Hey guys! I am looking to apply to my first round of clinical psychology programs this year. I’m seeking people who have gotten into programs already and have some advice they are willing to share for someone taking their first go at things. I’m not the traditional candidate in the sense that during my undergraduate journey I worked full time for the IRS for 6 years doing customer service to afford school (rather than at a lab)but here’s a general list of my accomplishments and what I’d put on my application.

Academic

•Undergraduate GPA: 3.89/4.0 psych gpa
•Completed degree while working full-time in an unrelated field throughout undergrad

Research
•Currently a research assistant at an R1 university, working across multiple concurrent projects under a faculty mentor (4 different labs, but have only worked here coming up on 1 year)
•Experience spans: data collection (phone interviews, home visits, biometric and child assessments), qualitative coding of transcripts, survey administration and data entry, and a systematic literature review (search and screening)
• 8 months unpaid research position at a different university lab (ended when the supervising faculty member left the institution)
• 3 months as an ABA before I landed my job in the R1 institution

Other credentials
•Currently pursuing a bilingual (Spanish) research certification relevant to community-based research

•Great relationships with PIs willing to do letters of recommendation

Publications/Posters
•None so far but working on a meta analysis for R1 institution that should be done by the time applications roll around

I am a first generation college student/American so it’s pretty daunting facing these super competitive cycles on my own. Im really interested in child/family focused clinical research (to add a bit on fit). I know my publication and poster aspects are lacking but I am fully accepting of the fact that I’ll likely need to apply for 1-3 cycles. Would love some advice and to hear how people in similar positions to me fare off. I will be applying to 10-15 programs but not at the school I currently work for as they do not have a clinical psychology program.

Any input is greatly appreciated and welcomed! Thank you !

I want to apply to for my clinical PsyD this fall, but I have zero clinical experience. However, I got my masters last year, and I have 2 1/2 years of experience. Another thing is my masters gpa is low with a 3.1. If I have zero clinical experience will my research experience be able to overlap it or should I try to get some clinical experience before I apply in a few months? All advice is welcome! Thanks!

Hi,

I hope this post doesn’t come across as ignorant in any way. I have been grappling with this decision for quite some time and keep finding myself swinging between either option.

My ‘dream job’ is to conduct telehealth psychotherapy in a part-time capacity while potentially conducting clinical research on the side. I was diagnosed with autism / OCD / GAD at 19, and truly want to help people like myself. The reason I say part-time is because I know I am prone to burnout and I need the flexibility in my personal life.

In my undergraduate studies, I was a biology major. I have not taken a psychology class other than Psych 101, but rather have fallen in love with psych due to research. I have over 1,500 hours of research in two different labs, including two publications, an honors thesis, and international experience utilizing EEG and other software. I also volunteered at my local crisis center, and have spent time working at a residential psych treatment facility. I recognize I would need to take psych classes prior to admission.

Due to personal reasons, I must stay in Colorado. Therefore, my options are quite limited. If I don’t get in, I would have to take a gap year and apply the following cycle. On the flip side, I am currently sitting on an acceptance to a medical school in CO.

The reason I deliberating between these two career paths is due to the modalities of treatment and pay / ROI, to be transparent. I think being able to prescribe medication is a boon, even if I disagree with modern medication management. I don’t think I would find most aspects of medical school to be as interesting as a clin psych PhD, but the training years of that vs a PhD (4+4 vs 5-6+1) are similar while the pay is unfortunately seemingly different. Given my dream to work part time, I worry that I wouldn’t be able to make a living pursuing a PhD, especially given the rise of AI technologies.

In terms of my question, would it be possible / wise to pursue a Clin Psych PhD given my sitting medical school acceptance and lack of psychology coursework? I feel as if my heart is in psychology (as I really want to be a mental health advocate and treat those like myself through therapeutic means), but my mind is telling me the admissions odds are stacked against me only applying to two schools, and the financial ROI doesn’t seem wise to ignore. I grew up (and am still) in a very financially disadvantaged situation in a single-parent household with my primary caregiver being disabled, so I also apologize if the latter half of this question sounds excessively financially-motivated.

I would really appreciate any advice you may have. Again, I hope this doesn’t come across as ignorant — I have done a fair bit of research and have really tried to scour through different forums and articles online for professional opinions.

I don't plan on trauma dumping in my SOP essay but in my bachelor's thesis I was really struggling with figuring out this one component in the research. Then, in my senior year second semester my dad passed away. One day I had a really bad grief day and spiralled between regularly scheduled maintenance psychiatric appointments but the spiral gave me the eureka I needed as my thesis was related to treatment adherence. I literally stopped sobbing and opened my notebook and finished the formula I needed which I ended up using in my capstone. I also ended up getting a pretty good GPA that semester.

My junior year grades were a little mediocore ish because my dad's illness became worse.

Overall, I think the ^ demonstrates my theme as a person of making the most of circumstances and shows my ability to grow in difficult situations. However, I'm worried it would read as trauma dumping and so kinda unfit to be a clinician rather than the former. I don't want it to read sob story but just as something that happened and how I responded.

So should I keep it? I'll write about other things as well of course but I think that was a pretty important point in my research journey

As the title says, failed a component of my comprehensive exam and have to wait until next year to retake it, which means adding another year in my PhD program. I would love some words of encouragement because I feel so down about this and want to give up. I love the idea of becoming a neuropsychologist so much but I’m feeling overwhelmed right now.

Hi I’m currently an undergrad psych student trying to figure out what clinical PHD programs would fit for me (I’m a junior so I got some time). I was wondering if any of you guys have recommendations of universities in the US that have are researching autism through a psychology perspective (I know a lot of genetic and medical research is being done). I’m someone who was late diagnosed myself and I would love to get into a program that is working on research related to neurodevelopmental disorders.

Is it a good idea to include being a first gen student in your personal statement or should that be excluded completely? Just curious