Are social psychology programs harder to get in?

Question

I heard that clinical psychology programs are extremely competitive and only %5 of the applicants actually make it to graduate school. How about social psychology programs? Are things any different in social psych programs? All i want is to become a researcher and i am not interested in clinics. Thanks for answers.

Does anyone have statistics of acceptance rates of certain schools?

Would 3,7 GPA and 780Q and 600V would be enough to get in a social psychology phd program?

Answer 1

Clinical psych is the hardest to get into. Social psych is NOT as hard as clinical psych but it's still tough. Grad school in general is tough to get into and it's expensive so be 100% it's what you want to do.

If you do apply and don't get in the first time, no biggie. Just find out what you lacked as an applicant (as there are many deciding factors involved to getting in) and try to improve your chances for next year.

One last piece of advice, it's often a numbers game at the admissions level, so don't take it personally.

Answer 2

I agree with what the first answerer provided with the exception of the costs of graduate school.

If you are looking at Ph.D programs in social psychology, the majority of those will be in research-oriented institutions which will not only cover the cost of tuition, but will also provide a modest stipend. It's rare to go to a decent school for a Ph.D. and have to pay any tuition.

If you're talking about a master's degree, then I would agree with the first poster, however. Most masters programs won't provide such funding.

Answer 3

No, they are not harder to get into -- not because they're a breeze to get through (you know that from the classes you've taken, I'm sure!) -- but since psychology is not an "exact science" (there are so many different possible outcomes of a research area because of the uniqueness of individuals, multiple external variables influencing a project, etc.) -- and psychology needs as many research professionals as possible to help us understand so many of the problems and challenges facing communities and society itself. So, after all that yapping, I'm trying to say that social psychology shouldn't be as hard to get into, because so many psychologists are needed in that field.