Best route after undergraduate to get clinical doctorate

[psyc22]

Hey everybody. I am an undergraduate, majoring in psychology, graduating in 2011. I want to eventually get a doctorate in clinical psychology. I currently have a 3.8 GPA, and wanted to know whether it would be better to get my masters first, or go on to the doctorate. The school I'm at right now only offers masters in school psychology, general experimental psych, and psychometrics, so I also wanted to know if getting a master's in one of these would make it less likely that I would get accepted into a doctorate program. Please let me know what y'all think!!! Thanks.

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[cara susanna]

I would only get your MA first if your GPA goes down. Most PhD programs give it to you on the way.

 

[futureapppsy2]

^
Agreed. Make sure you get research experience (and plenty of it).

 

[KillerDiller]

Usually people only go into a terminal Masters program before heading off to a Ph.D if they had a lowish GPA, did not have enough research experience, did not yet have a narrow enough research interest, or (as was the case with me) they weren't a psych major and needed more of a background in psych coursework.

Having a Masters degree is usually not going to hurt your chances of being admitted into a Ph.D program, especially if you go for a research-focused degree like the MS. I suppose I have heard tales of those with clinically focused Masters degrees not getting in when their previous training conflicted with the theoretical model of the doctoral program they applied to.

That being said, most students find they need to take time off after undergrad before they can get into a doctoral program. Whether that means going for a Masters degree or working as an RA for a couple of years is up to the individual and his/her specific situation.

 

[Thrak]

Does your school offer a combined BA/MA program? If so, it may be a good way to distinguish yourself from some of the other applicants (more challenging coursework usually looks good). Plus, if you decide you do want to get a masters, you'll have a good chunk completed.

If your program doesn't offer a combined program, they still might allow you to take one or two grad classes as an undergrad. It'll at least give you a taste of grad school, and if you take say one grad level stats class, and one seminar, you'll show to the programs you apply to that you're not afraid of statistics, and you can handle grad-level coursework.

That said, I'd highly recommend trying to get some RA experience after your BA and before you apply for your PhD. It'll probably be viewed more favorably as compared to a masters degree.

Oh, and to answer your question directly, I don't know about school psych, but a general psych or psychometrics MA shouldn't hurt you at all in the application process.

 

[Eruca]

I don't know that there's a 'best' route, but there are definitely more tested ones. Getting a masters first is not really necessary. It won't hurt you, but it won't necessarily make you a better candidate. It's a great route if you don't have the grades to get into a doctoral program, or some of the other reasons listed above. BUT there are considerable downfalls: you typically have to pay for masters programs (so consider the loan $), and you quite likely will have to repeat at least some if not most coursework and quite possibly do another masters thesis once you get into a doctoral program (particularly if it's a non-clinical thesis). This may not be the case across the board, but the few folks who had their MAs when they entered my program did not finish any earlier than those folks who didn't. We all also had to take the exact same courses.

A more tested route (if you are able to), is to finish your BA with good GPA. Get full-time RA work in a research lab (particularly in a research area you would like to continue), work for 2 years, then apply to labs/doctoral programs. If you can work some publications or posters into your RA work, and get high GRE scores, then you are golden.

Now as a 5th year clinical student, I'm really glad I took some time off of school to work, make some money, and have a good idea that I was making the right career move..

 

[psyc22]

Thanks for the comments. One more question...if I don't have a masters, about how long do you think it would actually take me to get my doctorate in clinical psych?

 

[thewesternsky]

Thanks for the comments. One more question...if I don't have a masters, about how long do you think it would actually take me to get my doctorate in clinical psych?

Each program posts this as part of their full disclosure data, but 5-7 years is pretty typical.