Applied to clinical psych but received an offer for a different track, what should I do?

[supernervous12]

I recently interviewed with a clinical psych program and was notified by the PI that they would like to give me an offer, just not for the clinical track. The research fit is amazing, and I really like the program in general after the interview. 

However, clinical psychology has always been my passion, and getting clinical training has been my goal all along. This is my third time applying, and even though I know how competitive and especially difficult this cycle has been, I am starting to have some doubts about whether clinical psych is for me. 

I am not especially keen on becoming a therapist, and I know that is not the only thing clinical training offers us. I also haven't been exposed to much clinical work to know what to anticipate. I guess another major door that would close by going nonclinical is conducting research on clinical samples or behaviors, especially if I want to do any intervention work. My POI doesn't work directly with clinical populations, but their research is clinically-oriented. 

The thought of going through another cycle/year of this is soul-deadening, but I don't think I should feel like I need to compromise on my career goals if I can help it either. That said, I'd like to hear what everyone thinks about this and what you would do if you were in this situation. I also heard that you could transfer to clinical later even if you weren't initially admitted to clinical. Does anyone know how likely this is?

 

Thanks everyone, any feedback is much appreciated!

[PsyDuck90]

I'm not sure how likely it is to transfer into a clinical program since the clinical training starts day 1. There are respecialization programs that you can do post-grad which may meet requirements for clinical licensure in your state. However, those programs seem to only be offered by professional schools with questionable reputations. You said your PI does clinically oriented work. What does that mean exactly? What kind of career do you envision yourself having? If you don't care about being eligible for a clinical license in the future and want to strictly be an academic and a researcher, then this may be a good option. If you think you may want to clinician in some capacity that requires a license, then that's a tougher decision. You may still be able to be involved in clinical research in some capacity without being a clinician. I would maybe speak with any mentors in the field you may have and see what they say. 

[SocDevMum]

26 minutes ago, supernervous12 said:

The thought of going through another cycle/year of this is soul-deadening, but I don't think I should feel like I need to compromise on my career goals if I can help it either.

Exactly what are your career goals? What is it about clinical psych that you are so passionate about? As mentioned previously, if you aren't interested in holding a license that would enable you to diagnose and treat, you just want to do research, then this could be a great option. There is quite a bit of overlap between the different specializations - cognitive/neuro and developmental especially seem to have a lot in common with the topics that clinical researchers also study, so you may find fulfillment in something that is adjacent to the field. 

All that said, if you just absolutely know that you want to complete the training and apply for licensure, you would be doing yourself (and the program) a disservice by taking this spot this year. You mentioned that you don't have a lot of direct clinical experience - is that something you would want to work on for another year, to improve your chances for the next application season? 

I've heard of people with exisiting PhDs in cogntive or developmental going back to school for a few years to get a second PhD in Clinical, but man that seems like a lot time and money to spend (waste!) if you already know you want a Clinical degree.....

[rainydaychai]

43 minutes ago, supernervous12 said:

I also heard that you could transfer to clinical later even if you weren't initially admitted to clinical.

I can weigh in on how this happens in my program, but please keep in mind that this is just my experience in my own clinical program and that this may not generalize. In my time here, I've known a couple students who have started in the experimental program and completed (or almost completed) the MA portion of the program when they then applied to the clinical side. They were almost unilaterally successful, because at this point they have established relationships with both experimental and clinical faculty and have even collaborated on research with clinical faculty (usually, the faculty member they apply to work with). However, they had to go through the formal clinical application process again just like all other applicants and while any overlapping program coursework transferred (as well as their MA thesis, if completed!), they still needed to take all the first and second year clinical coursework, so it undoubtedly stretched out their time in the program as a whole.

