How likely am I to get a good assistantship? (Or even get into Grad school in PSYCHOLOGY)

I’m a straight A psychology undergraduate student. I’m currently a second semester junior, and I have one more year to go. I’m trying to get into a masters program or direct phd/psyd program in psychology (counseling, clinical, or industrial organization–not sure yet)

My GPA is sitting at around 3.8-3.9 right now and it’s not ever going to go below 3.75 (personal goal haha).
I have lots of work experience on campus (RA in housing, computer lab technician, desk assistant, etc.)
I volunteer at a high school with refugee students intentionally interacting with them through psychological concepts.
I have a research assistantship that I will hold for 3 semesters (2 semesters so far) by the time I graduate.
I’ll have 3 semesters (2 semesters so far) of teaching assistantships by the time I graduate.
I am going to get an internship for my senior year of college (starting Fall 2017).

How likely am I to get into a good program AND how likely am I to get an assistantship?

Along with this, what advice do you have to be the best possible candidate?

Thanks!

I’m less familiar with clinical and counseling programs, but I applied to social psychology, I/O psychology, and business management PhD programs this year. My advice is for the I/O direction, if you take it.

Your GPA is fine, but you will also want to do well on the GRE. Sometimes fellowships and other specific awards are based on these factors in place of/in addition to an assistantship, and you should start preparing now if you haven’t already. The RA experience is great - if the topics are related to what you want to study at the graduate level, even better, but not required. Depending on your internship, that could also look good for an I/O program if it is business/HR related. They tend to look more favorably on work experience than some other types of programs, since the research is very applied (which I believe is also true in clinical programs).

It’s hard to gauge likelihood of acceptance since PhD admission rates are so low. The program may only be accepting 1 applicant, or none at all in a given year. Or there may be several excellent applicants, so having a strong profile isn’t a guarantee. That’s when research fit and other subjective factors come into play. However, if you’re applying to reputable programs, most should offer funding if you’re admitted. And if you go the route of I/O, you may want to consider business management/organizational behavior PhD programs, too - the funding is often more than a psychology stipend, and you can do the same type of research.

That being said, some I/O PhD programs are more balanced in that they also focus on industry placements, not just academia (I applied to one program that had an internship/consulting requirement). If you want to pursue a business program for industry placement, you would be better to apply to a DBA program. Business PhDs are much more geared toward research/academic positions, while DBAs are for practitioners, though these are often unfunded (similar to psychology PhD vs. PsyD programs). Let me know if you have any questions about the different options I discussed :slight_smile:

My advice is to make sure you’re applying to programs that are a strong fit for your profile, interests and goals. Don’t apply based on rank or prestige - if you don’t find the research interesting, it will be difficult to sell yourself to the faculty during interviews, and even if you manage an acceptance, it can be a painful experience to study things you’re not interested in.

I’m sure someone can offer more insights about clinical/counseling psychology, and if not, I know there have been many similar posts on the forum that may offer you some answers.

We can’t speak to your chances. However, you seem like you’re on the right track. Continue with those research assistantships - those are the most important activities you are doing right now. The work experience on campus doesn’t really matter. The volunteering could be an interest piece if your research is centered on refugees or a similar population. You may also want to get some clinical experience (hospital, clinic, mental health org, etc.) if you want a clinical psych degree. Your internship in your senior year should hopefully be that, unless you start leaning toward I/O.

Do note, though, that clinical psychology PhD hopefuls very often take 2-3 years after undergrad to get more research experience, even if they had 1-2 years as an undergrad. The clinical field is just that competitive right now. So I’d start looking ahead to that if you are really sold on clinical. Counseling and industrial/organizational are not as competitive.