Research experience for School Psych PhD programs

[mcg678]

Does anyone have any insight on how heavily past research experience is weighted for school psychology PhD programs? I'm looking at apply to programs during the fall application cycle, but so far I haven't had the opportunity to do any research. I am currently working on finishing up my MA in Counseling Psych and will be doing my year-long counseling practicum in a school starting this fall. I've been working full-time while finishing school, which is why it has been difficult to find research experience so far. :/  Also, my grad GPA is 3.97 and I'll be retaking the GRE this summer (old scores- 152Q, 155V, 4.5AWA).

Essentially my question is this: will the fact that I have no research experience (aside from a couple research classes in undergrad, and stats in both undergrad and grad school) keep me completely out of the running for PhD programs? I'm hoping that my other stats will boost me up, but I also want to be realistic.

Thanks for any input you can provide!

[C is for Caps Locks]

It might not keep you completely out of the running, but not having any research experience (working in research labs or on your own honors thesis) will almost certainly affect your chances to a large degree.

Your research experience and letters of recommendation from people actively doing research is (barring original research you've done on your own or in collaboration with others) is really the only way a program can judge your ability to do research.

At least for other areas of psychology, research experience might be one of the most important factors over all for the success of an applicant.

However, on the up side, a lack of research experience (while taking time) is also something that's possible to fix by getting some RA or Lab Manager position.

Edited February 28, 2017 by C is for Caps Locks

[transfatfree]

All the applicants invited to the interview day of my program had some research experience. The least I saw was a senior with some lab experience. While I would say never say never, your chances are slim. 

I think what you can do is offer to work for professors. I was in your shoes back then (working full-time, studying part-time) and I worked for a lab for 10 hours a week for a year on weekday nights, on Saturdays, and during long holidays. I'm not sure if you can find something similar but you can ask around and see. 

[mcg678]

Thanks for the input! Unfortunately, that's kind of the response I was expecting. There's only one big university in my area, so I'll keep trolling their website looking for opportunities and asking around!

[cheesecafe]

1 hour ago, mcg678 said:

Thanks for the input! Unfortunately, that's kind of the response I was expecting. There's only one big university in my area, so I'll keep trolling their website looking for opportunities and asking around!

Another suggestion for research opportunities that I think many people forget about is your local public school system. The one in my area, at least, has a fairly large research, evaluation, and assessment department that is almost always looking for temporary workers.   

[ellieotter]

Obviously this doesn't go for every school but I had a friend just get accepted to a school psych program and she had little to no research experience. She did have TA experience and took a few years off to teach English overseas. But the more you can get the better! 

[mcg678]

@pbjcafe That's a good idea and certainly something I hadn't though of! I'll actually be doing my counseling practicum in the public school system starting this fall, so the possibility of research within the school system would be a good thing to look into.

@psychlife4me I saw on a really old forum that somebody said something similar about being accepted without research experience, but I wasn't sure how rare that was! Was the program your friend got into a PhD program or an EdS program?

[ellieotter]

Just checked with her, it's a PhD, not a EdS! Hope that helps

[mcg678]

6 minutes ago, psychlife4me said:

Just checked with her, it's a PhD, not a EdS! Hope that helps

It does- thank you!

[LovePsychx3]

Hi,

I recently applied and interviewed at a handful of School Psychology Ph.D. programs. I've only done research with a few clinical experiences here and there. Everyone who interviewed had research experience, but it was also important to think about how your general experiences (teaching, clinical work, etc.) had encouraged you to pursue this degree. They may ask why you are not pursuing an Ed.S. if you have limited research. At the end of the day, a Ph.D. is a research degree and having no research experience can be a great barrier from making yourself attractive to such programs.

Personally, my strong research background definitely helped me receive interviews and acceptances. If you're serious about a School Psych Ph.D., I would recommend you find any kind of a research position!

[mcg678]

I agree that finding research is definitely the top priority! I'll be quitting my full-time job soon in order to start my practicum, so hopefully that will open up more time and opportunities to find research.

[mcg678]

I have a quick-follow up question to my original one: Of course it would be ideal to find a research position in the school psychology field, but in the likely case that I'm not able to find that would something outside of that field still count in my favor? Or do schools look specifically for research in that field?

[ellieotter]

4 hours ago, mcg678 said:

I have a quick-follow up question to my original one: Of course it would be ideal to find a research position in the school psychology field, but in the likely case that I'm not able to find that would something outside of that field still count in my favor? Or do schools look specifically for research in that field?

I can only speak from personal experience on this so others may have a different opinions but the clinical psych lab I have been apart of the past 2 years (children abnormal sexual behavior based) wasn't necessarily my desired population of interest (juveniles/adults in correctional/forensic psych). For my area, it's just really hard to get forensic experience if you don't have at least an MA so most people I interviewed with totally understood why my research experience wasn't completely aligned with my interests. I just made sure in my SOP to explain how/why I believed that experiences from my time in the lab would contribute to my success in my desired area if I were to be admitted to the program. Hope that helps at all!