neural-plasticity

I had a similar experience - I went into an MA program with average GRE scores (particularly math and analytical). I wasn't going to take the GRE again but after falling in love with a pretty competitive school, decided to suck it up and retake it. I ended up improving my scores and got into one of my top choices (clinical psych) this year, so I would definitely encourage it.

I definitely agree about going to a funded school. Also, just from my own knowledge, I met two students at two different clinical psychology PhD programs who went to Villanova, so that program seems to have a fairly good success rate of feeding students (who want to go to clinical) into clinical programs. That's definitely an important feature. The master's program I went to was in clinical but specifically stated they weren't geared towards licensure, but as a step toward a PhD.

I applied to 3 clinical programs straight from undergrad and got 1 on-site interview and 1 phone interview. Both led to rejections, so it seemed like a master's was the next logical step. This time around, I applied to 9 schools and received 4 interviews, 2 acceptances, and 2 high wait lists (I accepted another offer before finding out what happened with the other wait lists). I think getting my masters first really helped me tone in on my specific research interests, which definitely helped with interviewing this year. I was definitely better prepared this time around.

I'm currently finishing up my MA in clinical psychology, so my cohort and I have been struggling through the process together. We've been celebrating both acceptances and rejections with shots

I had a similar dilemma as you did when applying to schools. I had a few options of places that I knew I wouldn't necessarily be happy with. Long story short, I decided it wouldn't be worth spending 5-6 years at a school you're not happy. I mean, really, in the grand scheme of things, what's one more year when you're already devoting so much time to an education? I was planning to wait and reapply next year until I got a last minute interview/offer at another clinical program I was really excited about. I think it is SUPER important to not just settle for a "PhD," but make sure it really is the right program you'll be happy with!