<p>I know this will probably be mediated by the information that I can provide, so as a junior studying psychology, I know that the experiences/qualifications I will (probably) have by the time I graduate are:</p>
<p>-High GPA
-Research assistant experience
-TA experience
-Worked as resident assistant
-Possibly good GRE scores? I did reasonably well on the SAT and I will prepare for the GRE, which I didn't do for the SAT </p>
<p>I'm planning to apply for a Master's in school counseling, and there are a pretty large number of programs in this area in my state, many at state schools that have pretty affordable graduate tuition. </p>
<p>I won't say that money is no object but I have saved up a lot while in college so I have some wiggle room as to what I can spend taking GREs and submitting applications. I'm really hoping for some sort of financial aid/assistantship/whatever I can get, but from what I've heard these are extremely competitive and might not even be available for the program that I'm applying for. </p>
<p>So my questions, given this information, are:</p>
<p>-How many graduate schools is it reasonable to apply to?
-How do you learn about the comparative quality of the programs given that none of the schools is a big "name"? What are some good places to research this?
-How do you narrow down from a pretty large number of potential places to apply to? </p>
<p>Thank you so much for any advice whatsoever. Nobody in my family has ever gone to graduate school so I don't really have a lot of reference for what the process is like. :)</p>
<p>They (the books)say on this subject to apply to as many as you feel would be a fit, whether it is 5 or 10, but wisely. </p>
<p>My son was different, did School Psychology (masters/6th year) but had stafford’s from undergrad and only applied instate and an ajoining state because of money. He wanted to commute and live home to save and applied to 3, 2 state schools, got in and picked the one that would be the best program, and had a chance of assistantships. He commutes almost an hour but only has 3 days of classes and it worked out fine in the end.
You have more wiggle room as you say, but don’t waste the money applying to schools that would be very expensive and if you will have to get an apartment or dorm, that will up the cost.
He had a book that was very helpful: Insiders Guide to Graduate Programs in Clinical and Counseling Psychology by Michael A. Sayette et al.</p>
<p>Thank you! I’m glad to have a more appropriate ballpark, and I think I’m starting to narrow my search a little. I have a couple of options within commuting distance, given that I can manage to save up for a car before I graduate, and I’ll also look into other opportunities such as assistantships or maybe a graduate position in residence life. I’ll have to do some more research into programs (trying to find out which is better than the next) and then see what my options are (assuming that I get accepted anywhere).</p>
<p>Thanks again!</p>
<p>You’re welcome, good luck. That book was helpful, showed cost, amount of students accepted, what each school wanted, how many got money, etc.It helped narrow it down for my son.</p>
<p>I applied to 8 schools, which may have been a few too many but I was worried about my stats (in hindsight, I worried way too much!)</p>
<p>The marginal cost of applying to an extra school or two is small compared to the potential reward, so as long as you’re not into the dozens, I’d say go for it.</p>