Masters or Year Break in Psychology Advice Needed

[bonjourkrystal]

I recently applied to doctoral programs within clinical psychology, but it looks like I am probably not going to get accepted. I was wondering if I should take a year break (volunteer at a research lab, improve my GRE score, and work at community mental health/something psych related) or should I go straight to masters? Also if I choose to take a year break what is some advice that could be given because I'm kind of worried about my job prospects.  I have a 3.95 gpa, I'm president of my psychology club, my gre scores are verbal:155, quant: 151, writing:5. I currently work in a lab and I am working on my honors thesis, but these are somewhat unrelated to future research topics that I would like to delve into during graduate school. I need opinions on what I can do next!! Also if I do choose to volunteer at a research lab how do I get in contact with a professor (specifically one out of state since I am more than willing to move)? 

[stereopticons]

If you can get into a funded masters program, do it. Otherwise, it's not worth the money. I don't know what your area of interest is, but a lot of fields have listservs where professors post RA or lab manager jobs that are intended for post-bacc people headed for grad school. You can also check HERCjobs (higher ed recruitment consortium) or Indeed. I've also cold emailed people I was interested in working with--just say something to the effect of I'm really interested in your work, I want to get more experience before grad school, do you have any paid or volunteer positions available. Most people were very kind and understanding. 

[Blackwater]

As the previous poster stated, I wouldn't go into a masters without funding. 

I do however think that taking a year and working as a paid research assistant/lab manager in a topic somewhat closely related to you interests could help a lot. Knowing how  competitive clinical programs are I would recommend really working hard (studying minimum of two hours a day for 6 days a week across 2+months) to significantly raise your GRE scores.  In this coming year I would also recommend working on publishing your honors thesis. Even though the research isn't as closely related to what you want to peruse it is always impressive to have a publication. 

As for RA jobs, most psychological associations/society have job boards you can go to if you are a member. I've seen a lot of people looking for RAs/Lab Managers in those settings. If there are some specific labs you would want to work you can check their lab website or just cold email the PI. 

Don't be discouraged by one unsuccessful application round! 

Edited January 19, 2017 by Blackwater

[bonjourkrystal]

@blackwater @stereopticons thank you for all of your advice. My interests lean more towards forensic, sexuality and personality disorders related to those topics.  I didn't know about those websites and if I don't get into a PhD program those sound like great places to look. Also, the day I posted this I got an interview for clinical PhD at Wichita State and I'm really excited (a crazy coincidence, I know). What psychological associations do you recommend looking at, I'm an APA member, but are there any other ones you would recommend? Your responses helped a lot and I really appreciate it.

[Blackwater]

Congrats on the interview!!! APA is great, so is the association for psychological science (APS). Someone more clinical oriented may be able to name a few more. Usually there are a lot of posts in the spring as labs are often loosing their RAs and lab managers during that time because they're heading off to grad school.

Hoping your interview goes great and you don't have to worry about it!!

 

 

[stereopticons]

Congrats! I know the ABCT listserv sends out jobs a lot. I imagine you could also check APA divisions to see if they have postings as well. Also, your professors are great resources. They likely get emails about job postings all the time. Talk to them and see if they'll send some to you!

The next couple months are when things start to really pick up as far as job posts. I've started getting a bunch on the listservs I'm on already. Apply to anything you're remotely qualified for--these jobs are competitive. 

[angesradieux]

Congrats on the interview! I'm not a psychology person, but I took a year off between finishing undergrad and applying to grad programs. I wasn't sure, but a number of my professors all recommended it, so I took their advice, and I'm glad I did. I was able to do an internship for a few months to add to my CV, and I kind of had the freedom to work through the process at my leisure. I took the GRE really early, because I didn't have any other coursework to distract my from studying so I was able to prep at my convenience instead of being forced to put it off, and then I had basically the entire fall to research and contact POIs and really refine my writing sample. Long story short, hopefully things all go well and it's not an issue, but if you do end up taking a year off I found that not being in school makes it much easier to work through the application process.