Mitch prinstein grad school advice

Clinical Psychology Assignments.

Table of Content

· Four questions to ask before applying to graduate school

· Applier Beware

· A route to success

· The don'ts of grad school applications

· Settle your score

· Moving up, the smart way

· Standing out as a ‘bench science’ student

· What do graduate programs look for in clinical applicants?

Four questions to ask before applying to graduate school

By Garth Fowler, PhD, Susan Zlotlow, PhD, and Robin Hailstorks, PhD

What are my interests?

This is the foremost question to ask — and only you know the answer. Psychology is a broad discipline focused on understanding the mind, brain and behavior. Psychology is also, in some areas, a profession. That means some graduate programs prepare you for a specific profession in which you provide psychological services to patients or clients — like counseling or being a consultant. Other programs provide the opportunity to develop discipline-specific knowledge and experimental skills — such as research and data analysis — that can be applied in a broad set of careers. Take time, before you apply, to figure out which field of psychology you’re interested in and whether you want to pursue research, practice, advocacy, public health or education after you complete your graduate degree.

Should I apply to a master’s or doctoral program?

Master’s degrees are earned as a stand-alone degree (often called the terminal master’s), and in some doctoral programs you earn a master’s degree as part of your work on your thesis. Here we will discuss the terminal master’s degree. Master’s degrees give you an opportunity to pursue a particular, more narrowed area of interest than studying psychology at the undergraduate level does. Individuals entering terminal master’s programs usually have one of two goals: to gain extra training and credentials to enter a doctoral program; or to acquire skills and knowledge to advance further in a specific career or work environment. About 30 percent of individuals who graduated with master’s degrees in psychology in 2012 enrolled in a doctoral or other professional program. That means a majority of master’s degree recipients entered the work force. Individuals with master’s degrees find employment in a wide variety of settings — private business or government, schools, hospitals or mental health settings. When considering a master’s degree, you should ask individual programs what career path graduates pursue and how the program prepares them for that path.

Doctoral programs engage students in greater depth of knowledge and skills in a specialized subfield of psychology. Students interested in the production of new knowledge through scientific research — setting up experiments, collecting data, comparing experimental groups and learning statistical and analytical techniques — usually apply to PhD programs. Some PhD programs, however, offer both training in providing psychological services and the production of new knowledge. Programs conferring the PsyD degree focus heavily on the application of psychological science to service delivery at the individual or group level. When gathering information about particular programs, it is important you understand what training and education the program provides so you understand what skills and abilities you will acquire and how that will prepare you for a career after you get your doctorate.

Do I need to apply to an accredited program?

To fully answer the question, you need to understand there are two types of accreditation that affect graduate education. This first is regional accreditation — which refers to the entire school or institution. Anyone interested in graduate education should apply to schools or institutions that have regional accreditation. Regional accreditation for a school does not come from the APA.

APA accreditation applies to doctoral-level programs in counseling psychology, clinical psychology and school psychology (or any combination of the two) that prepare students to provide psychological services to patients and clients (APA’s Commission on Accreditation does not accredit master’s programs). If you are interested in studying something other than counseling, clinical or school psychology (for example, neuroscience or cognitive sciences), then you do not need to consider if the program is accredited by CoA. To learn more about accreditation, visit the APA’s Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation website.

Is a doctoral internship required as part of my doctoral degree?

If you are considering a doctoral degree in an area that is CoA accredited (see above), you will be required to complete a doctoral internship. Accredited doctoral programs are required to provide information on the number and percent of their students who are accepted in internships — as well as the number and percent who are accepted in accredited internships. In other subfields of psychology, however, an internship may not be required, but graduate programs will have other academic and research requirements.

How can I learn more?

APA publishes a guide to nearly 600 graduate programs in psychology called “Graduate Study in Psychology.” The APA website also includes a number of FAQs about graduate school that can guide students to more information about graduate education in psychology.

Applier beware

Answer these six questions before you apply to any psychology graduate program.

By Jen Uscher

You've started your search for a doctoral program, but do you know how to pick the one that's right for you?

"In psychology, we pride ourselves on being evidence-based, but sometimes we forget to look at all the data when we're making our most important career choices," says John Norcross, PhD, a University of Scranton psychology professor and co-author of "The Insider's Guide to Graduate Programs in Clinical and Counseling Psychology" (2010).

