How are my chances of getting in with this limited information (MFT)?

[kittybugs]

My anxiety regarding waiting on interview invites are acting up a bit lately. I think I might not have a good chance of getting in but I also don't have much perspective on this. I need someone to knock some brutal perspective into my head. I'm male and almost 27. I applied to only two MFT programs, Cal Lutheran and CSUN. I have had a year of experience working full time as a lead clinician assistant at a couple different mental health based residential programs. I have done countless intakes, dealt with insurance companies, communicated with several LMFTs regarding client progress and observations, faxed in med orders to pharmacies,  have experience holding boundaries with clients, and navigating emotional events or situations where clients might self harm. I love working in this field. I'm not going to lie, my GPA at UCSB was pretty average being a 3.34. I earned  BA in psychology there and did fantastically in all psych classes with A's and A+'s across the board, was almost always the very top of the class. However, I got C's in a multiple gen ed classes and didn't pass a couple which brought my GPA down significantly. I honestly sometimes forgot I was enrolled in a class because I was too focused on psych stuff or just goofing around on the beach with friends...I struggle with ADHD but this is an advantage too, I swear. I was also younger and less mature then compared to now. I didn't tell them this though! 

I don't have much research experience...just did a couple randomized experiments with volunteers from the school in undergrad as part of classes. I remember finding significance in one, I think I used 4 groups in that one...with people being assigned to a different combo of 2 variables, stressful task vs easy task and being told they ranked in the highest percentage vs ranked very low on the task. I think I was trying to see a possible causal relationship for stress in UCSB college students leading to reports on the amount of alcohol students planned to drink that weekend. I don't know what those kinds of studies are called anymore, if it was even a true experiment, or if that's what I even tested for and this represents my experience with research. It was several years back. My personal statement seemed passable in my eyes but nothing spectacular. I had 2 great recommendations that were personalized to emphasize my qualities (both positive things and maybe some minor quirks I have) from a Clinical director/LMFT and another LMFT, both of whom I worked with for several months. I think I made a typo in my resume for CSUN...maybe started a couple words of a sentence and forgot to delete it in my purpose section. That's a huge oops and I swear I proofread it a few times before sending but little things like this are things I have screwed up on in the past as well. Kiss of death? I also meant to get both resume and statement proofread by a couple others but before I knew it, it was the last day available to submit. So yea, not good stuff. 

I don't think I have much experience working directly with minority groups, just with several individuals and I think I'm a minority myself? I am not even sure on that one...like I was born here but my mom wasn't but my dad was? Doesn't matter really, point is that I have extensive experience interacting with my family who mostly all live in another country. So yea a lot of this probably wasn't relevant and maybe I'm not the greatest student but knowing these few things about me, what do you all think? 

 

Edited January 22, 2020 by kittybugs
i messed up

[PsyZei]

First, breathe ?

Second, it sounds like you have a great passion and are really excited about the possibility of getting into a MFT program (hey from another MFTer!)- that is awesome!

Your stats sound solid and it sounds like your references are too, that's great. Don't sweat the ADHD thing- I have ADHD and am a 4.0 grad student. All or nearly all grad classes you will take are in your preferred area of focus (MFT or related) unlike gen eds, so focusing on them isn't as hard as- as you discovered with the difference in your psych courses compared to your gen eds. Also, psychology is not an uncommon undergrad major in the field (I and another in my master cohort were both psych undergrads, 2 of us out of 6 total). The research thing isn't going to count unless it was something you published or presented on, but you could definitely talk about how you have participated in class research activities and are really interested in getting more solid academic research experience.

Are you applying to master or PhD programs?

I think you have a really good chance for a masters program!

I wouldn't count yourself out for PhD, and would also be thinking ahead for where to apply next year, what to to do in the next year to fill in gaps (like research), and looking at master programs to apply to this year (many have later deadlines than the PhD programs). It is very common in the MFT field (from my understanding/experience) to not go from undergrad straight to a PhD program, but to go through a clinical MFT/CFT master program first. In fact, some of the schools I applied to for PhD programs require that you have a clinical MFT/CFT master degree coming in. If you were applying to PhD programs, I would consider taking this time while waiting for responses to look at master programs and see if there are any you could still get everything together to apply to for this cycle.

As a note, if you are wanting to be a LMFT to practice in the field, you may find you don't need a PhD, as becoming an LMFT only requires a master degree.

[kittybugs]

I hope you are right! Thank you for the feedback. The two programs are masters programs and yes I do want to eventually be an LMFT. I don't necessarily want to go to a PhD or PsyD program but that could change in the future. Yea...I probably should be looking to see if there are deadlines for other masters programs. 

[PsyZei]

13 minutes ago, kittybugs said:

I hope you are right! Thank you for the feedback. The two programs are masters programs and yes I do want to eventually be an LMFT. I don't necessarily want to go to a PhD or PsyD program but that could change in the future. Yea...I probably should be looking to see if there are deadlines for other masters programs. 

Best of luck!