<p>I have an undergrad in psychology. I'm considering going to grad school. My overall GPA was a 2.7, but I attended 2 colleges and when I transferred for my final year and a half, my GPA was a 3.2.</p>
<p>I'm not looking to get into some top academic school because I'm realistic, but I would like to attend grad school for my masters and then a doctorate with hopes to become a clinical psychologist.</p>
<p>Would I still be able to get into a grad school with those grades? </p>
<p>I also don't really have anyone to give me recommendations. Since I went to school online, my teachers don't really know me.</p>
<p>Clinical psychology is very competitive. Typically, successful applicants have top grades (at least a 3.3+, but more often a 3.5+), good GRE scores (1100+ on the old test, although this varies from program to program) and at least 2 years of experience assisting a professor in research. Nowadays, many successful clinical psychology applicants spend their junior and senior years assisting professors in research AND 2-3 years after college working as a research assistant or lab manager in a research lab. You also need to be interested in doing some research; PhD programs in clinical psychology require students to do research along with practice. In addition, many students have some kind of clinical volunteering experience - maybe helping out at a mental health clinic.</p>
<p>Normally I don’t recommended master’s degrees for psychology hopefuls because psychology PhD programs so rarely accept any of the credits towards shortening the PhD program. But with a 2.7 GPA, you may find yourself needing to get a master’s degree to show that you can handle graduate-level work. You also really need some research experience and also some letters of recommendation from professors you know personally, so a master’s program may be best for you. You may be able to get into some mid-ranked psychology programs (they don’t have to be clinical psych) with those grades.</p>
<p>However, I really recommend going to a master’s program with which you can get licensed to counsel after the two years, if being a therapist is your end goal. An MSW is an obvious choice; you can become a licensed clinical social worker. You could also get a master’s in mental health counseling and get licensed as a practical counselor (LPC).</p>
<p>I’m actually looking into many different types of psychology careers, especially industrial organizational psychology.</p>
<p>I also have no interested in getting a PhD, but I do have interest in a PsyD. I’m thinking maybe I should just look at grad schools that offer general psychology as a master’s program. To be honest, I hate research, so I really wanted to stay away from careers that involved a bunch of research.</p>
<p>Well if you know for sure you don’t want to go into research, then a PsyD is a good option. There’s a little research, but not nearly as much as in a PhD program. Now I am aware of some people that were admitted to PsyD programs with your stats, so its not impossible. Perhaps you should apply to a mix of PsyD and Master’s programs and just see what happens. I’m going Clinical myself and there are lots of Master’s options that could benefit you, such as the MFT or LPC option already mentioned. I don’t know as much about I/O and how that would help you on a Clinical path.</p>
<p>I’m really not considering clinical anymore since there seems to be a ton of research.
I actually didn’t find out until now that I can do a PsyD program without going for a master’s first, which I would prefer to do. But would that be impossible with my grades? I do have an undergrad in psychology but absolutely no experience in the field.</p>