Psychology at Sweet Briar

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Seek employment, preferably related to psychology, and try to be admitted as a special graduate student at the nearest institution offering graduate courses in psychology. Enroll in one or two courses per semester that won't conflict with your work schedule and commit yourself to making an "A" in these courses. The more experimentally oriented the course, the better (an "A" in graduate statistics will be quite valuable in convincing evaluation committees to ignore a "C" in undergraduate statistics). When you reapply to graduate school next year, these efforts will assist in persuading the review committee that you are persistent, capable of performing at the graduate level, and motivated to continue to study in psychology. These graduate credits may be transferred later toward a degree. You may even seek at midterm to be admitted to the graduate program in psychology where you are taking the graduate work (although you may still wish to transfer to another program later). But, to reap these benefits, you must perform well in any graduate courses you attempt! If you cannot take graduate courses, repeat any relevant undergraduate courses in which you received a grade lower than "B". Mention in future applications your revised GPA, as it will not be reflected on your original undergraduate transcript. You should then update your resume, correcting weaknesses if possible. Review those places to which you applied the previous spring, realistically determining why you were rejected, and reapply to those for which you feel you are qualified. You may have been rejected because the particular applicants against whom you were compared were all exceptional; the next year this may not happen. Apply to a few new places, too. Follow the senior year timetable again, and consider retaking the GRE and MAT if your scores were low. Save what money you can while working so the availability of financial aid will not dictate if you are to attend graduate school.