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[erraticxthought]

While I realize this question is frequently discussed in this forum, I still feel the need to ask: How significant is it to have relevant research experience when applying to SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY programs? And how is "significant experience" defined

Comments

[statzman]

I heard that not having research/lab experience is often considered ok if you come from a small college that offers little or no research opportunities. So if that is the case you may just mention that in your essay.

[socialpsychg]

Although I have no authority on the matter, I'm also applying to social psychology programs. My understanding of significant experiences is just working under social psychologists, and doing a senior / honors thesis in social psychology.

[babbleprise]

Are you applying to Masters or PhD programs? For a PhD, then I think that more research would be beneficial, if not necessary. For a masters, you should be able to get into a good program without.

Research doesn't necessarily mean you did this whole fancy thing on your own. I am not sure how much time you have before applying, but if you have another year left then I would definitely look into if any professors at your school do their own research and if they would be willing to mentor you. You could enter data, run subjects...that sort of thing.

[sporkgoddess]

[erraticxthought]

And then how do you get research experience beyond just data entry, running participants and the research classes?

[sporkgoddess]

[tobiahawk]

This. Other option:
-Do a honors/undergrad/senior thesis (or two or three).
-Tell your professor straight up that you want to go to grad school and would like to gain significant experience. Be polite about it, of course.
-Partner with professor, even at another school, for a research project over a summer. Email people who do work you're interested in and explain your background and goals to them.

Good luck! :)

[roseofjuly]

It's somewhere in between the two. I'm in a social psychology program right now, and everyone in my program has had research experience before they were admitted. However, they don't expect you to have cured cancer or even been the PI on your own study - that's pretty uncommon. Most undergraduate research experiences are pretty tame. You do have to have something more substantial than just data entry, preferably that involves a substantial part of a project (literature searches and reviews, analyzing data, presenting results at even small regional professional conferences or ones organized by your school, etc.)

However, I will say that social psychology is one of the more competitive subfields in psych and you will be competing with applicants who have, generally, 2+ years of research experience. You don't have to live in the science building, but having at least one or two research experiences under your belt is important, and a summer research experience is pretty standard for applicants.