According to graduate program directors and other experts, you've done your homework if can answer these six questions:

1. What kind of job do you eventually want?

Imagine your future career, and work backward to determine the kind of training and education you need. If you'd like to help companies select employees and build better teams, look into industrial-organizational psychology programs. If you want to investigate learning and memory, check out experimental psychology programs. If you hope to someday help judges determine who is competent to stand trial, explore forensic psychology programs.

"Talk with the psychology professors at your undergraduate institution about pathways in psychology, and read books and websites about psychology careers," advises Cynthia Belar, PhD, executive director of APA's Education Directorate. Then, check out APA's online database, "Graduate Study in Psychology," which provides descriptions, admission requirements and application deadlines for more than 600 psychology graduate programs in the United States and Canada.

2. How much debt can you reasonably take on?

Figure out how much you can expect to earn once you have your degree, and then use that number to calculate the amount of graduate school debt that's reasonable for you. According to 2009 data from APA's Center for Workforce Studies, the median starting salary for assistant psychology professors is $53,000, while a clinical psychologist can expect to start out earning $58,000. Given those salaries, it could take years to pay off the median debt loads of new psychologists: $120,000 for clinical PsyDs, $68,000 for clinical PhDs and $38,500 for research-focused PhDs.

If you don't want to be eating ramen into your golden years, limit your applications to psychology programs that offer financial aid in the form of fellowships, scholarships, research and teaching assistantships, and traineeships. "While cost shouldn't be your only basis for selecting a doctoral program, you don't want to wind up saddled with debt you didn't expect," says Elizabeth Klonoff, PhD, co-director of the San Diego State University/University of California, San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology.

3. What is the added value of selecting an APA-accredited program?

If you're studying clinical, counseling or school psychology, choosing an APA-accredited doctoral program increases your career options. Many internships require students to attend an APA-accredited program, and some state licensing agencies and employers — including academic institutions and government agencies — likewise require a diploma from an APA-accredited doctoral program.

APA accreditation also helps provide some assurance that you'll receive a quality education. To be awarded accreditation, a program must demonstrate that it meets a set of standards established by APA's Commission on Accreditation — for example, it has to have qualified faculty and adequate facilities and student support services, and it must publicly disclose its requirements and policies. View a list of APA-accredited doctoral programs.

4. What are the internship match rates of the graduate programs you are interested in?

Before you can earn your degree in clinical, counseling or school psychology, you'll need to complete a yearlong internship. Unfortunately, there's a shortage of internship programs, with a quarter of psychology graduate students unable to find internships through the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Center's match. Not having one can indefinitely delay your degree. So, before you apply to grad school, be sure the programs have good records for matching students to APA-accredited internships, says Klonoff. To find out programs' match rates to all internships (not just APA-accredited ones), visit the APPIC website (PDF, 1.4MB). APA-accredited graduate programs are required to list their match rates to APA-accredited internships on their websites. "A program that has historically matched really well is likely to match well in the future," says Klonoff.

5. What are your potential programs' EPPP pass rates?

Another issue for future therapists: Practicing psychologists must pass the Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology, a computerized test of 225 multiple-choice questions. It's designed to evaluate your knowledge of core areas of psychology such as assessment and treatment and the biological bases of behavior. Pick a program with a high pass rate — for a list of pass rates by graduate school, visit the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards website.

6. Who are the schools' top researchers?

If you're aiming for a research-focused program, study university websites to identify faculty members under whom you'd like to work. Ideally, you should pick a program where several professors are doing research that interests you, says M. Ellen Mitchell, PhD, dean of the College of Psychology at Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. "If you want to do developmental psychology, it may not be the best decision to go to a program with only one faculty member whose work is in that area, unless that person's work aligns very closely with what you want to do," she says.

If possible, meet future faculty advisers at professional conferences or when you visit campuses for pre-admission interviews. "That's probably the best way to assess whether there's a good fit," says Rod Wellens, PhD, who chairs the University of Miami psychology department. "Also, look at the past performance of a potential faculty mentor — are their students publishing and getting good postdocs or other employment positions?" Check the professors' webpages for a list of their current students and postdocs. Then enter those students' names into PsycINFO and Google to search for their publications or other information about their work.

If a particular faculty member shows he or she is really interested in working with you, that school should zoom to the top of your list, says Norcross. That's because a good faculty adviser is key to graduate school success. "They can offer individualized advice, serve as role models, and assist you in selecting an internship and launching your career," says Klonoff.

