Clinical psych realistically?

[Hopefully525]

Hi guys! I'm sure many of you are thinking about the same thing as I am right now. I've been thinking a lot about my chance in clinical psych.

 

Here's my qualification in short

-B.A. in Psychology and B.A. in Criminology with honors in both majors and with a separate honor's given by the university

-GPA 3.68 out of 4.00

-1 (small) conference presentation for my honors thesis (I will be submitting the same thesis for an undergrad journal in sociology sometime next month so hopefully, i will have a publication but that's still a big uncertainty)

-1 year in psych lab working as an undergrad research assistant

-2 years in a criminology lab also working as an undergrad RA

-(Almost) 3 years of volunteering at a local rape victim counseling center

-A couple of honors' societies involvements (one as an exec board member but neither President nor VP)

-GRE is still in a working process but I'm assuming V 163 Q 160 AW 4-4.5

 

I feel pretty good about my volunteering and research experience even though crim lab wasn't really what I was interested in. But the lack of having any concrete publishing is haunting me. The psych lab that I was working is still working with the same project and was considering publishing their results with my name as a second (more of a third) author just to help me get that publishing out of the way. Who knows what's gonna happen. Also, I'm curious whether that counseling experience at the center would count as clinical experience. If not, I'm gonna have to start finding a new one.

So long story short, I would like to hear what you guys personally think about my chances in clinical psych. I'm considering 10-15 schools with the avg of 162 for both V and Q for their admitted students. Oh, I forgot to mention that I am an international applicant (Heard some people saying that schools require a slightly higher GRE score for international applicants, not really sure how much of it is true but it's worth mentioning.)

 

Thanks for reading this long-ass post!

 

[PsychWannabee]

8 hours ago, Hopefully525 said:

Hi guys! I'm sure many of you are thinking about the same thing as I am right now. I've been thinking a lot about my chance in clinical psych.

What kind of programs are you looking into? PhD? PsyD? If PhD, I wouldn't worry about "clinical experience" or role in honor societies. Your GPA should meet cut-offs and, assuming you score in your estimated range, so should your GRE. The only concern would be your research experience, which PhD programs place high value in. You only have a year of psych research experience and one conference presentation, and you will be competing against people who have several years of research experience. Many applicants will also have multiple conference presentations and some will have publications. While it is certainly possible to be accepted into a program with that psych research experience, it would probably be helpful for you to tie-in your criminology experiences to your interests in psychology in your statement of purpose. However, this is only if these experiences actually fit together or relate.

[Yep]

Yes you should be competitive