Undergraduate student seeking advice on psychology graduate school

[Oilersfan11]

Happy to be a member on the forum 

 

I have one more year left of my undergraduate degree and I'm really beginning to get nervous about applying for psych MA/PhD/PsyD programs because I just feel I do not know enough yet. Ever since my first year of university I have known that I wanted to be a therapist of some sort. As of right now, I plan on applying for clinical psych programs in Canada either next year or the year after that (I might take a year off in between). However, despite asking questions and digging up as much info as I could, I still feel somewhat confused regarding exactly what types of programs I should be applying to. As someone who is very interested in mental illness in general (along with helping others free themselves from their mental illnesses/other issues) I figure clinical psych would be a good fit for me, but I have also been told that counselling psych programs are a great option for someone with my interests. In Canada, we have very few PhD options in counselling psych and my advisors at school have been really unclear about the difference between these programs and clinical psych programs. Additionally, because I do not plan on going into academia, it seems as though a PsyD would also be a good fit for me. However, once again, there are almost none of these in Canada and this leads me to question whether or not it would be wise to go abroad (either to the USA or Europe) to complete my clinical training?

 

I think I have a good GPA.. I have gotten mostly A's and A+'s (I believe the actual number is about 3.9). As for experience, I have none for work. However, I have volunteered in labs, served as an RA for a professor and I will be completing my own independent thesis this upcoming year which will lead to poster presentations (hopefully). My LOR's will be pretty good because I have formed some great relationships with profs in my department. As for the GRE, I have not given it much thought yet but plan to write it sometime within the next two years! 

 

Should I stick with clinical psych or would it be wise to also apply to counselling psych programs? Would leaving the country be an acceptable thing to do for graduate school if I find a program abroad that suits me better than any of the ones in Canada (e.g., a good psyD program). Are my grades/research experience and volunteer work acceptable for gaining admission, or should I up everything a notch? Sorry if these are nube questions LOL...but I kind of am one  

[PokePsych]

Welcome to the forum! I'm also new

First of all, unless you want to work in a specific country in Europe - I'd advise against it. Accreditation standards vary widely and I know that even between European countries you can't easily transfer your license (i.e., a Dutch license to practice counselling/clinical sessions is not necessarily valid in the UK and vice versa - this goes for multiple countries including Canada and US). So you won't get an APA license in Europe in General. For example, I'm from the Netherlands and we do a Master and then postgrad training (expensive!!) to become practitioner. But you need certain points as part of your coursework (often gained during undergrad) for this etc. 

I think you should really consider what your future goals are - practice or more research and how can you get there. If you're not sure - take your time to figure out by for example doing an internship or volunteering somewhere. I did this between my undergrad and grad and it really convinced me that research was right for me and also which field and which topic. 

With regard to programs - I found it very valuable to actually ask programs and grad students at these uni's directly. I crossed of some schools based on what students told me (also partly financial aid related). I've answered questions from students as well about my program and never felt this was a problem - happy to help someone make the right decision.

And competitiveness - I wouldn't know because i'm not into the clinical field. But I think it is regarded as the most competitive within psych? I've found it valuable to look up CVs of grad students and kinda see where they were when they entered. It can either help you understand which areas may be your weakness or strengths (something to write about in your statement) and whether you're competitive as an applicant. It certainly helped me to set goals for the last year (and partly the reason why I am also taking a gap year atm - I joined more research projects, expanded my skills set by for example meta-analyses and fMRI, probably get 1 or 2 publications, got TA experience, did an invited talk on research practices and may publish my thesis - all things that will help me I think, plus more time to do the GRE).