What else do schools care about?

[danzgymn86]

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So besides GPA, GRE, and letters, (and personal statement) what else do grad schools care about, if anything?
Do they care about any activities that anyone did in college...or no? I am in a lot of activities and I will continue to do them anyway, whether or not a grad school cares about them. But, if it would help me, then that's a plus.
I am in
- Psych Club (though we don't do much aside from going to meetings)
- A peer education group that seeks to raise awareness on eating disorders, body image, and self esteem. (This is relevant because EDs are what I want to study...from a Social perspective, though).
- my friend and I are starting a NAMI affiliate group on campus. We might want to try to get a small research project going, but I don't know of what. That way, we both get extra research stuff on our app. too.
- this year, I will be a mentor for first year students. I have to take a class on how to teach and then teach a class (though it's taught with an academic advisor, not a prof). We have to teach one class on our own, the rest of the time, we are with the advisor/prof.

And that is it for extracirriculars for me this year. I will also be working and doing research with one professor (continuing from last semester) and thennn doing my independent study/thesis and taking classes.
- I'll also be doing an internship one day a week (I started in June and I would like to carry it through the academic year). It's at the research center at the local Psych. hospital.

Would the grad schools care about anyyy of this stuff at all?? What kind of small research project can my friend and I do with the NAMI affiliate club that we are founding? Hopefully something simple since I am going to be incredibly busy next year!! (We were also open to other ideas as to what else we can do!)

 

[TherapistDave]

So besides GPA, GRE, and letters, (and personal statement) what else do grad schools care about, if anything?
Do they care about any activities that anyone did in college...or no? I am in a lot of activities and I will continue to do them anyway, whether or not a grad school cares about them. But, if it would help me, then that's a plus.
I am in
- Psych Club (though we don't do much aside from going to meetings)
- A peer education group that seeks to raise awareness on eating disorders, body image, and self esteem. (This is relevant because EDs are what I want to study...from a Social perspective, though).
- my friend and I are starting a NAMI affiliate group on campus. We might want to try to get a small research project going, but I don't know of what. That way, we both get extra research stuff on our app. too.
- this year, I will be a mentor for first year students. I have to take a class on how to teach and then teach a class (though it's taught with an academic advisor, not a prof). We have to teach one class on our own, the rest of the time, we are with the advisor/prof.

And that is it for extracirriculars for me this year. I will also be working and doing research with one professor (continuing from last semester) and thennn doing my independent study/thesis and taking classes.
- I'll also be doing an internship one day a week (I started in June and I would like to carry it through the academic year). It's at the research center at the local Psych. hospital.

Would the grad schools care about anyyy of this stuff at all?? What kind of small research project can my friend and I do with the NAMI affiliate club that we are founding? Hopefully something simple since I am going to be incredibly busy next year!! (We were also open to other ideas as to what else we can do!)

The answer to your question is yes, Grad. schools will appreciate the things you are doing. As far as which schools like which activities, that depends, but for the most part, your school resume is looking really good. You would be surprised how many people get into Graduate schools without having any research experience, or with just doing the bare minimum, like decent GRE/subject scores and a decent GPA.

Keep being involved in those areas and you will be able to capitalize on a spot in Grad. school. Just out of curiosity, which schools are you looking at for an emphasis in ED's?

 

[JockNerd]

I'm going to have input different from Dave's. Extracurricular stuff looks great, but it's what's going to make your application look great AFTER you make the initial applicant pool skims. Your GRE, GPA, research, and program fit will be the primary determinants of whether you get in or not.

Your extracurricular stuff sounds really interesting and unique (the ED peer education group is right up your alley for research work, so you can deliver the always-useful "research and practice inform each other" line 😉; also the mentoring and teaching isn't the type of experience most people have). I think you're in good shape with those experiences because many applicants only have things like crisis line work--something nearly anyone can get--under their belts when they apply.

Dave, do you know people who got in without research experience? 😱 Lack of research experience is an application killer in my experience, and research work is consistently rated as one of the most important things for applicants, if not the most important thing, in descriptions of the selection process.

 

[danzgymn86]

TherapistDave, I'm actually looking at Social Psych programs (more along the lines of stigma and mental illness/EDs), not Clinical...but if you still want to know what programs I am looking at, PM me.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

The good news is that it will help, the not so good news is that everyone will have extra-curricular activities. What will separate you from the pack is how you package and present your experiences. A person may have some diverse experiences and have done a lot, but if they don't package and present it right...it will look like they are scattered and don't know what they want. That same person can present it differently and have it come off as a diversified experience with a common goal, and because of this diverse experience, they may look like they have a lot more to offer than the person who only has done one thing, albeit for a longer amount of time.

Incidentally, this is how I presented myself. I had professors talking to me about how I'd synthesize my (business) experiences and apply it to research settings, and how I could really provide a dynamic piece to the puzzle. By the end of most of my interviews I had gone past the "could you" and instead was getting the "would you" questions. You need to have a clear understanding of how you want to present yourself, because if you don't....how do you expect them to understand something that you don't understand?

-t

 

[Quynh2007]

yeah, I agree with T4C, it's definitely how you present your assets. when I applied, I had done two different types of research, animal research on Down Syndrome and High School Sex Ed. I was able to show that those experiences allowed me to develop my passion for intervention research. furthermore, although doing animal research is kinda frowned upon in this field, I was able to explain why I didn't want to continue doing animal research with my focus - cross-cultural intervention, which simply cannot be done with animals, lol. so the point is that the activity is helpful if you can tell the admissions office that the activity shows how you can fit in with their program and be successful there and beyond.

 

[TherapistDave]

Dave, do you know people who got in without research experience? 😱 Lack of research experience is an application killer in my experience, and research work is consistently rated as one of the most important things for applicants, if not the most important thing, in descriptions of the selection process.

Yeah, a few friends have been able to enter programs with little to no research at undergrad. universities; that says a lot about the grad. programs they are in. However, I do know that their emphasis in the MS programs was geared toward research while they were there. Whether or not that something that many schools do nationwide, I don't know (it seemed to be big in the southern Cal. area to have programs geared like that).

Of course, you also have to remember that a lot of the schools (UC, Cal states) were not entirely reputable with some of their programs (hopefully no one gets upset at me for that statement). I'm just telling you what I know from friends in various programs...