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I studied biochemistry in undergrad.
I've graduated for a year, and have been working.
I want to go to grad school to study psychology.
I know I would do well. I have a good gpa, and will probably do well on the gre.
But I have no proof. No research papers, awards, letters of recommendations - that can attest to my competency in psychology research. I was a pretty lackluster student; I didn't really care too much about biochem.
So therefore, my goal is to find a way to generate some proof.
But I'm not sure how. I can write things on my own, in a blog, but that's nothing compared to some student who can work under an adviser.
I feel like I slipped through the cracks. And I want to find my way back, but I'm like an invisible hitchhiker on a road where everyone is driving by at 100mph.
 
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You can talk to local University professors. Some don't care if you don't go to school any more. They just need qualified people to help out.
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What sort of psych grad school are you thinking? There are many, many programs in a wide range of areas.
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Have you tried writing an APA research article? Buy the APA manual, read lots of papers and get the general flow of things and what goes where. It's really not too hard and I can coach you on it - my profs all commend me on my paper writing.
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On May 24 2013 20:04 Roe wrote:
Have you tried writing an APA research article? Buy the APA manual, read lots of papers and get the general flow of things and what goes where. It's really not too hard and I can coach you on it - my profs all commend me on my paper writing.
What is he supposed to write without own research? A meta analysis?
It would actually be a good way to learn everything about a subject, but it might not be easy.
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On May 24 2013 21:12 Vivax wrote:Show nested quote +On May 24 2013 20:04 Roe wrote:
Have you tried writing an APA research article? Buy the APA manual, read lots of papers and get the general flow of things and what goes where. It's really not too hard and I can coach you on it - my profs all commend me on my paper writing. What is he supposed to write without own research? A meta analysis? It would actually be a good way to learn everything about a subject, but it might not be easy.
Review articles are good to write, and he could just make up an experiment in his mind with made up data for his own purposes, or use another experiment's method/data and analyse it his own way. These are shoddy but at least he can 'break into' doing this if he can't get a prof's help
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Russian Federation3632 Posts
Look up Stapel - apparently you have to get to the 50 retraction mark before people notice. A little shoddiness should be no problem.
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Email your psychology professors from undergrad, they will know better where you are at and what you have to do.
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The best option is to take a year or two to work as an RA in a psychology lab. Without that getting into a decent program is going to be very difficult, and you'll want relevant experience either way so you know how you want to specialize in graduate school. There's a decent number of labs out there that will hire post-bac RAs, but getting a job in one without prior psych research might be difficult. It might be possible to lever your biochem degree if you can find a lab that needs that kind of knowledge.
You will want to do a lot of reading, starting now. I'm guessing that you haven't taken too many formal psych classes, but it's a field with a lot of backstory, and you'll need to be able to talk coherently about it and understand the context of research. There's a lot of important papers to get through, and it's an extremely broad field with a lot of distinct areas that you need to cover.
I don't know how legitimate Master's are in psychology, but you should look into them. If they're good they'll give you some of the basic formal education needed as well as plugging you back into the academic system. I just don't know if they're worth it though, as Master's in some fields don't really mean anything.
And please don't even bother trying to write a paper right now. You might want something to use as a writing sample eventually, but without much knowledge of the field or relevant research nothing you put out is going to be something you want to put on your application. Focus on learning the overall field well enough that you can coherently talk about it, and hopefully drilling down a little on a couple areas that you are interested in.
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On May 25 2013 07:58 Suichoy wrote:
Email your psychology professors from undergrad, they will know better where you are at and what you have to do.
some psych classes have hundreds of people in one class. And for Bio-chem majors you don't really need psych. I think talking to psych teachers would be your best bet.
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On May 25 2013 16:00 theonemephisto wrote:
I don't know how legitimate Master's are in psychology, but you should look into them. If they're good they'll give you some of the basic formal education needed as well as plugging you back into the academic system. I just don't know if they're worth it though, as Master's in some fields don't really mean anything.
And please don't even bother trying to write a paper right now. You might want something to use as a writing sample eventually, but without much knowledge of the field or relevant research nothing you put out is going to be something you want to put on your application. Focus on learning the overall field well enough that you can coherently talk about it, and hopefully drilling down a little on a couple areas that you are interested in.
Having a master's is sort of the only way to legitimize your undergrad in psyc
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Pick a relative topic to the current contemporary field of psychological interest (due to ample credible research) and write a ten-fifteen page paper in which you manipulate the topic to say something adverse to all common belief and theory. It doesn't have to be right, you just have to show wit. I say this because despite writing well, I've never gotten under a 92 on 100+ papers while studying soft science simply because I offer an interesting perspective on the relative connotations of the field. /2 cents
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On May 25 2013 16:00 theonemephisto wrote:
The best option is to take a year or two to work as an RA in a psychology lab. Without that getting into a decent program is going to be very difficult, and you'll want relevant experience either way so you know how you want to specialize in graduate school. There's a decent number of labs out there that will hire post-bac RAs, but getting a job in one without prior psych research might be difficult. It might be possible to lever your biochem degree if you can find a lab that needs that kind of knowledge.
You will want to do a lot of reading, starting now. I'm guessing that you haven't taken too many formal psych classes, but it's a field with a lot of backstory, and you'll need to be able to talk coherently about it and understand the context of research. There's a lot of important papers to get through, and it's an extremely broad field with a lot of distinct areas that you need to cover.
I don't know how legitimate Master's are in psychology, but you should look into them. If they're good they'll give you some of the basic formal education needed as well as plugging you back into the academic system. I just don't know if they're worth it though, as Master's in some fields don't really mean anything.
And please don't even bother trying to write a paper right now. You might want something to use as a writing sample eventually, but without much knowledge of the field or relevant research nothing you put out is going to be something you want to put on your application. Focus on learning the overall field well enough that you can coherently talk about it, and hopefully drilling down a little on a couple areas that you are interested in.
+1000000000000000000000000000000
Look for available RA positions at your university/wherever is convenient at the moment. Doing this will get you experience, your name on some actual publications, potential letters of recommendation, and essentially your foot in the door.
On May 28 2013 15:47 Game wrote:
Pick a relative topic to the current contemporary field of psychological interest (due to ample credible research) and write a ten-fifteen page paper in which you manipulate the topic to say something adverse to all common belief and theory. It doesn't have to be right, you just have to show wit. I say this because despite writing well, I've never gotten under a 92 on 100+ papers while studying soft science simply because I offer an interesting perspective on the relative connotations of the field. /2 cents
Applying for grad school and demonstrating competence is not the same as writing a paper in a class. If academia were about "wit"...
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^ He expressed a desire to demonstrate merit. Thus, I gave him an option based on his listings. It's probable that I may not know too much about academia given that I didn't put forth too much effort to be accepted into the 18th best grad school for my major in my country.
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Sure, but there is a distinct difference between what is required of you as a soft science student (as you put it) in a paper, and what is required of him in a scientific research paper. Hence wit is not nearly as critical as a variety of other criteria such as systematic research skills or presentation of findings, at least when it comes to the kind of research paper the OP will be expected to write. That's all loser777 was getting at.
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Psychology is a soft science. I understand what goes into a scientific research paper as well, but research and surveys can be handled by anyone. He did say he put a lackluster effort into being a student, and that's where my point of wit comes into play.
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EPT
