Freshman Year:

Complete as many general education and core requirements as possible. Earn as high a grade as possible in each course.

Complete the introductory psychology course and earn an "A" in it. Introduce yourself to the teacher of this course and let him and her know you are interested in pursing a career in psychology.

Participate as a subject in psychological research. Participating as a subject will give you a brief look at psychological research and, in some courses, a chance to earn extra-credit toward your grade in the class.

Declare a major in psychology. Study the requirements for the major and design a plan of action to meet those requirements (devise a schedule for completing all required courses and electives that interest you). Soon after you become a psychology major, you should be assigned an advisor who will provide valuable counsel to you about courses, research opportunities, and graduate school. Visit your advisor often and keep him or her abreast of your progress in your courses and in preparing for graduate school. Later on, you may ask your advisor to review your vita for suggestions and ideas for improving it. Your advisor will be aware of many graduate programs and may be able to provide you personal insights about them.

Sophomore Year:

Continue completing general education or core requirements. Earn as high a grade as possible.

Enroll in other psychology courses. Take lower level courses that are required for the major and lower level electives that you find interesting. Earn "As" in these courses. Be sure to introduce yourself to your psychology professors. Drop by and see them during their office hours—discuss with them course topics as well as the kinds of research and writing in which they are engaged. If the research sounds interesting to you, volunteer to serve as an undergraduate research assistant.

Join Psi Chi. Psi Chi is the National Honorary in psychology. If your school does not have a local chapter of Psi Chi, it may have a campus psychology club—join it and become an active member. Psi Chi has regular meetings and schedules other kinds of activities, such as trips to mental health facilities and other psychology-related settings, local conferences and talks, and faculty-student parties. Psi Chi chapters also usually maintain a graduate school resource library and hold study groups for courses. Become an active member and volunteer to help organize Psi Chi functions.

The address for the National Office of Psi Chi is:

Psi Chi National Office
201 Frazier Avenue
Suite F,
Chattanooga, TN 37405.

Begin thinking about a minor. Choose an area that either has direct relevance to your area of interest within psychology or that will serve as a "tool" to help you develop your writing or analytical skills (e. g., English, computer science, mathematics, statistics, philosophy).

Become aware of and attend local, state, and regional psychology meetings. Attend any talks, colloquia, or symposia sponsored by your psychology department. These will be wonderful opportunities for you to observe established thinkers and researchers in your chosen field. Often there is a party open to faculty and students following these kinds of presentations. Attend and introduce yourself to the speaker, other students, and faculty.

Seek out local opportunities for psychology-related volunteer work. Possible settings include: crisis lines, battered women or rape shelters, substance abuse programs, nursing homes, mental health centers, mental retardation centers, and medical centers or hospitals.

Start reading publications on graduate school. Near the end of your sophomore year, begin to read publications containing information about graduate school. Also, begin to think seriously about possible areas of specialization within psychology. Contact several psychology faculty members to seek their advice and counsel about the areas that interest you.

Junior Year:

Continue volunteer work and research projects. Continue to attend talks, colloquia, and symposia on campus.

Consult psychology faculty about any summer job opportunities in psychology. Although rare, you may find a part-time job related to psychology that is available through educational institutions, private laboratories, and research funded by faculty grants. The earlier you find out about these positions and apply for them, the better your chances of obtaining psychologically-related employment.

Enroll in upper-level psychology courses, especially those required for the majors. Enroll in the statistics and research methods courses early in your junior year. Work very hard to earn "As" in each of these courses—they will be among the most important undergraduate courses you take in preparation for graduate school. Both courses should be completed before you take the GRE.

Become actively and regularly involved as an undergraduate research assistant. Find a faculty member whose research interests are related to yours. These faculty will become good sources for your letters of recommendation for graduate school.

Meet graduate students. Take advantage of opportunities to discuss graduate student life with the graduate students at your school. Ask them about the types of courses, course workloads, paper requirements, how to get along with professors, financial aid, and thesis and dissertation work. Have them keep you informed about upcoming talks, colloquia, and symposia on campus. If you are attending a college or university consisting of only undergraduates, consult with the psychology faculty to see if they can possibly put you in touch with former students who are now in graduate school.

Prepare your resume (often called a vita). The vita is primarily for your own use; it will help you organize information relevant to your application. In many instances, the persons writing your letter of recommendation will ask you for a copy of your vita to help them compose their letters. Do not include your vita among your application materials unless it is specifically requested by the graduate program to which you are applying.

