srabiee

Thanks guys! Ugh, I'm so anxious about writing a statement of purpose

This probably has a simpler answer than I expect, or at least I hope it will. I have 3 solid recommenders in mind: the professor I coded videos for in my junior and senior years, the childrens' psychoeducational treatment program I will have worked for 2 summers for in August, and the professor who is supervising my MA in Psychological Science research and empirical paper (I'm a little worried about this one since my thesis thing is not due until April and he hasn't seen much of me at all so far). But what on earth do you do if you have 10+ schools you are applying to? How do you even approach that? I know they'll save copies, but what is the most organized way to deal with putting them through all that?

Thank you all for your helpful advice. To anyone in a predicament similar to mine, I'd definitely recommend the Insider's Guide. There is so much good information in there, and I feel more prepared to begin. I think clinical psychology is my path, but I'll also apply to a couple of counseling programs.

Thank you all for your replies. Arcadian, I know you're right about the money issue. It just seems so little for all the time and work, but I'd rather do something I'm interested in. Also, I guess I should articulate my stance on academia. It's not that I'm not interested in it, or I wouldn't bother with a PhD. I know a big part of being a clinical psychologist is the research. I shouldn't have been so general with the term... basically I just don't want to be a professor. But what you're saying makes sense to me. I also found this site, and I was wondering if this page sounds accurate to you all: http://clinicalpsychgradapp.wordpress.com/preliminary-planning/should-i-even-go/

I'm just looking for some sort of guidance or helpful advice in any capacity. I'm confused and overwhelmed. I just finished my undergrad with a BA in psychology and a BA in gender studies. My GPA is acceptable... it dropped to 3.78 from 3.8 this semester, which I'm still kicking myself over. Psychology GPA is 3.925. I took the GRE last summer with the idea that I'd be applying to PhD programs in the fall. My scores were 700 Q and 570 V. I was very unhappy with the latter so there's no question that it needs to be retaken for me to be considered competitive. I also still need to take the subject test. Luckily, last fall I found a solution to put the admissions process off for awhile: I'm going back to my university for another year because I'm doing our progressive master's program. This will give me an MA in Psychological Science and hopefully a publication from a dissertation I must complete. My advisor referred to it as a "research degree" that I can't really do anything with, but it seems to suit my purposes well. I am interested in pursuing a PhD in Clinical Psychology after this, and it will give me neccessary research experience (the only other relevant things on my resume are a year and a half of obervational coding and, after this summer, 2 summers at an outdoor psychoeducational facility for children with emotional issues). I feel like my problem is hard to articulate, but basically (I guess..) I don't know what I want to do! When I was looking for potential faculty advisors for my Master's, I got laughed out of their offices because I couldn't describe my interests in great detail. I thought "I'm interested in psychopathology. I would like work in a hospital or clinic to diagnose and treat mental illnesses" would be enough, but I guess not. Are my interests too broad? One professor had enough faith to become an advisor, and I think my research with him will be focused on schizophrenia. He studies minority mental health and is a clinical psychologist, so I'm genuinely excited to work with him. Clinical psychology seemed like a perfect path, but for the last year I've been incredibly confused by the huge focus on academia. I've searched for solid information, but it seems to be contradictory. I thought posting here might help, since I've never gone into detail about my plight. I know PhDs are heavily research oriented, and I don't think I'll mind. The thing is, I want to practice in the future and have little interest in academic professions. Here's an example of my dilemma. The Columbia program states on the website: "The program is not designed to meet the needs of those whose career goals are focused primarily on the practice of psychotherapy." That seems to go for most of them. And don't even get me started on PsyDs... they sounded perfect at first, but upon inspection, they seem like a huge waste. I know they are doctorates but I've done enough research to know that they're poorly funded and have narrower career options. Funding is another issue. My mother has kindly been paying my way through undergrad and intends to do the same for the master's, but I know she can't support me after this, so I'm looking for programs that will fund me. But how am I supposed to write a statement of purpose or pick professors I want to work with if I don't figure out exactly what I want to research? And then for all this, I was reading about salaries and clinical psychologists make an average of about... 60k?! I want to help people above all, but I'd also like to live comfortably. As such, I discarded social work as an option. People stared at me in disbelief when I mentioned it, and I also decided that it may be too emotionally trying for my personality. I was so desperate that today I was looking into psychiatry/med school (not really possible, as I'm not a strong hard science person). My friend is going to the top I/O psychology program in the country on a full ride (is that what it's called?) in the fall and I'm so jealous (100k average salary)... then again, I'm not interested in business. I'm going to the aforementioned. summer program in 3 weeks. It's a 24 hour job so I won't even have time to think about any of this. I've gotten myself anxious to the point that I haven't done any of the Master's work I'm supposed to be doing for my doctoral partner. Does anyone have any tips? Thank you so much if you read my long-winded post!