caitlinalobdell

I'm past nervous breakdown and on to physical breakdown, hahaha. The application process literally gave me an ulcer and I'm pretty sure I didn't get in anywhere. Sigh. In hindsight, after submitting my apps, I thought my SOPs were really great and individualized, but I could have done a way better job if I didn't have so many other time constraints during the app. process. So, I think, in the end, it's probably good that I didn't get in this year. A) I obviously can't handle the stress of grad school in my current state of emotional/physical well-being & B ) I have all year to prepare and kill it next time! Trying to stay positive

Hello, I am hoping for a little bit of guidance/some opinions from all of you brilliant and experienced folks out there. I applied this year to clinical psychology PhD programs. My ultimate career goal is to do research to study developmental psychopathology in an interdisciplinary approach utilizing information on risk and resilience through Bronfenbenner's ecological model of development to inform the development of empirically supported prevention and intervention curricula that would likely be implemented in the school setting. I also want to look at mental health through public health and public policy domains to determine what it would take to implement some sort of nationwide mental health screening questionnaire given annually in the schools to identify children who need some extra support and what areas that they need support in (i.e. academic, social, familial, psychological, etc.). . I know this is an idealistic goal, but I do truly believe that implementing something like this could potentially ameliorate psychopathology from a large number of our nation's population, opening up valuable services and resources to effectively manage care for those with ailments that are not preventable. Also, our nation needs to remove stigma from mental illness, and I think as a nation acknowledging mental illness in our youth as a public health problem would help to remove some stigma. I believe all children (even adults!) could use extra support in some arena of their life, so implementing something like this in school would not single out individuals, because everyone would participate. The first step in de-stigmatize mental illness is to acknowledge that it is a problem. So, my main dilemma is whether I should apply for clinical psychology PhD programs, developmental psychology PhD programs, community psychology PhD programs, or a master's program in either experimental/clinical/developmental or public health next year? I have found POIs that are doing research that is interesting to me in all of these areas/types of programs so I had trouble deciding which direction to take. This year, I decided to apply for clinical psychology PhD programs because I believe that in order to tell others how to provide mental health treatment (i.e. my goal to develop prevention/intervention curricula) that I should be adequately trained in service delivery. However, I do not have any interest in clinical practice as a career, but I also don't want to close myself off from opportunities only available to clinicians. However, I’m starting to doubt whether this was the best choice. I participated in a program in high school called running start that allowed me to attend community college during high school to earn both high school and college credit. By the time I went to college, I already had 43 transferable credits from this program, which was great, but I still wasn't sure where I wanted my career to go. I started undergrad with the idea of pursuing pre-med/pre-dental (like most undergrads did at my school!) however after taking chemistry, I realized that I hated it and was weeded out of the pre-med track! Thus, my first quarter's grades weren't so great. My second quarter, I took psychology 101 and instantly knew that I wanted a career in psychology and I decided to become a psychology major – the only problem was that I hadn’t taken any other psychology courses in college yet (I took one from my actual high school from an absolutely HORRIBLE teacher that almost deterred me from the field), so I was now rushed to be able to meet degree requirements in a short period of time. This led me to take classes in psychology that I was not very interested in due to limited availability. When I’m not 75-100% excited about a topic (e.g. chemistry: 2.3, motor development: 2.8, personality: 2.5) I don’t perform as well as I do in classes I am really excited about (e.g. psychobiology: 3.9, research methods: 4.0, research lab class: 3.9, motivation: 4.0). I was also, at the time, estranged from my parents and I was paying for college all on my own with a combination of student loans and working 20 hours a week until 12PM – 1AM at night, while typically taking a course load of 17-18 credits. I ended up graduating with a cumulative GPA of 3.51. I strongly considered applying to developmental psychology PhD programs because I know I don’t want to do clinical work, however the issue is that among my psychology courses, I received a 3.3 in my developmental psych. course, and I only received a 2.8 in a motor development class - the only two developmental psych classes I’ve taken and 2 of my lowest grades. Both of these classes were more focused on normal development as opposed to abnormal (which I am more interested in). I took the motor development class before I was officially accepted into the psychology major so I didn’t have a very many options of classes to take, but I needed to take a psychology class that quarter to be able to graduate in time as mentioned above. I must also note that during the time I took both of these classes, I was struggling with the transition to undergrad and my pretty severe chronic depression recurred. I started to isolate myself socially, making it difficult to get up in the morning [or afternoon for that matter] to go to class, I couldn’t concentrate well enough to study very effectively, and I couldn’t build relationships with peers at school or with my professors. There are two quarters where this was especially challenging and my grades those quarters show that. (3.0 & 3.2 GPAs those quarters). All other quarters (except for my first quarter when I was taking pre-med classes) I