Complete an undergraduate degree, preferably with a psychology major. Maintain a GPA of 3.5. Take all the courses required for admission to graduate programs.
Sign up for research methods and statistics as soon as the undergraduate department allows. Ask professors to let you help with research. Ask them to provide directed individual study.
Choose the area of psychology in which you desire a doctorate degree. Review websites and brochures of universities with programs in the desired city or state. Apply to at least five universities.
Practice for the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) and take it in the junior year. If scores are not over 1,000 points take the test again. Many graduate programs require scores above 500 points on each section of the GRE for admission.
Ask professors whom you assisted with research to write letters of recommendation to the universities to which applying. Request letters of recommendation from other professors from whom you have received good grades.
Sign up for courses in the main areas of psychology, such as cognitive psychology, personality, social psychology and statistics and research methods in the first year of studies.
Enroll in seminars to determine the area which you would like to conduct research. Select a professor and ask her to supervise your research.
Design a research project for a master's thesis with help from a supervising professor. In the second or third year, conduct research, analyze data and complete a master's thesis.
Review notes from seminars, study for the qualifying exam (a comprehensive exam), take and pass it.
Ask five to seven faculty members to form a committee to supervise your doctoral dissertation (original research) and advise on the design and analysis of data for it.
Conduct research (collect and analyze data) and write dissertation.
Arrange a meeting of the doctoral committee and defend the dissertation to them.
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Apply for an internship, if choosing counseling or clinical psychology, and complete a year's internship.