[supernervous12]

21 minutes ago, rainydaychai said:

I can weigh in on how this happens in my program, but please keep in mind that this is just my experience in my own clinical program and that this may not generalize. In my time here, I've known a couple students who have started in the experimental program and completed (or almost completed) the MA portion of the program when they then applied to the clinical side. They were almost unilaterally successful, because at this point they have established relationships with both experimental and clinical faculty and have even collaborated on research with clinical faculty (usually, the faculty member they apply to work with). However, they had to go through the formal clinical application process again just like all other applicants and while any overlapping program coursework transferred (as well as their MA thesis, if completed!), they still needed to take all the first and second year clinical coursework, so it undoubtedly stretched out their time in the program as a whole.

Oh that is good to know. I met someone who is a current student in the clinical psychology program of that school, and they were initially admitted to the cognitive neuroscience program and transferred to clinical psych during their second year. They did not even redo the first year, so I guess it varies across programs. 

[supernervous12]

1 hour ago, PsyDuck90 said:

I'm not sure how likely it is to transfer into a clinical program since the clinical training starts day 1. There are respecialization programs that you can do post-grad which may meet requirements for clinical licensure in your state. However, those programs seem to only be offered by professional schools with questionable reputations. You said your PI does clinically oriented work. What does that mean exactly? What kind of career do you envision yourself having? If you don't care about being eligible for a clinical license in the future and want to strictly be an academic and a researcher, then this may be a good option. If you think you may want to clinician in some capacity that requires a license, then that's a tougher decision. You may still be able to be involved in clinical research in some capacity without being a clinician. I would maybe speak with any mentors in the field you may have and see what they say. 

 

44 minutes ago, SocDevMum said:

Exactly what are your career goals? What is it about clinical psych that you are so passionate about? As mentioned previously, if you aren't interested in holding a license that would enable you to diagnose and treat, you just want to do research, then this could be a great option. There is quite a bit of overlap between the different specializations - cognitive/neuro and developmental especially seem to have a lot in common with the topics that clinical researchers also study, so you may find fulfillment in something that is adjacent to the field. 

All that said, if you just absolutely know that you want to complete the training and apply for licensure, you would be doing yourself (and the program) a disservice by taking this spot this year. You mentioned that you don't have a lot of direct clinical experience - is that something you would want to work on for another year, to improve your chances for the next application season? 

I've heard of people with exisiting PhDs in cogntive or developmental going back to school for a few years to get a second PhD in Clinical, but man that seems like a lot time and money to spend (waste!) if you already know you want a Clinical degree.....

Those are some very valid questions. I am not entirely sure about my career goal yet, which might have come off in my personal statement and contributed to the unsuccessful outcomes of my application. I am not keen on becoming a therapist, but like I said, I have not done any direct clinical work, like patient counseling or clinical assessments. I am working as a clinical research coordinator at a hospital right now, so I work with clinical populations a lot. I really enjoy implementing research that can improve their quality of life and quality of care, but I guess that doesn't have to be limited to clinical interventions. 

[SocDevMum]

5 hours ago, supernervous12 said:

I really enjoy implementing research that can improve their quality of life and quality of care

Are you applying to clinical programs that are research-focused (Clinical Science) or practicioner-focused (Boulder method or research-practicioner)? Both will get you licensed at the end, but the practicioner-focused programs are likely to reject someone who says they don't want to do therapy or counseling off the top and give those spots to people who actively want to practice clinically, while the research-focused ones will instead only really want applicants who DON'T want to practice at the end of it all so they can focus on developing them into top notch researchers and academics. 

[Regression2theMean]

6 hours ago, supernervous12 said:

 

Those are some very valid questions. I am not entirely sure about my career goal yet, which might have come off in my personal statement and contributed to the unsuccessful outcomes of my application. I am not keen on becoming a therapist, but like I said, I have not done any direct clinical work, like patient counseling or clinical assessments. I am working as a clinical research coordinator at a hospital right now, so I work with clinical populations a lot. I really enjoy implementing research that can improve their quality of life and quality of care, but I guess that doesn't have to be limited to clinical interventions. 