received a 3.5 or higher. Here goes rant #2 regarding my GRE scores! V=156 [old:550] (69%ile) Q=154 [old:690] (60%ile) Comb: 310 [old:1240) AWA=4.5 (73%ile) Due to a snafu at the testing center with my ID (the DMV accidentally switched my first and middle name on my driver's license! Which I awesomely did not realize until then). So I had to rush home and back to the testing center to get my passport in under 30 minutes and by the time I sat down to take the test I was completely frazzled. UGH. I was also working on adjusting my anti-depressant/anxiety medications at the time which I think really through me off. I was taking a medicine called propranolol, which is a beta blocker that is typically used for high-blood pressure, but my doctor had read some studies indicating that it can also be beneficial to those with anxiety/PTSD (which I also have..) so I tried it. The main purpose of it is to control the physical symptoms of anxiety (e.g. sweating, rapid breathing, heart rate, etc), which it definitely worked for, but it also made it really hard to recall information from memory. I spoke to some others about this drug after experiencing this (I have been out of school for 2 years, so I just thought that my difficulty studying was because I was out of practice) and they had similar side effects, so I stopped taking it. Anyways, I was not emotionally stable when I took the GREs the first time. So, due to this, I decided to take the GRE a second time and scheduled the test. I purchased a GRE prep program online through Magoosh, and started to significantly improve my practice tests. Then, I received the opportunity to author/present 2 posters at the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry annual conference as well as to start preparing a manuscript for publication. Preparing for these tasks took up the majority of my free time (I work full-time at hospital affiliated research institute in the center for child health behavior and development, where I have been for 3 years. I started as a student volunteer and now I am a project coordinator on a large, multisite, NIH funded R01 study; I have worked on 4 different studies here and have very good references from PIs with academic appointments in psychology/pediatrics/psychiatry. I also volunteer at a crisis phone line and have volunteered refugee youth). So, anyways, I actually performed worse the second time I took the test. I think my anxiety got the best of me coupled with extreme exhaustion from just returning from the week-long conference. I probably should have rescheduled the test, but there weren’t any more options for available tests that would be able to make it to schools in time for this year’s applications. So I was stuck using my first scores for my applications. Which aren’t too bad, but having a 3.51 GPA, I wanted to perform much better on the GRE to compensate. If I don’t get in this year I plan to do the following to increase my likelihood of admission: Retake GREs (Score in at least 80th %iles) Contact POIs before applying to work with them Take the Psychology GRE Subtest Take a graduate level statistics class and/or an abnormal psychology class Seek out more publication opportunities at work/in other labs with closer interests to mine? Read more literature in my field. Volunteer at a local organization that does outreach for homeless youth. I’ve been trying to volunteer here forever and not getting into grad school would be the motivation I need, I think. Given that I already have a crap ton of student loans, I would need a funded PhD program. I could probably handle the debt of a master’s however, if I kept my current job (would have to gain admission somewhere in the Seattle area). I had a really hard time trying to explain all of the above mentioned issues in my SOPs without sounding too whiny, so I ended up not really addressing them. I’m really wary to share too much personal detail about my mental health with those that I plan to work with, because I really don’t want them to think I am only interested in psychology because I struggle with mine. I am very passionate about my subject area and I know that I would excel in graduate school if I was given the opportunity, but I fear that I don’t look so great on paper and wont be accepted to a high caliber school that I desire (University of Washington, University of Southern California, UC Berkeley, University of Illinois in Chicago or Urbana Champaign, University of Virginia, to name a few). I have done a lot of “soul searching”/therapy since undergrad, and I am in a MUCH better place than I was. I moved out of my parent’s home when I was 16 and was living out of my car for about a month. I supported myself financially throughout my junior and senior years while I was attending high school and community college concurrently (graduated high school with a 3.8 highschool/running start GPA). I feel if I share too much of my past that POIs will not be able to look past it and will think I’m too fragile to handle the difficulty of grad school if I struggled during undergrad, but these experiences did spark my current research interests, so I mentioned the homelessness in my SOP my recommenders said that I did so tactfully, but now I am starting to worry that it was a mistake. I will end this long-winded rant with the questions I have for you all (if anyone cared enough to read this entire rant): Do you think my personal experiences would be worth focusing on for next years applications? If so, which aspects specifically (e.g. homelessness, supporting myself during adolescence/college, my struggle with mental health, etc.) If not, please provide reasons why (I’m just curious what others think) If not, how would you address my less than stellar GPA/GRE? To which of the following types of programs should I apply (select all that apply): Clinical Psychology PhD Developmental Psychology PhD Community Psychology PhD Experimental/Clinical/Developmental psychology masters program (research based) Masters in Public Health Just a shot in the dark, but if anyone knows of any PIs that are doing work similar to what I’m interested in developmental psychopathology and prevention science, could you so kind as to reply with the PI or school? (I’m looking into where else I might apply next year). Thank you so much C

