Hey guys, I’m a Senior Psychology/Cognitive Science with minors in Linguistics/Computer Science. I should have graduated about two years ago but I was diagnosed with cancer about four years ago, and the road for returning has been incredibly difficult. The problem is I’ve had low mobility(using crutches, handicap van) and low stamina, so doing much extracurricular work was off the question. This has lead to basically zero extracurriculars and a GPA of 3.35, which is not too bad but is nothing special.
I do still want to apply for a Masters in Behavioral Psychology or Neuroscience, not interested in a Top school but something at least competitive. Should I focus on the GREs or take some time after graduating to gain experience somehow? How important are extracurriculars and do schools take notice if a student has had hardships? Thank you.
ECs are irrelevant for graduate admissions. They care about your academic achievement, your GRE scores, research experience, and letters of reference. Getting work experience is not necessarily relevant for graduate admissions but could be a very valuable step in deciding if a n M.A. is absolutely necessary for your career.
A 3.35 is just one, particularly for master’s programs - I wouldn’t worry about that.
Extracurriculars are not important unless they are directly related to your program. For psychology and neuroscience, the relevant EC is research - assisting a professor in a lab with some research and gaining experience. There’s some applied psychology work that is sometimes useful for applied psych degrees. Joining Psi Chi can sometimes be useful too, but isn’t necessary. And research experience really makes you competitive for PhD programs; it’s a good thing to have, but not strictly necessary, for most master’s program (although it depends on the program).
And yes, graduate programs do take into account hardships. If you can write a supplemental essay explaining your situation, do so - this is the kind of situation those supplements were designed for. If there’s no place for it, incorporate it into your regular statement.
However, my wonder is why you want an MA in psychology or neuroscience. There’s not really a whole lot that you can do with either - or rather, the master’s in the field doesn’t prepare you for any specific kind of work. Most psychology MA programs exist to prepare people for PhD programs. There are a few that prepare people for applied behavior analysis, but I’m not really sure what the job outlook is like in that field. Either way, psychology MA programs are rarely funded, so I’m not sure it’s worth paying all the money to get one for career purposes. (Neuroscience is a little funkier - sometimes they are funded.)