SocDevMum

I would say be prepared mentally for an informal interview in the same way you would a formal one. Have a practiced 30 second bit about yourself, and a couple fleshed out ideas of not just what you want to research, AND how that blends well with the existing focus of the lab you are applying to. My now-PI did ask if I had a general idea what my diss might look like, in the context of my long term goals, so be prepared with some kind of answer for that. More importantly, have good questions ready for them! Ask what their expectations are for first-year students, what possible projects are on the horizon, and get to know what their personal philosophies are like. This may help you make some decisions down the road when you have multiple offers to consider!

Oh yeah! Academic Twitter is an amazing source for finding relevant research as well as networking. I have been able to connect with people across the globe who are pursuing the same types research as I am, which then opens all kinds of potential future doors. And at the very least, gives a sneak peek to what is up and coming in the field. It's especially useful for those who might be considering alt-ac jobs in the future; you get a chance to meet and interact with others who have have taken their PhD outside the ivory tower.

How's it going all? We're down to the last ten days or so..... don't forget to breathe when you are submitting those apps!

The December 1st closing date for many programs is fast approaching! I know I was in a tizzy the whole last week myself last year, waiting for LORs and holding myself back from throwing away existing SOPs and writing whole new ones. So I just want to let this year's applicants know - you got this. You have done all the prep work you can. You've written and rewritten, edited and edited and then edited some more. If you still need to upload a CV or SOP, it's time. Hit submit and breathe. Then take the week and enjoy life, because soon it will be time for hard core interview prep, since some schools start interviews as soon as the 3rd and 4th week of December! Good luck all!

Some schools ask you to list a few faculty you would be willing to be matched with - check with each one for specifics. If they don't ask you to list more than one, I would vote do not, unless you sincerely feel AND can explain how you are a spectacular fit for both/either mentor

We haven't heard anything specific from faculty here, other than that they are still taking on students - but I would say it's safe to assume that everything will be virtual. I would guess you could expect one on one with some faculty, and be prepared for a possible group interview format with other candidates, with lab members, or both. I know it's not super helpful. It's possible that, if things change tremendously in the US after January, that there could be in-person campus visits in late spring, like late March or April, or maybe even after the April 15 acceptance date, for candidates who have accepted offers, though. I wouldn't completely count those out yet!

You do have to tread carefully, especially as you are also talking about a desire to help design materials for neurodiverse students like yourself. It's a fine line between "a challenge I overcame" and "I'm neurodiverse so I want to work with neurodiverse people because I already know all about it!" It's important to not be too personal - no one needs the dirty details, after all - and to frame it as something that in the long run made you more successful in some ways. Be sure to emphasize the strengths you have developed out of the need to handle the challenge. What changed inside of you, to help you succeed, since academia wasn't going to change to fit you?

Why are you waiting? You should definitely be making contact with potential PIs well before submitting an application. Even if you already know them in passing, waiting til you submit an application is just asking to be shoved to the bottom of the consideration pile Also as NeuroMorgan said- that's a lot of top tier schools. Your resume sounds ok, you have a good beginning amount of experience. Think about adding some programs that may be less of a stretch. There are oodles of great schools doing work in addiction (University of Missouri comes to mind immediately, their entire psych program has a strong addiction focus).

My mentor told me to pick 10 I could potentially see myself working with - but he definitely never said apply to all 10! I think when you see those numbers, that applies to clinical psych programs. Clinical is notoriously competitive and yes, most clinical applicants apply to ten or more. The rest of us, however, don't seem to require that many I only applied to 5 that I knew I would be very happy with and had made contact with the professor. Don't feel like you need to waste $1000 applying to programs that aren't a really great fit.

Yeah, taking the GRE again would be a waste of time, money and energy. Your real concern is going to be lack of substantive research and mediocre LOR - especially since you are applying to all top tier, highly competitive programs. Add in the EXTRA competitiveness of clinical psych, and I would tell you to strongly reconsider applying this year until you can get more research experience under your belt.

