Post-Bacc Research or Masters before applying to Ph.D. Counseling Psych programs

[psychgirl44]

Hello all,

I am finishing up my undergraduate degree in psychology this semester. I applied to Ph.D. Counseling Psychology programs, and I unfortunately did not get any acceptances. One program did offer me admission into their masters counseling program which has opportunities to engage in research. However, there is a post-baccalaureate research fellowship I am highly interested, in which I will have the opportunity to conduct research in an area I am very passionate about. What will make me a stonger applicant when applying to Ph.D. programs next time around... taking a gap year and doing research in my area of interest of completing a masters program?

[nycgrad14]

On 4/17/2018 at 1:41 AM, psychgirl44 said:

Hello all,

I am finishing up my undergraduate degree in psychology this semester. I applied to Ph.D. Counseling Psychology programs, and I unfortunately did not get any acceptances. One program did offer me admission into their masters counseling program which has opportunities to engage in research. However, there is a post-baccalaureate research fellowship I am highly interested, in which I will have the opportunity to conduct research in an area I am very passionate about. What will make me a stonger applicant when applying to Ph.D. programs next time around... taking a gap year and doing research in my area of interest of completing a masters program?

hey, it depends on what you think you can get out of a post bac vs masters - both could be beneficial. What was the rest of your package like - GPA, GRE, Research before you applied. For example, if your undergrad GPA was low (most PhD programs are looking for 3.7 or higher), then going to a post bac might be more beneficial to improve your GPA. If it is mostly research that you are looking for, which of these programs are going to give you the most. A lot of terminal master degrees claim that you can do research in their program, but the likelihood of you actually obtaining that experience is sometimes low, or extremely competitive. I did a masters before I applied to doctoral programs, and found that I ended up working outside the masters program for my research experience. So if you think that you can get research experience without having to go into a 2 yr program (and usually taking on a lot of debt), I would suggest to do that. Hope this is helpful