology. I have a 3.2 GPA and I am planning on taking the GRE this next spring. Is there any way I can use my volunteering experience and my research experience to make my application stand out? Also, I am planning on applying to 5 schools total. Should I apply to more programs since my GPA isn’t high enough? (If I end up with a 3.3-3.4) I am enrolling in a Pre-OT program after graduation to take some of the program’s prerequisites and this then will be my safety schools. Could this help?

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You might want to start your own thread.

Most occupational therapy programs require you to have several hundred hours assisting or working alongside an occupational or physical therapist, plus at least one recommendation from an OT or PT that can attest to your skill and potential in the field. So you definitely need to use volunteer experience to stand out as qualified for the program. If you haven’t already, start volunteering with an OT or PT and you can talk about your experience in a statement of purpose. Research experience can help too, particularly if it’s related - you can talk about how your research experience prepares you to practice evidence-based therapy with patients.

OT is pretty competitive, so I think you should apply to more than 5 schools. Just a guess, but I think 7-10 is probably a good range in a program like OT. Also, I wouldn’t consider a school a safety just because you take the prerequisites there - many of those schools take on far more students than they can actually admit to their OT programs, because they expect most of them to go elsewhere.

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I will! Thank you so much!