Tee Ell

Hi everyone, thanks for the advice, I ended up choosing the neuroscience program. Oddly I don't feel relief or happiness, I feel like I am mourning a loss. I am incredibly grateful to have had multiple offers and I am happy someone else got the offer instead of me, and I am confident the one that did didn't have any other prospective options. Scared to start a new path for neuro. and to say goodbye to my clinical psychology dreams. I'm sure over time, I will come to terms, I was confident though that my decision wasn't going to be clearer come April 15th, it was, and probably will be for a while, a 60% neuro vs. 40% clinical psych neck and neck decision. I almost think this feels worse than how I felt last year when I didn't get into grad school Good luck to everyone else!

Thanks so much for the answer! Yes, I couldn't agree more that neuro is not better than clinical psych in research, it's just for these two programs in particular, the neuro program is stronger than the psych program in terms of getting better grants (like more RO1s) and publications in more high impact journals. At this point, I think the only real benefit for doing clinical psych is that I feel more confident in my abilities to be a successful clinical psychologist and that being a clinician is often helpful for recruitment of clinical psychiatric populations (also for IRB approval and grant awards too). Anyone else?? Anyone that has made the switch from psych to neuro for grad school?

I'm deciding between neuroscience and clinical psychology programs, I have been accepted into one each. I was a psychology undergrad, worked at an inpatient psych center in research for a year and am currently working in a neuroscience position. Overall, I think the neuroscience program is stronger in terms of research rigor (I'd like to work in academia also doing research) evident by grant funding/publications. However, my comfort zone is in clinical psychology, mainly because I'm not comfortable with any neuroscience research techniques (like in vivo, imaging, animal research) and that I like researching clinical populations. I would prefer not to do animal research and I don't mind doing clinical work. Here are some pros and cons: Psych: Interested in the PIs research, wouldn't have to give up clinical work (although this isn't worst case scenario, I'm just thinking for research, it might be easier getting a clinical population if you are a clinician), I really like psychology and I feel like I excel in the field, probably because I was a psych undergrad., great teaching opportunities, I'd have to make a huge move on a little stipend (which I honestly wouldn't mind, but is it worth it??) Neuro: Location and stipend are ideal (I have lots of school loans, so this is a huge benefit for me, I'd have to take out more loans for the other program), the program is shorter (5 versus 7 years), the researchers here get great grants in the broad area of research I am interested in, minimal teaching opportunities, the coursework in 1.5 years versus 3-4 years, although I have worked in a neuro. lab before I have very little training with performing techniques for human or molecular research. Really struggling with this! Thanks!

Thanks I definitely might try this. Thank you all for the advice! I know that no one will be crushed haha but I can't help but be mindful of something like this!

Couldn't find a topic on this for psychology PhD.... I recently just received offers from two schools. Two schools that I like a lot, but for different reasons. Any advice on how to make a decision on which school to go to? Or for those of you who have been in this position before (basically being admitted into two or more top choice programs), how did you make a final decision, what factored into it? I am feeling a lot of weight on my shoulders. I feel like I am going to let someone down since I was a first choice at both schools. As for someone who was rejected last year from all the schools I applied to and interviewed at, I understand how it feels to want someone to make a decision ASAP if you are on the waitlist, so please help with any feedback so I can make a final decision sooner rather than later.

Also, as for the mentor, I have my dream job right now working with someone who does research in the field that I want to do research in. Email like crazy. Apply to positions like crazy. I had no contacts at one point. Before graduation I applied to over 100 research assistant positions. Yes, over 100. And I only got one interview and then one job offer for a position that wasn't my top choice. After a year of working in that position, I finally moved on to another experience (the one I am at right now). You have to be flexible while building experiences. PIs are crazy busy and not all like to mentor. Another piece of advice I have is to reach out to a PI that is close by to you in location (local colleges, hospitals etc.), explain to them why you are interested in their research (flexibility is key here), and ask them if you could volunteer your time to work in their lab. Browse the Internet. Many professors at colleges or clinicians at medical facilities do their own research and you could ask them if you could assist them with their research. And again, you might have to ask 50 people at many schools within an 1 hour radius of where you are located. It's all about getting your foot in the door sometimes, entering data you don't want to enter and doing things you don't want to do at first. And then slowly but surely proving your worth to that PI, or at the least putting it on your resume to get you a RA, Research Coordinator, Data Coordinator position. You gotta push to get that experience if you want it (not to say you haven't, I just know how hard it was for me, it was VERY hard at first because sometimes you get lucky but most times you need to apply to 100 jobs or volunteer to get an opportunity). Good luck!

I wish I would have read something like this before applying! Thank you all for sharing. As for myself, I have applied last year and this year: last year I earned 5 interviews out of 12 schools and this year I only applied to 4 schools and received 3 interviews. I was offered one spot last year but decided to accept a research job offer at a top research institution instead of settling for a program that I wasn’t sold on and had a subpar interview experience with to say the least. Importantly, my GRE scores aren’t super high (155-157, 4.5). Nor did I have tons of research experiences. Although I described the ones I did have with such great detail in my SOP and CV, it might have came off as if they were quality experiences to reviewers. I truly feel like I got these interview offers not because of having good LOCs (which I’m pretty sure I did), but because of my SOP and CV. Your SOP and CV need to prove you are a GREAT fit for the program. Emphasize this! Read your POI's (or two POI, depends on school) research and discuss how much experience you have in the area. Yes, experience not just interest. For example, I worked in a lab during undergrad that work on many different projects since the lab was focused on perception. One project focused on the type of sensory perception I want to do research on during grad school. I discussed that project more extensively and used similar language that was included in the POI's biography and research articles online while describing this one project in my SOP and CV. Use the correct specific language (example: tonic stimulation is more specific than stimuli) Honestly, fit is crucial, so if you aren’t applying to schools that are a great fit with your past experiences, or if you are finding it very difficult to write how your experiences align, then I’d argue it might be very tricky to convince the admission committee as to why you would be a good fit for their program. So if you don't have related research and clinical experience, then you need to get some. Besides that, make sure there are no grammatical/spelling mistakes anywhere in your app (common sense, but I see it happen where I work A LOT – I review applications), make sure you are following the prompt of the SOP (which means you might need to tailor it to each school), reach out to your POI via email and ask if they are accepting students and include a short blurb about yourself and why you are a great fit, and your GRE scores should be fairly close within the range. So in sum, FIT and METICULOUSNESS (app should flawless and an obvious effort was made to tailor your application to that school and the POI) are the two things that should be a priority when you are putting together an application. It's all how you frame it in your SOP and CV. Like you are selling a product, yourself. Honestly, the interview is more of the same (fit fit fit) & ability to discuss experiences, plus personality especially for clinical psychology.