Hi all,
I am new to this forum, but so far all of the advice seems very helpful. I am planning on applying to 15-20 Clinical Psychology programs, as well as a few Industrial Organizational programs, and Master's programs for backup. I plan on applying to middle of the road programs due to the insanely competitive programs. I graduated with a 3.0 cumulative gap, a little under 3.5 in my final two years. I was in a pretty severe ski accident my freshman year and suffered from a substantial head injury, and therefore my grades suffered. My transcript shows a very strong upward trend, I nearly got all A's, and A-s, and a couple B+s during the final two years of my career. Near the beginning of my transcript following the accident I took elective classes like art, photo, and piano and got c's. I plan to articulate my recovery in my Personal statement, and I have very solid writing skills so I should be able to justify my plight and successes following it. My CV should be strong compared to other freshly graduated undergraduate candidates, and that should make up for my low cum. gpa as well. However, I have not published. I took the GRES completely cold without studying or knowing the format of the test, and got 50% percentile on both sections. I am now in the studying process and plan to take it two more times, more than likely upping my score to around 60-75th percentile.
Here are a few of them--
University of Nevada- Reno
California Professional School of Psychology
Hofstra
Saybrook Universsity
Montana
Western Michigan
here are some of my academic credentials.
-3.0 undergrad cumulative
-3.45 cum. gpa last two years
-3.2 psych cum.
-3.47 cum. last two years
research experience
-For around one year I conducted honors thesis research on connection of bumetanide (diuretic drug) and autistic symptomology in a rat laboratory. The research was neuropsych/biopsych/cognitive-behvarioally oriented. I performed an oral defense similar to that of an upper level thesis.
-I volunteered for a semester in a social-psychophysiological lab that was interested in examining physiological effects of social pressure situations (gender, race, socioeconomic status, sexuality)
-I performed independent research examining a model that I proposed that could examine a generalizable model of cell phone addiction in a rat laboratory. The research was neuron-behavioral oriented. To the best of my knowledge a similar model has not been proposed to date.
clinical experience
- 3 years of direct experience in Mental Health (while I was in undergrad and researching at the same time---ended up having some long days)
- Interned at Psych agency for a summer--taught classes to autistic children
- Job Coaching- Assist in intellectually disabled clients in finding, maintaining, and performing a job
- Direct Support- Aided clients in social activities in community based settings
- Psychometric Testing- Administer test batteries (CAPS, COPS, Purdue, WAIS) to Office of Vocational Rehabilitation Clients
- I've volunteered at summer camps and churches
- Job Shadowed Drug and Alcohol intakes and counseling
- I have Shadowed one on one counseling sessions
- I tutored elementary school kids in various subjects
- I also represented my school's (Allegheny College in Pennsylvania's) student body on my local county's board of drug and alcohol
I also have refereed soccer for around six years or so (it shows my dedication, and decision making abilities under pressure as well as detail orientation)
- so.....What are my chances? I appreciate any kind of advice or comments, I know this is long.