latebloomerca

Hi there, I am planning on applying this fall to clinical Ph.D programs. My research and clinical experience is in autism and family research. However, I am interested in researching externalizing behaviors, callous-unemotional traits, conduct disorder, especially in family contexts and interventions. My question is, does the fact that I don't have experience specifically doing research with individuals with conduct disorder or other similar areas going to hurt me in the application process? I know I can talk up the family aspects of my experience, and of course a lot of the kids I work with clinically and in our research setting exhibit a lot of externalizing behaviors and aggression. I had heard that it wasn't necessarily a problem, but when I look at some of the school's current labs they are filled with people with hyper relevant experience. Thanks!

I postponed applying, I will be applying this fall. Main reasons were to gain more research experience and get a publication out. I ended up joining a nationally funded study as research coordinator in January, so I would say it definitely was a good decision.

Yeah I have taken the prereqs required, but they have all been at community colleges (for credit, but still). I'm not opposed to applying to funded MA programs, I guess just find it disappointing since I've been working as a lab coordinator for two years now, in the hopes of being competitive for a Ph.D program.

I'm looking to apply to clinical psych programs. I graduated from an excellent state school but with an unrelated degree. Since leaving school I've taken several courses from a community college in psychology in order to attain a psychology GPA, meet minimums in terms of recommended number of courses before entering graduate school. In most other ways I have a strong application, I scored very well on the psychology GRE subject test, moderately well on the regular GRE (Q: 155, V: 164), as well as have several years of research experience (including as a coordinator) and some poster submissions. I also have clinical experience working with kids with autism. I am worried that this coursework thing is going to bite me in the butt though. Anybody out there who did not major in psychology in undergrad able to provide some insight into this situation? Much appreciated!!!