Neuropsychology question

[NeuroBatman]

Greetings!  I've been researching admissions stats for getting into Clinical Psych PhD programs and have noticed several comments stating that it's 'easier' to get accepted into neuropsych programs than clinicial programs.  I'm bemused by this statement because, correct me if I'm wrong, I was under the impression that neuropsychology is a concentration within the clinical track.  I would appreciate any help clearing this up, because if it's in fact the case that neuropsych is easier to get into, I would be ecstatic as I am very interested in pursuing neuropsych.  I would not be surprised, however, if there is less interest in neuropsych because a lot of my psych major colleagues abhorr the more tedious neuroscience courses.  Is this the case?  I'm just curious as to whether there is actually a distinction and whether or not it's easier to get accepted into a neuropsych lab than a straight clinical lab.  If I'm completely off base, please excuse my credulity. 

[spunky]

Greetings!  I've been researching admissions stats for getting into Clinical Psych PhD programs and have noticed several comments stating that it's 'easier' to get accepted into neuropsych programs than clinicial programs.  I'm bemused by this statement because, correct me if I'm wrong, I was under the impression that neuropsychology is a concentration within the clinical track.  I would appreciate any help clearing this up

 

well, this is not necessarily the case. most traditional (and, usually, prestigious) programs in clinical psychology follow the boulder model of the "scientist-practitioner" where you're expected both to do research *AND* have supervised practicum hours so that you can go out and become a therapist/clinician when you finish your PhD. neuropsych programs do not necessarily include this practicum component, so you're basically trained as a researcher and only do research. now, it is entirely possible that you could end up with an adivsor with a strong neuro/biopsych background and your formation would be entirely within that context, but that's entirely up to you and the kind of clinical model you prefer.

 

 I would not be surprised, however, if there is less interest in neuropsych because a lot of my psych major colleagues abhorr the more tedious neuroscience courses.  Is this the case?  I'm just curious as to whether there is actually a distinction and whether or not it's easier to get accepted into a neuropsych lab than a straight clinical lab.  If I'm completely off base, please excuse my credulity. 

 

clinical programs are, by far, the mos popular ones for people who have their eyes set on becoming therapists (unless you also count programs like counselling and social work) but neuropsych is pretty popular as well. it is even more popular now that all this sophisticated brain imaging technology has become available so i really wouldn't bank my expectations on "this program is unpopular, i'll probably be able to get in".

 

if you really want to play the numbers game in terms of popularity/number of applicants, i would have to suggest my own field: quantitative psychology, where potential advisors really feel lucky if we they maybe 5 or 6 applicants every year. that's probably why we also have the best job prospects among the various areas of psychology. i mean, if you wanna talk about "tedious courses" try  measurement,  psychometric and statistics courses

Edited August 22, 2014 by spunky

[Vene]

 I would not be surprised, however, if there is less interest in neuropsych because a lot of my psych major colleagues abhorr the more tedious neuroscience courses.  Is this the case?  I'm just curious as to whether there is actually a distinction and whether or not it's easier to get accepted into a neuropsych lab than a straight clinical lab.  If I'm completely off base, please excuse my credulity. 

Even if this is true, you have the reverse going on where people more biologically focused may well be more interested in a neuropsych lab as they may want to combine the bioscience side with a more psychological approach.

[citypsych]

Neuropsychology =/= Neuroscience. Neuropsychologists are clinical psychologists who pursue neuropsychology training (cognitive testing, often including imaging methods, but mostly assessment batteries for conditions such as dementia, ADHD, etc) either during grad school or beginning with internship and postdoctoral training. Neuroscience is many things these days, but usually refers to programs that do not include clinical training. These could be behavioral neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, a neuroscience track within biology, or just called "neuroscience". Loyola has a nice summary here and there's a relevant reddit here.

 

The numbers game is worse for clinical applicants, but also different. There are more applicants for each slot in a clinical psychology program, but the applicant pool for each program will include only the subset of all applicants who have a good fit with a particular faculty person. For example, to drastically oversimplify, the same 400 applicants might apply to say, 12 particular programs, and a different 400 applicants might apply to 12 entirely different programs.

 

Neuroscience training, esp the behavioral end, is more like biology. Incoming students rotate through several labs and then choose one, so they apply to programs with a general sense that some faculty of interest are at those programs. There are fewer applicants for each neuroscience program than in clinical, but in this case the same applicant cohort applies to pretty all of the programs.

 

Short answer: the numbers game is not as bad for neuroscience, but either route demands strong preparation/scores, etc.

Edited August 22, 2014 by citypsych

[NeuroBatman]

Yes!  What Citypsych said.  ^^^^  I think that there is a lot of confusion between neuroscience and neuropsychology, which led to my own confusion.  I guess my main question was: would it be easier to get in with a neuropsych faculty member?  I was wondering if its as competitive.  I would conjecture that it's just as difficult because while not as many people are likely to pursue neuropsych, there are less faculty members who specialize in it.  Would I be correct in making this assumption?

[Vene]

Fair enough, I stand corrected.

[citypsych]

Yes!  What Citypsych said.  ^^^^  I think that there is a lot of confusion between neuroscience and neuropsychology, which led to my own confusion.  I guess my main question was: would it be easier to get in with a neuropsych faculty member?  I was wondering if its as competitive.  I would conjecture that it's just as difficult because while not as many people are likely to pursue neuropsych, there are less faculty members who specialize in it.  Would I be correct in making this assumption?

 

No idea, but I doubt getting into a program w/ neuropsych faculty is easier. Even if there are fewer neuropsychologists on faculty, I'm guessing there are proportionally as many applicants. For most programs an applicant also needs to clear whatever general departmental bar they might have. Some programs admit the best applicants, regardless of emphasis, and others assign slots to particular faculty in a given year. For the former, fewer neuropsych-focused applicants would be irrelevant.

 

Generally, I recommend that applicants just do the best they can to make themselves competitive and a good fit for programs/faculty. The rest is numbers, unfortunately.

 

Also, Vene, I think you're right, in that the lines are becoming increasingly blurred.

Edited August 22, 2014 by citypsych