I have a ~3.0 from Rutgers where I double majored in Computer Science and Psychology. My psychology major GPA is ~3.84. This may not be relevant, but I had gotten int NYU with a merit-based scholarship for undergrad, but chose not to go due to costs. This is to say that I have the capacity to be a good student, which was shot during undergrad due to battling a mental illness on-and-off (which is under control now). I’ve been working as a software engineer for the last few years, I’m 27 now. In my last semester of undergrad, I did a semester of research - mainly doing coding for a lab. I’ve been seriously considering doing a PhD in Psychology, and I was wondering what would be the optimal path to getting there.
- Doing a Masters in Psychology where I can get a good GPA, research experience and letters of recommendations. I could possibly do this part-time while continuing to work as a software engineer, which would buffer the expenses. However, the downsides include the credits not transferring over to the PhD program.
- Working as a research assistant at nearby U.C. Berkeley and Stanford for the next 1-2 years. I’m sure I don’t want to do clinical work, but not totally sure what I’d want to concentrate my research on - I’m leaning towards neuropsychology and social psychology.
I believe I can get a good score on the GRE, having done well on the SATs.
You really need to figure out your cumulative undergrad GPA; include any and all courses, even dual enrollment or courses taken at a community or other college. A 2.999 will not cut it at any top college, where you would receive full funding, as they usually have a minimum of a 3.0
Option 1 will not work for you. Obtaining a MA and the Research experience needed for a doctoral program on a part-time basis will take a long time. OTOH, obtaining an MA+Research full time might work, but that means taking on debt. (NYU has an excellent MA program, btw.)
Option 2 could work if you are able to get a job in one of those schools’ Psych labs…
Thanks for your reply. Sorry to be unclear, I have a 3.036 cumulative GPA, so the bare minimum. But I will calculate with the the community college courses I took in high school (which I did well in), thanks for the tip!
- I was thinking NYU! I think I could pull off working part-time and doing the Masters full time with research, it would be nice to at least get housing costs covered.
- Do you think this could be a full-time job or part-time job?
Given that you double majored in psychology in undergrad, either route could work. Since your psychology major GPA is around a 3.84, I would actually worry less about proving that you can do the work in psychology classes and more about the research experience. Most top research university labs employ 1-2 lab managers/research coordinators full-time; usually, those people are recent graduates who are preparing for doctoral programs in psychology. So I’d look into those positions. You certainly will make less than a software developer’s salary, but it’ll allow you to get the research necessary to be more competitive for PhD programs. There are other ways to get paid research experience full-time, like working for nonprofits or NGOs; city, state, or county governments; or think tanks. Or even private employers - if you’re in the Bay Area, many tech companies may have user experience research outfits where you may be able to work as a research coordinator (basically a paid, full-time research assistant).
An MA program is also a good opportunity to get research experience and show that you can achieve graduate level work, but it does of course cost money. I would actually advise that if you take this route, you find a lower-cost public university program in California if you are a resident there. You don’t have to go to an elite MA program for this to work.
I’ll also add to this that you should make a primary goal, or at least a close secondary goal, figuring out if you actually want a PhD in psychology. If you’ve only done a semester of research in a lab - and most of that time was actually spent coding for the lab - then I’m willing to bet you haven’t really experienced what doing psychological research is like. Either route will give you some more exposure to help you really, truly decide if this is the route for you.
Another option for you to consider is leveraging your CS/software engineering background and interest in psychology to go into human factors research/human-computer interaction/user experience research. This is the field I work in, and many people have a background in CS. You could get a master’s in HCI or a closely related field and work in this area.