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
Preface.
Acknowledgments.
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 an 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?