Advice Needed, Masters vs. Psy.D Offer

[Nick1331]

Hey all,

So currently facing a dilemma. I was accepted to University of Hartford's Psy.D program, and I thought my mind was set. The other day I received an offer to Northwestern's Masters program for Clinical Psychology (was rejected during the Ph.D round). My goal in this cycle was, probably like everyone's, to be accepted into a fully funded program but cards just didn't fall that way. My goals is to end up working in the area of child clinical with a forensic focus. UHart has a child-adolescent track, with tons of forensic opportunities for practicum in the area since it is the NE. Northwestern offers courses in assessments, forensics, and child clinical to take along the way. Just to offer a little insight on my current line of thinking:

Northwestern - One of the best programs in the country, was my favorite school I applied to, 15 month masters (program runs from this upcoming June to next June), total cost likely running about $50,000. Allows me to reapply but it's a gamble though, we all know how difficult it is just getting into a fully funded Ph.D program. Best case scenario and it all falls perfectly, done with this masters to Ph.D route by the time i'm 29. 

UHart - 5 year Psy.D program, which means by the time i'm 26 I could be finished with school with my doctorate. Has a child-adolescent track that fits where my interests lie. Close to home and where I prefer being for the rest of my life (From New York). No clue the financial aid I would receive, but worst case this program is running about $80,000 for all 5 years. Receive my masters along the way. 

Right now I currently see myself focused on the practice side of things, I struggle to foresee myself in academia/research, but having the improved training and opportunity to do it with a Ph.D is optimal in my mind. After visiting UHart, compared to when I went to visit some Ph.D programs, all the Ph.D programs had this cutthroat atmosphere that bred a ton of competition, UHart seemed to have a more cohesive cohort. Maybe just a bad read on my part from the programs but after being in that type of cutthroat environment since I began HS, might be time to break away from that for once. 
Just wanted to hear if anyone had anything to add about either of these programs, and just any words of wisdom anyone could pass along. I would appreciate anything. 

Thanks!

- Nick

[jkstocks]

Hi Nick! 

I'm not sure if I have much advice for you but I'm interested in following this thread as I was also recently admitted to the NU Masters program. I'm currently contemplating the financial implications vs. the potential benefit from the experience. From what I can understand, it will be a difficult process to gain acceptance to NU's PhD, and if you were to take your Master's elsewhere the credits may not even be recognized to give you time off your PhD. 

Looks like UHart seems to be your best bet at this point, but I'm curious as to what others have to say.. 

Good luck!

[acceptme]

Based on your timelines I can assume you are 21 and straight out of undergrad?  Have you considered taking sometime off to work as a research assistant or lab manager?  Then you can reapply with more experience and hopefully get into a fully-funded Ph.D program. 

[Psychoplasmics]

The drive to begin now can be overwhelming. It can be very difficult to see the benefit of delaying graduate school in order to secure better options when faced with somewhat viable options available now. Oddly, graduate school is an exercise in delayed gratification. Perhaps the best way to begin to make your decision is to imagine looking back on it 20 years out. What will you think about this decision when you are mid-career and dealing with the consequences of what you decided? Taking on an enormous amount of debt for any program will significantly impact the quality of your life and the decisions you are able to make in the future. I must admit that I am biased. I am a non-traditional student that decided on psychology as a second career. I wound up doing two masters degrees (one unfunded, but cheap, the other fully funded) in order to make myself an attractive candidate for fully funded doctoral programs. I'm finishing up my second masters and I just completed my third application cycle. I was lucky enough to get into my number one program. All that to say, try to do the right things and make decisions based on your long-term goals and also recognize that luck is an ever-present factor in the process. Fortify yourself as best you can and meet opportunity with preparedness. Just my two cents.

Edited March 31, 2017 by schizometric

[Nick1331]

On 3/30/2017 at 1:24 PM, acceptme said:

Based on your timelines I can assume you are 21 and straight out of undergrad?  Have you considered taking sometime off to work as a research assistant or lab manager?  Then you can reapply with more experience and hopefully get into a fully-funded Ph.D program. 

Essentially yea. I'm graduating a year earlier form my undergraduate so I'm still 20 but it's basically all the same at this point. Unique part about my situation is that I'm a criminal justice major with only a minor in psychology. So part of me believes, if a fully funded Ph.D program is my ultimate goal, going to a masters program for a psych degree might be the best step to take. 

[8BitJourney]

2 hours ago, Nick1331 said:

Essentially yea. I'm graduating a year earlier form my undergraduate so I'm still 20 but it's basically all the same at this point. Unique part about my situation is that I'm a criminal justice major with only a minor in psychology. So part of me believes, if a fully funded Ph.D program is my ultimate goal, going to a masters program for a psych degree might be the best step to take. 

If you have the pre-reqs and some research, then working as a paid RA or lab manager would outweigh a masters and make you more competitive (particularly if you can push for a first author publication). I really understand wanting to be done as soon as possible as I also applied straight out of undergrad (posters, nih grants, and 3 years of research) but I didn't get in and was a much stronger applicant my second go around working as a coordinator (saved some money too). The masters sounds ridiculously expensive and I'm assuming the 80k from UHart is just tuition before interest? If so you'll probably be hitting 100-120k with interest, fees, travel, conference spending etc.

[acceptme]

On 4/5/2017 at 7:23 PM, 8BitJourney said:

If you have the pre-reqs and some research, then working as a paid RA or lab manager would outweigh a masters and make you more competitive (particularly if you can push for a first author publication). I really understand wanting to be done as soon as possible as I also applied straight out of undergrad (posters, nih grants, and 3 years of research) but I didn't get in and was a much stronger applicant my second go around working as a coordinator (saved some money too). The masters sounds ridiculously expensive and I'm assuming the 80k from UHart is just tuition before interest? If so you'll probably be hitting 100-120k with interest, fees, travel, conference spending etc.

I agree. You could also augment your psychology course work by taking classes at community college.  Or even better, if you work at a university some places allow staff to take courses there for free or at a discounted rate.