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The Complete Guide to Graduate School Admission

Psychology, Counseling, and Related Professions

The Complete Guide to Graduate School Admission

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Question about this product?

Should I go to graduate school? How do I choose where to apply? Are my grades and accomplishments good enough to get in? Who should I ask to write recommendation letters for me, and how should I approach these people? How do I write my "personal statement?" When will I hear my fate, and how should I make my final decision? These are just a few of the many questions to which this well-researched, thorough, and extremely user-friendly book offers answers. Students who are contemplating graduate training in psychology, counseling, and related fields are often apprehensive and confused about applying to graduate school, but this book takes the guesswork and anxiety out of the process.

The tone and features (such as the Q&A format, timeline for application-related tasks and activities, and special advice for special populations) that made the first edition so successful, eliciting hundreds of thank-you notes and e-mail messages to the author, are just as evident in this new edition. The book has been thoroughly updated to include coverage of new topics such as use of the internet and e-mail, as well as changing trends in the professions. The most obvious difference is that the book is now significantly shorter as a result of meticulous rewriting, making it even easier to use.

There have been attempts since the publication of the first edition to copy the format of this book, but none of the others have successfully duplicated the depth of research-based advice and the supportive style that make this book the guide of choice for thousands of graduate-school bound students and their advisors.

Table of Contents

Contents: Preface. Part I: Overview of the Pursuit of Graduate Study. How Do I Get the Most From This Book? What Should I Be Doing When? What About My Particular Situation? What Are "They" Looking For? What Do I Want? Part II: Enhancing Your Chances--For Those With Some Time. How Do I Gain Help From Faculty? What Can I Do Academically? What About Research and Practicum Experience? What About Professional Organizations and Meetings? How Can I Improve My Performance on Strandardized Admittance Tests? Part III: Making Your Choices. How Do I Get Information About Programs? Should I Stay in Town or Should I Go? How Am I Going to Pay for Graduate School? What If My Grades Aren't So Hot? How Do I Make Final Program Choices? Part IV: The Application Process. What Are My First Steps in Applying? What About Letters of Recommendation? What Should I Consider When Filling Out Application Forms? What About Statements of Purpose and Other Essays? I'm Ready to Send My Applications. Now What? Part V: The Postapplication Period. Is There Anything I Can Do Other Than Wait? What Should I Do About Interviews? How Do I Accept (and Reject) Offers? What If I'm an Alternate for a Program? I've Received the News. Now What? Appendices.Constructing a Curriculum Vita. What Academic Departments Can Do to Assist Their Students With Graduate School Plans.

Reviews

"This book is…a classic for students and faculty….I give the second edition…an unqualified "thumbs up" on several counts: organization, readability, content, and usefulness. This revision…definitely in step with graduate training in the 21st century…you will find this book to be thorough, accurate, and directly on target. Use it with the complete confidence that you and your students will benefit immensely."

—Contemporary Psychology

"Successfully maneuvering through the graduate school application process is one of the most daunting exercises many students will encounter. This book has been a sanity-saver both for perplexed students and their advisers since it was first published. In this new edition, the authors have streamlined the presentation of the material and added critical new information. The coverage of undergraduate preparation for graduate school, choosing candidate programs to consider, screening programs for their appropriateness for the individual's needs, and dealing effectively with the host of nuts-and-bolts issues entailed in applying to graduate school, is still excellent. The advice here might very well mean the difference between acceptance and rejection, making this book an absolute must for students who have any inkling that they might want to go on to graduate school--no matter what the stage of their academic careers, freshman to senior year--and for any faculty members who advise such students. Buy it; study it; use it. Quite literally, with no exaggeration whatsoever, this book has the potential to change lives."

—Patrick Cabe, Ph.D.

University of North Carolina at Pembroke

"I wish I could have had this book when I was thinking about applying to graduate school. The fear and anxiety that derive from not knowing what you need to do in order to apply to, and be accepted by, a graduate school are relieved by the practical, straightforward, positively stated advice and information offered by the authors. It should be required reading for any undergraduate psychology major who is contemplating graduate study. We owe it to our students to make certain that they know about this book and what it offers them."

—Jeff Bryson, Ph.D.

San Diego State University

"For the past 10 years I have been giving lectures across the country on getting into and succeeding in graduate school. I have found this book indispensable in that endeavor. This is a practical guide to both the student and the faculty advisor. The authors answer all of the relevant questions pertaining to graduate school (and, perhaps just as important, they ask questions many of us have never thought of). Students anywhere in the application process will benefit greatly from this prized revision."

—Joe Horvat, Ph.D.

Weber State University