When is the best time to send Ph.D. applications for admission?

Question

I am a senior undergraduate psychology major and will soon be applying to a few Ph.D. Clinical Psychology programs and one Counseling Psychology program. I took the GRE in May and I can send in complete applications as early as late August. I have always heard that the earlier you send in your applications, the better chance you have of being admitted...
Is this true even if I will be gaining my research experience (assisting a faculty member with a project) and "clinical" experience (volunteering) this coming fall?
Would it be best for me to wait to send in my applications after I have some of this research/clinical experience or go ahead and send in my applications as early as possible?

My stats are:
GPA: 4.0 (through 114 credit hours)
GRE: 1260 (V 670; Q 590)

I will be thankful for any suggestions!

Answer 1

Definitely wait to send in your applications until after you've been doing research and clinicals. Mentioning this research (in detail) and writing about your experience in clinicals will be essential for a strong personal statement in Clinical Psych and Counseling Psych.
'
There is no need to send in applications early for PhD programs. We don't look at any of them until the deadline arrives. Then we meet as an admission committee, and nominate folks for fellowships, and choose candidates for assistantships.

Retake your GRE. Clinical Psych is perhaps the most competitive field (in terms of admissions) today.

You will also want your research supervisor and clinical supervisor to be able to write letters of rec for you. They will be unable to do so until they have worked with you.

So wait. An early arriving application does indeed just sit in a filing cabinet until the application deadline arrives, and all applications are in. We won't make any decisions about anything until we have them all.

Answer 2

The "rule" about having a better chance of getting into a program if you apply early is true for undergraduate programs and for professional programs -- but not for PhDs.

Most PhD programs don't look at any applications until after the deadline has passed -- then look at them all together. If you send in your application early, it is likely to sit in a filing cabinet until February or March.

The reason is simple. Professional schools and undergraduate programs have full time staff to work on admissions. For PhD programs, the decisions are usually made by a committee of professors who are pissed off that it is cutting into their research and wish to spend as little time as possible on the process.

In addition, taking an extra few months to send in your applications may give you enough time to impress your current professors.

I'd say send the applications in some time in October. In the mean time, I might think about taking a GRE prep course to see if you can improve your GRE scores.. Bringing them up another 100 points might make the difference between getting into a good program and getting into a great program.

Answer 3

Send your applications as early as possible, but make sure you include your plans for this fall - your research and clinical experience. Also, if possible, visit the schools and talk to some of the professors in these programs. This will give you extra points during the admissions process.

Good luck!

Answer 4

You should send your applications in as soon as possible. While most departments won't make hardline decisions until all applicants are in, faculty on the admissions committee definitely talk about applicants as soon as they come in.

Also, the sooner you apply, the more time your department has to nominate you for university wide fellowships. Since this type of fellowship is competed for across departments, each department generally likes to send in applicants as soon as possible to increase the likelihood that they will be able to get some students funded that way.

You should also make sure to include reference to the research you're going to undertake in the fall. that will likely help.

Also, just as some advice, really make sure the people writing your letters of recommendation are writing their letters and remembering to send them out in a timely fashion. I remember when I applied to grad school I sent out a lot of my applications really early but some of my letter writers waited to send their letters out until later and one faculty member came close to missing the deadline. You have to stay ontop of them about those things.

Good luck :)

Answer 5

ASAP