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PsyDuck90

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  1. Like
    PsyDuck90 got a reaction from Psych_Guy in Salary for clinical psychologist (still unlicensed) with PhD   
    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/
  2. Upvote
    PsyDuck90 got a reaction from SoundofSilence in Counseling Psych PhD vs MFT PhD   
    The MFT degree is license-eligible at the master's level only, so the person could only bill as a master's level provider, regardless of the PhD. The counseling psych PhD is a doctoral level licensure. Unless you intend to be a TT faculty at an MFT, I don't really see the benefit of the PhD vs just the master's for an MFT. A counseling psychology PhD will allow for the person to bill as a licensed psychologist and conduct doctoral level assessment, as well as therapy. 
  3. Like
    PsyDuck90 got a reaction from cardamoma in Great Advisor vs. Great Everything Else   
    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. 
  4. Like
    PsyDuck90 got a reaction from gradapplyje in LPC (or masters in counseling) after MSW/LSW ? Help with direction   
    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. 
  5. Like
    PsyDuck90 got a reaction from like_psyc in Shoes for females   
    Black flats are my go-to. 
  6. Upvote
    PsyDuck90 got a reaction from SoundofSilence in Switching to psychology in 30s   
    I agree with the others. Look at the pre-req courses for PhD programs and see if you have those courses. If not, then a master's is a good route. I would suggest CUNY. They are significantly cheaper than Teacher's College and NYU, and there are tons of research opportunities. Depending on your niche subject area, you can choose which CUNY would be most appropriate for your interests. John Jay is more forensically based, Queens college is more neuroscience heavy, etc. As far as your concern about prestige, CUNY is a very highly rated R1 research university (for reference, while Columbia is an R1, Teacher's College is an R2). CUNY carries a lot of weight in the psych field. 
    If you have that pre-reqs, I would just look for paid RA positions. Columbia Medical Center hires a ton of RAs. You can look at the other hospitals in the city as well. The Manhattan VA also has a ton of research, so you can check out USAJobs.gov to see if they are hiring (although that process may take awhile). 
  7. Upvote
    PsyDuck90 got a reaction from sircherie in Switching to psychology in 30s   
    Yeah, the vast majority will be in their early to mid 20s. I'm about to turn 30 as a 2nd year, and I am one of the older people in my whole program.
    One thing to consider about age is opportunity cost. A doctorate takes 5-7 years to complete, at which time you make next to nothing. Early career psychologists start out at around $75-80k once licensed. If you are starting this process at an older age, this may delay your ability to save for retirement and start a family (especially for females). This is just something to consider when factoring the career change. Plus, it isn't uncommon to have to move at least once during the process if pursuing clinical especially (grad school, internship, and post-doc are all possible moves). 
  8. Like
    PsyDuck90 got a reaction from AEpsych2021 in Best way to decline an offer?   
    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. 
  9. Upvote
    PsyDuck90 got a reaction from SoundofSilence in Psych Grad Life: Debates on day-to-day issues and future directions   
    Time2Track! It ports right into the AAPI. 
  10. Like
    PsyDuck90 got a reaction from SoundofSilence in Psych Grad Life: Debates on day-to-day issues and future directions   
    Congrats to everyone who matched for internship today and good luck to anyone going through Phase 2! 
  11. Like
    PsyDuck90 got a reaction from T.O.hopeful in Psych Grad Life: Debates on day-to-day issues and future directions   
    Congrats to everyone who matched for internship today and good luck to anyone going through Phase 2! 
  12. Upvote
    PsyDuck90 got a reaction from SoundofSilence in Reciprocity and Post-Grad Supervision Hours   
    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. 
  13. Upvote
    PsyDuck90 got a reaction from MFP in In need of career/education guidance (forensic psych)   
    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. 
  14. Upvote
    PsyDuck90 got a reaction from SoundofSilence in In need of career/education guidance (forensic psych)   
    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. 
  15. Upvote
    PsyDuck90 reacted to Clinapp2017 in Clinical Psychology Neuropsychology PhD Program Rankings   
    Agreed. There are no "rankings" per se for programs. Match with your goals and desires for training is what matters. You will want to pay attention to what @PsyDuck90 mentioned but also look at success of recent students in publishing, where they go for practica, where they land internship and post-doc, and where they land jobs. All of that will be far more informative. 
     
  16. Upvote
    PsyDuck90 got a reaction from SoundofSilence in Clinical Psychology Neuropsychology PhD Program Rankings   
    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. 
  17. Like
    PsyDuck90 got a reaction from Anonymous Questioner in Considering leaving grad school ABD, but need advice   
    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. 
  18. Upvote
    PsyDuck90 got a reaction from serpentstone in CMU - Converting a waitlist into an admit   
    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. 
  19. Like
    PsyDuck90 got a reaction from T.O.hopeful in Psych Grad Life: Debates on day-to-day issues and future directions   
    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). 
  20. Upvote
    PsyDuck90 got a reaction from sircherie in LPC (or masters in counseling) after MSW/LSW ? Help with direction   
    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. 
  21. Like
    PsyDuck90 got a reaction from SoundofSilence in LPC (or masters in counseling) after MSW/LSW ? Help with direction   
    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. 
  22. Upvote
    PsyDuck90 got a reaction from Neep in LPC (or masters in counseling) after MSW/LSW ? Help with direction   
    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. 
  23. Upvote
    PsyDuck90 got a reaction from SoundofSilence in Law Student interested in Psych PhD Programs. Please help me!!!   
    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. 
  24. Upvote
    PsyDuck90 got a reaction from SoundofSilence in Law Student interested in Psych PhD Programs. Please help me!!!   
    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). 
  25. Like
    PsyDuck90 got a reaction from Idonotwanttopracticelaw in Law Student interested in Psych PhD Programs. Please help me!!!   
    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. 
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