Any good matches for me?

[Ink-nut]

Hi all, hopefully I am posting this to the correct place and not braking any rules by posting this here...

I am planning to apply this upcoming cycle to clinical psych PhD's and I'm having trouble finding potential supervisors who match my interests. I was wondering if anyone knows any good schools that have may have labs or a POI who is researching refugee mental health. I've settled on a few schools (whom I've already sent emails to) who have a focus on minorities and substance use disorders which are also right up my alley but I really want to find more programs that work with refugees. 

In addition to my research interest a match to my stats would make sense to provide anyone who might be able to recommend me programs. I know I am not exactly top tier competitive but I have a 3.8 Undergrad GPA, GRE: 156 V, 153 Q (Low I know I'm trying to retake very soon). I have 3 research posters, a presentation, and I am co-author on a manuscript. I've worked in three research labs, one for 2 years another for 1 and the last one for a few months. I have quite a bit of experience with (qualitative and quantitative) data collection/entry/analysis and some other general research related experiences. I did a ton of volunteer/organization work with minority populations during undergrad but really no clinical work. 

For anyone who read all that, feel free to "what are my chances" to my stats as well! 

[PsyDuck90]

I can't think of any programs off the top of my head, but 1 thing that worked for me when figuring out school was to find recent pubs within my area of interest and see where those authors teach. Refugees are a difficult population to get access to, so there probably is a limited amount of people who do that work. 

[Psyche007]

12 hours ago, Ink-nut said:

Hi all, hopefully I am posting this to the correct place and not braking any rules by posting this here...

I am planning to apply this upcoming cycle to clinical psych PhD's and I'm having trouble finding potential supervisors who match my interests. I was wondering if anyone knows any good schools that have may have labs or a POI who is researching refugee mental health. I've settled on a few schools (whom I've already sent emails to) who have a focus on minorities and substance use disorders which are also right up my alley but I really want to find more programs that work with refugees. 

In addition to my research interest a match to my stats would make sense to provide anyone who might be able to recommend me programs. I know I am not exactly top tier competitive but I have a 3.8 Undergrad GPA, GRE: 156 V, 153 Q (Low I know I'm trying to retake very soon). I have 3 research posters, a presentation, and I am co-author on a manuscript. I've worked in three research labs, one for 2 years another for 1 and the last one for a few months. I have quite a bit of experience with (qualitative and quantitative) data collection/entry/analysis and some other general research related experiences. I did a ton of volunteer/organization work with minority populations during undergrad but really no clinical work. 

For anyone who read all that, feel free to "what are my chances" to my stats as well! 

Dr. John Lewis at NOVA specializes in cross-cultural assessment and psychotherapy. He is working with one of his Syrian grad students to arrange a trip to Syria providing mental health services in refugee camps. He has led many such trips all over the world. He is also the Chair of the Department of Clinical and School Psychology.

https://psychology.nova.edu/faculty/profile/lewis.html

I can't speak to your chances. I'm a non-traditional student with no formal research experience (no labs, no posters, no publications) with a pretty good clinical background.

Honestly, your chances are increased drastically if you make a real connection with faculty. Make sure you attend an open day (if you can afford travel) and see if you can meet any faculty of interest. Many faculty have extreme demands on their time and do not respond to emails. Additionally, NOVA is not a funded programme, which I understand puts people off because they want to avoid student loan debt. If you can go somewhere fully funded that meets your research interests, brilliant!

Edited October 12, 2019 by Psyche007
For clarity.

[humanisticPOV]

Refugee mental health is a very niche interest, so I would recommend looking at schools that are located in areas with high immigration rates and diverse populations (New York City, Houston, Miami, San Francisco). Also, since refugee status is often a legal issue, programs with a forensic/legal psychology track or emphasis might be a good fit for you. I know John Jay has some professors with this kind of interest that could be a good match (Initials: CR, KN, MA, VJ https://www.gc.cuny.edu/Page-Elements/Academics-Research-Centers-Initiatives/Doctoral-Programs/Psychology/Training-Areas/Clinical-Psychology-@-John-Jay-College/Clinical-Psychology-@-John-Jay-College-Faculty). Other programs worth looking at would be University of Miami, Sam Houston State University, Texas Tech. 

You could also track down professors from research papers you are really interested in or have used for classes/projects in the past. Find out where that professor is located, and if they are accepting students for the upcoming year.

Your standardized test scores appear pretty average in terms of competitiveness for Clinical Psych (THE most competitive graduate program) but your research experience looks excellent and above average! Most applications are considered on a broad basis, one area can certainly make up for another. But keep in mind that many programs receive 200-600 applications a year and only accept 2-5 students each, GRE scores are *sometimes* used as a filtering mechanism to weed out under-qualified applicants before reviewing other materials. It is not uncommon to have 2nd or 3rd rounds of PhD applications. Anything you can do to boost your application is well worth it!

[foood]

Are you looking to apply to Canadian programs as well? I hear Windsor has a high density of refugees 

[Clinapp2017]

I think UVM may have faculty who do work in this area. Unsure, but I remember a post-doc at a clinic I worked at talking about this at one point. 

 

Google search pulls this: https://www.google.com/search?q=university+of+vermont+refugee+mental+health&oq=university+of+vermont+refugee+mental+health&aqs=chrome..69i57j33.5980j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8