<p>Hi, I am currently a junior at Brown University, aiming to eventually obtain a PhD in psychology at NYU. I am a psychology concentrator at Brown, with an anticipated 3.4 GPA upon graduation. I have yet to take the GRE, but believe that my scores will be sufficient; I scored very high on both the SAT and ACT and will do adequate test prep for the GRE. I have had extremely selective internships (not psych related, as I was unsure as to my desired career path when I held these jobs) for the past two summers. I have also participated in a great deal of volunteer work around Providence, where Brown is located. This involves mentoring children with chronic illnesses, volunteering in Rhode Island Hospital's psych ward, and teaching foreign adults and children english. I am proficient in French and have spent a great deal of time abroad; I took a gap year between high school and college, studying in both France and the United Kingdom. Further, there are a number of professors who would be willing to write great letters of recommendation, and I strongly feel that my personal statement will be exceptional; I generally excel in writing and plan to write about my struggle with Bulimia Nervosa, and my plan to become a clinical Psychologist specializing in the treatment of this psychiatric illness. Last, I have great people skills, and feel that I would "shine" in an interview; this is perhaps my strongest point.</p>
<p>My worry is that my GPA is not high enough, and that I will not obtain adequate scores on the GRE. I have a tendency to get very stressed, so I would greatly appreciate any input that any of you have. If NYU doesn't sound like a logical plan for me, do you have any suggestions? I would optimally like to be in Manhattan, but other large cities could be accommodated as well. Thanks so much and I truly appreciate your help.</p>
<p>You need to get involved in some clinical psychology research as well. Volunteering is good and definitely a plus, but any research-oriented program is going to want to see that you’ve done actual research too. Without it, it’s tough to say how good your chances will be. The good news is you have plenty of time left. Get started now, work as much in the lab as you can over the summer, and you’ll have a good amount to write and talk about even if you apply next fall.</p>
<p>Also, saying “I’ve dealt with X” is probably not the positive you think it is. Look at it this way: would saying “I’ve been an alcoholic, so I want to do clinical research into alcoholism” sound great? While it is fine to have a sentence or two like that in a SoP, the strongest way to show your interest is to actually get involved in research and a clinical setting. It is much, much better to say “I spent a year researching these things related to bulimia” than “I have bulimia.” One is a positive and speaks to your abilities, and the other is not and does not.</p>
<p>As neurograd said, research experience is very important. You really didn’t mention that you had any and you will be competing with people who have had 3+ years of research experience. If you don’t have any, you might need to take some time off to work in a lab.</p>
<p>Again, going off of what neurograd said, I wouldn’t mention your struggle with bulimia more than a few sentences, if at all. Your statement of purpose should be about your academic experiences which lead you to pursuing a clinical psych phd at NYU. </p>
<p>I also hope you are looking at a wide range of schools. NYU probably gets around 500 applications for clinical psych PhDs a year and accepts maybe 8-10 of those people. These numbers are common for clinical psychology programs.</p>
<p>Lastly, the GPA won’t be a big deal if you do well on the GRE. For clinical psych programs, you are going to need a 1300+. With so many applicants, it is common to screen out people right away with lower GRE’s and GPAs.</p>
<p>If studying bulimia is your passion, try to work with someone doing research on that as an undergrad. You may even find you don’t like clinical psych research and instead want to do social work or public policy to help others with bulimia. If you do still want to study clinical psychology, look up papers of people doing bulimia research and see where they are at. Then look at the programs at those institutions.</p>
<p>You don’t write a “personal statement” to apply to graduate school, you write a statement of purpose. There is a real difference. As others mentioned, you want to either mention that issue <em>very</em> briefly or perhaps not at all. Graduate admissions committees want to read a statement that lays out your research interests and the background that qualifies you to pursue that research.</p>
<p>Actually polarscribe, some do ask for a personal statement. UMich PIBS asked for a Statement of Purpose and a Personal Statement, if I remember correctly.</p>
<p>NYU does not have a Clinical Psychology program. If you saw any info about this online, it must be outdated because we used to have a program up until very recentlyl (maybe 5 or so years ago). I’m currently a Junior (undergraduate) at NYU and am also interested in Clinical Psych, so I have done my homework. I was sad to find out NYU had done away with the clinical program, but I am speaking to some professors who now work at the Medical Center as professors in Psychiatry but are trained Clinical Psychologists with Ph.Ds. The two fields often overlap.</p>
<p>Anyway, I agree with everyone else, looks like you’re a great candidate but you’ll need some research experience. Doesn’t necessarily need to be clinical if you can’t find it, I would say just volunteer to help out in a Psych lab at your school. Right now I’m doing Social Psych research, and taking some research methods courses, hopefully next year working in a Psychopathology lab. The research experience is definitely very important, they need to know you are going to be able to handle it and aren’t better off in a Psy.D or MSW (Social Work) program. </p>