Tag Archives: APA

Applying to graduate school? Ask these 15 questions

Getting in to graduate school is hard. I know this. And like many of you, I obsessed over the “Will I be liked?” question as I waited for any offer to come in. I now see that focusing on that question obscures another equally important one: “Do I really like the programs I am applying to?”

In my role, I sometimes hear students recount how different their program is compared to the slick marketing they’ve received from schools attracting candidates. While I can offer no advice on which institutions should be on someone’s list, I do want to shift the power dynamic in your favor. Let’s get thinking about how to find the graduate programs that will help you meet your professional goals and provide you with the highest quality training experiences possible in the field of psychology. Sound good?

Last month, I co-presented (with Dr. Nabil El-Ghoroury) a workshop at APA’s Annual Convention. The workshop was centered around 15 questions that “smart shoppers” should ask of the programs on their list, but it also included some information about different types of degrees and subfields, and the cost of education.

To learn what you should be asking, view the slideshow below or download the slides directly:

[pdf]http://www.gradpsychblog.org/wp-content/uploads/Smart-Shopping-Convention-2014.pdf[/pdf]

Please also check out the resource page on our website for more tools from APAGS and our colleagues in the Education Directorate. If you want to hear a live version of this presentation, we’ll be in Los Angeles on September 20 and Berkeley on September 21. Stay tuned to our Facebook page for announcements of future webinars, live workshops, and more tutorials.

May you make this decision with eyes wide open to the objective and subjective factors that will make your future graduate school the right fit for you. Best wishes.

Untold Secrets of Navigating Convention

Cover BSo you’ve registered for the convention and booked your flights and hotels. You have tried to look at the monster programming book but are feeling overloaded and overwhelmed. What is a grad student to do? Have no fear! The APAGS Convention Committee has some untold secrets to navigating convention!

 

  • Although it seems daunting, the programming book and the APAGS How to Navigate Convention materials are your friends! Spend a few hours looking over things that are interesting. The APAGS materials are a great focus on what graduate students specifically may be interested in attending.

 

  • Interested in learning about the internal workings of the divisions? Div CoverConsider going to one of their business meetings. You can learn a lot about current topics and become more aware of potential opportunities for graduate students.

 

  • MPj04025130000[1]Free food is everywhere at convention! For example, graduate students can come to the APAGS suite for the Food for Thought breakfasts where they can enjoy breakfast while conversing with some of the field’s most influential psychologists. This year we have Dr. Robert Levine, Dr. Mitchell Prinstein, and Dr. Robert Sternberg. Students can also find free food at some of the presentations. Keep an eye out for large groups of people!

 

  • Speaking of free, if you go to the exhibit hall, you are sure to bring back many free pens, pads of paper, post-its, and other goodies.

 

  • If you only know a couple of presentations you are interested in, be sure to ask the audience members around you what other presentations they are attending. Better yet, ask the speakers of the presentation what other speakers they are looking forward to seeing. This will give you some good ideas for other presentations that might fit your interests.

 

  • Posters presentations at convention are often looked over and not attended well. Take advantage of the opportunity to talk with other graduate students and professionals at these poster sessions. The programming book lists the presentations according to topic. These presenters will be glad to talk with you and who knows, you may work in a great networking or collaborative opportunity!

 

  • If you are a presenter for a poster or paper, be sure to collect audience members’ information if they are interested in following up with you and your research. Again, do not waste this great potential for networking by not having a central location to keep people’s information.

 

  • The easiest way to relay your own information to others when networking is to bring your own business cards. This way you do not have to write down your long email and name each time; just give them your card!

 

  • Although you came to D.C. to work on your presentation sMP900441060[1]kills, networking, or just to see other professionals, make time to explore the city! This may be the only time where you can visit some of Washington D.C.’s historic sites and museums. Some of my favorites are the Lincoln Memorial, The Smithsonian, and The Crime and Punishment museum.

We hope this list helps you out in navigating convention. Please consider coming by the APAGS suite and the APAGS booth to say hi and introduce yourself while in D.C.!

Convention Highlight- APAGS Food for Thought

One great part about Convention is the opportunity to mix and mingle with some of the most famous psychologists of our time. APAGS is proud to present its Food For Thought breakfasts. Each morning of Convention (Thursday-Sunday, 7:30-8:50am) the APAGS suite hosts free breakfast for graduate students and the opportunity to hear from prestigious psychologists. Here is a look at the speakers this year:

 

Thursday, August 7: Dr. Robert Levine

Dr. Levine has written two best-seller books on topics of time and persuasion. The first one, A Geography of Time, examines our perceptions of time in different cultures. He observes the cultural rules of time in different countries and delineates differences between nature time, event time, and clock time. His second book, The Power of Persuasion: How We’re Bought and Sold, analyzes how individuals can be persuaded if in the right circumstances. Besides these book topics, he is also interested in research on helping and kindness towards strangers, happiness, and the self. Get more information on his research.