Hello GC, I'm interested to hear what POI you applied to work with from those who have been extended interviews to the following schools. You can PM me. Also, if you wouldn't mind sharing a little bit about your relevant background (GPA, GRE, # of pubs, etc.) that would be greatly appreciated to plan for next year's applications (I've seen invites to USC, UC Berkeley, UConn, and UIC so far, so I'm guessing that I'll have to try again next year). Thanks! C University of Southern California, Clinical Psychology University of California - Berkeley, Clinical Psychology University of Illinois - Chicago, Clinical Psychology Universtiy of Connecticut, Clinical Psychology University of Delaware, Clinical Psychology Washington State University, Clinical Psychology NYU - Steinhardt, Psychology and Social Intervention

1. Retake GREs (Score in at least 80th %iles) 2. Take the Psychology GRE Subtest 3. Take a graduate level statistics class 4. Seek out more publication opportunities at work. 5. Read more literature in my field. I read a crap ton of articles for work, but not as many as I should for my specific interests. 6. Volunteer at a local organization that does outreach for homeless youth. Been trying to volunteer here forever and not getting into grad school would be the motivation I need, I think.

You're application is looking really good to me, just speaking from what I've read on here and advice I've received! (I'm applying to clinical psych programs this season - waiting to hear back about interviews). 1. With regards to the GRE subject test, I cannot speak to that because I did not take it, but I've recently been wishing that I had taken it (waiting to hear back from admission committees, I've been wishing that I had done a lot of things I didn't do, ha). Most of the programs that I looked at said that that the subject test was not required, but they highly urge folks to take it. I think in general, do anything you can do to strengthen your application. I would focus heavily on studying the regular GRE as well and try to score around 320 to be competitive. 2. Since your stats look pretty good (pending GRE scores), what you should be doing between now and application season is trying to get as much research experience and as many publications as humanly possible. Also try to refine your research interests. "Fit" between potential mentors and mentees is a large determining factor for admission. 3. Since I'm interested in clinical, I can't speak to developmental programs, but what I would say is that if your research interests highly match a faculty member's research - go for it! 4. I'm in the same boat! We've been dating for over 5 years and It's really hard, but at some point you just have to kind of accept that you may not end up in the same place since there is no telling where you/he is going to get in. I guess my only suggestion would be to apply to the same schools, BUT don't sacrifice research fit just because it is a school your boyfriend is interested in - you will just waste the application fee. Also, maybe you both could choose just one of the coasts and only apply to schools there so travel isn't as expensive/time consuming. Not a fun situation to be in, I know. Your transition may not be as difficult since you're already used to long-distance? I don't know, man. Anyways, I think you have a great chance. Good that you are planning this far ahead Good Luck!

CONGRATS!

Thank you all for your feedback - very helpful. Hopefully I get in this year...I've waited 2 years since graduating from undergrad to strengthen my application by gaining more research experience (3 years at Seattle Children's Research Institute total), clinical/volunteer experience at a local crisis line, teaching experience tutoring young refugee children, and publishing 3 posters and a manuscript that has been sumitted (3rd author out of 3). I never even thought about taking graduate classes before someone recently mentioned it as an option. What do you think about post-bacc undergrad classes vs. post-bacc graduate classes? Also, do you recommend taking more theoretical courses or applied courses, such as statistics?

