Am I doomed without research publications? (Clinical psych)

[ne0224]

Hey everyone,

I am interested in going to school to become a clinical psychologist. I've read a lot of threads and success stories, and it seems that a person is much more likely to get accepted if they have published research. But really, how realistic is it to achieve that in undergrad? I know there are plenty of other factors that are considered in an app, but research experience carries a heavy weight, and is what I am most concerned about. 

I have my bachelors in psychology, and got two years of research experience in undergrad. I worked under a faculty member on research he was working on, and I also created and conducted an original study with three other students. I was planning on applying for fall 2019, and I have been trying to land an RA position but luck has not been on my side. My best bet is volunteering in a lab, which is fine and i'd love the experience, but that most likely will not allow me to really contribute to something independently. 

I guess what I am wondering is, although I do have experience, is it not valuable because it's not published? Does this matter as much as people make it seem? 

 

Thanks

[PsyDuck90]

Do you have any posters or talks at national conferences? Because of the heavy research component of PhDs, they want to see strong research experience, and a big part of research is sharing the information with the community, which is why people publish or present at conferences. Volunteering may still yield successful products, and if you contribute heavily, you may not be 1st author, but even being 3rd or 4th author means something. Is it possible for you to present any of your past research at a conference?

[ne0224]

@Hk328 I presented two posters but neither of them were at national conferences, they were small regional ones, which is why I feel like my research experience will be overlooked.  I haven't thought about presenting at future conferences, so that is something i'll look into, thanks! 

[Rosettaspoon]

-- if you have completed paper at hand, you could try to publish it. Typically, the time need to publish an article is 6 months or so, there's still time. If you managed to get you paper ACCEPTED by a journal, that could also work. Good luck  

[SarahTonin]

15 hours ago, ne0224 said:

Hey everyone,

I am interested in going to school to become a clinical psychologist. I've read a lot of threads and success stories, and it seems that a person is much more likely to get accepted if they have published research. But really, how realistic is it to achieve that in undergrad? I know there are plenty of other factors that are considered in an app, but research experience carries a heavy weight, and is what I am most concerned about. 

I have my bachelors in psychology, and got two years of research experience in undergrad. I worked under a faculty member on research he was working on, and I also created and conducted an original study with three other students. I was planning on applying for fall 2019, and I have been trying to land an RA position but luck has not been on my side. My best bet is volunteering in a lab, which is fine and i'd love the experience, but that most likely will not allow me to really contribute to something independently. 

I guess what I am wondering is, although I do have experience, is it not valuable because it's not published? Does this matter as much as people make it seem? 

 

Thanks

No, you are not doomed at all! I actually did have a publication from my undergrad, but I would say that I was the exception and not the rule. Plenty of people without publications also got into many great programs. While some people do achieve a publication of some kind if they stay in the same lab for like 2+ years, at the undergrad level number of publications doesn't always reflect the quality of the experience. I know plenty of people who had great research experiences, but for whatever reason, just never got a publication out of it. Obviously, it's nice to have a publication or a senior thesis or something like that because it is a quick way for a PI to sort of assess how serious your research experience was, but if you can talk about your experience intelligently in a personal statement/interview, there is no reason why you couldn't be competitive even without those things. Your experience is definitely still valuable. 

A little bit of bad news though - it is becoming more and more common to have publications, conferences, etc. Lots of people do 1-2 years of research in undergrad and then also do 1-2 years of post-grad research. If you are interested in top research-oriented clinical psychology programs, I would actually even say that 3+ years of research was the norm at the interviews that I went on with at least a conference presentation or something like that to show for it. So I wouldn't discount your volunteer experience if that's all you can get for now. Might still be worth doing.

[Eanertodt]

Hello!

You are not doomed at all! I didn't have ANY publications while applying and still got into a few clinical psychology programs. I think as long as you have good research experiences and good skill set (and able to talk about those experiences and skills in a great way in the interview) - it should be okay. 

Like SarahTonin said above, it is getting more common for students to have publications, but I wouldn't let that discourage you. Your experience is valuable without a publication! 

[Sherrinford]

Not doomed necessarily. You can still have quality research experience without a publication necessarily. Posters should be more reasonable a goal or something attainable.

I am in a funded PhD program, did not have any pubs or even posters. But I did have decent research experience.