DevelPsych Posted October 8, 2015 Posted October 8, 2015 Hi!I'm a Chinese undergrad interested in cognitive development, especially causal reasoning, computational models, et cetera. GPA is high(around 3.9/4.0), TOEFL is great(111/120), GRE is a little higher than average(155+170+4.0), had some lab experiences(3 independent studies, none related to current interests; worked in 3 labs, 2 of them are way too brief), served as TA, really interested in professors' work, no paper, conference or talk.Judging from my capability at this moment, I don't think I can be admitted to a great Ph.D. What I plan is to get into a research-oriented Master's program first and then apply for a Ph.D. program with experiences I gain, people I meet and papers published.However, it seems there're not too many such programs in (non applied )developmental psychology. The only ones I know is the 2-year M.A. program in Boston College and MPhil programs in the British Commonwealth. I was wondering whether there are Master's programs with identical training as the first two years of doctoral students in the States.Thanks a lot and your timely reply is very much appreciated!
TKYU Posted October 8, 2015 Posted October 8, 2015 Just going to piggy back on this. I would also be interested in some terminal Master's programs in Clinical Psych! Thanks!
dancedementia Posted October 8, 2015 Posted October 8, 2015 Unfortunately, there just aren't very many (reputable) terminal master's in Clinical Psychology because, well, you can't really do anything with a masters in Clinical Psych. You're not licensable, you can't work independently.... Why are you interested in a terminal masters?
TKYU Posted October 8, 2015 Posted October 8, 2015 Unfortunately, there just aren't very many (reputable) terminal master's in Clinical Psychology because, well, you can't really do anything with a masters in Clinical Psych. You're not licensable, you can't work independently.... Why are you interested in a terminal masters?Since I live in Canada, we are admitted to Master's prior to the phd program. However, I'm second guessing my chances of acceptance into these programs. I'm interested in looking into terminal master's in the States to gain more experience and build up my CV and then reapply to the programs in Canada. I know this route might be the most time consuming and expensive route but I'm just considering all my options at this point. This might be a good plan B to have incase I don't get accepted to any programs in Canada this cycle.
dancedementia Posted October 9, 2015 Posted October 9, 2015 If that's the case, why not a research-based masters so that you get more research experience?
TKYU Posted October 9, 2015 Posted October 9, 2015 I'm a bit confused. Is there such a thing as research-based clinical master's programs?
dancedementia Posted October 9, 2015 Posted October 9, 2015 I'm a bit confused. Is there such a thing as research-based clinical master's programs?No, not really. Let me backtrack. You say you want to do a PhD in Clinical Psychology, right? The biggest thing that matters going in is strong research experience. The clinical stuff they'll teach you during practicum and internship. But you can't teach someone how to research when they need to be doing it in Year 1! So PhD programs actually prefer someone who has done a research-oriented masters program (e.g. General Psychology, Experimental Psychology) and then segues into a PhD in Clinical Psychology.There are definitely good terminal masters programs, but the reputable ones are usually training grounds for LMHC/LPC types, so they're clinical mental health counseling masters. Clinical Psych doesn't really get it's own terminal masters program (at least, not very many good ones out there). It is absolutely possible to go from clinical mental health counseling masters -> PhD in Clinical Psych, but you do need to find research opportunities so you can produce some presentations/papers come application time.
TKYU Posted October 9, 2015 Posted October 9, 2015 No, not really. Let me backtrack. You say you want to do a PhD in Clinical Psychology, right? The biggest thing that matters going in is strong research experience. The clinical stuff they'll teach you during practicum and internship. But you can't teach someone how to research when they need to be doing it in Year 1! So PhD programs actually prefer someone who has done a research-oriented masters program (e.g. General Psychology, Experimental Psychology) and then segues into a PhD in Clinical Psychology.There are definitely good terminal masters programs, but the reputable ones are usually training grounds for LMHC/LPC types, so they're clinical mental health counseling masters. Clinical Psych doesn't really get it's own terminal masters program (at least, not very many good ones out there). It is absolutely possible to go from clinical mental health counseling masters -> PhD in Clinical Psych, but you do need to find research opportunities so you can produce some presentations/papers come application time.Oh i see! That cleared everything up haha. I will definitely look into some research-oriented masters programs! Thanks so much!
dancedementia Posted October 9, 2015 Posted October 9, 2015 (edited) (But if you can get clinical experience in a professional setting (i.e. volunteering, part-time job) while you're doing your masters, that looks great too ;D) Edited October 9, 2015 by dancedementia
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