PsyDuck90

Hi, yes, an unlicensed psychologist makes less than a licensed individual. Since the VA uses a standard pay scale that is freely available online, you can use that as a guide. Someone straight from internship and unlicensed would be a GS-11, while someone with a year of post-grad experience (such as a postdoc) and unlicensed would be a GS-12. You can find the pay scale for your locality here: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries-wages/2022/general-schedule/

It's definitely a frustrating process. However, I noticed you said you were applying to masters in clinical psych programs. What are your ultimate goals and what do you hope to get from this masters degree? Additionally, what did you write about in your SOP? Your bio says you're located in the US. Aside from some states, a master's in clinical psychology is not a licensure degree and psychologists are typically doctoral level providers. Mental health counseling and social work masters are the typical paths to masters level licensure. I'm wondering if maybe the issue is that your stated goals in the SOP are a mis-match for the types of programs you're applying for.

Oof. That sounds rough. However, I'd probably go with school A. Great advisor and meh everything else beats out multiple red flags with the advisor. You need your advisor to be on top of things if you want to graduate. The fact multiple people have quit their lab is not something to take lightly. It almost sounds like the lab members are close because they have to be in order to get anything accomplished in their lab (and maybe trauma-bonded?). It's also easier to change a lab culture (like...maybe celebrate a birthday during a lab meeting or organize a coffee outing or something) for a group that just hasn't necessarily tried vs trying to change the way a PI operates.

Congrats! I think the best thing to do is to just ask the program directly. I'm sure you're not the 1st person they've had in this situation.

Accepting an offer and rejecting it later will more than likely burn a few bridges. The more specific your interests are, the smaller a world it is. Therefore, I would seriously consider if it is worth going back on an offer after accepting it. You state " Like I wrote above, I will accept the offer (for now) because there's a lot to lose, but I will still wait to hear back from the other options before I sign a contract. I fear that my email would surely make the supervisor think that I'm accepting the PhD and actually going for it, which wouldn't necessarily be the case (at least for now). Is there a lot to worry about?". Even if you do not sign a contract as of yet, your written intent to accept the offer cannot be taken any way other than you accepting thr offer and going with it. Your best bet is to reach out to the supervisor, explain how excited you are for the opportunity and that you are waiting on one more interview before you are comfortable making a final decision. Hopefully they are able to grant you an extension. Are you applying to US schools? If so, do they not abide by the April 15th guideline? Also, has school A stated they are still making decisions/have others heard back from them? Most PhD programs have finished interviewing by now and are sending out offers (at least in the US), but many programs don't send official rejections until they've filled their next year's class, just in case there's an off chance they have to dip back into the applicant pool.

People reject offers all the time. Just send a polite, short e-mail declining the acceptance. They will typically extend the offer to another student who has been waitlisted, so they really don't take it personally.

Time2Track! It ports right into the AAPI.

Congrats to everyone who matched for internship today and good luck to anyone going through Phase 2!

You'll have to look at the specific requirements for licensure in CA. Each state is different, and you need to make sure you meet the requirements of that state.

A master's level license can prepare you for some aspects of forensic clinical work, but it is limited to therapy. In order to do any neuropsych testing, you need a doctorate in clinical psychology or counseling psychology.

Schools that are APA accredited (in the United States) are required to report their admissions and outcome statistics on their websites. You primarily want to look at their APA-accredited internship placements, which should really be around 100% for the last few years. You also want to make sure there are faculty doing the kind of research you are interested in (i.e. some aspect of neuropsych) and practicum placement opportunities that are neuropsych focused. Doctoral programs in psychology don't really have rankings similar to undergrad universities. It's more related to your fit with potential research mentors. You can also check out the Insider's Guide to Graduate Programs in Clinical and Counseling Psychology by Norcross.

There honestly isn't much of a situation where having the PhD will be a detriment, but there will be occasions where not having one may close off some opportunities. As my chair always like to say, the best dissertation is a done dissertation. This does not have to be your magnum opus. Treat it like any other coursework assignment you've had over the years. Get it done, get out, and pursue what you want out of life.

I understand it's nerve-wracking and there's a lot of anxiety at this time, but all there is for you to do is wait. If/when a person declines their offer, the program will offer admission to the next person on thr waitlist, and so on. The only time to contact them is to inform them you want to be taken off the waitlist, such as if you've accepted an offer elsewhere. They know you are interested by the fact you have paid them an application fee and put together said application. Emailing them every few weeks won't change your status one way or the other but may make the adcomms roll their eyes whenever they see your name.

I think those are the main points generally, but also see if you can casually speak with people who have trained at those sites. What kinds of profiles did they have? Also, if you can develop some sort of a relationship with supervisors at those sights, like completing a practicum there or maybe a research opportunity, that can also give you an edge if you build a strong rapport with them. The site needs to be a good fit for your training goals first and foremost, but those other things can be helpful.

