psychguy2022

Hi all, Please let me know if there is a "chance me" thread for 2022 IO psych already, I couldn't find one so I thought I'd try here. I am a 23 year old who graduated from a well-known R1 university in 2019 with a BS in Psychology, and am now working at an even more prominent R1 as a research assistant in clinical psychology. For the past 2.5 years I've had the intention of applying to PhD programs for clinical, however as that has neared closer, I've realized that I don't think I am someone who should get a PhD. I like research, but I don't necessarily want work for a university/be tenure track; I also don't think I am as interested in studying clinical populations as I thought I was. As such, I am most heavily considering Master's programs, as I do not think I am someone who needs a PhD to be happy/feel successful, and from my limited knowledge a Master's seems as though it can provide adequate financial support. About me: Academically, I had a rough first 2 years of undergrad. I came in thinking I knew what I wanted to do, and quickly realized I did not. While everyone around me seemed to love and fit perfectly into what they were studying, it became that much harder to focus on schoolwork and find my passion. I haven't yet decided how I will be framing this in my personal statement's but I am aware of the things to avoid (i.e., mental health difficulties and other clichés); and I do have a solid upward trajectory I can point to. Once I started studying psychology and joined a cognitive neuro lab I was in, things turned around completely. Though, as a result of the more-than-rocky start, my cumulative gpa is a 3.15, and major (psych) gpa is 3.66. In my last 60 credits (2 years) my overall gpa is a 3.76 and psych gpa in that same time frame is a 3.88. I also completed a post-bacc program at a prestigious R1, consisting of 4 classes and got a 4.0. In my current post-bacc lab, I am co-author on 2 published papers and will hopefully have a first authored paper by fall. I have my name on a couple posters as well. I have 2 strong letters of rec and am working on securing a third. My main worry with applying to masters programs is that 1) my cum. gpa is on the low end, and 2) my research background, while strong, is in cognitive/clinical psych, not in I/O psychology. My desire is to continue to use my data analysis skills (coding in R/SPSS/Matlab) in whatever program I pursue, and in my future career as well. Any thoughts on my chances of getting into a top MA/MS program, areas to improve before application season, etc. are much appreciated. Apologies for the long-windedness.

Hi all, Please let me know if there is a "chance me" thread for IO psych already, I couldn't find one so I thought I'd try here. I am a 23 year old who graduated from a well-known R1 university in 2019 with a BS in Psychology, and am now working at an even more prominent R1 as a research assistant in clinical psychology. For the past 2.5 years I've had the intention of applying to PhD programs for clinical, however as that has neared closer, I've realized that I don't think I am someone who should get a PhD. I like research, but I don't necessarily want work for a university/be tenure track; I also don't think I am as interested in studying clinical populations as I thought I was. As such, I am most heavily considering Master's programs, as I do not think I am someone who needs a PhD to be happy/feel successful, and from my limited knowledge a Master's seems as though it can provide adequate financial support. About me: Academically, I had a rough first 2 years of undergrad. I came in thinking I knew what I wanted to do, and quickly realized I did not. While everyone around me seemed to love and fit perfectly into what they were studying, it became that much harder to focus on schoolwork and find my passion. I haven't yet decided how I will be framing this in my personal statement's but I am aware of the things to avoid (i.e., mental health difficulties and other clichés); and I do have a solid upward trajectory I can point to. Once I started studying psychology and joined a cognitive neuro lab I was in, things turned around completely. Though, as a result of the more-than-rocky start, my cumulative gpa is a 3.15, and major (psych) gpa is 3.66. In my last 60 credits (2 years) my overall gpa is a 3.76 and psych gpa in that same time frame is a 3.88. I also completed a post-bacc program at a prestigious R1, consisting of 4 classes and got a 4.0. In my current post-bacc lab, I am co-author on 2 published papers and will hopefully have a first authored paper by fall. I have my name on a couple posters as well. I have 2 strong letters of rec and am working on securing a third. My main worry with applying to masters programs is that 1) my cum. gpa is on the low end, and 2) my research background, while strong, is in cognitive/clinical psych, not in I/O psychology. My desire is to continue to use my data analysis skills (coding in R/SPSS/Matlab) in whatever program I pursue, and in my future career as well. Any thoughts on my chances of getting into a top MA/MS program, areas to improve before application season, etc. are much appreciated. Apologies for the long-windedness.

