MA in Clinical/Counseling Psychology

Graduate School
1

<p>Hi everyone, </p>

<p>I'm not sure if anyone knows much about GPA regarding grad school for Psychology, but I figured I'd give it a shot. I'm kind of stressed out because of my GPA. I transferred to another university a year ago. At my previous school, I had a 3.74 GPA. Here at my new school, my fresh GPA is a 3.5. Not bad at all. However, I feel like I'm doing worse and worse every year. This semester I got off to a shaky start and I ended up failing my first midterm for a math class. Thankfully, I have two more exams to make up for it, as I still, and miraculously, have a B- in the class. I have a good feeling I'm going to get around a 3.2-3.5 GPA. The issue is is that I'm a junior and I'm still meeting some of my general education requirements. Not only that, but I have two part-time jobs to scrap by. Ugh. I have to repeat some classes because they did not successfully transfer over due to articulation issues (really annoying). But as of now, there's nothing I can do about it. </p>

<p>Also, I just recently changed my major to Psychology. I really found what I wanted to do, which is go to grad school and eventually get my PhD in Clinical/Counseling. But I started really late...my junior year. I have no research experience, which I'm going to get started on after I finish my research courses. I only have about two years left here and I need to make the most of it. Because of the lack of experience, I'm going to look into MA programs instead of PhD, since I feel a little unprepared for a PhD program. I don't know why but my GPA is starting to stress me out. I fear that my downward trend will really screw me over. However, I'm doing my best to maintain my overall at a 3.5 at least. </p>

<p>My ultimate goal is to gain a few research experiences, and hopefully get published (if i get into a summer research program here some time next year). I'm actually pretty confident I can get back on track and get a higher GPA (I KNOW I HAVE IT IN ME!); it's just this semester...I'm just going through a hard time with money and managing life off-campus. Life is getting so difficult to manage and I have no safety net! And that very first college exam I failed. I feel so disappointed in myself. I promised to never fail like I did in high school, and that exam just brought back some pretty depressing times back from high school. And I keep thinking I'm not going to get into any programs...ugh I wish I wasn't so pessimistic. I really do hope I'm fit for MA programs...I think I just need to cry or something. </p>

<p>Any advice? Ugh :-/</p>

<p>Edit: Wow, I didn't realize this turned into such a pity fest. I apologize.</p>

2

<p>First of all, your GPA isn’t too low - a 3.5 GPA is fine. What’s really more important in clinical admissions is research and clinical experience. Many students don’t realize that they want to do a PhD until their junior year and I think beginning research in the junior year is common, which is why many clinical PhD hopefuls work as a lab manager for 2-3 years following their bachelor’s degree.</p>

<p>This is far preferable to getting a master’s, because clinical PhD programs typically don’t transfer in credits from master’s degrees and MA programs in psychology are generally not funded. And what you really need, at this point, is research experience (your GPA is fine). So you may want to look for paid work as a research assistant or research coordinator/lab manager for after college.</p>

<p>Also, while getting published would be nice, most applicants have NOT been published and it’s certainly not expected of you. It’s rather difficult to get published as an undergrad.</p>