Clinical neuropsychology

[summertimepsy]

Hello all,

I've developed a recent interest in neuropsychology and am exploring potential career options in the field. Does anyone know if your research in grad school has to be neuropsych or neuro-focused to be competitive for internships? I'm sure it's ideal, but if that's not possible is it a dealbreaker?

[PsyDuck90]

I'm sure it's possible, but most people I know who go the neuropsych route also do research within that. However, neuropsych research is pretty broad and can be integrated with a lot of other things such as affective disorders, trauma, etc. To be competitive for neuropsych internships, you need to have a very strong understanding of neuropsych research, be very familiar with neurobiology, and have A LOT of assessment hours. 

[hopefulgrad2019]

I would echo what @PsyDuck90 says. There’s additional courses you need to take (Houston guidelines) and you need A LOT more assessment hours compared to those non-neuropsych focused. Typically, neuropsych focused individuals spend an extra year in their program before internship because of these extra courses and requirements to be competitive for internship. 

[Clinapp2017]

13 hours ago, summertimepsy said:

Hello all,

I've developed a recent interest in neuropsychology and am exploring potential career options in the field. Does anyone know if your research in grad school has to be neuropsych or neuro-focused to be competitive for internships? I'm sure it's ideal, but if that's not possible is it a dealbreaker?

How far along are you in your program? I think switching to neuropsych research earlier is much better, as well as doing neuro pracs. Most competitive neuropsych internship sites are looking for you do have some track record (e.g., pubs) in neuropsych-related areas, and I've heard from recent internship-bound folks from my lab that the best neuropsych pracs are looking for upwards of 50 integrated neuropsych reports to be considered bare-minimum competitive. 

 

Contrary to @hopefulgrad2019, I don't think students in my lab have historically spent more than 5 years in the program before leaving for internship.