Psychtime

I was invited to an interview for 2/28 on 2/10.

The MA counseling and MA clinical at my program both have prerequisites.

These comments are the truth. Clinical psych does not admit people with that GPA. They just do not. Maybe somehow you will find an outlier, but it's very rare. We are being honest and realistic and not selling false hope just to make the OP feel good. It's a waste of money and time for them to apply with that.

No, in short with so many applicants with much higher GPAs who don't get in, you have no shot. That is the brutal truth. If you smash the GREs, they will think you goofed off in school. Your best hope is to go to a master's and kill it. People saying it's holistic etc are dreaming if they think a sub 3.0 GPA will get a serious consideration. It won't. Dead on arrival. Are they even familiar with clinical psych? . Unless it is an unfunded for profit school, but those are terrible, so don't go there. Don't waste your money applying at this point. The reality is people with 4.0 GPAs and great GRE get rejected all the time. someone with a 2.8 or something is not getting one of those few spots. This is the truth. No sugar coating, I know it sucks to hear, but it's the reality.

FYI - at least when I applied and was accepted (2018) there was no formal research component to the program and any research would be hard to come by. That was directly from the director.

I interviewed there and got accepted on the spot. I declined and went elsewhere. Feel free to PM me for more info. I had a LOT of concerns about the program, and specifically the head of it.

At my Master's program, you would not be admitted without certain prereqs completed. I can only speak for my program. If you are missing one class, they sometimes excuse that, but at minimum they require research methods, cognitive psych, social, and a few more. It probably varies by program. I would reach out and ask before you spend money applying. I would also say your GPA is on the lower side and without psych classes, may be an issue. I would suggest taking a few psych classes at a local university if possible. Ace them and it will show your aptitude for psych and also improve your GPA. If you can go to open houses for programs you are interested in, that is a good place to ask about prereqs. Good luck!

Whoever got interviews with Portland State in Applied Social, can you pm me the PI initials? This is one of my top two program choices. The PI I applied with is a great fit, so I am hopig it was not them!

If you look at the program’s posted data, it will show average GRE scores for the program. So while there are some outliers, in general you are unlikely to get into a program if the average scores are say 160 V and 160 Q if you scored in the 140s. Because if you had a good shot with those scores, their averages would be lower. I didn’t say I agree with the process. But it’s the reality. Sure, there are amazing exceptions to this, but in general the GRE matters a lot for MOST applicants. It sucks. And by all means you can keep trying with low scores, but it’s not as likely to work. When a program gets 300 applications for 3 spots, an easy way to cull the list is to remove those with scores below a threshold. It happens all the time. Should it? No. But it does. To pretend otherwise is either wishful thinking or just being naive. Even my master’s program has cutoffs they won’t look at people below. Again, there are exceptions. But that’s what they are. Exceptions. I’m just the messenger. I didn’t design this system. Nor do I agree with it. But telling the poster a 150 V and 140 Q will get them in just does them a disservice in my opinion. That quant score is likely lethal at almost any programs. When I looked it up, it’s the 8th percentile. That’s vastly lower than 50th percentile. That means 92% of people did better. That’s not going to help at all.

Unfortunately, you are wrong about the GRE not mattering. In Psych, it is often used to screen people out to the sheer number of applicants and small amount of spots. Social Work is a completely different field. To be blunt, your GRE scores would not get you interviews in a clinical psych program. Your advice is well-intentioned, but misguided here. Many schools won't even look at scores below the 50th percentile and rarely accept people even that low. Look at the stats of accepted people in clinical. It's eye opening.

Can the person who got an interview with PSU, pm me the initials of the PI?

Not the case. Clinical students almost always have to pay for their own visits, even to really well funded programs. Some areas/schools are so competitive, they know they will have plenty of applicants willing to pay the cost to fly out. They are still fully funded. I would caution people from making blanket statements based on one or two comments from other people.

I’d make sure whatever you say is the truth. Better to say you don’t enjoy reading for fun than lying and somehow they catch you. They know we don’t have much time to read for fun and some people don’t at all. It doesn’t mean they don’t keep up with their academic reading. I really wouldn’t lie or fudge this. I can see it going very off the rails. I’d reply with something like how you prefer the immersive experience of films or something.

It varies by school. Some pay for it entirely. Some don’t pay at all.

In MD there are also license eligible MA degrees in psychology. Someone is spreading misinformation.