Northwestern University MA in clinical psychology?

[not me]

Hi everyone,

I have been exploring old posts and haven't found anything regarding this program so I started a new one. Feel free to let me know if I missed any discussions before.

I am a fourth-year student from Canada graduating this year. My GPA is decent (3.85) and have good GRE scores (160/168/4.5). I got a pile of rejections in this cycle. I am not surprised because I know I lack research experiences. I only work as volunteer research assistants since my 3rd year in different labs, basically working for fellows or graduate students on there projects and running participants. I didn't do a thesis for my psychology major, neither did I do an independent project. Therefore no publication, no presentation of results, etc.

While my goal ultimately is clinical PhD (I think I am quite sure of that, compared to counselling degrees), I think for my situation right now it is difficult to get publications related to clinical psychology. The labs I worked in were social/cognitive psychology and they are not so open about the opportunities in manuscript writing or publishing papers. Therefore I found this MA program of clinical psychology in Northwestern University. This is a 15-month research program not training clinical practice. I found that this is for preparing students that want to pursue clinical PhD but are not ready for it.

I want to gather more information about this program (how is the courses, how the research projects work for the students, and what they expect from applicants, etc.) and any feedback from your guys will be very very helpful!

Also since this program starts in 2019 summer, I am actually very worried because I was offered a paid summer-research-student program in a depression lab. I really don't want to miss this opportunity but this MA program seems very perfect for improving my weakness in research experiences.

Thanks in advance for viewing this long post and giving thoughts about it!!! 

[PsyDuck90]

If you can get your research experience without paying for an MA, then that would be the better option. Can you ask the PI in the depression lab if there is a possibility that you would be able to stay on past the summer and be involved in products, like posters and stuff? 

[psychology_student_]

Don't know the program, but based on what you've said about it (and if you have to pick one or the other), just ask yourself which would be more beneficial: 15 months or 2 (2.5 at the most?) months conducting research.

Also, just eye test, ask yourself what looks better to potential clinical PhD programs: "Summer Intern in a lab focused on depression" OR "Master of Arts, Northwestern University, Thesis/research project: 'Yadaya yada fancy cool study I got to independently conduct versus being an intern for a summer: A quantitative approach'". I'd say the latter.

[not me]

Thanks for both of your inputs! Both have been helpful and I have been thinking about it over the days.

I have been contacting my PI and she agreed to get me into manuscript writing over the summer, which has been super good. On the other hand, there is one potential supervisor for the MA program that is very nice who replied to my emails. Unfortunately they are not open with students starting late in the program/skipping the summer semester. I guess I still really need to make a decision... It is just very hard.

 

[Mickey26]

A lot of clinical psych programs in Canada have a minimum admission requirement of an Honour's Degree in Psych, or equivalent. Besides an Honours Thesis, an equivalent would be an independent research project, where you design and conduct research from start to finish. Doing at least one of these projects, I believe, would make you more competitive.

I have similar stats as you in terms of graduating soon, GPA, GRE scores, however I have 5+ conference presentations, 1 published manuscript + more submitted, and I've conducted 2 research projects from start to finish. That didn't mean I got accepted across the board, but I did receive some acceptances to clinical psych in Canada. So based on my personal experience, if you can get publications (be it papers or conferences) and conduct more "independent research projects", I think that would greatly help your chances  I echo @personallycentered above; if the MA program is research intensive and allows you to churn out publications/do your own research from beginning to end, then I would personally choose that route (I don't know this program though so cannot personally vouch for it). Good luck!

Edited March 20, 2019 by Mickey26

[not me]

18 hours ago, Mickey26 said:

A lot of clinical psych programs in Canada have a minimum admission requirement of an Honour's Degree in Psych, or equivalent. Besides an Honours Thesis, an equivalent would be an independent research project, where you design and conduct research from start to finish. Doing at least one of these projects, I believe, would make you more competitive.

I have similar stats as you in terms of graduating soon, GPA, GRE scores, however I have 5+ conference presentations, 1 published manuscript + more submitted, and I've conducted 2 research projects from start to finish. That didn't mean I got accepted across the board, but I did receive some acceptances to clinical psych in Canada. So based on my personal experience, if you can get publications (be it papers or conferences) and conduct more "independent research projects", I think that would greatly help your chances  I echo @personallycentered above; if the MA program is research intensive and allows you to churn out publications/do your own research from beginning to end, then I would personally choose that route (I don't know this program though so cannot personally vouch for it). Good luck!

Wow that's so great! Congrats on your offers for this year.

Thanks very much for your input! I do found doing an independent project very important and I believe the program offers that opportunity. 

To this point I am personally worried about being responsible. I wanted to apply to the program since they have been more flexible in turns of when I start. However I basically have been very certain to my PI at the depression lab about staying for the summer and she has some projects for me to follow with already.

I hope things could work out eventually. Thanks for all of your recommendations. Very very helpful!