Tips to Apply to Psychology Schools

If you are considering applying to psychology schools, then you should be aware of some tips to apply to psychology schools.  If you are interested in psychology as a major, then your first step is to figure out which schools you would like to attend.  Even if a school seems too expensive, you still want to apply to that school.  You never know what kind of financial aid package you might receive.  Choosing several schools to apply to gives you a better chance of getting accepted.  You will also be able to see which schools will offer you scholarships or work-study programs. 

You want to look at a school’s reputation for scholarly research within the field of psychology.  This is probably one of the most important tips to apply to psychology schools because it shows how involved the faculty members are within the discipline of psychology.  One of ways you can evaluate this is to see which faculty members contribute regularly to scholarly journals.  Ideally, you want to select a school where faculty members regularly present papers at conferences and publish research.  If a school supposedly has great faculty members, don’t just take the school’s word for it.  Check recent issues of journals such as The American Journal of Psychology to see if any faculty members have contributed to it.  Try going online and using a search engine for scholarly material to see if any scholarly publications have been written by faculty members at the school in which you are interested.   

You also want to know how many professors have terminal degrees within the discipline of psychology.  It is preferable to select a school in which the majority if not all faculty members have a terminal degree.  You want to be taught by experts.  Another one of the tips to apply to psychology schools is that you need to know if the school offers a major in psychology with the option to select one or more concentrations.  If you want to specialize in personality disorders then you would want a psychology school that offers a major in psychology along with a concentration in the study of personality disorders. 

When you apply to psychology schools, then you want to explain why you want to study psychology and what you plan to do with your degree once you finish.  The final important consideration in tips to apply to psychology schools is to make sure that the school knows that you want to use your degree to help further the study of psychology.  Try to show that you want to continue your studies once you finish your undergraduate work.  Indicate to the school that you would like to publish original research and that you would be proud to be a graduate of their program.