Since I seem to have started much of this, let me make a few more comments:
1)Too many of our freshmen come in with the notion "I want to be a child psychologist" or "I want to be a forensic psychologist and do profiling for the FBI." They seem to come out of high school with these very specific notions about what will interest them and about the nature of psychology. This, IMO, is part of the reason they do so incredibly badly in introductory psychology. Although I have no data, it is my impression that high school psychology are of not help whatsoever in predicting a student's performance in intro psychology. Personally, I wish they would cease giving such courses and have the students take more history, math, science, etc. We all know that 1st year students are highly likely to switch their majors. So why should we think that they would actually be able to be pick a subdiscipline within that major? 2) While it's nice to have an undergraduate do research in the particular area in which he/she wishes to pursue graduate study. it's certainly not necessary. I tell my students that the important thing is to do research. This will make you more attractive to graduate programs. It will also get you better letters of reference. I tell them that "everyone has letters saying, 'nice kid, got an A. But not everyone has a letter that says, 'Jane was my undergraduate assistant for two years. She was so good that I put her in charge of other students and she helped coordinate data collection and analysis. In fact, I thought so much of her that I made her my co-author on two papers presented at APA. She helped me publish. She'll help you publish." And that. of course, is another reason to make sure that one attends a school where faculty engage undergraduates in research. I'll say "amen" to those who pointed out that a big doctoral-granting research institution is not necessarily a place that is good for undergraduate research involvement. Ed ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Edward I. Pollak, Ph.D. Department of Psychology, West Chester Univ. of Pennsylvania ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Husband, father, grandfather, biopsychologist, bluegrass fiddler and herpetoculturist. http://hometown.aol.com/eip1/home.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Shameless self promotion: The Mill Creek Bluegrass Band performs every Tuesday night at Dugal's Inn, Mortonville, 8 miles west of West Chester, PA. Call 610- 486-0953 for directions. http://hometown.aol.com/eip1/millcreek.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
