<p>I know I'm early (soph. in undergraduate college), but I've began doing some research on some schools that offer either Social Psychology or General Psychology at the Master's level. So far I compiled a list of schools that offer what I'm looking for. They include NYU, Marshall, West Virginia, Boston U., Wake Forest, Villanova, Penn State, Boston College, Rutgers, Michigan State and Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I haven't taken the GRE's yet, but figure to graduate with around a 3.2-3.3 GPA. Based on the GPA, what schools would you say I have a more realistic shot at, because I know some of them are over my head, but I will take my chances anyway. I really like West Virginia, but don't want to get my heart set on it just to be disappointed. Any help would be great!</p>
<p>A good resource for this information is your advisor or a trusted professor. They can offer you specifics and help you gauge where you stand relative to other grad school applicants. The best we could do on the forum board is give you well intentioned, but arbitrary advice.</p>
<p>My son got the APA book on grad schools which helped somewhat. They list all the accredited colleges, GPA requirements, financial aid, length of time to complete, number accepted, who finishes, etc.
Your GPA seems within the range of most, most want a 3.0 or above.</p>
<p>The only thing that he found lacking, was they lump FA together with PhD and MA. Most PhD funding is much more generous than MA, but you have to ask about that with each college.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t count on UIUC. They rejected me with an application that was strong enough to get into UChicago.</p>
<p>I would say take the GRE and do really well.
And go on the W Virginia website and begin identifying a professor or 2 you would like to work with, do some research on their field of study and contact them directly. In your sophomore year, if you begin making contacts now you will sow some seeds of recognition, I would think.</p>
<p>I know WVU is heavy Behavior Analysis, so if you’re inclined to go into Social/General, you may want to look elsewhere. However, a lot of their program does seem to overlap with the researchers’ interests in some social behavior topics.</p>
<p>In terms of funding, the only Masters program in your list that I know that offers somewhat of a generous FA package is Nova.</p>
<p>The 3.2-3.3 GPA is enough to get into the school (meets min req), but I would try to raise it a lot more. I was at a 2.7 after my first year, but after realizing how I’m wasting my time, have raised it to a 3.4 2/3 of the way through my third year.</p>
<p>Are you eventually going to pursue a doctorate?</p>
<p>No, I just want my Master’s right now. If I feel I can go for a PhD, it might be something I do down the line, but for now I just want to get a Master’s.</p>
<p>Any reason why? Masters in Experimental Psych aren’t as useful as masters in, say, clinical, counseling, or applied behavioral analysis.</p>
<p>What kind of funding does Nova have for Masters? I thought they would be too expensive at first glance.
Tufts for MA school psych was also very expensive, but maybe they have funding that is more than other schools. They talk about wanting diversity and reaching out and they are the most expensive school I’ve seen yet!</p>
<p>[Graduate</a> Assistantships](<a href=“http://www.villanova.edu/artsci/psychology/graduate/assistantship.htm]Graduate”>COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES | Villanova University)</p>
<p>I heard Tufts is expensive but also has funding for MA
Thanks for the link to Nova</p>