A route to success

Applying to grad school can feel like a seven-month scavenger hunt. Here's a map to help you find your way.

September

Apply to take the Graduate Record Examinations (GREs) in October, and start studying.

Tip: Take practice exams and focus on areas where you need the most improvement.

October

List the programs you want to apply to and schedule campus visits to your top choices.

Tip: Call the department to see if any faculty can meet with you while you're there.

November

Request that your undergraduate transcripts be mailed to the institutions to which you're applying. Contact your favorite former professors and ask for letters of recommendation.

Tip: Send an information packet to the people who write your letters, including your resume, undergraduate transcript and a list of accomplishments.

December

Write your essays. Finalize and mail applications and financial aid forms.

Tip: Make a backup copy of your application packet. Consider sending it through registered mail.

January

File your Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Confirm that your professors sent their recommendation letters.

March

Accept and decline offers.

Tip: As soon as you have two offers in hand, pick the one that you prefer and immediately decline the other.

April

Celebrate (or regroup).

The don'ts of grad school applications

Students wondering what not to do when applying to graduate school can look to a new qualitative study published in the January issue of Teaching of Psychology (Vol. 15, No. 1) that polled 88 psychology graduate admissions committee chairs to find the mistakes most likely to spell the "kiss of death" to a potential student's application.

The most common mistakes are:

· Writing a damaging personal statement. Applicants' personal statements should tell admissions committees about their personal and professional background, fit with the program and future career goals. However, admissions committees' chairs disliked applications that include listings of students' own mental health problems, excessively altruistic personal goals, such as "wanting to help all people," or attempts to be "cute" or funny.

· Obtaining harmful letters of recommendation. Letters of recommendation should elucidate characteristics-such as intelligence, motivation, responsibility and agreeableness-that point toward applicants' ability to excel in graduate school. Too often, admissions committee chairs said, students received unflattering letters because they failed to ask whether the potential recommendation author would write a strongly favorable letter. Respondents also cautioned against letters from inappropriate references, such as people who do not know the applicant well, whose portrayals may not be objective, such as a parent, or who lack an academic context, such as a minister.

· Lacking information about the program. Students need to learn the key details of a program-including faculty research interests and specific courses offered-before they apply, says the study's co-author Drew C. Appleby, PhD, a psychology professor at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. One admissions committee chair recalled reading an application from a student who expressed a desire to work with a faculty member who was dead.

· Failing to communicate clearly. Applications that are unclear, disorganized or contain spelling or grammatical mistakes convey applicants' inability to clearly communicate their thoughts, admissions committee chairs said.

· Overdoing attempts to impress. A number of admissions committee chairs cited a distaste for applications that include insincere flattery, such as praising the program in an obsequious manner. Other chairs added inappropriate name-dropping or blaming others for a poor academic record as potential kisses of death.

With appropriate academic advising, students' common mistakes can be avoided, Appleby says.

"Students may have the right stuff to be accepted into a program," he says. "But if they are unaware of the culture of graduate school, they may be prone to make these mistakes."

As a result, Appleby suggests that students seek out services, such as mentoring, academic advising and courses that prepare them for their lives after their undergraduate career. If a student's school doesn't have official mentoring and advising programs, Appleby says that he or she should participate in a faculty member's research or find other ways to get to know the faculty.

Faculty members can provide students with a road map to avoid pitfalls in the application process, Appleby says.

Settle your score

Don't let a poor GRE score undermine your academic career.

In 2001 the registrar's office at an Ivy League school accidentally leaked graduate students' GRE scores via a mass e-mail. Among the students whose scores were broadcast to the psychology department was a woman who had transferred into the program from a state school and had a combined, mediocre score of around 1,000.

She was also the psychology department superstar and the best student to come out of that program in five years, recalls a former classmate.

That woman's story is just one example of how GRE scores don't always predict a student's success. But low GRE scores are more than just an inadequate way to gauge a student's future success: They can undermine students' confidence and keep them from applying to grad schools that might offer a dream fit. "It felt like a slap in the face that admissions might not look at my application because of my GREs when everything else indicates I would be a great candidate," says Patty Zorbas, a clinical psychology graduate student at George Mason University.

Now in her second year at GMU, Zorbas has a 4.0 and won the department's Outstanding First-Year Student Award.

