1. What exactly are the GREs like??? I didn't have to take the SATs and I am nervous.
The GRE's are weird, and I disagree with the commenter above who says the math is middle school math. The math is not hard, but it is tricky, and if you're scoring high it does get hard (there is also a lot of geometry, which requires formulas that I, at least, have forgotten). Psychology, unlike my field (comp lit) will actually care about your math score. The verbal bits are tricky too, with lots of analogies and antonyms. I think the most important thing with the GRE is to study for it. I never studied for the SAT and I did really well, but the format of the GRE is so bizarre that it's important to be very familiar with the question types ahead of time.
2. How soon should I look at taking the GREs? I only have 11 classes left after Fall, but I'm going to stretch it out until Spring 2010.
You should take the GRE's no later than October of the fall you expect to apply to grad school, I think is the current wisdom. So I'm applying this year, and I'm taking the GRE's in either September or October.
3. How hard is it to skip directly to the PhD?
It depends on your field. I know people who've done it in psychology, though it is very competitive these days. However . . . I always, always recommend taking a year or two out. Always. Grad programs are so impacted right now because the economy is bad that a lot of places want to know that you're doing this because you want to and not because you can't get a job. I took two years out and am so glad I did - and don't worry about your skills getting rusty. Skills come back, and something happened to my mind in those two years out - my thinking matured or something - that allowed me to take the work I did once I came back to a whole new level.
I don't know how it works in psych, but in some fields an MA is very helpful in getting into a PhD program. You could apply to a few of each and see what happens (but check on this, because in some fields an MA is not helpful at all).
Ummm . . . what else? I really can't recommend enough taking a year or two off. The thing about time off from school is that it need not be time wasted. It sounds like you have enough practical experience to get a job in your field, and that would be very useful for your application. I assume you've gone straight through from kindergarten to college because that's what most people do; sometimes it's nice to prove to yourself and your future department that you can do something other than school (this might also cut down on your stress level if you eventually figure out that grad school is not for you and have a "what am I gonna do NOW?" crisis).
One last advantage to taking a year off: Not applying to grad school in the middle of your senior year of college. I have seen that before and it was not pretty. I take at least a year off between educational stints (next year I'm taking off between my MA and my PhD) for exactly that reason.
Anyway, wow that got long! I hope it was helpful. Good luck!
It depends on your field. I know people who've done it in psychology, though it is very competitive these days. However . . . I always, always recommend taking a year or two out. Always. Grad programs are so impacted right now because the economy is bad that a lot of places want to know that you're doing this because you want to and not because you can't get a job. I took two years out and am so glad I did - and don't worry about your skills getting rusty. Skills come back, and something happened to my mind in those two years out - my thinking matured or something - that allowed me to take the work I did once I came back to a whole new level.
I really second this, you would be surprised how your views/opinions might change within those years.
Not only that, your focus could increase exponentially!
Beyond this--I don't mean to scare the OP--but clinical psych PhD programs are among the MOST competitive. I have heard of some applicants with years of research experience getting rejected. Taking time off to work a year or so doing research in a lab might give you some perspective on what field work is like.
Btw-not getting the field work may be a very bad idea, I would see if there is another way to get that kind of experience.
In any case, my observationally-based advice comes with a caveat: some people are accepted right out of undergrad, as responses here show. So--it wouldn't hurt to apply anyway.
I think what was meant by the middle school math comment was that most people will have learned all of the actual material needed for the quant. section by 10th grade or so (depending on when you took geometry). The formulas were certainly fresher in my mind back then. While the reasoning required is probably somewhat harder than what was taught in middle school, it still comes down to being able to do familiar problems very quickly (rate/distance problems, geometry problems) and I still think I would have had to study a lot less had I taken the quant. GRE back in 9th grade. Of course my score would no longer be eligible in that case, haha.
It is middle school math, it's just middle school math questions asked in a way that test a soon-to-be grad students reasoning skills. There will be virtually nothing on that test that even a test-taker who took no college math has not encountered.
ETA: Whoops, already addressed. Carry on, everyone...
The GRE's are weird, and I disagree with the commenter above who says the math is middle school math. The math is not hard, but it is tricky, and if you're scoring high it does get hard (there is also a lot of geometry, which requires formulas that I, at least, have forgotten). Psychology, unlike my field (comp lit) will actually care about your math score. The verbal bits are tricky too, with lots of analogies and antonyms. I think the most important thing with the GRE is to study for it. I never studied for the SAT and I did really well, but the format of the GRE is so bizarre that it's important to be very familiar with the question types ahead of time.
2. How soon should I look at taking the GREs? I only have 11 classes left after Fall, but I'm going to stretch it out until Spring 2010.
You should take the GRE's no later than October of the fall you expect to apply to grad school, I think is the current wisdom. So I'm applying this year, and I'm taking the GRE's in either September or October.
3. How hard is it to skip directly to the PhD?
It depends on your field. I know people who've done it in psychology, though it is very competitive these days. However . . . I always, always recommend taking a year or two out. Always. Grad programs are so impacted right now because the economy is bad that a lot of places want to know that you're doing this because you want to and not because you can't get a job. I took two years out and am so glad I did - and don't worry about your skills getting rusty. Skills come back, and something happened to my mind in those two years out - my thinking matured or something - that allowed me to take the work I did once I came back to a whole new level.
I don't know how it works in psych, but in some fields an MA is very helpful in getting into a PhD program. You could apply to a few of each and see what happens (but check on this, because in some fields an MA is not helpful at all).
Ummm . . . what else? I really can't recommend enough taking a year or two off. The thing about time off from school is that it need not be time wasted. It sounds like you have enough practical experience to get a job in your field, and that would be very useful for your application. I assume you've gone straight through from kindergarten to college because that's what most people do; sometimes it's nice to prove to yourself and your future department that you can do something other than school (this might also cut down on your stress level if you eventually figure out that grad school is not for you and have a "what am I gonna do NOW?" crisis).
One last advantage to taking a year off: Not applying to grad school in the middle of your senior year of college. I have seen that before and it was not pretty. I take at least a year off between educational stints (next year I'm taking off between my MA and my PhD) for exactly that reason.
Anyway, wow that got long! I hope it was helpful. Good luck!
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I really second this, you would be surprised how your views/opinions might change within those years.
Not only that, your focus could increase exponentially!
Beyond this--I don't mean to scare the OP--but clinical psych PhD programs are among the MOST competitive. I have heard of some applicants with years of research experience getting rejected. Taking time off to work a year or so doing research in a lab might give you some perspective on what field work is like.
Btw-not getting the field work may be a very bad idea, I would see if there is another way to get that kind of experience.
In any case, my observationally-based advice comes with a caveat: some people are accepted right out of undergrad, as responses here show. So--it wouldn't hurt to apply anyway.
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ETA: Whoops, already addressed. Carry on, everyone...
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