Grad School worries

Parents Forum
1

<p>Hi, parents,</p>

<p>I'm a college junior, and my goal is to go on and a get a PhD or PsyD in School Psychology--at this point, I'm thinking I'd like a split school/non-school practice and any opportunities for research "on the side" would be a great plus. My worry? That I won't get in. I can't, for physical reasons, do any of the "traditional" psych holdover jobs, such as mental health tech, group home worker, etc., and, for the same reasons, I need to be eligible for group insurance.</p>

<p>I feel like I've done everything I could to try to prepare myself, but I'm still coming up short. My current GPA is a 3.8 with a current 4.0 in psych (and in social work) and am taking the GRE in May. I have a paid RAship doing research related to what I want to study, lots of work in departmental labs, multiple independent honors theses, a clearly articulated research interest, and a couple of local poster presentations, including a poster on one of my studies that recently won the social studies division our undergraduate research conference. I have clinical work that's incredibly clinical for an undergraduate and volunteer work related to children (though not a ton of it). I'll be doing a practicum next year that ties in well with my area of interest. I have or will have TA'ed for and independently taught multiple courses, both psych and non-psych, with very good to excellent evaluations.</p>

<p>Yet...</p>

<p>I have no major poster (regional or national) presentations and no current publications, though I'm working with a professor this summer who seems very interested in getting me published. I switched research interests my junior year, though I can tie the two areas together pretty well, and that may hurt me. It seems like SDNers typically have something like publications and major poster presentations, and, well, I don't. It's funny, but in the email I sent out to my lab ground regarding my conference win (they helped me prep for my presentation), I straight-up acknowledged the fact that a local conference win doesn't mean much CV-wise (though winning still felt sort of awesome :) ) </p>

<p>I've considered applying to some EdS programs (the school psych equivalent of a Master's), but they can be just as competitive as PhD programs, tend to less funding, and lend themselves less well to what I want to do (research, licensure as a full psychologist, ability to work outside of schools).</p>

<p>Any thoughts or advice?</p>

2

<p>The best source of advice for these questions are your current professors. Find someone who has a good track record for getting students into fully-funded good PhD programs, and do what he/she tells you. A good PhD program is one that places most of its students in the sorts of jobs you would like to have. Your advisors won’t be able to give you helpful advice until you get your GRE scores, but try to connect with someone in your current department before the semester ends, so that you be in touch with him/her over the summer. The professor with whom you are working this summer is a good place to start.</p>

3

<p>I’ve been in touch with my professors–the problem is, the advice I get is mixed. Some faculty tell me that I’ll have no problem getting in; others tell me that I don’t have a snowball’s chance unless I have a major publication or poster presentation. The school psych faclty tend to be more optimistic than the clinical ones, however.</p>

4

<p>I would focus on the advice of the school psych people than the clinical folks. The standards for each area are quite different and I believe the bar for clinical is much higher. </p>

<p>You are doing all you can do from the sounds of it, especially working on research with faculty. Whether it will result in a pub or not can not be guaranteed, but letters of rec from those you work with, presentation and even the quality of your best working paper will speak volumes. Lots of undergrads get pubs simply because of good luck: who they work with, when they came onto a project, the generosity of the folks they are working with. Tons get free ones- with their names added and they’ve done little. I think if you are working with someone this summer who is committed to you getting pubs., getting a major presentation with this person should be very straightforward if there is a fall deadline (assuming this prof is a successful researcher and I would hope you are working with such a person). </p>

<p>Fortunately faculty doing the selecting know this. If you have a solid GPA, do very well on your GRE, have research experience (which you will), you will have done all you can and you have to let the chips fall where they lay.</p>

<p>While I can’t speak to the health insurance issue constraint, as a fall back, can you consider working as an RA in an interim year (in a full or part time basis, as volunteer or paid), to build up your research record. </p>

<p>Anyway, my two cents worth.</p>