I am curious whether any current clinical psych students, or applicants have taken graduate level courses (not within a masters program) to make up for a less than superb GPA/GRE (I have a 3.5, but I was going through a lot of personal stuff during undergrad, so I know it is not representative of my true ability). I think taking some graduate level psychology courses would be extremely beneficial to my application if I don't get in this year (today is a pessimistic day). Anyways, for those of who have taken graduate level courses to strengthen your application, do you believe it was worthwhile or not? Thank you for your input!

Haven't heard anything yet either. In the past the University of Southern California has sent out invites 12/15 - 12/19 so I'm getting pretty impatient to hear back from them. The rest of my schools tend to give invites to interviews around mid-January as well...

I've already checked the "Results Search" portion of Grad Cafe at least 4 times today. Even though there aren't ANY Clinical Psych/Science program results being posted yet. I even went through last year's clinical psych results to see an approximation of when I might hear back from my schools. Yep, going a bit insane. I think I'm going to take all of your advice and drink a lot of wine and resume doing yoga. Probably not at the same time.

I think you can get in "somewhere," but it depends what school you are applying to, how competitive the program is, and what discipline you are interested in studying at a graduate level. I'm applying to PhD programs in clinical psych, and I know masters programs are less competitive, but from my standpoint your GPA and GRE scores are quite low (I actually have the same verbal score as you though, UGH! Hate the GREs!), but it is great that you have a lot of community service/leadership, and that you will be starting research shortly. When you start working in research, see if there are any opportunities for publication in your lab. A lot of PIs will give you the opportunity to author a poster for a psychology conference if you ask. If you're interested in counseling or clinical psychology, or most psychological disciplines really, getting basic experience interacting with the population you are intersted in treating/researching would also add strength to your application. You're applying next year, I'm guessing? Since you have to wait until after the Spring to get a letter of rec from your research prof? If you're able, I would re-take the GRE since your GPA isn't the best. I wish you the best!

Right - that's why I wasn't 100% sure I should re-take. However, I re-took it, and due to a perfect storm of a week-long conference where I presented 2 posters, starting a new research Project Coordinator position on a new research study, and working on a manuscript outside of work (40hrs) hours, I wasn't able to study much and didn't improve! It's so frustrating because I know that I could do much better if I was a typical student applying to grad school who has ample free time. Rant over. I am primarily interested in research oriented clinical psychology programs due to my interest in developmental psychopathology and prevention/intervention program creation for at-risk youth. The community programs I'm interested in are highly research based and have faculty with my interests, but their work focuses more on the public health aspect of psychology in which I am also interested. Honestly, my first criteria was that I had to be near the ocean (I'm from Seattle and I don't think I could take the Midwest even though it is probably lovely, but when I'm not happy, all other life domains suffer), then I looked for schools that offered the program type(s) I was interested in and narrowed those down by looking at the work being done by the faculty. This left me with primarily schools that are VERY competitive. Due to my low GRE scores, this year is going to be a "trial run" for applying so I am only applying to 4 programs (UC-Berkeley, USC, NYU, and UConn) out of my 10 schools. I was sort of apprehensive to apply this year anyways given a new position (promotion!) at work that will give me a lot more hands clinical experience and further research experience that I wasn't sure I want to give up. So, after everything I decided to apply and if I get it, great! If not, I'll have time to study for the GRE.....again, and I have a great opportunity where I am. Long answer for a short question! Caitlin

I received a 156* in verbal which is why the percentile is a bit higher

Thank you for your honest opinion! I knew the scores weren't very good, but I just needed to hear it from an objective party! I just registered to re-take the test.

Hello, I am concerned about my GRE scores. I received a 156 V, 154 Q, & 4.5 AWA. My undergrad GPA is a 3.5 with a Bachelor's of Science in Psychology from the University of Washington. I have extensive research experience at Seattle Children's Hospital (3 years) with 3 poster publications at ATA (American Telemedicine Association) and AACAP (American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry - 1 presentation) conferences and I am working on a paper to be published. I have a project coordinator/clinical research associate job where I gained experience consenting/assenting & interviewing. I also volunteer at a 24-hour crisis telephone line once a week where I implement a crisis intervention to callers. I had past experience tutoring young refugee children. I am looking into child clinical/community psychology ph.d. programs (University of Southern California, University of Virginia, University of Missouri, University of Washington, University of Connecticut, New York University. Would it be worth it to re-take the GRE? Thank you, Caitlin