My mentor suggested I ask 4 people, send the requests out to the 3 best, and then have the fourth as a back up in case for some reason one of the others failed to get it turned it on time. The fourth person knew they were the back up, and was prepared to submit at the last minute in case of disaster. Thankfully, I didn't have to call on them, but I was glad to know I had a plan in place. As far as universities that say you can include more than the 3 required, I've been told by graduate committees and profs that no one will read all 4 or 5 letters (some don't make it past the first one or two!), so including more LORs can work against you if the ones that get picked to be read don't reflect the best of you. It's smarter to ensure you have 3 absolutely stellar letters rather than 4 or 5 that may or may not be of equal quality.

I agree with Rerun above... perhaps you need to look outside of psychology for what you want to do. This sounds more like an Education or Communications program to me. Maybe Human Development, but that could be as much of a stretch as psychology. Assuming you've been reading papers to see who's doing the work - that's where you should start. Find out who and where the studies are being done, even if they aren't psychology programs.

Is this a PhD program? Because if it's anything over a Masters, the answer is YES, you need at least two faculty members who can write glowing LORs. A PhD program is all about the research, and has nowhere near as much to do with what you called "blue collar" work. Your work ethic and functional knowledge will help you, but what they really want to know is if you have the aptitude to search literature, critically think about other peoples' works, create your own studies AND have the drive and ability to see it through til the end. It's a completely different skill set than you use on the job. While I think it's fine to use the BCBA you are currently working under as a last reference, your office manager is really not going to be the LOR that gets you into a program. Follow up with the prof you connected with on LinkedIn and see what they have to say. Last resort, check with the first LOR writer and see if he/she has any recommendations of someone you worked with or studied under around the same time that could speak to your abilities.

If you're anything like me (and probably most of us) you probably have a spreadsheet or something that lists all the key details about each program. If not, this would be an excellent time to make one. Use that to help yourself see the differences between each of them, so you can address the unique pieces in your personal statements. You will want to talk about things like accessibility to the populations you want to work with, internship or funding opportunities, ability to work on specific research projects or topics... leave the personal stuff out, obviously. I mean, I love going to grad school in Miami, but they didn't need to know I wanted to be close to the beach. ?

Hmmm... I disagree here. While your GPA isn't great, I assume that is from your undergrad? No one will look at your undergrad GPA if you are coming from a Masters, so make sure you are getting the best possible grades in your current program to eliminate that issue. I didn't see your GRE score listed, but again, you are already in a Masters program so most schools won't really worry about that as much. Some grad schools will use GRE as a weed-out, but if the rest of your application is strong that is a lot less of a possibility. Your biggest weaknesses by far are the lack of research presentations, and the over broadness of your interests. Since you're in a grad program now, you are hopefully remedying the lack of presentations and publications, right? You should be spending the next year networking, attending conferences (including virtual), and knocking out a couple of solid presentations. AND narrowing down your possible research focus. Most of the trauma studies happening are in Clinical or Counseling psych, but there are a handful of developmental programs, as well as school psych programs. And a couple that are specific to trauma - I don't know if the MidWest is on your radar, but the University of Missouri - St Louis has a Trauma Psychology program, for instance. I believe there is some good work in trauma coming out of Colorado as well. There is a LOT of work going on in trauma, you'll just have to narrow down which universities are looking at the kind of trauma you want to study

What are your research interests? These are all great programs, but the research focus is quite varied, and when it comes down to decision time, similar research interests are what's going to push you to the top of the list - or the bottom if there's no good match.

Right off the cuff, I would say she should not apply to PhD programs this cycle. However, a Masters program would likely take her on. Or, if she doesn't want the potential expense of a Masters, she should absolutely apply for a post-bacc research position in a lab doing work that is at least similar to her long term goals. A one or two year post-bacc would position her nicely for applying to PhD programs in the next cycle.

