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Clinapp2017

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Everything posted by Clinapp2017

  1. What is a "non-traditional" lab? Do you mean a small lab with few staff or students? I am confused. In my experience as a PhD student, I am noting in my practica at well-known sites in a major metropolitan area that there is a good amount of PsyDs as postdocs and staff. It's not that all PhD students are "great," but there is a higher bar usually to get into funded PhD programs (and funded PsyD -- Rutgers and Baylor), so the people I notice who have these coveted postdoc positions and jobs are people who clearly push themselves to do more research/present/publish/get grants more than I think is required by most PsyD programs. If you are required to take out massive, life-changing student loans I would suggest you do not attend the PsyD program if you can wait a year and strengthen your application before re-applying. The typical earnings of psychologists (even specialists, like neuropsychologists) does not justify the debt. I know several psychologists who are or will be paying off student loans well beyond typical retirement age.
  2. They mean that you want to present work you do in undergrad in your research lab at conferences and publish, if possible, in respectable peer-reviewed journals. (Research is not a class - it’s an experience in which you help a professor with their lab on some project.)
  3. Agreed. Speculating about this situation now does no good. Stay in close touch with your mentor and program over the coming months. This situation is rapidly evolving, and while it certainly will get worse before it gets better, it may also blow over by the summer. Only time will tell...
  4. Probably this is question better suited for your mentor and other students in your program/lab. I've seen practices vary widely, and depending on what type of lab you are in you may use extant data or need to collect your own -- the former of which makes the publication process a lot faster.
  5. FWIW a quant GRE of 154 is the 53%ile, which is not a bad score but is not a good score. Anecdotally I have heard my training director and others at fully-funded PhD programs like their successful applicants to have 320 combined, which means a Quant score being a little higher would help you. This matters at least until schools more collectively get rid of the GRE (which is a dumb requirement for a variety of reasons). Congrats on the AW 6, though. That's awesome! When you talk about research/internship experience, what do you mean exactly? Have you given poster presentations? Co-authored papers? I think a lot of undergrads think that running participants and entering data is all that is necessary when in reality you will be competing against people with multiple posters/talks/papers under their belts who took a few years to work professional in research. I am not saying it is impossible to get in immediately after undergraduate (I did). I know nothing about MAPSS but maybe a master's program or working as an RA could be a good idea depending on your answers.
  6. Professors or supervisors are good. So, yes. I would do that over a grad student, for example. MSWs might be okay if there’s a reason.
  7. The reality of how well new parents are treated will vary by program. Best to ask students for the reality. Hopefully it’s a positive one. You can ask about student parents to talk to as part of your decision time.
  8. Like all emotions, this will pass with time. It sounds like you are mindful of your experiences (both negative in the past and positive) and aware of what you are feeling. Though the anxiety now may feel “weird” to you, I think it’s a normal thing anyone feels when they make a big choice, like accepting a PhD offer or new job. I don’t have any specific tips, but your new reality will set in with time. It’s hard to fathom, and I feel like reminding yourself that you worked hard to get here is a good thing to say. Congrats! I’m glad to hear this second time worked out so well in the end after a pretty crappy run-around your first time.
  9. Do you really need a PhD? I just wanted to ask, seeing as they can take 4-6+ years to complete. If you are already a MSW and in practice, you can probably get adjunct jobs where you can teach if you want that to me your main gig. That being said, if you want to be seen as an expert in sexuality, dating, etc. and you think studying it in-depth for a long period of your life is worth it, go for it. All I am saying is that if I was already in practice as a MSW I would probably not want to go back to school for an extremely long period of time in the hopes of becoming a professor (job market is small for Tenure Track, if that's what you're thinking). The pay raise is probably minimal if you are not on the tenure track/generating a lot of grant money.
  10. I don’t know or want to suggest particular people, because the field of culture as a study without a focus is probably too broad. However, looking into APA Division 45 may be a good place to start. https://www.apa.org/about/division/div45
  11. FWIW - I think these questions that are behavioral in nature are really weird/inappropriate in most settings, but depending on your clinical/research interests it might be a good test. I’m not sure if you’re working with people with severe mental illness or personality disorders, but from my experience with these populations it’s imperative to keep your cool even when a patient is really pushing your buttons. Not that I think what the PI said was necessarily appropriate, but in this context it could be worthwhile in my opinion to see how someone handles a very confrontational event. edit: Also, it sounds like you did the best you could, which is good, and the other interviews went well, which is all we can hope for in this really stressful process!
