I’m a non-psych major. Do grad school care more about psych courses or high level courses?

[didyouknow96]

So i’m a senior majoring in Behavior and Health. I want to apply for a PhD in clinical psych. I am writing a senior thesis, have over a year of psych research already, and have volunteered a couple of different labs. My main interest is developmental psychopathology, specifically Autism.

Is it worth it to take 200-level psych courses, like perception and personality, as opposed to 700-level courses in behavioral neuroscience? I do worry that I don’t have a strong enough foundation in all areas of psych. I’ve taken abnormal, developmental, social, and anatomy and physiology. What would grad schools rather see? Someone who has aced every topic in psych, or someone who has taken higher level courses?

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[WisNeuro]

As long as you have the pre-reqs, they don't care as much as long as the grades are high and not all fluff. They'd rather see someone who has great peripheral stats (GRE scores, research involvement).

 

[didyouknow96]

As long as you have the pre-reqs, they don't care as much as long as the grades are high and not all fluff. They'd rather see someone who has great peripheral stats (GRE scores, research involvement).

Okay! I guess I’ll just stick with classes that interest me then

 

[EmotRegulation]

I can say that doing well in high level courses would demonstrate your capacity to handle graduate level work. The trick, though, is that not every program will look so closely at the course numbers when reviewing transcripts, so if you do take a high level class, get a recommendation from the instructor and/or have one of your recommenders comment on it so that stands out in your application file.

 

[WisNeuro]

I can say that doing well in high level courses would demonstrate your capacity to handle graduate level work. The trick, though, is that not every program will look so closely at the course numbers when reviewing transcripts, so if you do take a high level class, get a recommendation from the instructor and/or have one of your recommenders comment on it so that stands out in your application file.

With grade inflation the way it is, it's hard to view undergrad coursework as very informative, especially when most of your applicants are above a 3.5, and your top tier is generally 3.9+ in GPA. This is why the GRE, letters of rec, and research experience come in to be good predictors of admittance.

 

[EmotRegulation]

With grade inflation the way it is, it's hard to view undergrad coursework as very informative, especially when most of your applicants are above a 3.5, and your top tier is generally 3.9+ in GPA. This is why the GRE, letters of rec, and research experience come in to be good predictors of admittance.

I realize when I posted previously that I assumed that "700-level" meant graduate level, which is likely not accurate. My point was that as an undergrad, being successful in a *graduate* course can demonstrate that you can handle graduate work, not high numbered undergrad courses....because numbering systems vary so widely across colleges and universities, and so do grading techniques. I don't want to speak about grade inflation as a standard process, but I do agree that specific undergrad courses aren't particularly informative.....though I do usually look at stats and methods grades.