When I was applying to grad school, I looked for all the resources that might be able to help me become a stronger applicant, because I couldn’t find all the advice in one place. Here are the resources I used to improve my application profile, as well as a few other recommendations for what might help some students.
Books for Applying to Grad School
The major book I recommend is Graduate Admissions Essays by Donald Asher. This book isn’t psychology-specific, but you should still read the whole thing, and then go back and pay special attention to the essays written by students in the social sciences and natural sciences (because they talk about research experience) to get a feel for the structure and flow of strong admissions essays. I know for a fact that at least a couple of programs, my essays played a big role in the decision to offer me admission, and everything I wrote was based on the advice and examples in this book.
The other one is Getting In: A Step-by-Step Plan for Gaining Admission to Graduate School in Psychology, which is the official book by the APA (American Psychological Association). I (of course) think that my own book does a better job explaining how to get into grad school in psychology, but it wouldn’t hurt to have this one in addition to or in place of mine, especially since this is the official guide.
GRE Prep Material
Your first GRE resource should be ETS’s own PowerPrep software. Nothing will get closer to mimicking the real exam, since it’s made by the creators of the GRE. You can take two full-length practice exams for free, and you can buy two more for $40 each if you think you need them.
After I took the GRE the first time and didn’t like my quant score, I spent a few months of studying to raise my quantitative score by a few points (I wrote more on raising your math GRE score here). Look for video tutorials explaining the correct answer to each problem to improve at recognizing how to solve each type of question on the test. If you want a complete course, after not loving my original math score on the GRE, I used a Magoosh course and successfully raised it to a score I was satisfied with.
There are also many, many GRE prep books that you can use for practice problems. If you can find a used book without writing in it (good luck) you can buy them cheaper at used bookstores, or check your library’s catalog. Remember to take the problems timed so that you don’t get in the habit of solving problems too slowly, and similarly, don’t copy the entire problem down onto paper. You need to be able to read it off the book or screen and not start writing until you’re partway through solving the problem. Re-copying everything will take you too much time.
Editing and Proofreading Services
You can get your admissions essays professionally edited and proofread. I don’t have any particular services to recommend because I didn’t take this path, but for applicants who are non-native English speakers or who are not confident in their writing abilities, this can be extremely helpful. Note that you should make sure that the site you are considering does not write essays for clients. You should use a legitimate service whose goal is to help you improve your own writing, not help you cheat by writing the essay for you.
