idgy24

Thanks for the replies guys! I know a little more specifically what I want to do; I guess I didn't really explain it very well (sorry). Let me try again. Basically, I did a couple of lit reviews during my undergrad on impairments in affect recognition in schizophrenics. A lot of the studies I read used neuroimaging to identify areas of the brain that have issues. There were also studies that measured reaction time and accuracy identifying pos/neg faces. After doing these papers I became really interested in the subject/area. I hope this helps a little more to point me in the right direction. Further feedback would be great!

Hey everyone! I am planning to apply to clinical PhD programs for fall 2015. I have been looking around at schools, and seeing what school would be the best fit for me. The problem is, while doing this, I started to question which way I should be going. Here's the situation: I have very specific interests in Schizophrenia and neuropsychology. Ideally I would like to do research on the brain structures, neurotransmitters, and maybe grey matter, and other things in the brain that may be involved in Schizophrenia. I also would like to take that information and then apply it to how it affects cognition, perception, and social interactions. I am interested in those who have a genetic predisposition, those in their first psychotic break, and the progression of the illness in those who have multiple psychoses, and those who don't. This is just very broad; I will obviously narrow it down over time. Upon looking around, I have found some websites/professors who have told me that neuropsychology would be the best way for me to go, some telling me that clinical is the way to go, and some telling me something about biological psychology. I have no idea anymore how I should proceed. Clinical initially drew my attention because it allows me to obtain my license to practice, so I will have options if I find that I do not like research/academia. Does anyone know if I'm on the right path? Do I need to think about a different program? Are there differences between clinical PhD programs and Neuropsychology PhD programs? Any help and guidance that someone could provide would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for the help!!!

Perfect. Thank you very much. This puts my mind at ease at least a little bit lol. This whole process has been really stressful to me.

Thank you very much for your reply, I appreciate it more than you know. I am currently trying to come up with a general idea of what to put in my personal statement for each of the schools I plan on applying to. But to be honest, I don't know where to even start. I don't exactly know what to say or what they're looking for. Basically I'm completely clueless. Do you have any help/suggestions to offer?

Thank you SO much! This really helped to clear up a lot. For the neuropsychology programs, are they their own seperate program from clinical? That is definitely an area I would definitely consider as well

I am currently finishing my undergrad in psychology and plan on applying to clinical programs this fall. I have been checking into a lot of schools, and I have been looking at the admissions statistics. I'm not going to lie, it's really intimidating to look at. There are SO many applicants and very few get accepted. So I guess my question is do I even have a chance? Allow me to give you a little background: my current undergrad GPA is a 3.67 (it will probably go up to a 3.7 or higher after I finish my summer classes), I haven't taken my GRE yet, I have done 2 semesters of research with a professor at my university (but it's really only been running subjects through the experiment, unfortunately), I was a TA for a psych stats/research design class, and I know I will get GREAT letters of recommendation from 3 professors. Other information that I'm not sure if it helps me get into a program: I will be graduating with 70 credit hours in psychology, and my GPA within subject is a 3.87. Also, my job for the last 5 years has been working at a group home for mentally ill people, and for the last 6 months I have been working as a mental health technician at a psychiatric hospital. Another question I have is what I should put in my personal statement. I know some guidelines (research interests, career goals, etc.) but I'm not entirely sure what to say or how to say it. Should any additional information be put into my personal statement? I also saw that a couple schools I'm looking into ask for a writing sample. What exactly does this mean/what are they looking for? Will a lit review paper from one of my undergrad classes suffice? Also, I started at a community college and transfered to a university. Do I need to have the transcripts from the community college sent to the schools as well? I went through a lot of personal issues my first couple years of college, so my GPA from the community college is crap (like a 2.8). Will this hurt my chances when I apply? Should I address my GPA from the community college in my personal statement? Also, since these programs are so competitive, should I have a backup? Or should I just continue to re-apply? I'm really interested in schizophrenia and neuropsych, so I would ideally love to be able to work in an inpatient unit and/or teach and conduct research. With that in mind, what would be a good possible alternate/backup program to apply to? I'm sorry this is so long, I just have a lot of questions and don't really know where to begin with all of this. Any tips/advice/help would be GREATLY appreciated!!!