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Apologies for the late reply, work and life has had me too occupied to check TGC lately. Thank you all for responding to my queries. I see... that makes sense. I would believe that PsyD programs, on the flip side, would prefer practice-oriented students with some relevant experience then. Thank you very much for the advice. It has really shed some light for me. In the end, I have decided to turn down the MA offer at UBC. It takes 2.5 - 3 years to complete, and financially speaking, it is very difficult for me to afford the tuition without any funding / loans, not to mention I will have to spend additional years catching up with the courses for PhD. I highly doubt I'd be able to enter a PhD/PsyD program, but I'll try applying directly to these programs for the Fall 2020 intake. In the meantime, I'll work on improving my GRE scores. As for research experience - in my country (SEA), there really aren't as many opportunities in research labs as there are in NA, they are usually allocated for existing (undergrad/graduate) students or would require an MA/PhD. Furthermore, positions in academia (RA / TA / Tutor) here tends to pay peanuts compared to my current job, though I'm aware it'll be a trade-off I have to be willing to make. To be honest, I also have some doubts...I don't mean to devalue the institutions in my country, but would research experience in foreign institutions be recognized by American universities when evaluating applicants? On another note, would working as a research analyst in a local/multinational company also constitute as research experience? p/s @Neverland Congratulations on getting into the PsyD program!

Firstly, thank you to everyone for answering my questions. I genuinely appreciate the guidance/advice and it served to give me a peace of mind about the direction I will be pursuing. I have a clearer picture now thanks to the answers. I will enter the Masters program at UBC and work hard to get involved in various labs and gain as much research experience as possible. I believe it will help a lot to better prepare and develop myself for a PhD later on. @personallycentered, if you don't mind sharing (through PM or here), which PhD program did you get into? Regarding the drawback to expressing interest in a practice-oriented career, that's new to me and interesting to learn...In my country or in some others, clinical/practical experience, or interest in practicing, is on the other hand highly valued in an applicant for Clinical Psychology (UK, if I recall correctly, requires a minimum of 2 years clinical experience). Did your mentor specify any particular reason for why it may not be preferred for certain programs/universities? Thanks for sharing the experiences of your colleagues. That really gives me a better idea of what to expect further down the road, after the completion of the masters program. I've come to terms that I would likely need to take the introductory clinical courses, which I am ok with. And thanks for the last bit of advice, I'll be sure to keep that in mind when planning my masters thesis and which studies/labs to participate in. I need to have a long-term perspective and plan my decisions well...

Hello, I'm an international applicant with a BA in Psychology from a Southeast Asian university. My ambition is to be a clinical psychologist and I wanted to apply for several doctorate programs, but I eventually realized that it would be unlikely for me to get in, because my stats are not competitive enough. So I decided to be realistic and applied for several Masters programs and was accepted into the MA in Psychology in Education program at Teachers College, Columbia University and the MA in Measurement, Evaluation and Research Methodology program at University of British Columbia. Now, I am having some doubts and hesitations about my decision to pursue an MA. While TC is prestigious in name and might help with my profile's competitiveness, it is also really expensive and I can't afford it without going in debt. Columbia is a dream school but realistically I don't see it paying off after evaluating the cost-benefits. Meanwhile, UBC is also good, but I worry that the program is not in line with my next steps of entering a doctorate program in Clinical Psychology. It does consist a masters thesis component, but would I be disadvantaged compared to other applicants who graduated with a masters in general/experimental/clinical/counseling psychology? As for the reason I applied for that program at UBC, I have an interest in the field of psychometrics and I thought that instead of doing a masters in clinical psychology where I would still be unable to practice, I could gain the knowledge and skills in psychometrics, before pursuing a doctorate in Clinical Psychology. Another thing is...Should I even pursue an MA? I'm currently working full-time in the space of consultancy, where we administrate assessments and conduct analysis on the data collected for organisations (another reason for my interest in psychometrics). While earning a PhD in Clin Psych and becoming a practitioner is my ultimate goal, I worry about whether pursuing it now is the right decision. Am I ready to go back to being a student without any stable financial income? Should I wait another year and try again better prepared? But, I'd rather not have to go through the whole application process all over again... I have read that PhD looks mostly at research experience and grades, so even if I'm lacking in clinical experience, it's not impossible to get into a program if I cover the former two components. However, I have noticed that Canadian universities tend to combine the masters and PhD program for clinical psychology, though direct entry into PhD is possible, I would have to spend a little more time catching up with MA clinical psych courses (which I don't mind). Again, this is just based on what I've read on existing threads, so I would appreciate to hear some advice regarding the kind of directions I could take... Whether it's an American or Canadian university, I am honestly open to any as long as my research interest is a fit with the faculty and it is possible for me to get a funding package... TL;DR These are my questions... Can I still get into a PhD/PsyD in Clinical Psychology program with an MA that is not clinical psychology? Would I be disadvantaged if so? Should I enter TC instead of UBC because it's more relevant to clinical psychology? Or should I wait another year and try again? Does a Masters really help? I am pretty much on board with the decision to pursue it to better prepare myself for a PhD, but one can't help but worry still... Does an international applicant stand a chance to pursue a PhD in clinical psychology with funding? If it helps as reference, the following are my stats: Psychology (BA) Honors program, First Class Honors; CGPA: 3.49; Major/Honors GPA: 3.81 GRE quant 148 (I know I gotta work on this) verb 159 AW 4.5 (I intend to retake GRE before applying for PhD) Psi Chi member; 1 research experience as a research assistant in a psychometrics project in my undergrad no publications; 1 oral presentation in an international conference (abstract published in the International Journal of Psychology) and 1 poster presentation in local conference Apologies for the length, thanks for reading...