I saw the rankings for the top Psychology graduate programs overall, but I can't seem to figure out which schools have good MA programs with great reputations. My goal is to gain a lot of experience in an MA program (I didn't major in psychology), work my butt off and then apply to the top 25. Right now I'm thinking of applying to NYU, BU, Pepperdine, and Hunter and The New School in New York as back-ups. Any other suggestions? Does Pepperdine have a good reputation? Would being closer to Berkeley and UCLA give me any advantage in the PhD applications?
I disagree with what erg923 wrote, though I definitely see erg923's point. Do you know what in psych you want to study? Are you confident of having that focus? How's your undergrad GPA? Do you live in NY now? If you've got a great GPA, and know what you want to study, a masters will probably be a waste of time. Take some classes non-matric (preferably masters graduate-level; you can even do doctoral-level at some places). Take the psych classes that admissions want to see you've already taken. By exceling in grad-level classes, you're demonstrating you can handle that level of work. It also takes care of you not being a psych major and perhaps needed a couple of psych classes to add to your resume. You don't need as many as the people who majored in psych though. In fact, your different background will be a plus.
And while taking a class or two, as erg923 wrote, get an amazing RA job, so that you'll have the research and clinical experience, make connections, get journal articles, and posters. These research labs know RAs are there on the way to phD programs, so they expect you to really milk them for all they can offer, while at the same time you kick ass in your own gift of labor.
However if you do decide on a masters, I can offer you this. I'm in Hunter's general psych masters program now. I "needed" a masters, and didn't want to spend a ****load of money on a worthless degree. So I knew I'd go to a CUNY or a SUNY. I took a few classes at Hunter last year. I got along with people, the professors were fine, it was convenient for my apartment, blah blah blah. Being in an academic program can open doors for you, so I've taken advantage of it, and landed an awesome internship outside of Hunter. The other great thing about Hunter is b/c it's within the CUNY system, you can take a class at ANY of the other CUNY schools, and not just in the other masters programs.
So, that said, if you live in NY, can get CUNY tuition, take advantage of CUNY. In addition, if there's a lab or class at (say) NYU you're super interested in, you can easily take a class there while in the masters program elsewhere. Also, if there's faculty there with interests that suit you, you don't need to attend NYU to intern in their lab. Otherwise, I think as long as a masters program has a decent rep, it's not so worht it to spend a fortune somewhere -- but if money is not a problem, don't restrict yourself. Waste it!
Good luck
