Hi everyone!
I'm a first time poster and would really appreciate any advice or guidance I could receive. I've been having a really difficult time deciding what I should do and I'm hoping someone here can help me out!
I will be applying to Canadian clinical psychology programs this Fall and I originally felt prepared to do so. I took a gap year to gain more experience and take more time for the GRE, but the GRE hasn't been too kind to me. This is what I'll have going into application period:
1. 5 years of research experience (currently working as a lab manager at a university and as a research associate in a hospital (~1 1/2 years) and a research assistant in 3 labs during undergrad for 3 years)
2. I have clinical experience working with a young woman with Autism and OCD, at a mental health hospital teaching drama to those with affective disorders and schizophrenia, and various peer support groups in sexual health.
3. 5 conference presentations, a manuscript in preparation (hopefully submitted for review by the time applications go out), and a publication in an undergrad peer review journal.
4. 3 great references from my current employers/professors
5. cGPA of 3.64 but my last two years came to a 3.89.
6. Then the bad news: 147 Q, 155 V, 5.0 AWA on the GRE + 88th percentile on the psych GRE
I cannot for the life of me excel at this GRE. Math has always been a challenge for me since I was in highschool and so I'm finding no matter how much time or money I invest in this thing, I'm not improving. I understand that GRE's aren't everything and I should spend more time on other parts of my application...but with scores so low (and likely to be around the same at my retake), should I bother applying this application round? One potential supervisor told me everything about my CV and transcripts are great, but if I don't score at least in the 60th percentile for quant, I won't be considered. Is there any point in spending almost $1000 on applications if I won't even get in? Should I just apply to programs that don't need the GRE (even if they aren't what I truly what?) or wait another year to study for the GRE?
I rescheduled my test for October 13th, but I think I need to push it back again. I'm not prepared and I can barely finish the questions under the required time since math just completely perplexes me. I've been using Magoosh and ETS materials, but I just can't wrap my head around these math problems. Does anyone recommend Princeton Reviews online course?
I'm at a loss for words. I'm so frustrated and overwhelmed. I just don't want to push back my career any further and take more time, but I also don't want to apply to 15 programs and not get in anywhere.
Thanks for your help