Studies on the GRE's effectiveness in predicting graduate school success are also mixed. A meta-analysis of studies on the GRE's predictive validity published in 2001 in Psychological Bulletin (Vol. 127, No. 1) shows that the GRE is a valid predictor of graduate school GPA, first-year grade point average, comprehensive examination scores and research productivity.

Meanwhile, a 1997 study of Yale students by Robert J. Sternberg, PhD, and Wendy Williams, PhD, published in American Psychologist (Vol. 52, No. 6) found that GRE predicted first-year grades, but not other kinds of performance, including students' creative, practical, research and teaching abilities. But such studies only measure achievement of students who made it into graduate programs, Zorbas and others point out. "They don't know how the other students would do," she says.

High GRE scores wow peers and many top programs, but low scores don't have to tarnish your application, faculty and students say. Here are ways to maximize your admissions chances with a less-than-stellar score:

· Retake the test. Rosalie Hall, PhD, who handles admissions for the industrial-organizational psychology program at the University of Akron, says it's common to see applications from students who have taken the exam two or three times, and she uses the highest scores. David Pizarro, PhD, who oversees admissions for the social and personality program at Cornell University, says test-taking frequency doesn't affect how your score is viewed—it's the best scores that matter. "We are pretty indifferent to how many times they take it."

· Play up your strengths. Low GRE scores don't always trump other qualities, such as outstanding research experience and genuine, personal letters of recommendation about a student's academic promise. "Someone who has done a year of research in a lab with a respected scientist with a strong letter of recommendation can go a long way," says Pizarro.

Crafting a well-written letter and highlighting writing experience can boost a poor verbal score, and spotlighting research experiences or creative internships can draw attention away from poor scores. "I worked hard to beef up everything else around them," says Kathryn Scheffel, a graduate student in the University of Virginia clinical and school psychology program.

· Get strong letters of recommendation. Letting your writers know you did so-so on the GRE gives them an opportunity to otherwise highlight your academic promise. "It really helps if you've gotten a lot of face time with a professor," says Pizarro. "The personal touches really count. We want to know if someone is going to be a pleasure in the department and socially adept."

· Realize that GRE isn't everything for all programs. Stanford University, the University of Connecticut and the University of Florida are among many graduate departments that say they don't weed out applications based on GRE scores. In fact, Greg Neimeyer, PhD, the former graduate coordinator at the University of Florida psychology department, says he thinks that practice is generally on its way out. "Programs are looking for ways to enhance the diversity of their graduate admissions, and this necessitates looking closely at qualitative indicators, rather than objective or quantitative measures alone," he says.

· Keeping the faith. Scheffel got mixed advice about downplaying her low GRE scores when she was applying. Some faculty told her to explain her low GRE scores and others said ignore them. She chose to let her application speak for itself and marveled when she started getting invitations for interviews. "It's presented to students that the GREs are everything," says Scheffel. "They never even came up."

Moving up, the smart way

You're in a psychology master's program and you've decided to go for a doctorate. Here's how to make the transition a success.

By Tori DeAngelis

Christopher Beasley was partway through a master's program in clinical psychology at Roosevelt University in Chicago when he developed an interest in community psychology—in particular, how to help people overcome addictions and help prisoners effectively re-enter society.

Unfortunately, none of his professors focused on these areas, so he began thinking about transferring to a doctoral program that specialized in them.

With guidance from his mentor, he found an intriguing program at nearby DePaul University, the Center for Community Research headed by Leonard Jason, PhD. As he finished his master's, he volunteered to work with Jason on a project studying a resident-run substance-abuse recovery program, which included former prisoners. Feeling a strong kinship with the project, he applied to Jason's program, was accepted, and had a year of coursework waived.

"Finding this environment has instilled a passion in me for this work," he says. "It demonstrates the power that ecological systems can have on people's motivation and well-being,"

Beasley is one of hundreds of psychology master's students who go on to get a doctorate each year. Some discover there's more to the field than they knew, or they decide they want to increase their marketability and credibility. Others had pursued a master's hoping it would increase their chances of getting into a doctoral program.

Given that doctoral programs vary widely in terms of cost, financial aid and how many credits they're willing to transfer from your master's program, before you make a leap, experts advise you to:

Find a good fit

When looking into doctoral programs, use all of the tools available to you—fellow students, professors, leaders in the field whose work you admire, and books, including "Graduate Study in Psychology" (APA, 2009), which describes 600 psychology graduate programs in the United States and Canada.

