What are my chances at School Psychology PhD?

[theominousfuture]

Hello all!

I'm a senior at a well-known university majoring in Psychology and minoring in child mental health and education. I'm looking at taking a year off to study for the GRE and getting some more experience before applying to clinical and school psychology programs. My graduating GPA will be a 3.53 (straight A's for the last 2 years) and I'll have done 2 years of developmental psych research experience and a blend of direct child clinical experience, classroom assisting, crisis counseling and training, and underserved youth work. I also have gotten certified in and regularly administered classroom assessments and a few developmental psych/language child assessments. In terms of research, I'll have a lit review/article on a childhood anxiety disorder published in one of my school's undergrad journals this April and if all goes well, I'll be second author on a poster presentation at a conference this summer. I'm also doing inpatient screening at the child/adolescent department of a hospital this summer.


Programs in mind: Fordham School Psychology PhD and PD, Yeshiva Combined School-Clinical PsyD, Pace School-Clinical PsyD, Hofstra Clinical Psych PhD, St. Johns PsyD and Specialist, and TC/Columbia School Psych PhD (very much a reach) and Specialist-level degree.

Am I on track for the programs I'm looking at (given I do well on the GRE that I'm taking half a year to study for)? Does anyone have some advice about these schools?

Thank you all in advance for your time and advice!!

[Love3]

You have great experience so you should be fine depending on your GRE scores. I noticed that you are applying to schools in NY. Are you applying to those schools because you want to stay in the area or because you actually think you are good match for the program? 

My advice would be to make sure you figure out what you want your research interest to be (and how does it align with the interest of the professors), what is your ultimate goal (Why school psych, why clinical, why PhD, why PsyD), why do you feel like these schools would be a good fit for your needs (besides the location) and why do you think you are a good fit for the program? Make sure you explain all of those things in a excellent, eloquent manner in your SOP. I would say that these are the most important parts of your application. Education and experience gets your foot in the door but FIT gets you interviews and acceptances. 

I can't guarantee it will work but this is my second time applying and I was much more successful this time around. From my personal experience, these are the parts of the application that I believe make the biggest differences. 

[iphi]

You will be fine, you have the right background. Especially considering PsyDs are NOT research degrees (unlike a PhD) and you will likely be paying out of pocket.... that gives you a much better chance of being accepted.