Judging from the current situation of graduate psychology in the United States, there are basically only two major directions, and there are some marginal psychological directions (an interdisciplinary subject):

First, science class

1) Cognitive Psychology: At present, the absolute mainstream of psychology is also one of the most scientific branches of psychology. If you apply for this direction, it is best to graduate from psychology, biology, basic medicine, mathematics, physics and computer or have a strong relevant background. The liberal arts background is basically not considered (I believe no liberal arts friends will like this)

2) Cognitive neuroscience: one of the most promising research directions, which is suitable for both medical and biological applicants. This paper mainly studies the relationship between the brain and various psychological activities.

3) Engineering psychology: In short, it is the relationship between the design of products or tools and people's psychology and behavior. Experimental design ability and physiological basis are more important.

To sum up, applicants in these two fields need to have the following abilities: mathematical statistics, experimental design, physiology and computer programming (matlab is better).

Second, the combination of arts and sciences.

1) social psychology:

The research direction is quite wide, and the main content is to consider people's psychological problems in the social environment. The basic abilities that the applicant should possess: good statistical ability (spss, sas) and experimental design ability. The rest depends on your specific research direction.

2) Personality psychology:

The differentiation of personality types (choleric, sanguine ...) originated in the west and mainly studied personality types and related issues. Applicants need to emphasize their ability to develop and modify questionnaires.

3) developmental psychology: it can be roughly divided into two categories: those who study lifelong development and adolescent development should do more longitudinal research, preferably with relevant background, and at least understand the methods and design of longitudinal research.

4) Industrial organization: the direction of close integration with enterprises, with a certain cross-discipline with human resources, suitable for those students with business background and work experience.

Third, in the edge direction:

1, Quantitative Psychology: It is closely related to statistics, and applicants must have a good statistical background.

2. Evolutionary psychology: using evolutionary theory to study the whole (rather than individual) behavior of human beings. Key points: statistical ability, some knowledge of modern evolution, and some mathematical modeling ability will be better, because it involves some calculus rather than experiments.

3 Consumer behavior: It is closely related to business and crucial to the statistical ability of this discipline. The more you know, the better the advanced statistical method, because the research object determines that the experiment needs good statistical control and calculus to make a result. The design and revision of the questionnaire is also very important.

Difficult direction:

Counseling or clinical psychology

Note that each school has a different direction. For example, Stanford, as a college of psychology, will have more directions, and some schools' psychology departments may have only three or four directions. Pay special attention to this when going to school.

2. Prepare application materials

A) Transcripts: Some schools upload directly on the Internet, and some schools need to issue paper transcripts.

B) TOEFL scores and GRE scores (most schools do not require separate tests, but it is suggested that students who apply for psychology can take the test once, and those with good grades can be sent to the school together as a supplement to their professional learning ability)

C) Letter of recommendation: Generally, there are three letters of recommendation. It is recommended to find a referee at the beginning of the senior year, and you can find four referees, in case there is a referee who can't help you when you formally apply.

D) Documents: Documents are mainly resumes and personal statements. Resume can help admissions officers intuitively understand your educational information and professional experience, while personal statement is a subjective document for you to express your research interests and future goals to admissions officers. Both are important, especially personal statements. It is very important to show your personality and advantages within a range of one or two thousand words. So if possible, teachers or professional study abroad institutions can help you polish and modify the documents.

E) Online application: The deadline of each school is different. Remember not to miss the deadline.

F) Application fee: prepare a credit card that can be used to pay the application fee.

3. Important links after submitting the application

A) Magnetization: You can send an email to your favorite teacher, ask if you want to recruit a doctor this year, tell your background and interest direction, and express your willingness to study with the teacher. Teachers will also give you more impressions when reviewing materials. If you can pass the exam, you can better decide your tutor.

B) Interview: There is usually an interview when applying for a doctorate, and the interview is also an important part of the application. The interview also means that you are one step closer to admission. Most international students are interviewed online. It is worth noting that after the interview, remember to send a thank-you letter to the professor, so that we can further discuss with him the problems that were not carried out in the interview, and also express our desire to study for his doctorate again.

It is difficult to apply for a doctorate, but as long as you plan ahead step by step, you will definitely have a good result ~