JoePianist

If you’re coming from a Master’s program in MSW or Counseling, you will more than likely start from square one when starting a Psy.D program. You might be able to transfer a few classes from your MSW or Counseling program, but that depends on each Psy.D program.

I’m surprised to hear this will be your 4th time applying to PhD Clinical Psychology programs, given your background. I’m a third-year student in the UAB (Alabama-Birmingham) Medical-Clinical Psych PhD program myself, and many of our incoming students don’t have a first-author publication or oral presentation under their belt aside from a few posters — that’s the same case at similar PhD Clinical Psych programs where I know other colleagues. I assume you’ve done this, but my first suggestion would be to ask for feedback from the potential mentors at the institutions you interviewed at the last time you applied. Perhaps there’s a key factor or two beyond your objective grades/research productivity/GRE or interview style that’s been impeding your placement. My second advice is to see if your research mentor or other faculty in your Psychology Department has any connections to faculty at a PhD Clinical/Counseling Psych Program; and if that’s the case, see if they can introduce you to these individuals at these programs. I feel that a factor that often gets ignored about this application process is that it favors those with the right social connections within the field — professors seem more willing to take in a mentee if a colleague they know well can strongly vouch for the student. In any case, I sincerely wish you the best on the process!

As a successful applicant with worse stats than @CuringNihilism who got into a funded & APA-accredited doctoral Clinical Psychology program, I second @liznlex's post.

@ae616 I actually think your GRE scores are fine - they won't get you into an ultra-competitive tier like Harvard or UCLA, but your scores are good enough for getting into most APA-accredited Ph.D Clinical Psychology programs. Your M.S. in Clinical Psychology with background in both research and clinicals will give you a bit of an advantage in your application too. Good luck!

Your verbal score on the GRE is definitely not competitive for an accredited clinical psychology doctoral program – you’ll need to get that up to 150 at least

Exactly what kind of career are you wanting? If you're only interested in therapy work, maybe you can consider just doing a Master's in Counseling – you can still become a licensed therapist, and those graduate programs aren't nearly as competitive as doctorate Clinical Psychology programs.

Yes.

Hi Miiit, congratulations on your decision to pursue a PhD in Clinical or Counseling Psychology. It's certainly a rewarding career path, though earning admission into a high quality PhD Clinical/Counseling Psychology program is quite the challenge. My first question is this: what Psychology classes have you already taken in college? Before you can apply, you'll need to have already taken a few classes like Research Design in Psychology, Introduction to Statistics for Research, Abnormal Psychology, Developmental Psychology, etc. My second question is: do you have any experience working in a Psychology lab? In order to be a competitive applicant, you'll need to have worked or volunteered in a Psychology lab for at least 1-2 years. Ideally, you'll need to have worked in a lab that specifically focused on your interests in cultural & social identity issues in Psychology. If you're lacking in Psychology courses and research, then I'd recommend pursuing an MA in Psychology. However, if you've already taken all the basic undergraduate Psychology courses and you just need research experience, you don't necessarily need to pursue an MA in Psychology. Rather, you can volunteer as a Research Assistant in a Psychology lab at a nearby university, which is a cheaper option. You can also try to apply for paid Research Assistant positions in a Psychology lab if you can find openings, but those paid research jobs are very challenging to obtain without a MA in Psychology (or a related Social Science like Sociology).

Hi JuneDreams, good to hear you're back in school exploring your career options! First of all, I'd like to mention that there are plenty of "non-traditional" doctorate psychology students similar to you who are a bit older or making a career shift. It's doable, and your status as a non-traditional student shouldn't impede your goals. Have you tried looking up other nearby colleges and universities in your area that may offer a Social/Personality Psychology department? Ideally, it would help if you can ally yourself with a Social/Personality Psychology professor who's willing to mentor you in their lab and connect you to other professors accepting students at their PhD Social/Personality Psychology program. If that isn't an option, perhaps you can reach out to a previous psychology professor at the school you're currently attending (doesn't matter from which subfield) and talk to them about your predicament and goals. Perhaps they might be able to connect you to the right resources as well. Best of luck, and feel free to reach out anytime!

I noticed that you plan to apply to UAB's Medical Clinical Psychology program as your top choice, and I'm actually a 2nd year in that program right now! I'm doing research in chronic pain & health disparities with my mentors there. If you want to reach out for any information or advice about the program, feel free to PM me

Like others have said, I'd also feel "butt-hurt" about the prospect of accepting a waitlist offer as a "second choice" candidate. That being said, with how competitive it is to get admitted into a respectable, funded Ph.D Clinical Psychology program, I'd suggest swallowing one's pride and taking that waitlist offer if it's a good program or in the case that you have no other offers.

A colleague of mine went to San Diego State University for their M.A. in Psychology, which specifically prepares students to become competitive for Ph.D programs. She's now a doctoral student at the University of Alabama's Ph.D Clinical Psychology Program. I've also heard that the M.A. Psychology program at Wake Forest University is quite solid, though it's more geared towards those who are strongly considering a research career. Hope this helps!

