Some answers to grad school questions
Ok, so here are the questions that inspired the blog:
About scholarships, you can look for stuff through foundations (check the Foundation Center website) and such, but the money for doctoral students also tends to get awarded from the school (often from the grants faculty have) once you are accepted. Often use it as a bargaining chip to make sure you come to their program. You typically get some research or teaching gig that covers tuition and also pays a stipend that you can use for some living expenses.
Coursework will be easier for you than it was for me, since you will have had the undergrad courses that relate to what you are studying. I hadn't had that. For example, one alum is currently basically taking the sequence again for her PhD program. Since she was a lab assistant, you can imagine that she is pretty much bored silly. Most KSU psych majors find that we prepared them very well for what's ahead compared to the others in their programs. Most programs have about 3 years of actual classes, but that will vary a bit depending on what area of psych you go on in--programs leading to licensure have lots of very specific requirements that have to be met for accreditation. Whether or not you can/need to work will depend on how flexible scheduling is with the specific program and also what responsibilities you have for your fellowships. Hope that helps.
Oh, and try to take the GRE sooner rather than later. You will need it to have a complete application, and for doctoral programs they are usually due in January.
And try not to stress--less-freaked-out students tend to get better references!
So those are the answers to the first set of questions I would have answered if I'd been around with the door open.
Feel free to post/email topics.
- When do I look for scholarships? Before I get accepted into a program or after?
- How involved in terms of course work is a PhD program? Should I, can I, do something to earn an income while working on my class work?
- What about T/A's or internships? How do those work in this field? Brad had a T/A in grad school but that was in C.S.
About scholarships, you can look for stuff through foundations (check the Foundation Center website) and such, but the money for doctoral students also tends to get awarded from the school (often from the grants faculty have) once you are accepted. Often use it as a bargaining chip to make sure you come to their program. You typically get some research or teaching gig that covers tuition and also pays a stipend that you can use for some living expenses.
Coursework will be easier for you than it was for me, since you will have had the undergrad courses that relate to what you are studying. I hadn't had that. For example, one alum is currently basically taking the sequence again for her PhD program. Since she was a lab assistant, you can imagine that she is pretty much bored silly. Most KSU psych majors find that we prepared them very well for what's ahead compared to the others in their programs. Most programs have about 3 years of actual classes, but that will vary a bit depending on what area of psych you go on in--programs leading to licensure have lots of very specific requirements that have to be met for accreditation. Whether or not you can/need to work will depend on how flexible scheduling is with the specific program and also what responsibilities you have for your fellowships. Hope that helps.
Oh, and try to take the GRE sooner rather than later. You will need it to have a complete application, and for doctoral programs they are usually due in January.
And try not to stress--less-freaked-out students tend to get better references!
So those are the answers to the first set of questions I would have answered if I'd been around with the door open.
Feel free to post/email topics.
posted by Beth Aronson | 11:52 PM
1 Comments:
Glad you found this ok. It was kind of fun to play with it last night. I will definitely keep y'all posted.
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