Just hopping back in here to ask, why aren't you considering an MSW and DSW? If you're interests lie at all in education and advocacy as well as clinical work, a DSW would get you there just as effectively. Contrary to your personal experiences, the absolute BEST experience our family had with trauma-based therapy for abuse was with an MSW who focused her practice and research on it. The clinical psychologists were merely interested in assessment and then shoving us on to someone else (typically an MSW). Counseling psychology might also fit this bill, but Social Work as a field already tackles these exact topics, and is well-positioned to go a variety of professional routes. DSW's are also competitive - any PhD is going to be - but perhaps not quite as crazy-competitive as Clinical Psych. And yes, a DSW may be considered less "prestigious" than a Clinical PhD in some circles, but if you are more interested in doing the real work then you are with being an Important Person, than that doesn't really matter. Just some thing to think about.

Sorry, but this made me laugh out loud. NOTHING ever allows you to assume admission to a doctoral program. There's a reason you will see threads on the forum here with folks commiserating about being on their second, third, fourth cycle of admissions, still trying to get in. As mentioned by several others, you need to be able to articulate why you suddenly want to do psychology. And exactly what about the law has been ruined, that you think isn't similarly happening within Psychology? Nothing in our culture exists in a vacuum, and whatever you are seeing in the law is almost certainly happening in every other field, in one way or another. Test scores and GPA mean very little to many POIs - when someone says "goodness of fit" is the most important thing, they aren't kidding. My suggestion would be, what was it you thought you were going to do with the law degree, and how does that passion translate to psychology? Also, why clinical? Of all the psych PhD programs, the clinical ones are by far the most competitive. You will have to be able to articulate these same things to any Master's program, so take the time now to really nail down all the whats and whys before you waste time and money applying anywhere.

Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, does quite a bit of work on memory and aging, though I'm not sure if it falls under Clinical or a different subfield. May want to check them out.

Something else to consider when looking at schools - are you looking to become a practicioner after it's all said and done? Or is your heart more into research? This sounds more like the research end, to me, which is why I ask. If you are set on becoming a practicioner, make sure you weed out programs that are research-focused, and instead look for those who have a scientist-practicioner model of grad school. And vice versa if you really want to focus on things like quantifying symptoms and understanding the neuro end of mental illnesses. The distinction of what you want to do with your degree will make your applications more attractive to the right schools.

Hey there. If you have your MA, that means you did a Masters thesis, right? Was that a topic that you were super interersted in? What other research experiences have you had, and how might those shape your future research? It's all interesting, but at some point we have to figure out what we are really passionate about, that made us want to do the particular branch of psychology to begin with. Why do you want to do a Clinical PhD? Is there a particular population you want to work with, or a certain diagnosis you want to specialize in?

Yes, try to contact the grad coordinator for the programs you are interested in and ask. Many Pysch programs require a set of undergrad psychology classes, including a methods class, prior to admission. You may be able to take those through a local community college between now and next year to fulfill those requirements.

This. If you want to do therapy with kids or adults, getting an MSW is the shorter, less expensive, less research-intense way to go. A LCSW is fully qualified to diagnose and treat therapeutically. You don't really need a doctoral level degree unless assessments are your long term goal. There are a multitude of MSW programs out there, and they may be much easier to apply and matriculate to than a PsyD or PhD.

Ha! Stalking is a good word for it, isn't it? For me, I emailed my PI after reading through her more recent papers and asked her questions about her results and methods - full disclosure, I was also completing my honors thesis, and her papers were among my sources for my lit review, so I was pretty deep into the topic For other PIs that I did not end up going with, I read up, and had a handful of intelligent questions about their work, future directions, etc. All but one of the PIs I reached out to was very quick to respond, and more than willing to discuss their work. After I had established a conversation about their work, AND after I had confirmed at the university's website that they were anticipating taking on a student for the Fall (where possible, not every school does this), I shared that I would be applying, what some of my ideas for future studies were, and asked if they would like to see my current CV for review. In general, the profs were all very honest and upfront. My main takeaway would be, do the work to get familiar with their projects, and open with talking about their research. Make it clear that you are very interested in what makes them passionate. That way when you get around to asking about taking you on as a student, they are familiar with you, and you have established some rapport, you're not just another random email in their over crowded inbox! Oh! and don't wait til Fall to email. If you wait, your email could very likely get lost among the other hundred potential grad students AND all the other regular correspondence they get. I emailed potential PIs starting late Spring/early Summer (so, like, right now!), and it really did give me a leg up at application and interview time.