clinicalpsychapplicant

Hi all, I'll be a senior in undergrad this coming year, and I'm debating on whether to apply to graduate school in clinical psychology this year or to get a job as an RA or a Lab Manager for a year or two before applying. I have a 3.97 GPA from a highly regarded liberal arts school with a psychology major and a lot of coursework in neuroscience and hard science as well. I am taking the GREs soon but have consistently 164-166 Verbal and 161-163 Quant on practice tests. I have experience with clinical research and experience in a research hospital setting with data collection, analysis and manuscript preparation (which might result in a publication, but unclear as of now), and clinical psych research at a well regarded psych lab with a well known PI. I ran an independent study for my research methods class and a qualitative research class, and have presented posters at sessions at my undergrad institution, but not at conferences. I also have RA experience here and there at my home institution. I will complete an honors thesis next year in clinical psych. By the time I attend graduate school if I apply and get in this cycle, I will have had 2 years of research experience, part time during the school year and full time during all 3 summers. I also have experience with tutoring and teaching at my home institution. My letters of rec will be good as I have strong relationships with my professors and my research advisors. I have clinical experience on an inpatient unit co-leading inpatient groups. I also have experience on residential life and peer counseling. My lack of publications and presentations is my main worry about applying now, and I would hope that if I got a job as an RA this would be stronger in a year or two. I'm really really undecided on whether to apply this cycle or not. On one hand, I feel emotionally and academically mature enough to handle graduate school. I believe I have enough research exposure to be successful in graduate school, however I'm aware that I'll be applying with people who have far more experience than I do. I have a clear sense of my research interests and I've had an easy time identifying programs and mentors in line with my goals and research interests. I think I could succeed as an RA as well, but I would really only do this in order to make my application stronger and gain more technical skills. I'm looking to apply to some clinical science programs and some equal emphasis programs depending on the mentor, all of which are highly rated and funded. Please weigh in if you have insights! Hopefully my story might give some clarity to other current undergrads as well!