Below is a general timeline of my Graduate Admissions Process:
Spring 2011
Last Semester!!! Bring on the Grad School Apps!!! So just in case you do not know. Most PhD program deadlines are in the fall somewhere around Dec 1-Jan 1. Luckily, Master's programs are Feb-May. So if you are really feeling up for it, why not apply to both if you think you may be a in a sticky situation. I ultimately just applied to Masters programs. I found some amazing programs and I applied to 3 that were February deadlines. Within 2 weeks after applying, one school Roosevelt University accepted me!!! Whooo hoooo!!!! I was so happy. So because I had a "safety school" I reduced the number of schools I had left to apply to from 4 to 2. The two I was really looking forward to going to. The deadline's for these programs are March 1st and March 15th. So I am preparing to apply to those schools now.
Fall 2010
I studied all summer to take the GRE. I studied mainly math because I knew my quantitative score had to be much higher than the verbal. I took the GRE back in August and the GRE scores I received reflected my studying. So I originally aimed PhD programs but after reviewing my GRE scores I felt the best route for me to take would be the Master's programs. So not too discouraged, I began narrowing down some Master's programs. A good place to start again was either SIOP website or the APA Guide to Graduate Study in Psychology. That book was like my graduate school reference bible thing. :) I found several programs that had "bridges" to PhDs, that had PhD programs at the school or near by. So I choose some of those programs and also programs that had master's only. Fall was also a good time to seek out my professors I wanted for recommendation letters and put together a reference binder for them.
Spring 2010
By Spring, I had about 20 schools on my list. I placed these schools in 3 tiers: Schools I know I can get into, Schools that I can probably get into, and Schools that were out of my reach but why not apply anyway. SIOP was having their Annual conference here in GA, and I knew this would have been the perfect opportunity to meet students and faculty at the schools I was looking to attend. So I registered as a student affiliate of SIOP and registered for the conference.
About a month before the conference, I found all the schools that I wanted to go to that were presenting and emailed the faculty introducing myself and expressing interest in meeting them in person and listening to their presentations. A week before the conference I made a schedule of the presentations I wanted to go to and the professors and students I wanted to meet. Also to prepare for the conference, I made simple student cards with my name, contact info and major, as well as several copies of my updated curriculum vitae to hand out to professors.
While at the conference, I spoke to several professors and graduate students in the programs I wanted to attend. Interesting to note, most of the students at the conference were all graduate students and they told me it was rare to find an undergraduate who was not presenting at the conference. So I got Kudos for attending and speaking to them. One thing I didn't find out until mid way through the conference is though some of the professors names are on the presentations (especially posters) does not mean they will actually be presenting. So I met several graduate students, which again was very beneficial because I was able to ask them about the program and the professors in them.
Immediately after the conference, I emailed those professors I spoke to or didn't get a chance to speak to as well as the students I spoke to to thank them for their time and to ask any follow up questions. These questions ranged from research interest to school preparation and program interest.
Fall 2009
I began searching for graduate programs in Industrial Organizational Psychology. I started by going to the Society for Industrial Organizational Psychology (SIOP) website to see what tips they had to offer me. I also spoke to a professor at my school who is an I/O Psychologist. My professor advised me to apply to different schools in different locations. He explained to me that this would be ideal because I am a traditional, african american female student from the South and I would bring diversity to a program. Doing so I choose about 3 or 4 schools from various regions, including the South. I choose these schools based on what I wanted out of a graduate program. I wanted a school that had an emphasis on research and offered rewarding internships!
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