Also, tap into PsycNET, APA's online search system for all of its databases. (To use this service, you must belong to an institution that subscribes to it or have an individual subscription.) Go to psycnet.apa.org and type in key words in your areas of interest, such as "memory and aging" or "child development," and set the "date published" field to bring up only current results. The search will yield not only major journal articles in that area but—on the left side bar, under the heading "Author Affiliation"—the 10 institutions that have been most active in those specialty areas. These institutions and professors are good ones to begin investigating and setting up meetings with.

Meet the players

Just as Beasley did, volunteer with people you might want as a mentor or supervisor to learn more about a program, says York University doctoral student Jeremy Burman, who transferred from a master's program. He also attended several conferences in his area of interest to get to know the players in the field. "I went to a lot of meetings before figuring out where I wanted to end up," he says.

Weigh pros and cons

Once you've narrowed your choices to a few programs, do a cost-benefit analysis of each school, including how its research focus and theoretical orientation fit with your interests, as well as its costs, financial aid opportunities and lifestyle factors, advises University of Scranton psychology professor John Norcross, PhD, co-author of the "Insider's Guide to Graduate Programs in Clinical and Counseling Psychology" (Guilford, 2008).

For many grad students, a major consideration is money—no small concern, as the average debt of psychology doctoral students tripled from 1995 to 2005, according to APA's Center for Workforce Studies. Programs range widely in how many debt-free aid dollars they can provide. Research-oriented PhD programs offer many opportunities, while freestanding PsyD programs offer almost none, Norcross says.

To determine where your prospective program lies, check the department's Web site. APA's Commission on Accreditation requires departments to provide information on their cost, financial aid opportunities, how long students take to graduate and, for programs that require internships to graduate, what percentage of students find APA-accredited internships and how many eventually get licensed. You may need to dig a little to find this information: Look for such key terms as "applicant data," "student outcome data" and "disclosure data," and be prepared to click through a few pages to find it. Having this information up front can save you time, energy and disappointment, Norcross notes.

Check transfer policies

Be sure to find out how many credits a program is likely to transfer. Often, there is both a program policy on transferring credits and an institutional one—so check both, says James W. Lichtenberg, PhD, training director for the University of Kansas counseling psychology program. Programs can be more restrictive than the universities in which they are housed, he explains.

Some programs will waive requirements rather than transfer credits if you can demonstrate you have covered the same material as a class they offer, Lichtenberg adds. To this end, hang on to your course syllabi, as they let faculty see the specific material your master's courses covered. (Your department secretary should have this information if you haven't saved it.) And be prepared to take an exam on the material if necessary, he advises.

Find a faculty sponsor to help you navigate these issues, adds Sheila Woody, PhD, director of clinical training at the University of British Columbia. The sponsor can help you figure out courses you must definitely retake, apprise you of funding opportunities and tell you what the admissions process entails for someone in your circumstance, she says. If you're applying to a research-oriented program, it makes sense to contact the person who would be your research mentor; if you're applying to a clinically oriented one, ask the training director whom to tap, she advises.

Talk with students

A doctoral program may look good on paper, but find out for sure from people in the program before committing to one, suggests Keida Robertson-Borgella. She finished a dual master's degree in counseling psychology and forensic psychology at Marymount University in the fall of 2008 and is applying to a doctoral program at The George Washington University.

Robertson-Borgella searched out current and former students using professional and psychology student networks such as LinkedIn and studentdoctor.net. She asked them about the quality and content of the program as well as how they juggle coursework and practica with work and a family, because she and her husband are considering having children. She's also asked students about their success rates in getting APA-accredited internships in the Washington, D.C., area.

"Knowing things like how many hours a week are required for practica and whether students are able to work outside the program while they are in school are important so I can plan accordingly," she says.

Strut your stuff

Programs will be vetting you at least as much as you're vetting them, so consider what will make you most competitive in their eyes, recommends Robert deMayo, PhD, Pepperdine University associate dean of psychology.

One mistake master's students make is focusing exclusively on grades. Programs look for much more than a good GPA, because most master's students do well in that realm, he notes. To stand out, demonstrate that you've gotten clinical or research experience, he advises. In the clinical arena, for example, that might mean getting supervised experience at a suicide prevention center or training in applied behavioral analysis with developmentally disabled children. In the research realm, it could mean volunteering as a research assistant on a faculty member's project. Be sure to collect recommendation letters from your research or clinical supervisors, deMayo adds.

