Post-Baccalaureate Equivalence and the BA

[sinbadthesailor]

Hello people of GradCafe,

I am a recent graduate of the University of British Columbia. I graduated with a BA in Political Science this past April, but am considering switching lanes and studying psychology at the graduate level, specifically in the Clinical field.

Now, now, I am very well aware of the fact that Clinical Psychology is the most competitive field of psychology to get into, but please believe me when I say I am a capable student who graduated with a 85% last 2 years average. 

I was pleased to learn that my situation was not entirely unique, and found great solace in the fact that many people have successfully been granted entry into good graduate psychology programs without having specialized in psychology during their undergraduate years. Drawing inspiration from these fellows, I have decided that pursuing a post-bacc certificate in psychology would be the best way into a good graduate program.

So far the two programs that I am eyeing are the psychology post-bac at UC Berkeley and the one at Columbia University. I am sure some of you are familiar with the latter, though the former, from what I understand, is quite new. 

Now for my question: do Canadian graduate psychology programs (specifically Clinical programs) consider certificates from these programs to be equivalent to a BA in Psych? 

I have sent emails to almost all Canadian clinical psych programs I am considering applying to in the future asking them the same question. However, the secretaries whom I am in contact with have informed me that post-bacc certificates are insufficient to be granted entry i.e. they are not considered to be equivalent to a BA in Psych. This of course is rather confusing given that many people in fact have been granted entry into quality clinical psych PhD programs having received certificates from such programs. Could it be the case that the post-bacc route into graduate psych programs are specific to American universities? Has anyone on this forum been admitted into a Canadian program having graduated from an American post-bac program?

Thank you very, very much for having endured this marathon of a post. I hope to gather some useful information from you guys so that I might best figure out how to take the first step in this new chapter of my life. Thank you again.

sinbad. 

 

[LovePsychx3]

Hi Sinbad! 

I'm not an international student, but I did not major in psych in undergrad and have gotten interview offers from clinical psych programs (no admissions yet, fingers crossed).

I would urge you to consider the Yale Child Study Center Pre-Doctoral Fellowship if you're interested in clinical psych research with children and adolescents. Although, this may be okay if you're interested in adults, too. It's the research experience that counts! I know people who have gone through this program and are extremely competitive for Ph.D. programs afterwards. Here's the website: https://medicine.yale.edu/childstudy/autism/fellowship/

Best of luck to you!

[sinbadthesailor]

Thanks so much Love Psych!! I will add the pre-doctoral fellowship to my roster of potential post-grad programs haha  Though with less than a month left to get letters of recommendations together its going to a frantic application for sure!

 

[Piagetsky]

Might have something to do with the fact that (at least in Ontario), the licensing board requires 20 undergrad classes in psychology or something like that. I can't find it right now and I could be wrong, but I remember reading that requirement on the University of Ottawa's info.

ETA: It was going to drive me crazy until I found it.

" (For the program in Clinical Psychology, in order to meet a component of the academic requirements for registration with the College of Psychologists of Ontario, a minimum of twenty undergraduate psychology courses is required for admission.)"

https://socialsciences.uottawa.ca/psychology/sites/socialsciences.uottawa.ca.psychology/files/information_to_applicants_.pdf

Edited January 15, 2017 by Piagetsky
added info

[sinbadthesailor]

Oh wow. Well that complicates things. I've actually heard back from some schools that dont require psychology degrees but still have honours degrees as requirements.. making it another piece of this puzzle haha. Thanks for the help though Piagetsky!