Help! Need Advice!

[torilloyd]

So I am coming up to the deadline (4/15) for notifying grad school of my response to their offer of admission & would love any advice you're willing to provide...

Here is the deal:

I applied to 3 clinical psy schools this last year (Pacific University PsyD, University of Washington, PhD, and University of Oregon, PhD).

Results: Pacific- Accepted; UofO- Alternate list and later rejected; UofW- rejected

Here is where you (hopefully) come in:

Do I accept the PsyD offer (even though I am not super stoked about it and don't want to accrue more debt) or do I wait another year & apply to a bunch more schools, hoping for better results?

Here are my stats:

Graduating with an M.S. in Counseling Psychology (emphasis in addiction processes)

Thesis was a pilot study measuring the efficacy of a non-profit program I developed

Clinical experience: Full-time therapist

Research: 4 different projects and my thesis

Presentations: 5 presentations including ACA conference

Masters GPA: 4.0

GRE: Horrifyingly low... Verbal: 158 (80th %), Quant: 145 (below 50th), Writing: 3.0 (11th)...

Do you think it is even possible (likely rather) that I will be offered admission to Clinical Psy PhD program with scores that low? Do you think it is wise to decline the PsyD offer for something that is not guaranteed to happen in the future (fully funded PhD offer)?

PLEASE HELP!

[sirkibbles]

Given what you said about how you feel about the school, I would pass this round. Going into a program reluctantly isn't a great sign. See if you can line something else up this year that would be helpful experience (I don't really know clinical too well, especially post M.S.), try to knock your GRE up, and take another stab at it next year. Though you may have some limiting ties to the area, perhaps consider a few more programs as well. Just one opinion though.

[psychgurl]

Hi-

I think in order to make the best decision you need to ask yourself what you ultimately want to do career-wise. Do you want to primarily do research or practice? I saw that you have research experience...if research is important to you, I would wait and try for the PhD. I think you have great experience, but the Quant GRE may be a red flag. Do you think it's possible to change your prepping strategy in order to increase your quant score?

[NewScientist12]

Ultimately this is your decision, but if I were you, I would wait a year, boost your GREs, and reapply. It seems there is little to lose by waiting a year, but possibly a lot to gain. It could mean the difference between 5 years of massive debt and walking away with little to none. Plus, if your current app got you into Pacific this year, it's likely that you'll get in again next season, either to the same or a comparable program.

[Cici Beanz]

I agree. I feel like with a little bit of reframing and a few more GRE points can make you pretty competitive for PhD programs. Maybe take the year to get in touch with people who are doing what you want to be doing.

[torilloyd]

• Thanks everyone! I think I am going to heed your advice, study my heart out for the GRE and apply to a bunch of schools this fall. Any studying advice?
  

[torilloyd]

Hi-

I think in order to make the best decision you need to ask yourself what you ultimately want to do career-wise. Do you want to primarily do research or practice? I saw that you have research experience...if research is important to you, I would wait and try for the PhD. I think you have great experience, but the Quant GRE may be a red flag. Do you think it's possible to change your prepping strategy in order to increase your quant score?

Good questions. Yes, research is really important to me. PhD is truly the best fit for me but I am just scared that I won't get accepted-- that I am not a viable candidate. I am not great in the area of prepping strategy. Any advice? What helped you? I am thinking of hiring a tutor and studying consistently for the next 5 months...it would be far cheaper to do that than go to the PsyD program I suppose. Thanks for your help!

[psychgurl]

Good questions. Yes, research is really important to me. PhD is truly the best fit for me but I am just scared that I won't get accepted-- that I am not a viable candidate. I am not great in the area of prepping strategy. Any advice? What helped you? I am thinking of hiring a tutor and studying consistently for the next 5 months...it would be far cheaper to do that than go to the PsyD program I suppose. Thanks for your help!

I took a Kaplan class because I'm not the best standardized test taker. Going into it, quant was definitely my strength. I found that Kaplan taught great strategies for quickly coming up with the best way to solve any quant problem quickly...Kaplan definitely bumped up my score. For the verbal section, I just bought the kaplan flash cards and learned them all. I ended up scoring in the 85th percentile for both verbal & quant.

[QxV]

I prepared for about 1-2 hours a day for 4 months. For the quant., time is really the most important thing to work on. You'll probably get most of the concepts down quickly (they're really simple), but the challenge comes in doing X number of problems in a fixed amount of time, so I recommend timing yourself. As for the verbal, I just used flashcards to memorize a thousand or so new words - that helped on a few questions. I was aiming for a 1350 and got q800 and v700, and was happy with that.

[lewin]

You didn't ask about this but I wanted to point out that three programs is too few. There is a lot of randomness in the application process and applying more widely can reduce its influence. Ten is a nice number.

[torilloyd]

Psychgurl & QxV: Thanks for the tips! I think I studied for about 1-2 months, and very inconsistently. I don't think it is possible for me to score as well as you both BUT if I study as diligently and smartly as you, I am convinced I can get in the 1200s at least. I really do appreciate your feedback.

Mocha: Good idea! I am definitely planning to apply to at least 10 this next fall...(already starting the list)..

THANK YOU!