Thanks, kenzieph! I think this might one of the very few feasible options. I appreciate the help!

I've heard it said that securing some sort of external funding as you apply to graduate programs greatly bolsters your application overall, however, I'm finding it difficult to locate funding opportunities for those who are not yet in graduate school (e.g., an undergrad, or in my case, a post-bacc RA). Additionally, it seems that a great amount of opportunities that do support this subset of people do not allow for clinical foci. For example, I often see the NSF GRFP cited as an option, yet their eligibility criteria explicitly states that "Individuals are not eligible to apply if they will be enrolled in graduate study focused on clinical practice, counseling, social work, patient-oriented research, epidemiological and medical behavioral studies...". I have seen similar statements on a few funding sites now. Does anyone have any thoughts or resources on what is available to those wishing to pursue clinical research?

Hi all, I am a 2nd year post-bacc research assistant planning to apply to clinical/counseling PhD programs this upcoming fall. I am making efforts to narrow my research interests, as they are still somewhat broad, so that I can start developing a sense of where/who I may apply to. I worked with a graduate student recently whose interest was the development of scalable interventions, and I feel like this is largely in line with what I am interested in as well (I haven't yet talked to this student to gain more info from them, but I will soon). I am wondering if anyone has any resources/suggestions/people of interest related to research surrounding the development of interventions for various psychopathologies. I am unsure where a good starting point may be when it comes to learning more about this type of research. Is this a specific subfield (like neuropsych or health)? Any help is much appreciated!

Good question! And very fair - I didn't go into the "why" so much in my initial posting. It was working in a cognitive neuroscience lab that I gained my initial interest in clinical. I was using machine learning to predict reading ability at the person level using fMRI data. I really liked the implications it held in aiding those with dyslexia or other types of reading deficits. Upon graduating, I had the option to take a full-time position with my PI or look for another lab to try and join. I went with the latter and I can safely say it was the right call! Since starting at a clinical lab in January I've got about 40 hours of diagnostic interviewing under my belt. COVID delayed a lot of potential hours so that number would be closer to 100 otherwise. Our work is picking up again so as of now I'm averaging about 5 hours of clinical work a week. I find the heterogeneity of mental illness to be really interesting. It amazes me how there are so many possible ways someone might experience depression or any other given illness. The current work I'm doing in lab is focused on quantifying psychomotor agitation/retardation as it relates to depression. I find myself constantly inspired by the work itself, and the knowledge I'm gaining as a result. The idea of quantifying symptoms as opposed to assessing them via self-report or otherwise is really cool! So I've also gained further interest in physiological measures like EEG and MRI I know "the heterogeneity of mental illness" is too broad of a pitch for graduate programs, I know I need to hone my research question specifically, but I have loved the clinical work and especially loved the research thus far. I think it's the right fit for me, I just have work on filling a gap in the field that isn't already filled. I'm interested in hearing your thoughts if you have any!

Good call! I actually had a question about this if you have any insight. As noted, my last 60 credits have a much higher gpa than cumulative, as is the case for many people (at least on this site). When schools report averages, are they using everyone's cumulative score? Last 60 credits? I get confused because I hear stories of people getting in to great programs despite a weak start in school, yet programs almost always have average GPA's that are quite high. This makes me think they might just use the better one between the two - obviously I can't be sure of this. Do you have any thoughts?

