Hi all,
So I'm about to frantically email every adviser I ever had contact with this same question, but I would love advice from anyone here. Sorry if this is a super long post. Hopefully it will help people in similar situations!
I am(was?) planning to apply to Clinical Psych programs this year to enroll in the fall of 2013. I'm interested in doing research in a very specific field, such that only about 15 programs have mentors with similar research interests. At my top two ranked schools, there are researchers who are conducting studies that have greatly influenced my views and interests on this topic and so map directly onto what I would like to study. Both of these schools are extremely competitive, though, and are my "reach" schools.
In compulsively checking the program's website last night I discovered that one of my two top choice mentors will not be accepting graduate students for fall 2013. Here's my dilemma: do I wait a year to apply in order to get a chance to work with my top choice researcher?
If I apply this year to enroll in fall 2013, I think I stand a fair chance of getting in somewhere. To give some background, I have a 3.7 GPA over all, 3.9 for my last 60 credits, and 3.8 for my major; GREs: Quant=157=71%ile (meh), Verbal=166=96%ile, Writing 5.5=96%ile. I will have 2 years of full time research experience at a fancypants institution upon enrollment. I also completed an honors thesis and some did some volunteer research as an undergrad. I have year of a 6-10 hr/wk clinical intern experience at a pediatric psych hospital and a summer of full time clinical experience on a women's helpline. I should have good letters of rec.
The chances of me getting into my other top choice program are ok (I think?), but obviously not a sure thing. If I got into other programs that I'm moderately interested in (in comparison to my top choices), then I would essentially have to count myself out of a chance at getting into my dream program by accepting an offer. Is it reasonable to put my entire application process on hold for a year to have a chance of maybe getting into my dream school? Is this unrealistic considering how competitive clinical psych programs are?
Thanks for any advice!