I'd suggest emailing the Program Director at Yeshiva's Clinical Psychology program to explain your financial situation and ask for suggestions. Perhaps they may provide funding through assistantships (e.g., teaching, research, or clinical part-time work) within the program, though I don't whether the Clinical Psychology program at Yeshiva provide such opportunities. Good luck!

haha

It might be helpful to skim over the broad research areas offered by that particular program; but really, focus more on calming your nerves and treat the upcoming interview as just a meaningful conversation with two people. From what you had described, it sounds like they aren't expecting you to overly prepare - just talk to them as regular people while being engaged in the conversation. Also, make sure you try to weave anything related to your career field that you're particularly passionate about, and you'll be fine

So, I can't say that I know much about the Academy vs PCSAS, though from my understanding, PCSAS is the accreditation entity under the Academy umbrella. And, I do know that several Clinical Science programs are pushing for using PCSAS as the training model's accreditation standard, with the hope of distancing themselves from the APA accreditation standard (though, I can't say I know the specifics as to the reasoning for this). PCSAS is still a relatively young accreditation standard, too, and has not yet been widely adopted. Long story short, all you need to be concerned about right now is whether your prospective programs are APA accredited. In addition, you need to look into the percentage of students from your prospective programs who were successfully matched with an APA-accredited internship, which will clue you in to how well that particular program will prepare you as a competitive career candidate after graduating with your Ph.D

1. You'll come to find that the US News' Clinical Psychology Ranking list is rather deceptive. Almost all the programs ranked 1-100 are actually solid, including those between 50-100. Within the Clinical Psychology field, "brand name" recognition (e.g., Yale, Harvard, UCLA, etc.) is secondary to actual student outcomes and quality of training. When applying for internships and jobs within Clinical Psychology, the people hiring will recognize the programs with solid training and excellent student outcomes too. 2. If you're interested in going into research or academia (i.e., professor) for a career, then you'll want the programs with the R1 distinction. Specifically, R1 schools will typically offer the most opportunities to get involved in research and publications due to their volume of research grant funding. 3. Clinical Science vs Scientist-Practitioner: Either training model will properly prepare you for your specified career interests. More importantly, though, I'd suggest you ask your prospective programs for data on what types of jobs and settings that their graduates typically go into, which should clue you in to the program's strength. There are some programs within BOTH training models that primarily focus on producing full-time researchers and future professors, and there are some programs from BOTH training models that might have an even mix of researchers, professors, and clinicians produced. 4. I'm actually more familiar with the Psychological Clinical Science Accreditation System (PCSAS) as the "premier" membership to which Clinical Science programs should be a part of. It's the equivalent of the American Psychological Association (APA) accreditation for the standard of quality for all Clinical Psychology programs overall. Hope this is a bit helpful - good luck on decisions!

@inneedofadvice2018 So I see you've received a lot of different advice on this forum and on StudentDoctorNetwork - have you gotten closer to deciding on a plan of action?

You could have asked for her email address to stay in contact at least. That's what I did during my interviews with a few fellow applicants.

Ah, got it! Either way, I believe most graduate psychology programs have sent interview invites, but I'd recommend just waiting one more week before starting to make alternative plans. If you need some input at that stage, feel free to message me ?

I'm assuming you've applied to doctorate Clinical Psychology programs? I believe interview invites for most programs have been sent at this point, but I'd give it one more week before worrying about it

The admissions committee in the Medical Clinical Psychology program at UAB are currently deliberating final interviewee choices – I'd expect invitations to go out within the next week or two.

I'm sorry to hear that, @Itzik. I had also struggled with standardized exams including the General GRE. Your Quantitative and Verbal scores are honestly above the average cutoff for most graduate school disciplines. Instead of re-taking the GRE again, perhaps you can show your strengths in math and reading in other ways? For example, if you had taken college-level courses in high level math/statistics classes (ex. Calculus, Advanced Statistics), highlight those classes on your CV especially if you made A's in those classes. That's what I had to do when I kept getting around a 151 Q and 156 V, and that strategy worked well with me.

Similar to others have posted, I got admitted into my first-choice Ph.D Clinical Psychology program that provides full tuition funding and stipends with a 151 Q, 156 V, and 4.5 AW on the GRE, plus similar GPA and research experience as you. I was also invited to an interview at Wayne's State Ph.D Clinical Psychology program with those stats back in 2016 too!

Honestly, there's your answer, man. If this professor isn't willing to provide a straight-forward response, take it as a red flag and move on. It would be best to provide letters of recommendation from people who are essentially your "cheerleaders" with clear positive praise for you, even if they're not exactly affiliated with your research interests. Plus, you have to consider that the professors' own reputations are at stake when he/she endorses a student with a letter of recommendation. Frankly, it sounds like this professor isn't sounding confident enough in providing an all-around positive endorsement.