Should I apply for a PhD in Brain and Cognitive Sciences OR Clinical Psychology?

[Epoh]

Hey, first time poster here who is glad he came across this sanctuary for golden advice on grad school. Anyway, I have a few questions that I'm hoping someone might be able to shed some insight on because I am in a bit of a conundrum.

 

Here's what I am clear about, my research interests: I want to employ neuroimaging/EEG/behavioral tools to study (attention)cognition-emotion interactions in both healthy and clinical populations in humans (depression and anxiety). I am really passionate about this subject and I feel there are so many avenues I can run down with respect to attention regarding neural mechanisms, behavioral training like mindfulness and other specific attentional training programs, not to mention understanding various subforms of attention, so I am passionate, but I digress... Now, I have roughly 2 years of experience working in a developmental psychology lab with EEG, and am currently volunteering in a psychiatry lab where I measure MRI volumes of various parts of the basal ganglia in patients with MS. I have a reasonable amount of experience, not to mention a publication that has been submitted in which I am the 2nd author.

 

However, that said my GPA is around a 3.55. While this isn't the worst average in the world, when you look at the competitiveness for clinical programs it kind of is... What I've found is that MOST of the PI's whose work interests me are actually in clinical and NOT neuroscience or brain & cognitive science, but there are a select few who do both. Unfortunately, a lot of these professors are from northwestern and berkeley and temple, etc, so basically top flight programs who may turn their nose up at my 3.55... So I'm torn, do I go for the clinical route despite the insane competition and prey I can charm them with the rest of my record aside from my GPA, or do I go into neuroscience (which is really all that I want to study in clinical anyway...) and choose from a smaller group that will match my interests there? It seems the neuro and brain sciences programs have lower admissions criteria so I could arguably get into a higher tier program than a clinical. If grades were not an option I would choose clinical over neuro, but I would like to attend a school next year.... However, what are your recommendations here? 

Edited July 21, 2014 by Epoh

[Guest |||]

It would seem that much of what you are interested in could fall under cognitive neuropsychology.

 

In either case though, there is a bit more you should consider.

 

I wouldn't be terribly worried with a 3.55.  If possible look up the admission criteria and past averages of the programs you are interested in and see where you fall in comparison.  Keep in mind it isn't just GPA that will be considered but often GRE scores, past research experience, publications, letters of reference, etc etc.  Different schools will weigh these items differently, so while GPA might be crucial in one school, it might be less meaningful to another.

 

Keep in mind that certain clinical programs will have a greater focus on therapy over research.  See what the clinical programs are like at your schools of interest and that you ultimately end up with an education and set of skills that will land you the kind of future you want.

 

Different fields of psych (and outside fields like neuroscience) will also have different tuition and funding opportunities.  Unless money is not an obstacle for you, ask how you will pay for your education, what schools are affordable, what programs can ultimately help fund you, and what the living expenses are where you are considering moving to

 

Consider also that different fields have different demands and hiring rates.  Not all fields of psychology will land you a job equally, a cognitive psychologist will have differential hiring than a clinical psychologist than a quantitative psychologist.  If you want to live in a certain area, see what kind of demographics there currently are and if there are any future projections available.

 

 

If you still at the end prefer clinical over other fields, remind yourself that this is a long commitment you are making.  Multiple years, long nights and mountains of effort.  Don't put yourself in a position where a year or two in you are wishing you had applied into clinical because that is where you feel your passion really is. 

[Epoh]

Thanks for getting back to me Nicholas Cage...

 

Yes, I'm essentially interested in clinical neuroscience with a cognitive focus, and it seems as though the PI's with my interests either reside in clinical psychology or brain and cognitive sciences (cognition & cognitive neuroscience), the latter just works on healthy brains with some having access to clinical populations. 

 

I wouldn't be terribly worried with a 3.55.  If possible look up the admission criteria and past averages of the programs you are interested in and see where you fall in comparison.  Keep in mind it isn't just GPA that will be considered but often GRE scores, past research experience, publications, letters of reference, etc etc.  Different schools will weigh these items differently, so while GPA might be crucial in one school, it might be less meaningful to another.

 

The only reason I'm worried about it is because I've looked at past admissions already for places like Temple, Berkeley, Northwestern and University of Arizona and almost all of them have their clinical psych averages around 3.7... Even Berkeley's Brain and Cognitive Science program is up around 3.6/3.7. I'd rather not waste my money if these schools highly value GPA. I haven't written my GRE's yet, but if I assume I do well than I'm ok because I have a lot of research experience, a 2nd author publication and 3 solid letters of reference. Maybe I'm just paranoid. I do have confirmation from a PI I've talked with from Temple that one of their clinical students got into the program with a worse GPA than what I have, which is a positive.

 

Keep in mind that certain clinical programs will have a greater focus on therapy over research.  See what the clinical programs are like at your schools of interest and that you ultimately end up with an education and set of skills that will land you the kind of future you want.

 

Different fields of psych (and outside fields like neuroscience) will also have different tuition and funding opportunities.  Unless money is not an obstacle for you, ask how you will pay for your education, what schools are affordable, what programs can ultimately help fund you, and what the living expenses are where you are considering moving to

The places I have mentioned are more strongly focused on research, I have checked already and that suits me better than practice based programs (which from what I've seen so far have been the smaller programs). Ultimately, I'd like to continue with research but also have some skills in therapy and assessments.

 

Money is definitely an obstacle for me, I have next to none. Question, I have checked most of the places for funding I am applying to and they plan to waive tuition if I gain acceptance, are grants and stipends and other things of that nature dealt with at my interview or even once I the academic year has started? Or do I need to apply for things along with my application packages? Having enough money to survive on is crucial if I'm going to continue with a program, I can't afford more debt.

 

Consider also that different fields have different demands and hiring rates.  Not all fields of psychology will land you a job equally, a cognitive psychologist will have differential hiring than a clinical psychologist than a quantitative psychologist.  If you want to live in a certain area, see what kind of demographics there currently are and if there are any future projections available.

 

 

I'm not really letting this impact my decision too much, I want to work in a field I'm passionate about and I will take opportunities where they are available for a clinical psychologist/cognitive neuroscientist depending on what I choose. 

 

If you still at the end prefer clinical over other fields, remind yourself that this is a long commitment you are making.  Multiple years, long nights and mountains of effort.  Don't put yourself in a position where a year or two in you are wishing you had applied into clinical because that is where you feel your passion really is. 

 

 

You're completely right, I may gain acceptance to some Brain and Cognitive Science programs and just find it's not the fit I wanted and have to wait another round to re-apply. I am willing to do that, but I am worried that I won't know what is in store for me until I am already in the program. And who am I to know that the Brain and Cognitive Science program wasn't for me after 2 years? I mean the material fascinates me, and I get to work with teh tools I want so I just feel like I'm coming out on top with either choice, it's just a question of which one I will end up liking more.

 

This may sound odd but it seems like I'm only applying to really 'top tier' schools in teh traditional sense because they seem to be the ones who have PI's that are closest to my interests and offer the right combination of tools for me (EEG, (f)MRI, DTI), but I'm worried I'm setting myself up for a monumental amount of rejection letters if all I'm doing is applying to these high end programs with a 3.5 GPA. Any suggestions on how I can find some smaller schools in the US that still do solid research?

 

Thanks for your time.