In your interview, discuss your involvement in these areas in a sophisticated way, noting the larger impact of a project—not just your day-to-day duties, he also urges.

"Do your best to demonstrate that you're someone who takes initiative and will be a psychological professional who represents the program well for many years to come," he says.

Consider retaking the GRE

Redo the test if your scores weren't stellar the first time, deMayo advises. "If you have two students who look exactly the same on all the other criteria, and one is in the 90th percentile of the GRE and the other is in the 50th percentile, you can guess who has the competitive advantage," he says.

Keep the faith

Don't be discouraged by the complexity of the process. Getting into the right program can set you on the right career path for life, say those who've done it. After following a circuitous path from bachelor's to master's at two institutions and checking out a few different program areas, Burman is now happily ensconced at a York University psychology doctoral program, where he is using historical texts to inform psychological research.

"There are so many different programs, so many professors, so many different areas of research, and so many different approaches, that if you don't feel like you're in a place that fits, you can probably find it elsewhere," he says. "You want to be in a program where you stay up late and forget to go to sleep because you're so excited about what you're doing."

Standing out as a ‘bench science’ student

By C. Munsey

Steven Yantis, PhD, is director of graduate studies for the department of psychological and brain sciences at Johns Hopkins University. A small bench science program with 12 full-time faculty members, Johns Hopkins offers doctorates in biopsychology and cognitive and developmental psychology.

After the program's mid-December application deadline, Yantis and his colleagues review 100 to 120 applications; of those, they invite 15 to 20 applicants for interviews and recruitment visits. Between two and nine students end up joining the program each year.

Yantis discussed with gradPSYCH the qualities he and his colleagues look for.

At what stage of the application process do you start to see individual applications?

We create tables of the applicants and their interests, so the faculty can begin to sift through them. I start looking at them once they are all in and starting to be categorized. Eventually, every application is read by somebody.

What "objective indicators" are evaluated on an application?

GRE (Graduate Record Examination) scores and GPA (grade point average) are the numerical indicators. But, knowing that if a person has research experience, knowing a person they worked with can be an objective indicator or a subjective indicator. And with GRE scores, I weigh them somewhat more heavily than GPA.

How important is the psychology GRE score?

I tend not to weigh that as heavily as the others. It's been a very long time since I've taken a psychology subject test--30 years ago and I didn't do so well on it--so I figure it must not be so critical. I think of it as testing your knowledge for remembering names and facts more than your intellectual ability, so I tend to weigh it a little less heavily.

What do you look at with GPA?

I look at the courses a person has chosen to take. That gives me a sense of where their interests are, whether they're interested in quantitative dimensions, or whether they've avoided science courses, because that can tell something about what they see as their strengths. And if their GPA is not great, you like to see that it has a positive rather then a negative trajectory.

Who decides which applications get a closer look?

Since we operate as a committee of the whole, everyone gets to decide who gets a closer look.

What are you looking for in an applicant's research background?

Ideally, you'd like to see evidence that the applicant has engaged in research at a level that indicates that they know what they want to do at the next level of their education. [We look to see if] they've been able to acquire technical skills, and that after having done that, they continue to want to pursue that as a career. [That's important since] sometimes people think they know what they want, but without having the experience, once they get to graduate school they may realize it wasn't what they had in mind.

Are you looking for specific courses?

I'd like to see some evidence of quantitative background, statistics, math, computer programming and so forth, but that's not going to be relevant for every lab, because some labs are biologically oriented.

What is helpful about working as a paid research assistant following an undergraduate degree?

Spending a couple of years as a paid research assistant can help you decide where you want to end up going, and make you that much more attractive as a candidate.

What makes a recommendation letter stand out?

Probably the rarest kind of comment you can get is, "this person exhibits a level of independent creativity, in terms of coming up with really novelideas for new experiments." That's the hardest thing to teach, and that's the hardest thing to achieve when you're starting out ina career. [But] if you don't see that, that's not really a problem, because very few people have that.

What's not helpful in a recommendation letter?

Letters that say "this applicant was a student in my class and they got an 'A'" are probably worse than nothing,because if that's the best you can say, it means you can't say much. So, I'd urge students who are applying to grad school to make sure their letter-writers are able to write a unique, and fairly detailed, letter that speaks specifically to them.

