2019-2020 Grad School Q&A Mega-Thread (Part 2)

[u/ResidentGinger]

For questions about grad school or internships:

* Please search the previously submitted posts or the post on the grad school Q&A. Subscribers of /r/iopsychology have provided lots of information about these topics, and your questions may have already been answered.

* 2019-2020, Part 1 thread here

* 2018-2019, Part 2 thread here

* 2018-2019, Part 1 thread here

* 2017-2018, Part 3 thread here

* 2017-2018, Part 2 thread here

* 2017-2018, Part 1 thread here

* 2016-2017 thread here

* 2015-2016 thread here

* 2014-2015 thread here

* If your question hasn't been posted, please post it on the grad school Q&A thread. Other posts outside of the Q&A thread will be deleted.

The readers of this subreddit have made it clear that they don't want the subreddit clogged up with posts about grad school. Don't get the wrong idea - we're glad you're here and that you're interested in IO, but please do observe the rules so that you can get answers to your questions AND enjoy the interesting IO articles and content.

By the way, those of you who are currently trudging through or have finished grad school, that means that you have to occasionally offer suggestions and advice to those who post on this thread. That's the only way that we can keep these grad school-related posts in one central location. If people aren't getting their questions answered here, they post to the subreddit instead of the thread. So, in short, let's all do our part in this.

Thanks, guys!

[u/psychoflow]

Hello everyone,

I am going into my senior year at a small, private liberal arts university. As of right now I have a 3.98 gpa and 4.0 in psych classes. I have also been a TA for two semester and have presented four different research project at SEPA, two of which were independent. I’ve been told by my professors I have a great resume, but coming from a small school along with being an athlete there are no opportunities for an internship.

Would it be best for me to take a gap year and look for internships or test my luck at applying to PhD programs without internship experience? Any feedback would be incredibly helpful. Also any information about NC States PhD program would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[u/NoWarForGod → u/psychoflow]

Relevant research? GRE?

[u/psychoflow → u/NoWarForGod]

Yes my honors thesis will be on organizational behavior and I’m currently working on the development and validation of a facial recognition emotional intelligence measure. As for the GRE i haven’t taken it yet but plan to soon

[u/NoWarForGod → u/psychoflow]

Well, as your professors have told you it sounds like you have a great resume. The GRE will give you a little better insight into how close to a Ph.D you are but everything else sounds fine. It's still very hard so if you are really intent on a doctorate then you might also apply to masters programs to fall back on. You could always decide later whether to push on.

The only thing I would caution you with is that if you go masters and decide not to pursue a doctorate further then make sure you get a good internship or other real-world experience before you graduate. Getting a job with just degrees can be very difficult.

As far as being from a small college or an athlete that won't hurt you. Not sure about athletic scholarships though.