JungianShadow

Sounds good, I'll definitely look into some different programs. Thanks for the advice.

I used Magoosh for 3 months for around 5 hours a day, and didn't really hit my mark. I know my areas of research might not be as refined as they should be, but I have a general interest in depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, and OCD. The masters in counseling programs I have been looking at are MS programs that require you to do a masters thesis as well, but I'm of course open to anything that would be a nice transition into a clinical PhD. However, these programs will cost anywhere from 20-30k more and I'm already at 16k in debt (after saving and paying off loans of 30k). I am more interested in the clinical side of psychology, but I am very comfortable and understand that research is a very important facet of clinical psychology. So in essence maybe I should look into other masters programs that would transition well into a doctorate program besides counseling? I'm based out of Wisconsin, but I'm willing to relocate. I just wanted to choose the counseling side of psychology to have some sort career lined up if I fall back into the situation I am in now. So the big question is... would it be worth it to take one more year to retake the GRE, or would it be more proactive to invest into a masters program that would show I have much more experience than just higher GRE scores? Thank you all so much for answering and helping me out. It really means the world and helps with my own anxiety.

I could look into some programs that don't use the GRE, but generally everywhere I've looked has required the GRE as a point of reference. Even the master degree programs I am looking at require the GRE. Are there any schools that you know of that don't require this?

Also for the last two years I've been working as a behavioral specialist. Would that be any boost to a Quant stricken application?

Hey there Grad Cafe, I'm 26 and I graduated college two years ago with a bachelor's in science majoring in psychology and minoring in neuroscience with a 3.9 GPA. I volunteered at two labs in IO psych and neuroscience, because of the lack of openings for volunteers at my college for one year and then I took my GRE in hopes of applying to a PhD in clinical psychology and got a verb of 159 and a Quant of 147. During my last year I was able to have my name in three separate poster projects that were presented at the APA national convention and also personally presented two other posters in Long Beach, California for the society of personality and social psychology. That year I applied to around 8 lower tier PhD programs, but did not get accepted to any of them. Earlier this year I religiously applied to different research positions around the nation to boost my resume, but only landed two interviews and was not accepted into either. I've been considering going for a masters in counseling as a stepping stone, but fear the debt won't be worth it and fear even more that I will again not get in after putting time and money into the application process. Any advice would be more than welcome and greatly appreciated. Where should I go from here?