Advice for applying for Fall 2022 admission

[alts98]

Hi to those reading!

I was hoping to get advice on what to work on to help prepare me for the application process next fall. A little background: 

Undergrad GPA: 3.70 (Psychology and Criminal Justice (completed honors program with honors thesis) 

Experience: Worked as an undergrad RA in two labs in my alma mater for 2+ years, and worked as a part-time RA at Brown and now currently working at another Ivy League university as a full-time RA. 

Publications: Have over 20 poster presentations and two publications as fourth author and currently working on a first-author publication. 

My interests revolve around psychology and forensic/law so I am planning on applying to a couple of different programs that had faculty that fit my interests: Clinical Psychology PhD, joint JD-PhD (in Clinical psych), and Clinical Psych Phd-MPH programs. Some of the schools currently on my list are University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Clark Univ, GSU, among many others I still need to narrow down. Does anyone have any advice on what I should be focusing on? I plan on taking the GRE in February and LSAT in April and am starting to study now. Should I focus on gaining clinical experience (and if so, what kinds of positions) or should I get an additional part-time RA position, or what to focus on in the personal statements. If you have any suggestions for faculty who is interested in forensic, sexual assault, prevention and policy or anything along those lines that would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks in advance!!  

[PsyDuck90]

I don't know if John Jay is on your list, but they are very well known in forensic psychology. It looks like they got rid of their PhD-JD program and replaced it with an MA-JD program, but they still offer the clinical psych PhD.

Clinical psych PhD programs don't care too much about clinical experience because the available opportunities for unlicensed folks are quite limited and not representative of what a psychologist does on a regular basis, but volunteering some time at a sexual assault hotline or something wouldn't hurt, especially since that is a population of interest. It looks like you're pretty well set-up research-wise, so just keep doing what you're doing and push for as many pubs as you can. Also, for the joint PhD-JD programs, I would pop over to the law forum and see what kinds of things law schools look for in applicants to make sure you're covered on that side as well. 

[alts98]

@PsyDuck90 Thanks for the advice! 

[rainydaychai]

Hi there! I'm a current first year clinical psych student, in a program with a formal forensic emphasis, so I thought I'd reach out. You look like you have great experience, particularly in regards to research! I would check out Simon Fraser University if you would consider moving to Canada, as there is very strong forensic representation there. Off the top of my head, I can also recommend Fordham, Sam Houston State, and Texas A&M.

Feel free to send me a message if you want to chat more about clinical-forensic psych programs!  

[JoePianist]

The University of Alabama also has a historically strong clinical-forensic track

[justacigar]

On 11/8/2020 at 5:53 PM, alts98 said:

Hi to those reading!

I was hoping to get advice on what to work on to help prepare me for the application process next fall. A little background: 

Undergrad GPA: 3.70 (Psychology and Criminal Justice (completed honors program with honors thesis) 

Experience: Worked as an undergrad RA in two labs in my alma mater for 2+ years, and worked as a part-time RA at Brown and now currently working at another Ivy League university as a full-time RA. 

Publications: Have over 20 poster presentations and two publications as fourth author and currently working on a first-author publication. 

My interests revolve around psychology and forensic/law so I am planning on applying to a couple of different programs that had faculty that fit my interests: Clinical Psychology PhD, joint JD-PhD (in Clinical psych), and Clinical Psych Phd-MPH programs. Some of the schools currently on my list are University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Clark Univ, GSU, among many others I still need to narrow down. Does anyone have any advice on what I should be focusing on? I plan on taking the GRE in February and LSAT in April and am starting to study now. Should I focus on gaining clinical experience (and if so, what kinds of positions) or should I get an additional part-time RA position, or what to focus on in the personal statements. If you have any suggestions for faculty who is interested in forensic, sexual assault, prevention and policy or anything along those lines that would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks in advance!!  

Hey - wondering if you've thought at all about a clinical-community program? It's not quite forensic per se, but there are a lot of faculty doing research around sexual assault and social justice. Check out Michigan State University, specifically Rebecca Campbell. She does work with law enforcement around prevention, and I think she also does some policy type work. Not sure if it will be exactly what you're looking for, but worth a look. Community programs in general might be a good fit for what you are interested in!

[alts98]

@justacigarThanks for the advice! I had come across 1-2 community psych programs that were interesting but I will definitely look into it more! Forensic is awesome but I'm willing to go to a program with that specific concentration if the faculty are doing policy type work. Thanks!