HOW MUST I CHANGE TO BECOME THE PERSON I WANT TO BE?

» Applicant Characteristics Valued By Graduate Programs In Psychology
» Characteristics Of Graduate School Superstars
» Characteristics Of Successful Graduate Students In Clinical Psychology
» The Unvalidated Graduate School Potential Test
» Categories Of Job Skills Valued By Employers Who Are Willing To Interview Marian College Psychology Majors
» Mariancollege Psychology Department

This study is based on the assumptions that graduate schools (a) are aware of the characteristics of students who excel in their programs and (b) use the information they gain from letters of recommendation to identify applicants who possess these characteristics. Recommendation forms from the application packages of 143 graduate programs in clinical, experimental, and industrial/organizational psychology were studied. The applicant characteristics that recommenders were requested to rank in grid formats or include in written descriptions were identified, categorized, and arranged in order of relative frequency. The resulting list?consisting of all characteristics requested on at least 10 recommendation forms?describes the characteristics that psychology graduate programs value in their applicants, ranked in descending order of frequency as indicated by the numbers in parenthesis. It is interesting to note that of the 802 total instances of characteristics included in this list, 332 refer to personal characteristics (preceded by P), 264 refer to acquired skills (preceded by S), and 206 refer to intellectual abilities or knowledge (preceded by I).

It appears that graduate programs are most interested in learning about the personal characteristics of their potential applicant from recommenders, that they place secondary emphasis on learning about their applicants' acquired skills, and are less interested in learning about their applicants' intellectual abilities or knowledge from recommenders. This seems to be a reasonable conclusion because graduate programs have access to measures of applicants' intellectual abilities (e.g., verbal and mathematical GRE scores and transcripts), knowledge (e.g., psychology GRE scores), and skills (e.g., applicants' application forms and personal statements), but must rely exclusively on the personal experience that recommenders have had with applicants to measure their personal characteristics.

CHARACTERISTICS OF GRADUATE SCHOOL SUPERSTARS

Graduate school can be a traumatic experience. Many graduate students spend their time complaining about the heavy work load, the uncaring attitudes of faculty, and the constant pressure of being evaluated. These students quickly begin to devalue their graduate education, deny its relevance, and develop strategies that help them to "beat the system" (i.e., merely satisfying degree requirements without engaging in any actual learning). Graduate school for these people is an unpleasant experience to be endured, survived, and forgotten as quickly as possible. What a shame! Another group seems to thrive on their graduate education. According to Bloom and Bell (1979): "These are the few who proceed through the program with the minimum amount of difficulty and a maximum amount of quality performance. They are respected by the faculty, they receive the best financial assistance, they receive accolades, and as a group, they end up with the best employment" (p. 231). These are the graduate school superstars. But what makes them so successful? Bloom and Bell asked 40 of their colleagues (who had earned doctorates from well-known programs around the country) to describe the superstars they had known. The results were amazingly consistent and can be organized into the following five factors.

"Visibility: The most often mentioned behavioral characteristic was visibility. Superstars were observed to be physically present in the department, during and often after working hours.

Hard Working: The next most often mentioned quality was that they were hard working. It is important to point out that the superstars were perceived as hard working because faculty actually saw them working hard. Other students may have worked harder, but because they were working hard at home or in the library, they were not perceived to be as hard working as the superstars.

Reflection of Program Values: A consistently mentioned quality was the faculty's perceptions of their professional values. These values were concordant with program values of research and scholarly excellence. Superstars are engaged in ongoing research projects in addition to their MA and PhD theses. Non-superstars did research because it was a degree requirement. Superstars viewed research as an integral part of their discipline and a desirable and worthwhile activity for any professional psychologist. They were curious enough about a problem to want to see data on it. Superstars also recognized the value of having contact with broad areas of psychology, even though their own programs might be highly specialized.

Professor Attachment: From the time they entered graduate school almost all superstars attached themselves to one or two faculty members with whom they continued to work during the course of their training.

The W Factor: The final characteristic was that superstars had the ability to make faculty feel worthwhile and rewarded. Typical faculty responses were "early on, they were easy to teach," "they picked up things quickly," "they could receive and use feedback well," "they were not constant complainers," and "they were able to grow into colleague status without taking advantage." In essence, the superstars listened, learned, grew, and produced, which in turn made the faculty member feel worthwhile and rewarded for his/her investment and chosen occupation" (p. 231).

Please note that the above characteristics do not include intelligence, excellent grades, or writing ability. Perhaps these qualities are simply assumed to exist in superstars. The lesson to be learned from these findings is that success in graduate school is due to more that just raw brain power. It is also strongly affected by dedication, hard work, loyalty, a willingness to embrace the values of a program, and the ability to make faculty feel worthwhile and rewarded.

