Preparing for Grad School

Graduate admissions committees primarily consider only psychology (major) coursework when analyzing your transcripts during the application process.

false

Because of their potential for educational benefits, most graduate programs rate community service and extracurricular activities highly when evaluating graduate school applicants.

false

Given that students actually accepted to graduate programs have quite high GPAs, if you are planning to apply to graduate school, it is a good strategy to take a few "fluff" courses to raise your own GPA.

false

One of the benefits of belonging to a professional association is the opportunity to network with students and professors at other universities.

true

Although most psychology clubs do not have requirements for membership, honor societies do. The minimum GPA needed for induction into Psi Chi, the National Honor Society in Psychology, is:

3.0

It is important for graduate school applicants to understand that, even though programs often publish minimum requirements for qualifications, like GPA, the students who are actually admitted into the program usually far exceed the minimums in admissions criteria. For example, a 2003-2004 study found that, although the average minimums required for overall GPA was 3.11 for doctoral programs and 2.92 for masters' programs, the actual overall GPAs for student accepted were:

3.54 for doctoral and 3.37 for master's programs

The APA has ___ divisions, each devoted to a specific interest area in psychology.

54

The majority of students obtaining a bachelor's degree in psychology do NOT go on to graduate school. The application process is no easy task, and neither is graduate school itself. Data from 2008 show that ten years after starting graduate school, _____ percent of students have actually completed their graduate degrees.

65

One benefit to completing graduate school training is employment status and prospects. A survey of recent doctorate recipients (Michalski, Kohout, Wicherski, & Hart, 2011) found that _____ percent of respondents indicated that the employment position they currently held was their first choice.

72

Which of the following are good pieces of advice for selecting a potential faculty mentor? (CHECK ALL THAT APPLY)

Choose from among the professors you've had for classes. Choose professors who generally work with students. Choose professors who regularly have students presenting at conferences.

Your text provides a detailed four-year timeframe of suggested activities for preparing for graduate school. Which of the following correctly reflects a suggestion contained on the detailed timeframe?

Completing the research foundation coursework should occur in your second year.

Consistently over time, research experience enjoys a place at the top in terms of its importance of determining which students are admitted to graduate programs. If you intend to obtain research experience as an undergraduate, beware of doing so too late. Research takes time and most (doctoral) applications are due in _____ for admission the following Fall semester.

November and December

Having withdrawals on your transcript does NOT look good to graduate admissions committees, because: (CHECK ALL THAT APPLY)

a withdrawal suggests you may take on more responsibility than you can handle failing to complete an undergraduate course questions your ability to be successful in graduate studies where the workload is much more difficult they signal and draw attention to potential negative attributes

Why go to graduate school? One reason is that you will learn a great deal more in graduate school than just the specialized information in your discipline. Salazar and Frincke (2005) note 15 skills that are improved in graduate school, regardless of the field of study. Which of the following is NOT one of those skills?

ability to remove ambiguity from complex ideas

In addition to biopsychology foundation courses, graduate programs in clinical and counseling programs prefer applicants have taken undergraduate courses in: (CHECK ALL THAT APPLY)

abnormal psychology personality principles of psychology testing developmental psychology

Which of the following are TRUE of how you can get involved in research? (CHECK ALL THAT APPLY)

ask a professor directly if you can help with research start early in your undergraduate career - research projects and developing relationships with faculty take serious time offer to collect and enter data for one of your professors demonstrate your commitment to simple research tasks to increase the likelihood that you will be including in more research tasks later offer to gather background literature for a professor's study

Although _____ with a mentor should come first, a student will do well to choose a mentor in a field similar to the one he or she wants to pursue.

comfort

When you "retake" a course for a higher grade, only the grade you receive the second time is included in your GPA (i.e., the original grade does NOT affect your GPA any longer).

false

Do NOT postpone taking the "harder" psychology courses, because: (CHECK ALL THAT APPLY)

graduate admissions faculty will want to see excellent grades in these upper-level courses on your transcript these courses are likely to include material that you need for the GRE Psychology Subject Test which you should take by fall of your senior year

One study investigated how graduate programs view different kinds of undergraduate research experiences (Kaiser, Kaiser, Richardson, & Fox, 2007). This study found that graduate programs do not value all research experiences equally. In particular, their survey found that the most important undergraduate research experience involves

having independent study credits on your transcript

The _______ view of your bachelor's degree in psychology has the primary goal of gaining admission to graduate school.

preprofessional

Regardless of the specialty you are applying for (e.g., clinical, school, I/O, health, etc.), all graduate programs prefer applicants have which TWO of the following undergraduate courses? (CHECK TWO BELOW)

research methods statistics

For internships, field practica, and psychology related work experiences to carry weight in graduate school admissions, your experiences must be:

structured and supervised

The commitment to successfully complete graduate school is intensive and should not be taken lightly. Graduate school requires certain personal attributes, such as being self-motivated and organized, just to name a few. Your text suggests you make an honest assessment of your personal qualities and behaviors that are consistent with graduate training. The need for these qualities and behaviors reveals important characteristics about graduate school, including: (CHECK ALL THAT APPLY)

successful graduate students must accept and make good use of vast amounts of critical feedback graduate school requires delayed gratification, such as giving up leisure activities with friends/family successful graduate students are able to focus on their academic work, even though other forces may lead to distraction (e.g., personal issues) graduate students are expected to work with little supervision/no hand-holding most graduate courses require extensive writing assignments the expectation for most graduate programs is "A" work in all courses

An excellent resource for students investigating different graduate school programs is Graduate Study in Psychology, published annually by the APA.

true

There are many benefits to internships, field practica, and discipline-relevant work experiences. One benefit is setting yourself above the pack of other applicants or interviewees for graduate programs, because:

your first-hand experience lets you provide a sophisticated answer to how you know you're interested in that area of graduate study