<p>Hello
I’m a freshman in college right now and I’m doing really bad in my trig class. I want to go to grad school and get a doctorate degree in psychology will this negatively affect me in admissions? And do grad schools look at activities like colleges do?
Thank you</p>
<p>try to do better in your trig class. Grad schools usually only take the final 60 credit hours into account… at least they weigh those the highest, but you really have a little ways to go, so I wouldn’t fret too much now… just recognize your situation and take steps within your control to improve where you can.</p>
<p>If you are a freshman right now, the best way to improve your chances of getting admitted into a good Ph.D. program in psychology is to get involved in doing research for professors in your school as early as possible. Find something you are passionate about (or you think you might want to learn more about), try to see if there are job openings, read research papers by the professors or their colleagues, and try your best to get your way into the research world. You will start at the bottom rung of the ladder, probably doing boring grunt work, but you need to start somewhere and move your way up. A Ph.D. is a serious long-term dedication to research, and you need to have research experience in order to be admitted, so get started early! You won’t know if you want to get a Ph.D. unless you have already seen what research is like.</p>
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<p>Not nearly as much. The main thing grad schools look at is your RESEARCH EXPERIENCES. If you do activities related to research, like volunteering at academic conferences or serving on student panels, etc., that might help, but don’t stress about doing extracurriculars for the sake of getting into a Ph.D. program. Do extracurriculars because you have fun doing them and enjoy the activites and the people; don’t do them just as resume padders.</p>
<p>On the topic of grades, you should have a pretty high GPA if you want to be considered for a Ph.D. programs, but doing badly in a freshman-level trig. class won’t derail your chances of admissions. Just make sure you do well in your psychology classes :)</p>
<p>MissTi:</p>
<p>You’re at Pitt, correct?</p>
<p>If so, if you need help finding gen eds to fluff your QPA, feel free to PM me. The trig class won’t be the end of the world, but make sure you do well in calc and stat (especially stat), grad schools will want to know you can handle analyzing data and have good quantitative skills.</p>