 

Friday, August 8: Dr. Robert Sternberg

Dr. Sternberg may be best known for his triarchic theories of love and intelligence, but he has over 1,500 publications and other topics of interest including creativity, wisdom, thinking styles, hate, ethics, and leadership. He is a past president of APA and has held positions in universities as a Dean, Provost, and President. Get more information on Dr. Sternberg.

 

Saturday, August 9: Dr. Mitchell Prinstein

Dr. Prinstein’s research examines interpersonal models of internalizing symptoms and health risk behaviors among adolescents, with a specific focus on the unique role of peer relationships in the developmental psychopathology of depression and self-injury. He has co-written and edited several professional development books, blogs, and websites, including the APAGS Workbook on the internship selection process, now in its third edition, and The Portable Mentor, now in its second edition.  Dr. Prinstein’s “uncensored advice” on the clinical psychology admissions process has been downloaded over 10,000 times.  For over 14 years, Dr. Prinstein has organized a professional development seminar for graduate students, offering practical career advice on topics not typically covered in doctoral curricula. Find out more about Dr. Prinstein!

 

IMG_6725Sunday, August 10: APAGS Leadership

The final Food for Thought breakfast will introduce the APAGS leadership and these individuals will discuss what opportunities allowed them to become leaders and what their focus is on currently.

Editor’s note: Kelly Lee is a current member of the APAGS Convention Committee. She is a doctoral student at the University of Houston in the Counseling Psychology Department.

Join the APA Student Twitter Team!

For those of you going to 2014 Convention in Washington D.C., APAGS would love to hear about your experience. As a member of the APA Student Twitter Team, you can share your thoughts and impressions about your experiences while at Convention. If you are at a session you find interesting, why not let other Convention attendees know? If you just met a psychologist whose research you admire, then share your excitement!

Example tweet. This could be you!

Example tweet. This could be you!

Throughout Convention, tweets from team members and others using the #APA2014 and #APATwitterTeam hashtags will be displayed on a large tweetwall for all attendees to see.

Perks of being a Twitter Team member include:

  • an exclusive ribbon
  •  an invitation to a social event with food and a chance to win some great prizes (GoPro camera, tablet, and more)!

All you need is an open and active Twitter account. To apply, please click here.

A name change for a new era

Since its inception in 1992, the APAGS Committee on Ethnic Minority Affairs (CEMA) has been dedicated to representing and advocating for the perspectives and concerns of ethnic minority graduate students studying psychology. Twenty two years later, we’ve maintained this focus while also promoting diversity and cultural sensitivity among all graduate students, reflecting an overall change within the field.

The group formerly known as the APAGS Committee on Ethnic Minority Affairs, at their May 2014 business meeting in Washington, DC. Blog post author Jasmin Llamas is second from the left in the back row. (Source: Andrew Tesoro, used with permission.)

Staying attuned to these changes, APAGS-CEMA has also noted a gradual shift away from the term “minority.” Ethnic minority numbers are rising in the U.S. yet individuals  continue to remain socially disadvantaged. While the term minority is not necessarily intended to denote population size or inferiority, there has been a push by many in the field away from this term:

  • Division 45, formerly the Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues, recently responded to feedback from their members by voting in a new name: The Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity, and Race.
  • Even in the 2012 revision of APAGS-CEMA’s mission, the term minority is notable absent; our mission now is “to promote a psychology pipeline that is representative of the nation’s ethnic diversity and foster culturally relevant and adaptive science and practice in psychology.”

Given this movement, APAGS-CEMA engaged in a lengthy discussion as to whether our current name best reflects our mission and the real work we do. We struggled with wanting a more empowering description for our committee, while also ensuring that we represent the social disadvantage of several populations.  As a committee, we generated several possible names but immediately knew when we had found “the one” that truly captures the spirit and intent of our committee. We presented our new name to our APAGS full committee for a formal vote, which was unanimously approved. Responses to our new name included, “Brilliant,” “Awesome,” “Thumbs up,” and “This encapsulates the identity of the committee and will continue to move it forward.”

With such resounding support, I am thrilled to present on behalf of APAGS the Committee for the Advancement of Racial & Ethnic Diversity, which we are fondly referring to as CARED! Our website will soon reflect our new name, but we wanted you to hear it here first!

 I am thrilled to present the Committee for the Advancement of Racial & Ethnic Diversity – or CARED.

CARED hopes you are as excited with this new change as we are and hope you feel CARED for as we continue to serve you and promote diversity within our field. Have you been CARED for lately? We are here for you! Truly, we invite all students to reach out to us if we can support your graduate training in some way. If you are interested in getting involved with CARED, feel free to contact me.

 

llamas-headshotEditor’s note: Jasmin Llamas is the 2012-2014 Chair of APAGS-CARED. She is currently an intern at University of California – San Francisco and doctoral student in UC-Santa Barbara’s combined doctoral program in counseling, clinical, and school psychology. Jasmin will begin a professorship this fall at Santa Clara University.