What to do when you get admitted to a program that you didn't technically apply for - advice needed!

[happyveggie]

Hi all,

 

I was hoping to get some advice on my situation. I applied for an MA (thesis) in Counselling Psychology at the same university where I completed my undergrad. I had an interview and we were asked if we'd also be open to doing an MEd (exam only), and I agreed at the time. Now I was offered admission to the MEd stream, however I worry that this would limit my options in the future. I always wanted to go into clinical psych and wanted to do a PhD to become a psychologist and teach at colleges later on. Clinical psych is likely too competitive for me although I do have a relatively high GPA and clinical/counselling (mostly working with kids and youth) and research experience. I enjoy research and have many years of research experience but no papers published and not currently working on anything specific. I also have pretty broad research interests and haven't found my "specialty" yet, which makes it a bit tricky finding a prof with a good research fit. 

 

Another consideration is that the MEd program takes almost 3 years to complete and there is not a lot to no funding available, so it will likely cost me almost $15,000 out of my own pocket. There are limited options to do an EdD but I am not sure how those compare to PhDs.

After having worked in healthcare for a year, I realized a 2 year MSW with entry for non-BSW students might be a better option but at the same time I am very worried about rejecting this offer (I was rejected by all the other programs I applied to, so this is my only option for now). Since grad school admissions are so competitive, I obviously cannot expect to be admitted somewhere next year. Rationally it doesn't make a difference in terms of how long it will take me to complete my graduate studies if I got into a two year program next year but at the same time this would mean another crazy year of volunteering tons in addition to working full time. I recently accepted a job in marketing research, which is probably not gonna help me with grad school apps next year as it is not clinical research, so I would likely have to find another job that will provide me with more relevant experience.

 

My two biggest worries are that I would make a mistake by not starting the program now and risk not getting in next year either and that doing an MEd will limit my options in the future as I would like to work in hospitals as well. At the same time, I don't think it would be smart to commit to a program like this out of fear that nothing better will come along. 

 

Any advice would be really helpful because I don't know anyone who could give me advice with this decision!

 

Thank you!! :-)

[clinicalpsychphd20]

It sounds like you are very undecided about whether to do this degree. I think that if you are paying to pursue a degree and forgoing income by not working, you need to be pretty certain that this is what you want to do. Could you take a job for a year or two while you explore your options? Is there an option of deferring your admission?