What do you look for during the on-campus interview?

You like to meet someone and get the sense of their abilities to work in teams and think on their feet-someone who can talk about what they've done and express enthusiasm about their own interests.

What can sink an applicant during the interview?

If someone is just incredibly arrogant and no one wants to be around them. So, if you're really a jerk, you should try to hide it (laughs). You like to have the sense that there can be an intellectual exchange, because that's what the whole thing is about for the coming five years or so, you're going to be trying to learn from one another, and you need to feel like there's an intellectual presence there that everyone can benefit from.

Is it necessary for an applicant toidentify the faculty member they want to work with?

No, but it's very helpful. If an applicant says, "Oh, yeah, that lab looks really good to me," then you have a sense of the kinds of scientific problems that interest that student, and a sense of where they fit in.

Anything else you want applicants to know about the process?

Begin planning as early as you know you want to go to graduate school. If that happens late in the game, you should really think hard about taking an extra year or two, getting more experience [working as a research assistant] and making sure you have better options. Getting that extra level of experience and making yourself a more competitive candidate can be time well spent.

What do graduate programs look for in clinical applicants?

Last summer, just before the deluge of applications came flooding in, University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill director of clinical psychology Mitch Prinstein, PhD, answered questions about how to stand out in the highly selective application process.

Offering two main tracks to a clinical psychology doctorate, adult and child/family, UNC is a highly sought after program. Last year, of the 450 students who applied to the program, 25 were selected for on-campus interviews, and nine ultimately matriculated.

As the director of clinical psychology, at what stage do you see an application?

In our program, one tenure-track faculty member reviews every application, and from there, we create a short list of about 25 percent of the applications. Each faculty member reviews candidates from the short list.

What does your program evaluate in the first hurdle of the application process?

Primarily two things: Academic potential as measured by grade point average (GPA) and Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores and match to our program values and research.

How important is an applicant's psychology GRE score?

Not very important. It offers a sense of someone's general breadth of knowledge in psychology. But, it's not directly related to their potential to succeed as a clinical scientist. The psych GRE score usually will not get you in, and it will not keep you out.

What reasons might keep an applicant from making it past the second hurdle, of deciding whether there's a fit with the program's values and training experiences?

That's really going to pertain to whether the applicant matches the general emphasis of the program's training, and has research interests that match an available mentor.

What do you look for in an applicant's research background?

Some independent research experience, an ability to think like ascientist, someone who can generate hypotheses, who is familiar with research literature, who can understand the limits to prior research and maybe someone with someability for scientific writing.

Can you give an example of "thinking like a scientist"?

Some applicants indicate a lot of enthusiasm for an area of research, but not knowledge of how to conduct good research. For example, they might indicate that they're very excited about working with children or adolescents, and that they think it's important to study internalizing symptoms. This is fairly broad. That type of essay will not stand out as much as an applicant who expresses such enthusiasm, but also is knowledgeable about some of the current theories and methodological approaches that are used to study specific developmental psychopathology symptoms. Applicants who can think like scientists usually express ideas that begin to sound like a hypothesis, their ideas convey an appreciation of the way in which constructs might be associated with each other.

What do you think is the value of working as a research assistant?

It's usually an opportunity to get a very detailed and thorough experience in how research is conducted, both the specific logistical issues and seeing a research project move from the conceptual stage to the methodological design to sometimes even manuscript preparation. These are the exact tasks that students will need to know how to perform competently when they're grad students.

What do you look for in a letter of recommendation?

A letter that can help to put that applicant's strengths into a context, and can give more specific examples of how this applicant differs from other intelligent, enthusiastic and conscientious students. A letter might indicate that a student is particularly adept at statistics, or has strong organizational abilities, or is able to think theoretically at a sophisticated level that's beyond their peers.

What do you look for during the on-campus interview?

Since that's occurring later on in the application process, you hope students have been able to focus their research interests as they've gone through the application process to get a little clearer picture of what they would like to do if they were in your lab in particular. It's good if, at that point, applicants are able to listen to what research is ongoing, and then talk in an informed way about how they think their research might be a match.

What are potential turnoffs during the interview process?

We're very committed to maintaining a very collegial, respectful and very comfortable environment here, so, we're very much on the lookout for arrogance, egos and competitiveness. Those are the kinds of qualities we're very much steering away from.

