What are my chances?

[ZipperX]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Yup another one of these.

I graduated from a good university with a degree in biology. But during the first 2 years of intense mandatory weed out classes of bio, chem, and physics, my GPA took a very hard blow. I was able to pick my own biology classes (mostly 400-level) half way through junior year and pulled my GPA up to a 3.1.

I have taken over 20 credit hours of psychology (personality, research methods, abnormal, stats, etc). I have a B+ average in the psychology classes I've taken at my university and a 4.0 at a community college. The reason I took some of my psych classes at a community college was because my major restricted me from registering for psych classes until the first day of next semester and by then... none would fit in my schedule.

I've technically been in lab and exposed to A LOT of research all through undergrad due to my major. But outside of that, I also did research at a neuroscience lab for 1.5 years. This summer I put in 1000+ hours of service work at a respite center.

I took the GRE's last year and scored 460 on Verbal, 700 on Quant. I am getting recommendation letters from the director at the respite center, my lab director, and a pscyhology teacher who knows me very well.

Obviously, I was on the pre-med track until my senior year (mainly psychiatry, thus all the psych classes I had taken) and realized it wasn't how I wanted to approach psychology.

So... how bad is my pre-med gpa going to hurt me?
- Is being a biology major a disadvantage for me?
- How late is it to take the GRE now? I would like to bring my verbal up but I'm afraid schools won't wait for my GRE and they'll just toss my application based on GPA.
- Should I try to take the Psych subject test? I have found schools that don't require it, but would taking the Psych subject test help me?
- I'm not looking into applying to the top notch schools. But are there any schools out there that might best fit my grades... such as ones that won't throw my application out the window on first look?

Thanks 😍

 

[krisrox]

Yup another one of these.

I graduated from a good university with a degree in Molecular Cellular Biology. But during the first 2 years of intense mandatory weed out classes of bio, chem, and physics, my GPA took a very hard blow. I was able to pick my own biology classes (mostly 400-level) half way through junior year and pulled my GPA up to a 3.1.

I have taken over 20 credit hours of psychology (personality, research methods, abnormal, stats, etc). I have a B+ average in the psychology classes I've taken at my university and a 4.0 at a community college. The reason I took some of my psych classes at a community college was because my major restricted me from registering for psych classes until the first day of next semester and by then... none would fit in my schedule.

I've technically been in lab and exposed to A LOT of research all through undergrad due to my major. But outside of that, I also did research at a neuroscience lab for 1.5 years. This summer I put in 1000+ hours of service work at a respite center.

I took the GRE's last year and scored 460 on Verbal, 700 on Quant. I am getting recommendation letters from the director at the respite center, my lab director, and a pscyhology teacher who knows me very well.

Obviously, I was on the pre-med track until my senior year (mainly psychiatry, thus all the psych classes I had taken) and realized it wasn't how I wanted to approach psychology.

So... how bad is my pre-med gpa going to hurt me?
- Is being a biology major a disadvantage for me?
- How late is it to take the GRE now? I would like to bring my verbal up but I'm afraid schools won't wait for my GRE and they'll just toss my application based on GPA.
- Should I try to take the Psych subject test? I have found schools that don't require it, but would taking the Psych subject test help me?
- I'm not looking into applying to the top notch schools. But are there any schools out there that might best fit my grades... such as ones that won't throw my application out the window on first look?

Thanks 😍

In my former-pre-med opinion.........

- Schools will take into consideration your biology major. It's fine to be a bio major and want to go into psych and it seems like you have enough coursework in psych to cover your prereqs. If you explain in your personal statement that you were a bio major, premed, changed your mind, that's why your GPA is down, they might give you a chance. There have been worse GPA's accepted into grad school. (I'm assuming you're going for a PhD; most PsyD schools would probably be fine with you GPA)

- Sorry to say, but a sub-500 verbal probably won't cut it. You'll need to bring it up to at least a 550. STUDY and retake. It's not too late.

- The psych test would definitely help you. It gives you more options for schools and gives you a chance to prove your psych knowledge as a non-psych major.

- You don't pick grad schools based on numbers, you pick them based on research interests. Refine your plan for what you want to study and eventually do as a career and choose schools that will lead you on that path. Chances are there will be different tiers of schools within your interests.

 

[okayroots06]

In my former-pre-med opinion.........


- You don't pick grad schools based on numbers, you pick them based on research interests. Refine your plan for what you want to study and eventually do as a career and choose schools that will lead you on that path. Chances are there will be different tiers of schools within your interests.

EXCELLENT RECOMMENDATION. You select programs solely based on your research interests and apply accordingly.

 

[PrisonPsych]

Seconding most of what's been said here.

You DEFINITELY need to retake your GREs and take the Psych GRE. Since you're weak in one area you can't change (GPA), better GRE scores will go a long way to make up for that. Taking the Psych GRE will show Psych knowledge (assuming you do well, and I'd say you need to shoot for at least a 600) that you can't prove through your major.

One other thing: if you say you did 1000+ hours at the respite center in a summer be prepared to prove that with dates/hours per week and confirmation by a supervisor. At 40 hours a week, 1000 hours alone (let alone 1000+ hours) is 25 weeks, or 6 months. 6 months is considerably more than a summer. Lying on an application is the worst thing you can do - if you can't prove it was 1000+ hours, saying 1000+ hours "in a summer" looks pretty shady.

 

[Chenelsea3]

I'm in the same boat, but a lot of professors have told me not to be too concerned. I double majored with a B.S. in Biology (which includes a minor in chemistry) and a B.A. in Psychology at a "public ivy," and consequently my GPA is in the 3.3 range, which is a lot lower than a lot of people here. i've been told by a lot of professors that having the bio and chem classes will benefit me in the long run (even though they kicked my butt at the time) since I plan to do clinical neuropsych, and having those classes will help me have a better understanding of the neural and chemical basis of what i'm studying. i think in general professors will take having a harder major into consideration when they look at your gpa. are you planning to do something neuropsych related?

 

[ZipperX]

Thank you to everyone's helpful advice!

One other thing: if you say you did 1000+ hours at the respite center in a summer be prepared to prove that with dates/hours per week and confirmation by a supervisor. At 40 hours a week, 1000 hours alone (let alone 1000+ hours) is 25 weeks, or 6 months. 6 months is considerably more than a summer. Lying on an application is the worst thing you can do - if you can't prove it was 1000+ hours, saying 1000+ hours "in a summer" looks pretty shady.

I know if you do the math, the number looks extreme and completely made up lol! But, yes, we were required to log in our hours so I do have records of them from the government and the organiztion I worked for. To clear up how I got these hours: I worked ~24/5 because we had to spend nights there. We could sleep, but we were on call most of the time resolving behaviors and such.

To Chenelsea3: Clinical neuropsych is actually what I'm interested in! The summer I spent at the respite organization really gave me a passion for working with people with brain injuries and disorders. It's an amazing field!