I'm a junior. How do I get ready to apply to clinical psych Phd programs?

[psychstudent112]

Hi everyone! The title says it all. For reference, I have a 3.95 GPA at a competitive university. I tend to do well on standardized tests as well. As far as clinical experience goes, I've both volunteered at a substance abuse clinic and shadowed a forensic psychologist at a psychiatric hospital. As far as research experience goes, I spend about 20 hours a week (sometimes more) working in two labs. I run experiments for an animal behavior lab that studies the acute effects of nicotine on rats' anxiety responses, and I clean skin conductance data for a stress/emotion lab that studies the relationship between executive control and depression. I spent last summer collecting data for the first of those two labs. I have some independent research under my belt as well, and I've presented it at an undergraduate research conference.

I know that proper conference presentations and publications are ideals to strive for, but I don't know how likely I'll be to get those kinds of opportunities (my department is not great at getting undergraduates published).

Right now, I have plans to conduct another independent research project this semester, and I have begun doing some background work for an honors thesis.

Is there anything else I could be doing right now to make myself maximally attractive to clinical psychology PhD programs? And as things stand, do I have a reasonably good chance at getting admitted to a program?

Thanks!

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[summerbabe]

You seem like you're on a good track.

One thing to know is that a good majority of funded psychology PhDs don't start their PhD directly from undergrad even though that might be the norm in other fields.

The ones that do are usually very lucky in that they were able to get with a strong lab early in their undergrad career and ended up with publications and a clear focus for future research to identify potential PIs.

For others, they likely have 1-3 years of focused postgrad experience which can include paid RAs, volunteering with a lab while working a job to pay the bills or a research focused masters degree.

Not only do these experiences build up CVs but also develops strong letters (eg., people that PIs you want to apply to would consider their peers, even when they don't know them personally).

You can always apply during your senior year but be aware that you'll likely be competing against a lot of people who have completed their undergrad and also have postgrad research experiences as well so if you're unsuccessful during a first cycle, that's definitely not the end of the road. Good luck!

 

[psychstudent112]

You seem like you're on a good track.

One thing to know is that a good majority of funded psychology PhDs don't start their PhD directly from undergrad even though that might be the norm in other fields.

The ones that do are usually very lucky in that they were able to get with a strong lab early in their undergrad career and ended up with publications and a clear focus for future research to identify potential PIs.

For others, they likely have 1-3 years of focused postgrad experience which can include paid RAs, volunteering with a lab while working a job to pay the bills or a research focused masters degree.

Not only do these experiences build up CVs but also develops strong letters (eg., people that PIs you want to apply to would consider their peers, even when they don't know them personally).

You can always apply during your senior year but be aware that you'll likely be competing against a lot of people who have completed their undergrad and also have postgrad research experiences as well so if you're unsuccessful during a first cycle, that's definitely not the end of the road. Good luck!

Thanks, summerbabe. Masters programs are something I've considered as well. My research experiences are pretty wide ranging, and it has occurred to me that something like a Master's program would help to narrow my research interests a bit. It's hard to pick one thing to research when you're an undergrad with interest ranging from evolutionary psychopathology, to personality/personality disorders, to the cognitive styles associated with anxiety and depression.

Do you have any advice as far as looking for Masters programs goes? I've done some looking into Masters programs in my region, but I have found it hard time figuring out what their admissions standards are. I assume that that when you apply to Masters programs, it's ideal to apply to some that you're relatively likely to get into, but I've found info on the credentials of successful Master's applicants hard to come by.

By the way, Pavement is one of my favorite bands, and Summer Babe is my favorite song from Slanted and Enchanted

 

[PsyDr]

Leverage your research experience to establish connections to PIs at funded programs.

Look at the APA site, that lists approved programs. Search that for programs that have research for something similar. Figure out how to parlay your interest in rats who smoke, to clinical studies. Like a one line type of thing. Then ask the PI at your lab for connections.

“Dudette who is running my lab, do you have any recommendations for people I can reach out to, who are doing the work in human studies?”.