The internship year is largely a clinical year. There are some internships that have a research expectation (maybe 4-8 hours of protected research time at the most). However, 8 is going to be rare and even 4 hours is only at some of the more research-heavy sites. That being said, programs may expect that you have something research-wise on your CV but they'll be more interested with where you're at on your dissertation than anything else. I'm in the US by the way, and I'm in the internship application process now and only applied to VAs and academic medical centers. Even then, the range was 0 hours of research expected to 4 hours of protected time on the higher end. Canada does have less sites, but it also has less doctoral programs from my understanding. There is an agreement between the APA and CPA, so you can do your training in either country and be considered equivalent. Unless you're trying to go for a largely academic career following internship, you should be fine with a handful of posters and maybe a publication in the works. The more important thing is the clinical fit (like, are you applying for a child site with 0 child experience or a neuro site with only a handful of neuropsych assessment hours).

Honestly, you're better off just getting post-graduate training and supervision. I'm in a psychology doctoral program, and my department has a mental health counseling masters program as well. I honestly do not know how a 2 year degree prepares anyone for clincial training. It is such a short amount of time, and the clinical supervision is what really helps in growing your clinical skills. That's also why, whether it's an MSW or LPC, you are required to get a certain number of supervised clinical hours after graduating before you can practice independently. Focus on getting that supervised training. There is no need to pay for yet another degree that may or may not make you feel any more prepared.

The RA experience is helpful, but you also have to keep in mind that most applicants will have several years of RA experience, as well as conference presentations/posters and maybe publications in psych journals. You also may want to figure out what your ultimate career goal is. For instance, a clincial degree allows for licensure as a practicing psychologist while a social psych degree is a strictly academic degree (you would not be able to do therapy or assessment). Non-clinical degrees are less competitive than clinical degrees (although all of them are competitive in general). I think your experiences in law can be very intriguing to certain professors (for instance, several faculty at John Jay have a JD and PhD), but you need to be very clear in what your ultimate goals are and how your experience lends itself to a unique perspective in your statement of purpose.

What kind of psychology degree do you want to get? For instance, Princeton does not have a clinical psych doctoral program. Also, psych doctoral programs work differently from undergrad and law schools. You apply to specific research mentors rather than the program itself, so the more competitive applicants will have research interests that match well with the faculty of interest, as well as a demonstrated history of research productivity. Based on your post, it's also not clear why you want to pursue a psych degree, so I would make sure that is made very clear in your statement of purpose. If you are interested in forensic psychology research, you should check out CUNY-John Jay and Fordham. They have many major researchers in the forensic psych field and are both in NYC. Montclair State also has some forensic faculty. Additionally, you need to make sure you have completed the necessary pre-reqs (which you can take at a community college if you didn't take them in your undergrad).

Unfortunately, there's nothing to do but wait. Applicants typically have until April 15th to make decisions, so you may not hear back until then. Programs assume that you're still interested unless they hear otherwise (such as if you email and say you have accepted an offer elsewhere).

For real. My spouse doesn't make a whole ton but enough to cover the bulk of our bills. I was uninsured for a bit until we were married and I could hop on his insurance. My university also doesn't have this outside work requirement, so I also work part time for a neuropsychology private practice as a psychometrist.

Honestly, if I didn't have a spouse, I don’t think it would have been very manageable.

I have a specific niche interest area, so I started by just searching the APPIC directory for sites that offer that type of training in states I wouldn't mind living in. Then I narrowed it down further by reviewing the brochures for each program. It was a very time consuming process, and I spent most of the summer before working on various internship app related things. All of my interviews were virtual, which was nice because I ended up with 12 interviews and most of them sandwiched within the first 2 weeks of January. No way I would have been able to swing that financially or temporally if they were in person. My advice: start drafting your 4 essays this spring (we had it integrated into some of our coursework) and begin thinking about your goals for internship and beyond. Having clearly defined short term and long term goals will make it much easier for you to identify internship programs which will meet those goals (and I think that was part of the reason why I got so many interviews--I only applied to sites that really fit with what I was looking for).

I don't know who else is currently applying to internship from clinical/counseling/school psych programs, but man has this month been exhausting. How are people feeling about their interviews/rankings?

Unless you have a specific question, you just play the waiting game. Do not reach out just to confirm receipt of materials unless you believe something glitched out in the submission process.

Yes, strong letters typically come from people who you have a close working relationship with and they can really speak to your skillset. The letter helps programs get a better sense of what kinds of skills you have that will lead to success in grad school. If they can only speak to the fact you got an A in their class and participated well, that isn't going to be as strong as the person who you've been working side by side with for 2 years on research projects. Also, someone who you maybe have flaked out on or thinks you're unreliable may also not be able to write you a strong letter.