<p>I'm an international student who really needs help from well experienced Ph.D students or anyone who can give me good advices on my issue. I graduated from U of Michigan with quite mediocre gpa of 3.5 in Math and Economics. However, this overall gpa would drop to 3.4 if I add gpa earned from U of Wisconsin where I transferred from. </p>
<p>I'll be applying to Columbia and UPenn for Post-bac(any other programs you would like to recommend?) next year to make up some prerequisite psych courses that I didn't have chance to take during undergrad.</p>
<p>With my interest in coginitive/developmental psychology, my concern is if my math grades(around 3.3) will prevent me from getting into Top 10 programs. I'm not very sure how strongly they focus on undergrad Math grades but doubt they care less about it than my Econ gpa. Do you think it would be a good idea to take some extra Math/Stats courses while doing post-bac even if it may risk getting very favorable gpa?</p>
<p>Other than this, I would like to hear if you have any comment on the pursuit of Post-bac program(Recommended vs. Not Recommended, How you liked it, etc.)
Your comments will be greatly appreciated :)</p>
<p>3.5 isn’t a mediocre GPA, but you will need to show that you can do statistics for psychology PhD programs. So if you haven’t taken much stats, or if your stats grades are Cs or Ds, then yes, take them. Have you looked into master’s programs in psychology to fulfill prerequisites as well as post-bac programs? You may have better luck at funding for master’s- look for experimental psych programs that will give you a strong research background.
That leads me to one other, important point- whether your GPA is a 3.5 or 4.0 matters much less than the quality and quantity of research experience you have. Did you get involved in research as an undergrad? If not, getting experience in research should absolutely be your top priority. Even if you have done some research, try to get involved in some while doing your post-bac/masters/etc.</p>
<p>Thanks for your reply. I had only one(or two if Probability course counts) stats course which was mathematical stats. I earned B+. I have tried to find if there are any master’s programs for people like me, but found some people suggesting that doing post-bac at decent school would look better than getting into much less admired school for master’s program. I didn’t do any research as an undergrad and a part of reason I’m planning post-bac program is to do some. I might take an extra year or two before applying for grad schools in case Post-bac doesn’t get me sufficient research experience.</p>
<p>I agree w/ Nessa, a master’s could both be funded and be helpful in completing the pre-req courses, it should have a strong stats component, and allow you time for research; all of which will assist in getting a great PhD option</p>
<p>I don’t know if my searching ability isn’t good enough to find some, but it seems like most master’s programs do not accept someone devoid of evidence for having any backgound knowledge in psychology. I guess that’s precisely the reason why post-bac programs are out there for psychology concentration. Please let me know if you know any, and if it is worth going.</p>
<p>For a cognitive program (even a developmental program, but especially cognitive) your math GPA is going to be important. Psychologists need average to strong math skills, as most of our work is quantitative. The advantage is that even with a 3.3 you’ll still have a stronger math background than most psychology applicants.</p>
<p>I think that you should take some statistics courses during your post-bacc. If you come to Columbia (I’m a PhD student in the psychology department here <em>waves</em>) you’ll have more than enough to choosen from - there are some within the department but even more in other departments that you can take. I’m sure Penn also has statistics courses. Focus on building your psychology base, but you will need statistics classes.</p>
<p>I also don’t think that a 3.5 is too low…I had a 3.4 cumulative GPA and I majored in psychology. My psychology GPA was a 3.6, which isn’t that much higher. And like I said, I’m in the psych program at Columbia. Just focus on getting in the psychology prereqs you need to apply. Post-bac students from Columbia are very successful in the PhD admissions game.</p>
<p>I disagree with the previous posters about the master’s program. Honestly a master’s program isn’t going to look any better than a post-bacc program. First of all, if you don’t have a psych background you probably won’t be qualified for most psychology master’s degrees. Post-bacc programs are designed for people who are switching areas. Second of all, at the post-bacc program you will get plenty of research experience if you want to. Post-bac students here work with psychologists in their lab doing experiments and research, and they usually do higher-level stuff than the undergrads - usually working with a graduate student. It’s honestly a lot like a master’s program with the exception that you get a certificate instead. And also, it’s very unlikely you’ll find funding in a master’s in psychology. It usually isn’t done within the field, since few people seek master’s degrees in psychology anyway.</p>
<p>You can get a lot of research experience in a post-bac, take the stats classes, and get the prereqs. Only difference is there won’t be a degree at the end of it, but if your goal is the PhD that doesn’t matter.</p>
<p>Thank you very much for a helpful post Julliet. That’s quite convincing and uplifting. As for post-bac as well as PhD, Columbia is definitely going be one of top choices for me. Given everyone agrees that stats courses are important, I think I need to get back to my old stats books. But how many and what kind of stats courses? Simply the more and harder the better(given grades are good)?</p>
<p>I was thinking about a Psychology Ph.D. for a while (doubled in psychology and joint math/econ), and my undergraduate coursework in probability theory (through the math department) was overkill for Psychology. I took the doctoral sequence in Stats in my school’s psychology department, and I was pretty much at the top since most students there only had elementary/intermediate statistics coursework in their undergraduate career.</p>
<p>If you’ve taken intermediate/advanced econometrics, probability/stochastic theory, or at least understand regression analysis, ANOVA/mANOVA, and data inference, you’ll be fine. If you’ve taken coursework on Bayesian statistics, then you’d be qualified enough to get into some top Quantitative Psychology Ph.D. programs (friend who was an Econ major with only a few classes in Psychology got into Ohio State’s Quant program, which is regarded as one of the best for Quant/JDM research).</p>