Graduate School for Psychology

Getting Into Psychology Graduate School If you are considering a career in psychology, you should be aware of ways to make yourself more attractive to prospective graduate programs: You must earn high grades--at least a B average for desirable graduate programs, and a B+ or A- for the most competitive ones, or for many programs in clinical psychology. You must perform well on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), which is analogous to the SAT or ACT exam that you probably took for entrance into college. The GRE includes three subtests that measure verbal ability, mathematical ability, and reasoning ability. You may also need to take an advanced test of general knowledge of psychology. You might also be required to take the Miller Analogies Test, which assesses the ability to reason through the use of analogies. You should perform research under faculty supervision and, preferably, present your findings at one of the many undergraduate research conferences each spring. These conferences are announced in the APA Monitor, American Psychologist, and Teaching of Psychology, one or more of which should be available in your library. You should serve an undergraduate internship in a setting geared toward your career goals. You might even be able to serve a teaching internship under faculty supervision or a peer counseling internship sponsored by your campus counseling center. You should get to know several psychology faculty members so that they provide advice and, eventually, write letters of recommendation for you. It is impossible for professors to write sterling letters for students they hardly know. You should be active in your psychology club or Psi Chi (the national psychology honor society) chapter. You should do summer work or volunteer work related to your career goals. You should broaden yourself by taking courses in disciplines other than psychology. These might include courses in logic, writing, public speaking, and computer science. You should discuss your career goals and graduate programs of interest to you with your faculty advisor. If you intend to proceed immediately to graduate school, you should begin considering graduate schools no later than your junior year.

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