  12. What is your publication/poster track record? Your GRE isn't that bad to bring down your application by itself. Sure, improving the verbal to be north of 160 would help, but an average GRE can be counter-balanced by strong research productivity (as evidenced usually by final products). The research match with your prospective mentors is also important; PIs don't usually take on trainees who have backgrounds that are not aligned with their current and future lines of work.
  13. IMO as a grad student who will sometimes ask this to students when I interview them, that answer is a bit generic. I am assuming you could add some flavor, such as when you first became interested, some interesting classes you've taken or lessons you've learned, etc. Add some flavor to not make it so bland. We are all interested in psychology or else we likely wouldn't be pursuing a field that takes a decade+ to train in and even then doesn't pay that much, haha.
  14. It's always good to ask questions if you have them, but don't monopolize the conversation obviously. If you like to listen, that's perfectly fine, too.
  15. I agree it's possible, it's just not usually the modal experience for people who don't have a current research background... the important thing is you strengthen your application, and each year you are making improvements. However, I would argue that most people would be stronger after 1.5 years as an RA vs. 0.5 years.
  16. It's likely lack of experience. Some people applying already have several pubs/talks/papers to their name. It's a process, but I hope the next cycle is better. You may even consider taking a year off to get more experience with your new lab, maybe even write a paper, and then apply Fall 2021. Not a lot can happen from the prospective of basic productivity in 10 months given how slow science moves.
  17. Nobody quote me on this, but when I applied to their program 3 years ago (gosh, I am getting older), their "tracks" sent out emails in different waves. For example, the behavioral psychology area sent out notifications a week before neuropsychology faculty did. YMMV, especially if they've changed.
  18. It's happened in my program for some students, but I would not in any way bet on that happening. It's the exception, not the norm.
  19. There's already a thread on this:
  20. A big part of PhD admissions (especially clinical -- not sure if you are interested in clinical PhD) is research match. If you have interests in LGBTQ+ mental health and have some background in that, it won't be that hard to spin for mentors who do work in that area. Of course, having publications or posters at national/international conferences is the gold standard to show research productivity, so I am curious what your master's degree work entailed? Making a later-stage shift to PhD is quite common. A few members in my cohort at a well-known clinical PhD program came to clinical from slightly related, but different areas. Your timeline of beefing up your background knowledge with courses is wise. In addition to taking the GRE, I would advise taking (and hopefully doing well) on the subject GRE, as that will prove your basic mastery of the core parts of psychology to committees who might be skeptical given your educational background is not in psychology, per se.
  21. People have posted on the results page, and I have a friend who goes there who informed me they extended their invites.
  22. How far along are you in your program? I think switching to neuropsych research earlier is much better, as well as doing neuro pracs. Most competitive neuropsych internship sites are looking for you do have some track record (e.g., pubs) in neuropsych-related areas, and I've heard from recent internship-bound folks from my lab that the best neuropsych pracs are looking for upwards of 50 integrated neuropsych reports to be considered bare-minimum competitive. Contrary to @hopefulgrad2019, I don't think students in my lab have historically spent more than 5 years in the program before leaving for internship.
  23. When I was interviewing, I wrote brief hand-written thank you cards for the host. I usually kept it brief (5 sentences max) and said something I appreciated about my visit. Anything beyond a card is not necessary. At the VERY most I would do something of value less than $5. But, again, it's not necessary. The two years I've hosted applicants I have not gotten anything (including a card), but I don't really expect anything either.
  24. DEFINITELY bring copies of your CV and something to take notes. I cannot tell you how helpful it is as a grad student who interviews prospective students when people bring their CV, as my PI makes it a point to not tell us much at all (beyond 1 paragraph) about applicants, so we are completely unbiased in our impressions going into the interview day. Having your CV (at least 1-2 copies -- I always give it back) is helpful so I can ask some questions about your past experiences and answer questions you may have about how our school may be the best fit (or not) for your future goals.
  25. From my experience, it will be things along the line of "tell me about yourself", "what are your research interests," "why this program," et cetera.
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