Getting into a traditional PHD program after degree hacking?

[deuil]

Hello! I plan on getting a bachelors degree in psychology but afterwards I want to try and enter a traditional PHD program. My main issue is that my transcript potentially won't look as good after "degree hacking" and will greatly decrease my ability to get into a PHD program. Does anyone know how to negate this issue ?

[freeloader]

Hello! I plan on getting a bachelors degree in psychology but afterwards I want to try and enter a traditional PHD program. My main issue is that my transcript potentially won't look as good after "degree hacking" and will greatly decrease my ability to get into a PHD program. Does anyone know how to negate this issue ?

There isn’t really a magic formula for people with hacked degrees. The advice would be pretty much the same as for someone with a bad GPA, who went to a school with a poor reputation, etc—in short, someone whose undergrad transcript isn’t sufficient. You probably want some combination of the following:

High GRE. Take it a couple of times if you need to. Do a prep course if you need to. 

Get a master’s degree (that you likely have to pay for). 

Research/work experience. If you can find work in a psychology lab or even in a clinical psychologist’s office (if you want to do clinical/counseling psychology), that would be a positive. 

Conduct your own research. There are lots of journals that publish exclusively undergrad research. Try to polish a paper you have written for a class up and submit to one. If you have more than one decent paper, submit to more than one. They will be, in all likelihood, terrible little journals that nobody really reads, but that isn’t the point. You want to shows the admissions committee that you are serious about research and being an academic. Could ne in psychology, could be broadly open to many/all disciplines. At the undergrad level, doesn’t matter. 

Present at conference(s). As with above, there are lots of undergraduate level conferences. Submit a paper to one. Some grad student conferences will also take papers or presentation posters by undergrads. Submit a proposal/paper/poster to a few in your area. As with the last one, doesn’t matter if it’s general or psychology specific. 

Reach out to professors you want to work with at the schools you want to attend. Briefly (briefly!) introduce yourself, tell them what interests you, maybe mention something they have published lately, etc. Try to get a dialog going. If this person decides they want you as their student, you stand a FAR better chance of getting in than if you just apply and say in your statement of purpose/admissions letter that you want to work with that person but never contact them. 

Get good letters of recommendation. That could definitely be hard with a hacked degree, but it is important. Tell your professors at the beginning of the semester that you are going to apply to grad school and will need letters of recommendation. Then do really well in their class.  Go to their office hours, including virtual if you aren’t in-person. I got a degree from UMPI and told two of my professors that I would likely need letters of Rec. I did well in their classes and both were happy to do it for me.

You might also tell professors along the way you want to apply to grad school and would like to write papers that could be turned into conference papers or journal articles. I did this my first time in college and had professors modify assignments for me and had one who helped me edit my paper after the semester was over. Most professors, even adjuncts, teach because they love it.  From personal experience teaching at the college level, instructors deal with mostly students who don’t care or care enough to pass/get a particular grade. Really learning the material or engaging with it in a serious way isn’t on most students’ radar. I loved it when I had students who really wanted to learn and I went out of my way to help those students. 

Apply and, depending on your belief system, say a prayer, give an offering to the gods, burn some incense, go meditate in the woods, or whatever else you think might help!

[bjcheung77]

@deuil, Welcome to the board, I mention this all the time, it's great you've created a very brief intro post, but there is hardly any detail within the post.  Please follow the addendum and template here, as it will provide readers an overall picture of your situation: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Area-works

The more details of your particular scenario, the better we can help you with your educational journey.  Here's an example, a member followed my steps to get the TESU BALS Psych, ladder that to Walden MS Psych, joined the Psy Chi Society, and now looking at inexpensive options for their PhD.

[davewill]

Part of the key for this is going to flexibility. Some programs are more competitive than others. Professional doctorates (like a PsyD) are also probably going to be a little easier to get into. If you do a master's first, especially if you then work in the field some, then the hacked bachelor's likely won't matter at all.

[ss20ts]

First step, don't use phrases such as "degree hacking". Using phrases such as this sound like your degrees are from a diploma mill which isn't the case if you attend one of the schools we most commonly discuss on here. It's typically only a bachelor's degree where you can utilize alternative credits. There really aren't ways to earn alternative credit for a master's degree and your master's degree will really be the key into a PhD program. Earn the highest grades you possibly can in your RA courses. Even in your alternative credit courses you should earn the best grades you can and not just skim by with a 70 because some colleges do want to see actual scores in alternative courses. And those 70's will factor into the GPA they calculate for you.

[MichaelGates]

First step, don't use phrases such as "degree hacking". Using phrases such as this sound like your degrees are from a diploma mill which isn't the case if you attend one of the schools we most commonly discuss on here. 

So we should avoid...

Degree Hacking
Degree Weaseling
Degree Conniving
Degree Outsmarting
Degree Phishing
Degree Spoofing
Degree Milling
Degree Mining

Where is  the fun in that? All that is going to get me is a new, better job.

[Heartstrings]

A lot of psychology programs are really competitive. Have you looked at your state's requirements for licensure? Some of them do not even require APA accreditation. I have a bachelor and master's degree in psychology. I have always felt the field has kind of an elitist attitude to it if you don't go to an APA accredited school or the program has certain recognition. Where I live a counselor, social worker, marriage and family therapist, and psychologist all compete for the same job.

[bjcheung77]

Do the quick Bachelors and Masters combo (one you can finish in months, not years), you may want to then do an additional or optional Spanish inexpensive option to go into other fields other than General Psychology, such as Adult, Child, or Industrial/Organizational Psych, Neuroscience, etc. Then apply to a PhD that is funded and if then you can't get in, you can search for online options that aren't funded, lastly, also add to your short list some international options...