Psychology Master Program - Help Request !!!

[w5x4ec]

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Hi, I am a senior undergrad student double majoring in Psychology & Communication at UIUC. I am graduating in may 2012 and I want to continue my education by attending graduate school (a master program in psychology) in fall 2012. My overall GPA is 3.3 and I only got 1320 on GRE. I know it's kinda too late to apply for grad school but does anyone know any good psychology master program that I still can apply for this fall? can you Please give me some advice ? I appreciated for your help : )

 

[Vasa Lisa]

A good psychology program is the one that is the right fit for you. Psychology is a very broad field! And the opportunities are endless. It sounds like you might need to do a little more refining before you take the next step.

I don't know anything about this university - but a quick google search turned this up - it might be helpful - they seem to really have a good overview of the process.

http://www.wmich.edu/~psych/ugrad/gradschooltips.html

Have you talked to your advisor? How about talking to faculty who will be your references? Is there a faculty member in your department who is doing what you imagine you would like to do in the future?

Sometimes people go to grad school to avoid making a decision what to do after they graduate 🙂 and sometimes that works out and sometimes it just delays the inevitable figuring out what you want to be when you grow up.

What about taking a year off and getting a job in a field of psychology close to what you want to do and then you can approach the application process with less pressure and more discernment next year.

In my counseling program - very few people were accepted straight out of undergrad - most had at least one year of work experience first.

Vasa Lisa

 

[w5x4ec]

A good psychology program is the one that is the right fit for you. Psychology is a very broad field! And the opportunities are endless. It sounds like you might need to do a little more refining before you take the next step.

I don't know anything about this university - but a quick google search turned this up - it might be helpful - they seem to really have a good overview of the process.

http://www.wmich.edu/~psych/ugrad/gradschooltips.html

Have you talked to your advisor? How about talking to faculty who will be your references? Is there a faculty member in your department who is doing what you imagine you would like to do in the future?

Sometimes people go to grad school to avoid making a decision what to do after they graduate 🙂 and sometimes that works out and sometimes it just delays the inevitable figuring out what you want to be when you grow up.

What about taking a year off and getting a job in a field of psychology close to what you want to do and then you can approach the application process with less pressure and more discernment next year.

In my counseling program - very few people were accepted straight out of undergrad - most had at least one year of work experience first.

Vasa Lisa

Thank you very much for your reply. I have talked to my advisor and my supervisor in my lab. They both think that I should apply for fall 2013 instead of fall 2012 but my family really really want me to get into grad school right after college. So i have keep thinking and thinking, after having some research experiences on developmental psychology and social psychology, I think counseling psychology is the direction I want to get into for my future. But I am not too sure what i should do beside going to grad school. I don't know what kind of job I could get for the gap between my graduation and grad school since its just a one year break (i think its short.) Sometimes I felt lost and frustrated.

 

[Vasa Lisa]

Yes - it is a transition - leaving college and then going on to do... what?

I know that several in my counseling program worked as "behavioral specialists" in the schools after ugrad before grad school It is a great way to get some direct hours of experience working with people and seeing what you like and don't like about the work.

Does your school have a career center? If so - seek them out and see what they can recommend.

It can feel like a confusing journey with no map - but the experiences you are having now ARE part of the process of becoming a therapist - experiencing your own feelings of being lost and frustrated - and maybe even scared.

If your school has a college counseling center - go and be a client - it can be a great way to help you understand the process of understanding yourself and figuring out where you want to go.

Go the psychiatry board here at SDN - and there is a sticky - I think it might be from old psych doc - about the types of jobs you can do to get hands on experience.

Hang in there...
Vasa Lisa