(Statistically the PI is female)

Then spend a few dozen hours looking up names and studies of things that are potentially related to whatever you’ve done. Cross reference that to people at funded programs. Learn what the PIs do, and want. Hint: they’re nerds that want you to suck up to them and do free work. Find a way to sell your experience to them, in a way that meets those needs. Leverage some connection, through your lab. Failing that, figure out some physical resemblance, or outside other way to establish affinity.

 

[summerbabe]

Do you have any advice as far as looking for Masters programs goes? I've done some looking into Masters programs in my region, but I have found it hard time figuring out what their admissions standards are. I assume that that when you apply to Masters programs, it's ideal to apply to some that you're relatively likely to get into, but I've found info on the credentials of successful Master's applicants hard to come by.

By the way, Pavement is one of my favorite bands, and Summer Babe is my favorite song from Slanted and Enchanted

To quote Stephen Malkmus: "There's no women in Alaska. There's no Creoles in Vermont. There's no coast of Nebraska. My mother, I forgot."

In other words, start by broadening your geographic horizons, for both PhD and Masters programs and then narrow down.

For masters programs, there are 2 primary pathways - a clinical masters that also incorporates research and leads to licensure eligibility such as the LPC and research only focused programs. Ignore things like the LCSW if your goal is a PhD in clinical or counseling psych.

I did an MS at a university that also has PhDs in Clinical, Counseling and School psych. The Counseling dept ran the MS program so I had a bunch of classes with 1st and 2nd year PhD students in all of these departments, practicum with the new Counseling PhD cohorts and was on a research team with those same students so I had a very balanced experience and was able to get posters and authorship contributions by the time I applied to PhDs.

A standalone MS program that provides a path to licensure may be lacking in research expectation and structure so you'll want to do some extra digging on whether you'll have time and support to achieve these goals.

I know less about research focused masters programs but I imagine you'll want things like the opportunity to join an active research team/lab with a PI who has interests relevant to you and future PhD work (as opposed to getting pushed into more social/experimental/cognitive tracks) and the requirement to do a thesis that can result in posters along the way and an eventual pub.

With a strong GPA, relevant extracurricular experiences and goals that fit what these programs can offer, I think you'd be fine for admissions, especially for programs where you're footing the bill.

Speaking of that, look out for cost. I'm sure there are pricey private unis like NYU that will leverage their brand to get people to fork over $50k a year for this experience. I'd stay away from those, even if they are solid programs.

My commuter state school program was largely covered because all grad students at this school were eligible to apply for competitive grad assistantship jobs with different campus depts for 20 hrs a week in exchange for a tuition waiver and small cash stipend.

 

[PsyDr]

To quote Stephen Malkmus: "There's no women in Alaska. There's no Creoles in Vermont. There's no coast of Nebraska. My mother, I

I’m not an expert in ethnicities: but I’m guessing the state that is literally French for “green mountain”, might have some relationship to the the French ethnicity that came from Canada after the treaty of 1763.

Makes you wonder about the difference in regional foods.

 

[The Cinnabon]

No pubs or presentations would honestly be a tough nut to crack. Most applicants have one or the other, and the most successful applicants tend to have both pubs and presentations.

Beyond all of that, coming from an applicant who has was fortunate enough to have pubs by senior year, I would still do 1-3 gap years. The main reason is that I do think being out of school for those 1-3 years can be quite the enriching. You certainly want to be selective with post-bacc RA gigs (not all are created equal, far from it). Assuming you started undergrad at the traditional age of 18, being out of school for 1-3 years will allow you to emotionally develop in ways that may not seem apparent right now.

Unless you have any interest in people under 18 I'd recommend people look into Veterans Affairs RA gigs. They're paid much better (I make 60K in a low COL area) and the VA does have a good track record for helping early career folk. Anecdotally, I was able to secure my name on an additional 5 papers in my field of interest, although most will still be in review come application cycle in about a month and a half.