You can definitely still do research with clinical populations/assessments that have an intervention component outside of a clinical program. I am in a social psychology program and I regularly do intervention/applied research sometimes even with clinical or subclinical populations if they're relevant to the research question. Sometimes the IRB/ethical constraints are harder because I'm not a clinician, but I collaborate with clinicians to get over that hurdle. I would say that almost all of the students and faculty in my program do research that ultimately has implications for improving people's quality of life. I agree with what others have said: What are your career goals? If you don't want to be a therapist (as you've stated), a non-clinical program might actually be a great fit! 

I've never heard of a student in my department successfully switching areas (into or out of clinical) without having to reapply. They have a leg up on the competition when they reapply but it is still no guarantee. 

One question you should ask your PI given your interest in a more clinical approach: Is there a lot of collaboration across specializations in the program? If so, you may still have the opportunity to regularly and directly collaborate with clinical faculty. Programs vary in how much they encourage cross-area or interdisciplinary research so check on this before committing if you really do want to have continued exposure to clinical populations/research.  

Edited February 26, 2021 by Regression2theMean
Edited for typo.

[SoundofSilence]

18 hours ago, supernervous12 said:

Oh that is good to know. I met someone who is a current student in the clinical psychology program of that school, and they were initially admitted to the cognitive neuroscience program and transferred to clinical psych during their second year. They did not even redo the first year, so I guess it varies across programs. 

You received some very good advice so far. Just chiming in with my experience:

I was in your position last year around this time. The POI really liked me but couldn't fund me in clinical, so they offered me a different track. Although I liked the research and the lab, and I've been applying so many times that I lost count, I turned it down. 

I previously practiced at the master's level clinically and I am very very sure that I want a clinical license. It was difficult, and it added years to my (already long) journey, but I don't regret it. I am also older so had to postpone some other life plans, but it is what it is. I will be applying to programs again this fall.

If your POI can help you transition at some point in clinical, maybe that's an option, but they might not be inclined to do so since they already offered you a spot in a different track. 

My advice - make sure that you take into consideration all the things that you want to do in the future. Even if you close some doors, if the opportunities available to you make you happy, then why not. I know it's not an easy decision. Give yourself enough time to think through things and consult with the people you trust.

Best of luck!

[T.O.hopeful]

Like the previous poster said, you've already received some good advice but thought I'd share what I noticed for myself during this admission cycle. I'm also interested in clinical psychology but for every program I've looked at so far (Canadian schools), the faculty whose research most fit with my interests are social psychologists and not clinical psychologists. I haven't received official rejections yet but I suspect they will come. So for the next year, I really need to think about what my career goal is because I actually do want to be a therapist/clinician but if faculty with my research interests are not clinical psychologists, it really makes me question if clinical psychology is what I should be doing... 

Not sure if this is similar to you in that your interests tend to align with non-clinical psychologists but you claim the research fit is amazing, so I think it is worth exploring whether you could have an enjoyable career if you do this program, especially if there is a way to examine clinical populations without needing to be a licensed psychologist. 

[PsychProf]

In my current department and where I trained people sometimes (rarely) get sent from clinical to experimental if they do not seem to be able to meet clinical expectations but I've never seen it happen the other way.

I also think it's important to think about not just career interests but also job markets. I personally didn't want to do therapy and knew I wanted to be in academia but wanted the clinical degree to have flexibility because the academic job market is so tough. It's much harder to get an academic job as a social psychologist or health psychologist based on my (limited) observation, whereas clinical psychologists can work in traditional universities but also academic medical centers, VAs, etc. where they have some combination of training/research/clinical activities. Most of the people I know who got PhDs in experimental or social psych work in industry doing things like marketing stats or helping develop instruments for test publishers (which might be of interest to you, but is not clinically-relevant research). In my state you also need to be licensed to supervise graduate students clinically, so if you ever want PhD students you'd likely be limited to a non-clinical program in some states.

On the plus side, I know folks with experimental psych training who do work in clinically relevant research and just have to employ clinical folks on their team. So it's possible if you want to be in an environment like an AMC with a lot of soft money and big research groups, but that lifestyle isn't for everyone.