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NapsAndDogs

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  1. Hey! Okay, so I'm actually going through the admission process right now, and I was in almost the exact same place last year as you are now haha So I guess I can just speak to my experience and hopefully that'll help! This will probably be kind of a long response, mostly because I remember wondering the exact same thing you are about a year ago and I wished I could get a clear answer I didn't know I wanted to pursue a doctorate until after I graduated, and I left undergrad with zero direct research experience (outside a few stats and methodology courses) and no thesis or publications. I had pretty much the exact same GPA and GRE scores as you do, but I panicked because I'd been told that I wouldn't get interviews without research experience. I also have a job working in a clinic that I didn't want to leave, so I decided against the paid research assistant route. SO. I'd recommend doing this sooner than I did, but in September I checked out the Psych faculty and research at all the universities within an hour of where I live. I read some of each faculty member's work (research gate is a good resource to use if their CV is overwhelming), and if I was fairly interested, I sent each professor an individualized email asking to meet with them to discuss opportunities in their lab. If you want to PM me, I can show you an example of what one of those emails looked like. But basically, about three professors ignored my email completely, and three responded and agreed to meet with me. The first one I met with sat down with me for about an hour, and we discussed my goals for grad school, my research interests and experience, and the type of research practice I was hoping to get from his lab. He also asked me to submit my CV and a writing sample. The meeting itself was super helpful, and he gave me some awesome tips about the admission process. Ultimately, he also said I could volunteer with his lab and let me start attending his lab meetings, which are one hour once a week. I've gotten more responsibility as time has gone on, but I mainly get to observe the grad students and do research and analysis from home on my own time. My supervisor is also trying to set me up to publish a few studies and submit for a couple conferences, so he's really guided me through the process and got me started on my own stuff. I know this might not be the case for most volunteers, so I've been incredibly lucky. With that as my only direct research experience, here's how I did this cycle: I applied to 13 grad programs and received 7 interview invitations--two PsyD's and five PhD's. From the four interviews I've done so far, I've been accepted to two programs, waitlisted with probable acceptance for another, and I'm still waiting to hear back from the fourth (which is an awesome, highly-competitive program and also happens to be where I'm doing my volunteer work!) I don't know if I'm an anomaly, but that's been my experience. I will say that the one thing that I think hurt me about my limited research experience is that it makes it a bit harder to get into a clinical program, as compared to a counseling one. Although the programs are fairly similar and prepare you for similar work, I think clinical psychology usually has a little more emphasis on research. So if you're really set on clinical, that's something to think about. But 4/7 of my interviews were still for clinical programs, so it can be done. I'd also recommend making sure you've got a third recommender handy when it's time to apply, because a lot of schools did require three. Last thing: I highly suggest checking out Insider's Guide to Programs in Clinical and Counseling Psychology when you're picking schools to apply to. Some of the data (especially the funding stuff) isn't always super accurate, but each school ranks itself on a scale of 1-7 based on how clinically- or research-focused they are. I took that into consideration in choosing which schools to apply to. Anyway, sorry for the length and I hope I've been helpful! Best of luck
  2. Received an offer today from University at Buffalo for the School/Counseling Psych Program! Feel free to message me for my POI, I just feel a little weird posting it in a forum
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