hygytsw

Hi all, I am applying to Denver's forensic psychology MA program. One of their essay prompts requests the following: Describe someone you know who has engaged in behavior of which you disapprove. How has this behavior affected your view of this person? How has your relationship with this person changed? How do you understand your reactions? I am tempted to write an essay about a patient I have worked with (without disclosing their name, age, crime, HIPPA type violations), but I am worried this will come across as unprofessional. I have not included anything about patients in my other essays but this prompt seems to be looking for a level of self/professional disclosure that I have not seen in other applications, so I am unsure of how to proceed. Does anyone have experience with essays like this? AND: If I do not write about a patient, would it be unprofessional to write about a coworker who I discovered have multiple DUIs, and how that affected my view of their work and professional judgement? Thanks!

Thanks for all your advice, JH's program and Northwestern's seem like great fits (although with my GPA probably huge reaches). Question that you may or may not be able to answer: Would a MA in Behavioral Analysis (that requires a thesis or research project) be a good fit for someone looking to pursue a doctorate in clinical psychology (forensic emphasis)? It seems like a good fit in terms of gaining research experience while staying in close to clinical but I can't tell if I'd be smarter to stick with clinical or health science degrees. Sorry to keep layering on the questions- my advisor was rather vague about MA programs, mainly suggested I get an RA position for a couple years and then go straight to doctoral programs, so this is a little bit of an unknown area for me.

Thanks for the advice, I'm wondering how to best distinguish this? I'm assuming focusing on clinical psychology masters although those seem to be few and far between- would a MSW give me any (seems like maybe no) or an SSP?

To start off, I am currently not a competitive Clinical Psych doctoral candidate (which was tough to swallow but I'm there). I double majored in psychology and government in my undergraduate, earned a sub-par GPA (3.3) and have no research experience outside of coursework. After spending a year working in advertising (an interest I had through college) I came to my senses and realized most of what was preventing me from pursuing psychology graduate work was a hefty dose of imposter syndrome. My GRE scores are so-so (151 Q, 163 V, 5 AW), I'll probably retake in the next few weeks and focus my application process on masters programs that will hopefully strengthen the research portion of my future doctoral applications. I've had very little luck finding volunteer opportunities (or professors willing to take volunteers) for research in my area and at this point it's simply going to be missing from my application. However I'm wondering whether my past two years working as a nursing assistant at a forensic mental health facility will help or even matter on my applications. When I moved away from advertising I spoke with a clinical psychologist who suggested clinical work was vital to any phd application. It made sense to me at the time and the clinical forensic work matches with my undergraduate thesis and research interests. While working at the institute I've shadowed psychologists, sat in on intakes, assessments, and helped lead treatment process groups, which I feel is relevant to the applications. But I'm getting more skeptical about the value of this experience as I read these threads. I'm disappointed as I've found multiple doctoral programs with professors that match my research interests to a T, and I'm so tempted to apply despite my lack of research experience in the hopes that my statement of purpose and NA experience might help me. So I guess my question is whether or not my "clinical experience" will be helpful on MA and Phd applications, and if I should apply to the doctoral programs that I've found to be a really great match or wait until after I get a MA so as not to hurt my chances by applying to the same places twice? Thanks, sorry this is long