For Prospective Graduate Students

Undergraduate, post-baccalaureate, and master's degree-holding students who have acquired substantial research skills and competencies in leading national infant, child, or family study laboratories are all welcome and encouraged to apply for graduate study at Clark. There are several ways that prospective students "match" well with ongoing work in the "Families through Time" study :

• Students who have received training and certification in coding "Strange Situations" or "Adult Attachment Interviews" will have ready and waiting opportunities to put their skills to use in working with study data that can serve as the basis for masters or dissertation projects;
• Students who have been working in leading national or international laboratories studying marital conflict, and who have learned techniques for assessing and evaluating marital conflict and/or preschooler's representations of family conflict, will also be able to step in immediately to assist with data collection and coding projects and ultimately to assume leadership roles in these areas of the study;
• Students who bring substantial experience working with children and families from under-represented populations (African American, Asian American, Latino, gay, and lesbian families) or with step-or adoptive families, have opportunities both to collaborate on existing projects and to help launch new initiatives in our study of coparenting dynamics.

In all cases, it is important that students bring a strong record of past research experience and accomplishments; excellent GRE verbal and quantitative scores; well-developed writing skills; and knowledge of current infant, child, and family research (substantiated in students' letters of recommendation, past attendance at national and international conferences such as the Society for Research in Child Development and/or the International Conference on Infant Studies, and - most importantly - in their statements of purpose). Familiarity and comfort working with statistical packages such as SPSS, and with data entry and analysis, are also expected. For further information, consult Clark's psychology department webpage, or Dr. McHale directly.