<p>How much can achievement at one’s master’s program compensate for one’s undergraduate GPA? For example: If a student had a 3.2 psychology GPA at his/her undergraduate institution and a 4 or near 4 at his/her master’s institution (as well as produced published articles and improved his/her GRE score from, say, an 1150ish to a 1350ish), can that compensate much for the low-to-mid tier (by the standards of master’s admissions offices) undergraduate performance, when applying for admission into a Ph.D program? In my mind, it should, but I find that what often makes sense in my mind is different from typical admissions standards.</p>
<p>My DD had similar stats, lower 3s in UG, nearly a 4 in masters work, I don’t recall the precise GRE, but in your ballpark mentioned, as well as poster publications.</p>
<p>She got into her #1 choice and was on the wait list at 2 other places when she withdrew. It can be done.</p>
<p>Thank you for the feedback! I’m hearing a lot of responses like that, and it’s definitely lifted my spirits–can’t wait to do what I need to do, and give things a shot. :)</p>
<p>I am new to this field. Does a student need master degree or extensive research experiences to get accepted into Psychology Phd program? How much of chance does a student have if he/she just gradutes from college with Psychology major?</p>
<p>You don’t have to have a master’s degree (and at many programs you’ll just have to start over anyway) to get into psychology PhD programs, but most programs will want to see that you have at least 2 years of progressively more responsible research experiences supervised by PhD holders.</p>
<p>I’m in a top 20 psychology PhD program and I’d say about half of my cohort came straight from undergraduate (but usually started doing research early - for example, I began in my sophomore year and had 3 presentations on my CV when I applied) and the other half worked as lab coordinators or as research assistants for 2 years before coming. A few have master’s in related fields, but not many.</p>