Hello,
I am a 26 year old, recent graduate from UCSB with a degree in sociology.
I had some problems with changes of majors, and me thinking that I wanted to be a doctor, which resulted in a bit of issues with my grades in those respective classes. This has resulted in my overall GPA being a 2.94 Cumulative, 3.7 Major GPA.
I am looking towards the possibility of applying for pHD programs in clinical psychology as I hope to work in the field of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia.
My work background, is that I have been working for the last 12 years. I currently work at Stanford Hospital as a Licensed Sleep Therapist, I have been working in the field of sleep for the last 6 years, and at Stanford for the last 1.5 years. Because of financial inability, I worked full-time, while attending college as well as preparing for my board exams. This made it difficult to maintain pristine grades.
I have not taken my GRE yet, and I hope to study rigorously for it. I have arranged for 2 letters of recommendations from my place of work from the Medical Director as well as one of the higher up doctors that I work with.
I have also arranged for 2-3 letters from school for my academic LOR.
…
I wanted to provide my background in case anyone was wondering.
I have considered doing a graduate program in Cognitive Psychology at Stanford, and was wondering if there was any chance that is possible, given the circumstances. I also am hoping to pursue different pHD programs if that isn’t feasible, but my GPA has me feeling reluctant and apprehensive.
Any positive feedback would be great. I am not sure what options I have, I have much to offer and hope that there is a possibility for me.
Thank you
It would be better if you post this in the graduate fourm
While your overall GPA is on the edge, your major GPA is good and you have an explanation you can provide (although you don’t want to belabor it too much in your personal statement). If you have strong GRE scores and LORs, you certainly will have a chance to get into a graduate program. You need to be smart about applying to maximize your chances. It is likely that Stanford will be a real reach for you because of the large number of applicants and the competition. Make sure that you apply to some less competitive programs that you are comfortable attending. Similarly, you might find that the school you want to be in, will only admit you to a M.S. It is quite common for some areas to require a M.S. before the Ph.D.
Your work experience could be quite valuable on two fronts.
Your undergrad degree is in sociology. Do you have any significant coursework in psychology - at least 5-7 classes (about 15-20 credits)? If you don’t have even that, you have very low chances of admission into any PhD program in psychology, as they expect to see significant undergrad coursework in the field before admission. If you have 15-20 credits you have better chances, but still not great, as those with a psychology major or the equivalent are the most competitive for PhD programs.
Also, cognitive psychology and clinical psychology are quite distinct programs. Stanford doesn’t have a clinical psychology program. They do have a cognitive psychology program, but cognitive psychology does not allow you to get licensed to practice psychology. It’s strictly a research program - if you wanted to do research on sleep, and potentially work as a professor of psychology or a researcher in another similar setting. But you won’t be able to give cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia with a PhD in psychology from Stanford.
For that, you do need to go to a clinical psychology PhD program. You may be able to find one with a sleep lab and some researchers doing sleep research. If your focus is on doing therapy, you’ll want to find one that’s a scientist-practitioner model program - one that focuses on turning out PhDs with a balance of science and practice. Many of the top programs (like UCLA, which does have a clinical concentration) are clinical science programs; although you’ll be eligible for licensure coming from those programs, the focus is primarily on science and they aim to turn out scientists from those programs.
Because of that, top programs in clinical psychology and all programs in the other areas expect some research experience from competitive applicants - at least 2 years of it. It sound like you have been doing therapy, but not necessarily research.
If you took some coursework in psychology (I would say at least 20 credits, although more is better) you would probably be competitive for some mid-tier clinical psychology programs that really focus more on producing practitioners and training therapists, especially given your work experience. You’re not very competitive for top programs, including Stanford.
Another option, if you want to do therapy, is to get a master’s in social work (MSW) and get licensed as a clinical social worker (LCSW). LCSWs can do therapy.