CHARACTERISTICS OF SUCCESSFUL GRADUATE
STUDENTS IN CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY

Descutner and Thelen (1989) asked 79 faculty members from nine APA-approved clinical psychology graduate programs to describe a successful clinical psychology graduate student by rating 25 characteristics and behaviors on a 6-point scale ranging from not important (1) to very important (6). These characteristics and behaviors (and their average ratings) are listed below in decreasing order of rated importance.

It is no surprise that faculty in clinical psychology programs place a premium value on graduate students who work hard, possess good social skills, and write well. However, a surprise does occur with the fourth and fifth items. Most students preparing for graduate education in clinical psychology assume that clinical and counseling skills will be much more valuable to them in graduate school than their ability to perform research. NOT SO! Descutner and Thelen's data clearly indicate that potential clinicians should work equally as hard to develop their research skills--in courses such as experimental psychology, statistics, computer-assisted research, and directed senior research--as they do to develop their clinical and counseling skills. Another interesting finding from this survey is that the ability to handle stress and display discipline are rated as more important to graduate student success than either good grades or high intelligence. Apparently graduate faculty prefer to work with emotionally stable students who can produce consistently above average work and meet deadlines than with highly intelligent, straight A students who are personally and academically erratic, unorganized, or unpredictable. Undergraduate students who suffer from stress and who have a difficult time managing their academic and personal lives in a disciplined manner can develop the skills to overcome these deficiencies through classes (e.g., Stress Management) or personal counseling.

The Unvalidated Graduate School Potential Test

Your answers to the following 22 yes-no questions (modified from Fretz & Stang, 1988) will give you a good idea of your potential for success in graduate school as determined by your current values and level of motivation. Answer each question honestly and truthfully. This is not a standardized or validated test, and its items are so transparent that anyone can fake them. Unless you are completely honest with yourself, the results will be of no value.

Give yourself a point for every even-numbered question you answered with a "yes" and for every odd-numbered question you answered with a "no." The higher your score, the higher your potential for success in graduate school.

CATEGORIES OF JOB SKILLS VALUED BY EMPLOYERS
WHO ARE WILLING TO INTERVIEW MARIAN COLLEGE PSYCHOLOGY MAJORS

What skills are employers looking for when they interview psychology majors? To answer this question, a questionnaire was sent to 39 employers who send recruiters to Marian College and who are willing to interview psychology majors. The 14 employers who returned the questionnaire rated the importance of the following skills in their hiring decisions on a 5-point scale (5 = extremely important, 1 = unimportant). The results are displayed below with the skills organized according to categories, the number to the right of each category reflecting the average rating of the skills in that category, and the number to the left of each skill representing its average rating.

These data indicate that employers do not rate all categories of skills as equally important (e.g., they appear much more interested in the social, personal, and communication skills of potential employees than in their ability to perform numerical, computer, or psychometric operations). Psychology majors should use this information in two ways. First, they should take every opportunity to develop and strengthen these crucial skills while they are in college. Second, they should do all they can to insure they can demonstrate or prove the existence of these skills during an interview. Many frequently asked interview questions are designed to uncover the presence or absence of these skills (e.g., Tell me about yourself; expand on your resume. What was your greatest accomplishment? Tell me about your extracurricular activities and what you learned from them. What was your most stressful experience and how did you handle it? How have you worked successfully with people who are different from you.) Be prepared to give impressive answers to these questions!

Although the majority of these employers indicated satisfaction with the performance of the recent college graduates they had hired, several also provided the following negative characteristics of their recent hires:

The purpose of this survey is to gather information from employers who have indicated to our Career Center that they are willing to interview and hire psychology majors. The information gained through this survey will be used for departmental assessment and curriculum improvement.

One way for higher education and business/industry to collaborate in the education of tomorrow's workers is through internships which provide students with opportunities to gain practical, on-the-job experience and earn college credit at the same time. These experiences can be beneficial to both students and the companies who sponsor them. Students leave interships with a greater understanding of and appreciation for the skills that are actually needed to succeed on-the-job, and companies have a "no risk" opportunity to evaluate potential employees. Does your company provide such an opportunity? If your answer is yes, would you please use the space below to describe it briefly and explain the procedure students should follow if they are interested in applying for an internship in your company. If not, would your company be interested in developing one in the future?

Thank you for completing this survey and returning it to me in the enclosed SASE. If you would like to help us "bridge the gap" between higher education and business/industry, please contact me at the address or telephone number on my enclosed business card. I would appreciate an opportunity to talk with you about how my department can prepare psychology students for the careers that await them in the 21st Century.

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