Why is it a good idea for an applicant to identify a potential mentor?

For a couple of reasons. It's usually a way to more clearly illustrate the match and articulate exactly what their interests are. Also, it's good to have an advocate, someone who throughout the application process is thinking that you're the person they'd like to have work with them, someone who can really champion your application.

What else should applicants know about the process?

Once they have started to receive offers, I'd ask students to work as quickly as they can to decide which offer they might not want, and to please not hold more than two offers at a time.

—C. Munsey

Rockin' recommendations

How to make sure you get the recommendation letters you deserve.

By Jared C. Clark

Recommendation letters are often as important as grades when applying for graduate school, says Drew C. Appleby, PhD, a psychology professor at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. They are equally crucial for internship and job applications. But many students still treat them as an afterthought, hurting what could otherwise be a strong dossier.

That's too bad, because they are one part of an application where students' personalities can shine through and perhaps trump middling transcripts or GRE scores, says Appleby.

"Students have much more control over their destinies than they think they do," says Appleby.

To help keep you in control of your future, we asked experts how you can get the glowing recommendations you deserve.

Ask the right people

The most important aspect of any recommendation is whom you ask to write it, says Appleby. "The question is not, 'Can you write me a letter of recommendation?' but 'Can you write me a strong letter of recommendation?'" he says.

Most professors will answer the "strong letter" question honestly. This can save you from situations where a professor simply says you took a class with her and earned an A. Letters like that can actually hurt an application, particularly for internship recommendation letters, says Steve McCutcheon, PhD, who chairs the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers Board of Directors. He says most students have already shown they are capable of earning good grades if they've made it to grad school. So seek recommendations that highlight such qualities as your character, dedication and drive.

Also, stick to people who have worked with you professionally — that excludes your therapist or your parents, he notes.

"Even if your mother is a clinical psychologist," Appleby says, "nobody will believe that she can write an objective letter about her child."

For academic jobs, stick to letters from university faculty members and place extra emphasis on your research achievements and independence of thought.

Make the process easy

Busy professors spend hours writing recommendations. That's certainly the case for Appleby, who recently wrote 17 different letters to 17 different programs for just one student. Do everything you can to make the process easy, and your professors will appreciate it, he says.

For starters, let your letter-writers know how to send in their recommendations, since some schools require electronic submissions while others want hard copies. Give your writers a list of requirements and due dates for each program to help them stay organized.

Also, give them a summary of your achievements, research and other accomplishments. Even your closest advisers won't remember everything you've done and how you did it, says Deborah Boehm-Davis, PhD, psychology department chair at George Mason University.

Be specific about the program or position you are applying for so the letter can be tailored to your abilities and potential fit.

"Anything a student can do to make it easier for faculty members, they should do," says McCutcheon. "This is good common courtesy and good professional behavior."

Contact your letter-writers to ensure your letters are sent by the deadlines, says Appleby. He recommends students follow up within a week of the due date. Also, contact your grad programs and potential employers to confirm your dossier's status. Just use some restraint when checking on your progress. "You don't want to bug them all the time," says Appleby, "but a simple call or e-mail is in your best interest."

Say thanks

Email's easy, but a hand-written note is usually the best way to thank letter-writers, says Appleby. A thoughtful thank you may also increase the chances for future recommendations or even mentoring down the road.

Anyone who writes you a recommendation letter cares about your future in the field and wants to see you succeed. So consider keeping your letter-writers updated on your progress—perhaps sending a quick e-mail about whether you got into a particular program, internship, postdoc or job, says Appleby.

Common misconceptions

Finally, don't fall into some common traps of seeking recommendation letters. Many students, for example, may believe that having a "big name" on a letter of recommendation will increase their chances of acceptance. Yes, a letter from APA President James H. Bray, PhD, is impressive, but only if he's intimately aware of your achievements, character and future goals, McCutcheon says. If not, find a faculty member who can argue convincingly on your behalf based on what he or she knows from working closely with you.

Be sure your letter-writers can be specific. "Letters that are brief and general are the worst because they indicate that the letter writer is not familiar with the student," McCutcheon adds.

Also, don't ask to see a recommendation letter after it is written because recipients of the letter may be concerned that this will make letter-writers less candid. If you select the right faculty, "you should feel confident that the person will support your case," says Boehm-Davis.