Chances of getting into a Clinical Psychology PhD

Graduate School
1

Hi CC,
I am currently applying to clinical psychology Ph.D. programs and am nervous about getting in as I am only applying to 4 programs. I changed my major to psychology in my third year, before which I wasn’t very academically minded, so I have a bit less research experience and a lower GPA. However, I do have an MSc in Clinical Psychology, and am making sure that all the programs I am applying to have a faculty member who is a close research fit to me (and is accepting students). I would love your feedback on (1) my chances, (2) how I can strengthen my application, and (3) whether I should apply to more programs, and if so, of what calibre.

Undergrad Major: Psychology, Sociology (Double major) at strong Big 10 uni; Departmental distinction in Soc, Dean’s list for 3 terms
Cumulative GPA: 3.63
Junior/Senior GPA: 3.98

Graduate Major: Clinical Psychology at a uni in the Netherlands (NL)
Graduate GPA: 8.2/10 (cum laude) Note: 8 is a 4.0 according to Nuffic 2013 grade equivalency rules
Master Thesis was on same topic that I would like to explore further in my Ph.D., and I did very well on it

GRE Scores
Verbal: 166 (97th percentile)
Quant: 162 (79th percentile)
Writing: 5.0 (92nd percentile)

Research experience
I have 2 years research experience in total, from my senior year of undergrad (translation, neuropsych test administration and data collection), working at an education assessment centre (qualitative coding and survey creation), and my masters (working in a hospital with fMRI, cleaning heart rate data, etc).
Received ‘Best Master Thesis Poster’ at my university’s poster presentation from among 100+ other students.

Clinical experience
Clinical psych intern seeing patients under supervisor at behavioural center (NL, 280 hours)
3 years as peer facilitator for alcohol moderation course with counselling center (700+ students taught till date)
1 year volunteering at local T-1 hospital (neurology patients and NICU)
1 semester volunteering at Women’s Resources Center

Extracurriculars
Studied abroad in Australia for 6 months
2 years as resident advisor of my dorm
1 year on rowing team

Strong recommendations from master thesis supervisor (NL), clinical internship supervisor (NL), and upper-level psych class/ prof’s lab I worked in for a semester (US).

List of programs (love all of them, so no particular order!):

  1. U of Colorado Boulder
  2. U of Washington
  3. Yale U
  4. U of British Columbia (Canada)

Honorable Mention: I really like Duke, but am city born and bred, and can’t spend the next 7 years living in another college town after my undergrad. Is that a bad reason not to apply? I’m also applying to some German programs (deadlines are in March-May) if I don’t get called for any interviews.

2

Why are you only applying to four programs? And why only those four?

If you are applying to Yale, why not Harvard, Columbia, UPenn, UChicago?

3

@tdy123 There are faculty members at those four programs who are exact matches for my research interests (Yale is the closest match). I’ve heard that fit is the best indicator of being accepted.

UPenn is not accepting clinical applicants for 2020-21, but I will apply next year. Harvard doesn’t have a faculty member as close of a fit. TCC (Columbia) is not as research-focused as I would like. As for UChicago, I am not applying to programs in the Midwest, as I don’t want to live there anymore after doing my undergrad there.

4

@IBgal3 Sounds like you have a good handle on where you can pursue your interests.

Given the vagaries of research funding, when applying for fully funded PhD programs (this is a general comment, and not specific to clinical psychology) even the strongest candidates are usually well advised to apply to significantly more than four programs.

Its always to your advantage to have offers that you can compare, which is much more likely when you apply to more than four programs.

5

@tdy123 Thank you, I think I will apply to Duke in that case, and add Emory to my list. Do you think my profile is suitable for the schools I am applying to?

6

So you have the undergrad degree and then the MSc? Often, the undergrad gpa overall is less important than the grades related to this grad focus. Similarly, the work done in this arena, not general ECs.

7

The best read you could get on that would be from contacting your profs in the field from your undergrad institution. Profs, post-docs and current Phd students usually have the best perspectives on current admissions and employment trends in their fields.

8

I would go so far as to say that your undergraduate GPA is almost irrelevant, since you have a Masters. They would want to make sure that you passed all the required courses, and perhaps care about the grades of a few of the courses you took which were directly related to the field, but that’s it.

With the caveat that my background in in biological sciences and know a lot about engineering, I think that you have a pretty good resume, and have decent chances at anywhere to which you apply. However, make sure that your CV is well formatted for demonstrating your achievements, and that your statement of purpose is well written.

I would have recommended a PhD at UIUC, but you really cannot get any more Midwestern than Urbana-Champaign, and I suspect that you may have done your undergrad there if the thought of returning to the Midwest is just too much for you…

I must tell you that people who do there undergraduates in the Midwest often end up back here. if you’re born here, you have no chance. I was born in the Midwest, and after having grown up and lived for more than 20 years in a different country, I found myself in grad school in the Midwest, and now I live here.

9

Clinical psychology is ridiculously competitive. I know students with similar profiles who applied to 10-12 programs and were shut out. So I would say 4 schools is far too low; I would aim for at least 7 programs. If there are only 4 programs that are a close fit, your research interests may be too narrow; consider broadening out to related areas where a professor could still mentor you, or where you might need two co-PIs.

You’re pretty much an average applicant. It’s common in clinical psych for students to work as a research lab manager after college, or some other research position that gets them a little more experience. Some students do make it in after undergrad.