Become a student affiliate of APS* and APA**. Join other organizations, which are related to your areas of interests, as a student member.

Current student affiliate dues for APS are $35. For more information, contact:

The American Psychological Society
1010 Vermont Avenue, N. W.
Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20005-4907
Phone: (202) 783-2077
FAX: (202) 783-2083
Bitnet: APS@APS Internet: APS@Bitnic.educom.edu

**Current student affiliate dues (undergraduate) for APA are $20.00. Ten dollars of your dues may be applied toward a subscription to one of APA's many high-quality journals. For further information, contact:

The American Psychological Association
Membership Department
750 First Street, N. E.
Washington, DC 20002-4242

Read the APA Monitor, the APS Observer, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. Scan the employment advertisement sections of these newspapers to gain an idea of the kinds of jobs available to persons graduating with Master's Degrees and Ph.Ds in your areas of interest. These publications are likely to be available in your library. If not, ask a faculty member or graduate student if you can borrow their copy.

Register for the GRE. During the fall of your junior year register for the GRE that will be given in the spring. Purchase and use the study guide and software available for practicing for the GRE. Taking the GRE in your junior year leaves you room to take it over again should you do poorly on it the first time. If you decide to take the GRE over again, register for it as soon as possible.

Purchase a copy of the APA's Guide to Graduate Studies in Psychology. (Do this during the fall of your junior year) Study it carefully, noting those graduate programs that most interest you. Be sure you also note the kind of GPA and GRE scores that you need to earn to be competitive for those programs.

Request information from graduate programs. During the spring of your junior year, request those graduate programs that most interest you to send you an application, school catalog and other information describing program details. After receiving these materials, study them carefully—you'll need to determine exactly what you need to do to complete applications for each program during the late summer of your junior year and fall of your senior year. Be sure that you request each graduate program to send you information regarding assistantships, fellowships, and tuition waivers available through their program. Also seek information about scholarships, fellowships, and loans that may be available through other sources.

Prepare for the GRE psychology subtest. During the summer of your junior year, prepare for taking the advanced subject GRE subtest. Purchase and use the study guide and software available to practice for this subtest. Register to take the quantitative and verbal subtests over again (if necessary) and the psychology subtest in October. If you must, register to retake the entire GRE in December (the GRE is also given in January, but this date is too late for your paper and pencil scores [but not those from the CAT version] to be evaluated at some graduate schools).

Visit the campuses of those graduate schools in which you are most interested in attending. Such visits permit you to learn first-hand the nature of the campus and graduate program and to make acquaintance with graduate faculty. Another advantage of such visits is that you may find your relative preference for graduate programs changes as you meet faculty and tour their working environment. You may wish to schedule visits to your most preferred graduate schools during the late summer of your junior year or early fall of your senior year.

Senior Year:

Choose faculty to write your letters of recommendation. Determine in the early fall of your senior year which faculty members will write you the best letters of recommendation. Give each faculty member an updated copy of your vita when you ask them to write your letter. Also give them the following information and items:

Any application or letter of recommendation form.
Any graduate program descriptions.
Deadline dates for each application.
A stamped envelope addressed to each graduate program.

Give each faculty member at least four to six weeks to write your letter. About 10 days before each deadline, you should contact each of your letter writers to ensure that your letters have been sent or are in the process of being sent.

Obtain copies of your transcripts. Make sure you get transcripts from every institution of higher learning that you have attended. Check each transcript for accuracy; get inaccuracies resolved as soon as possible.

Prepare photocopies of your vita and other application materials. Arrange to have transcripts sent to the graduate schools to which you are applying as soon as your fall term grades can be included in them.

Make sure your GRE scores are sent to graduate schools. Make sure you arrange to have your GRE scores sent to the graduate schools to which you are applying.

Apply to graduate programs. During the early to middle of the fall, apply to those graduate schools that have programs most likely to satisfy your interests and needs. Be sure to apply to "backup" schools should you not get accepted at your first choice.

Check your graduation status. Early in your senior year, check with the registrar's office or dean's office to make certain that you have taken all of the general education and other courses required for graduation at the baccalaureate level.

Check and recheck that your application materials have been sent. Near the end of the fall term of your senior year, recheck (by making the appropriate phone calls or personal inquires) that all applications materials have been sent to the schools to which you are applying—especially your letters of recommendation.

Verify receipt of your application materials. In January, contact each graduate program to which you have applied and inquire as to whether all of your application materials have been received. Any materials that have not been received must be submitted right away.