Pasting here as I made a separate topic about this before finding this thread (sorry!) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I am a graduated BS in Psychology who is having trouble distinguishing what schools are actually attainable. I am planning to apply in the Fall of 2021 to clinical psychology PhD programs. I have asked the graduate students in my current lab this question, but this is such a nice way to get thoughts from other grad students who have successfully done the thing. About me: I attended a well-known R1 university in the midwest where I aided in research as an undergraduate RA for 3 years in 2 different labs (one running clinical trials in endocrinology, and later on I was in a developmental cognitive neuroscience lab - the latter sparked my interest in clinical psych). My senior year, I completed a project that allowed for me to travel to a large international conference for a poster presentation. I presented this again later in the year at our school's undergraduate forum and placed 3rd out of several hundred undergraduates. Separately, I received an award for this project. I now work as an RA at a fairly prestigious school in Chicago. I am currently listed as 5th author on a paper that is in submission, and I've already taken the lead on a small pilot project that I expect to turn into a poster at the very least, and with some work, a paper in which I could be first author. I have secured at least 2 very solid letters of recommendation and have a few people in mind for who could be a third. I have strong leadership roles from undergrad and a two others that I've recently taken up in my community. Academically, I had a rough first 2 years of school. I came in thinking I knew what I wanted to do, and quickly realized I did not. While everyone around me seemed to love and fit perfectly into what they were studying, it became that much harder to focus on schoolwork and find my passion. I haven't yet decided how I will be framing this in my personal statement's but I am aware of the things to avoid (i.e., mental health difficulties and other clichés). Once I started studying psychology and joined the neuro lab I was in, things turned around completely. Though, as a result of the more-than-rocky start, my cumulative gpa is a 3.15, and major (psych) gpa is 3.66. In my last 60 credits (2 years) my overall gpa is a 3.76 and psych gpa in that same time frame is a 3.88. My gpa is by far my biggest hinderance (at least in my eyes), and I don't yet have a GRE score but I am quite confident I can meet both math and verbal requirements for ~95% of schools. I am currently enrolled in a post-bacc certificate program at the school I work for in an attempt to show that I am continuing to educate myself and succeed academically. I've received an A in my first class and have 3 to go. What do you think? Is there more I could be doing? I know how competitive things can be. This is what I want to do and I know if I have to apply a few times, I will. I just don't have a firm grasp of what things might be like when I take a swing at some of the schools I really would like to do research at. Thanks to anyone who takes the time to read this, it's beyond appreciated!

Hey thank you for the reply! Firstly, I see that you're responding to a good number of people asking for help in the "what are my chances" sort of way. I know there are a ton of posts like this but it really does help us get an idea of where we should be focusing our time/energy, so thank you! Second, that's solid advice. I like the idea of having my letter writer's touch on the GPA as opposed to spending valuable space going over it in my statement. I think I'm still a bit fuzzy on how to know what school is definitely out of the question vs. a program that I have a decent shot at. I'll definitely be applying widely, no doubt, I suppose I just need to do some more research into what type of students have gotten in where. Thanks!

I am a graduated BS in Psychology who is having trouble distinguishing what schools are actually attainable. I am planning to apply in the Fall of 2021 to clinical psychology PhD programs. I have asked the graduate students in my current lab this question, but this is such a nice way to get thoughts from other grad students who have successfully done the thing. About me: I attended a well-known R1 university in the midwest where I aided in research as an undergraduate RA for 3 years in 2 different labs (one running clinical trials in endocrinology, and later on I was in a developmental cognitive neuroscience lab - the latter sparked my interest in clinical psych). My senior year, I completed a project that allowed for me to travel to a large international conference for a poster presentation. I presented this again later in the year at our school's undergraduate forum and placed 3rd out of several hundred undergraduates. Separately, I received an award for this project. I now work as an RA at a fairly prestigious school in Chicago. I am currently listed as 5th author on a paper that is in submission, and I've already taken the lead on a small pilot project that I expect to turn into a poster at the very least, and with some work, a paper in which I could be first author. I have secured at least 2 very solid letters of recommendation and have a few people in mind for who could be a third. I have strong leadership roles from undergrad and a two others that I've recently taken up in my community. Academically, I had a rough first 2 years of school. I came in thinking I knew what I wanted to do, and quickly realized I did not. While everyone around me seemed to love and fit perfectly into what they were studying, it became that much harder to focus on schoolwork and find my passion. I haven't yet decided how I will be framing this in my personal statement's but I am aware of the things to avoid (i.e., mental health difficulties and other clichés). Once I started studying psychology and joined the neuro lab I was in, things turned around completely. Though, as a result of the more-than-rocky start, my cumulative gpa is a 3.15, and major (psych) gpa is 3.66. In my last 60 credits (2 years) my overall gpa is a 3.76 and psych gpa in that same time frame is a 3.88. My gpa is by far my biggest hinderance (at least in my eyes), and I don't yet have a GRE score but I am quite confident I can meet both math and verbal requirements for ~95% of schools. I am currently enrolled in a post-bacc certificate program at the school I work for in an attempt to show that I am continuing to educate myself and succeed academically. I've received an A in my first class and have 3 to go. What do you think? Is there more I could be doing? I know how competitive things can be. This is what I want to do and I know if I have to apply a few times, I will. I just don't have a firm grasp of what things might be like when I take a swing at some of the schools I really would like to do research at. Thanks to anyone who takes the time to read this, it's beyond appreciated!