Q. How soon should I start preparing for my graduate training?

A. Because your overall GPA is a major factor that most graduate programs take into consideration in accepting students for graduate work, you really should preparing for graduate school during your freshman year. However, start becoming involved in research projects and other relevant activities should begin to take place during the sophomore and junior years. It will be too late if you wait until your senior year, since you will begin the actual application process during the fall term of that year. A complete timetable of the preparation process in given in Appendix I.


Q. What undergraduate classes are the most important ones to take for doing graduate work in psychology?

A. Different graduate programs emphasize different aspects or concentrations within psychology. However, most graduate programs require students to complete a set of "core" classes, which are likely to include the following: history of psychology, research methods, statistics, neuroscience (or physiological psychology), learning, cognitive psychology, sensation and perception, developmental psychology, social psychology, abnormal psychology, and personality. Having done well in these courses at the undergraduate level will not only strengthen your application, it will also provide you with valuable background information for doing well in the corresponding graduate level courses.


Q. What does it mean for a clinical graduate program to be "APA accredited"?

A. To be "APA accredited" means that a particular program has met the minimum standards for clinical training established by the American Psychological Association. Among the requirements are criteria relating to faculty credentials, course work, state licenser, research and clinical opportunities, and internships for clinical and counseling students. If you are working in an APA accredited clinical program, you will be more likely to be successful in competing for clinical internships than if you are working in a clinical program that is not APA accredited. Other organizations besides APA may accredit other kinds of programs. You may wish to check into this further by contacting those graduate programs in which you are interested.


Q. When should the GRE be taken?

A. You should take the GRE in the spring of your junior year so that your scores can be sent to the graduate programs to which you are applying by the application deadline, which is usually sometime in late January or early February. To allow sufficient time to retake the GRE, should you be dissatisfied with your scores, you should register to take the GRE no later than in the summer of your junior year. At the very latest, you should take or retake the GRE in October of your senior year. If you are in a rush to get your GRE results to accompany your application, you can take the computerized version of the GRE. Taking the computerized version will allow you to see your scores instantaneously, and report your scores to four schools or fellowships of your choice only 10 to 15 days after you take the test.


Q. If materials, such as my GRE scores or transcripts are sent to graduate schools before I apply to those schools, what will happen to them?

A. Arrival of GRE scores, transcripts, and letters of recommendation before the arrival of the actual application at graduate schools is very common and nothing to be concerned about. These materials are simply held until the application arrives. At that time, the application and materials that arrived early are placed together in the same folder.


Q. Will calling professors at the schools to which I have applied increase my chances of getting accepted?

A. Calling the psychology department to check on the status of your application (whether it is complete or not) is fine, but you should not call in the attempt to persuade faculty members to review your application favorably. Calling faculty, especially if you do so repeatedly, may be viewed as an annoyance and as being unprofessional. Remember that more than anything else, faculty are looking for graduate students who are not only bright, but who will represent their graduate program and their discipline in a professional style. However, you should not hesitate to call specific faculty members for professional reasons, such as learning more about their research program.


Q. When will graduate programs let me know if I have been accepted?

A. Most graduate programs extend offers to their top applicants by April 1 (APA requires that graduate programs in clinical psychology extend their offers by April 15). However, because several schools may extend an offer to the same applicant and since that applicant can only attend one graduate program, slots may continue to open during the remainder of the spring and in come cases into the summer. Occasionally, an accepted applicant decides not to go to graduate school at the last minute (i.e., just before the fall term begins) and a slot will open up then.

Graduate admissions committees usually divide their applicants, formally or informally, into three tiers; a set of top choice applicants, waiting list applicants. and applicants who will not be accepted. Since many schools do not get all of their top choices, they are often required to extend offers to those applicants at the top of the waiting list.


Q. What kinds of grades will I be expected to earn during my first year in graduate school?

A. Most graduate programs expect their students- regardless of how long they have been in graduate school- to earn "A"s in all of their courses. "B"s are acceptable so long as they are occasional. Receiving a "C" in a graduate course is tantamount to failing that course, and most likely you will have to repeat the course in the attempt to earn a "B" or better grade in it. Some graduate programs stipulate that if a student earns 2 or more "C"s in courses considered essential to the student's training, (sometimes these courses are called "core" courses), then the student is asked to leave the program. In other words, you should try your best to earn an "A" in your graduate courses.

For more information:

• Preparing for Graduate Study In Psychology: 101 Questions and Answers by William Buskist and Thomas R. Sherburne.

• Majoring in Psych by Betsy Levonian Morgan and Ann Korschgen.