- Joined
- Dec 6, 2015
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At the behest of my current faculty mentor and various people around the department, I decided in late September to submit clinical PhD apps this Fall rather than wait a year. With everything on my plate -- classwork, studying for/taking the GRE, writing essays, securing recs, working in the lab, doing my own research, and working 12 hours a week as an intern at our training clinic -- and a limited number of hours in the day, something had to give (or, at least, I allowed something to give ), and it ended up being my grades.
I applied to 11 programs (10 clinical and 1 cognitive), and while I am generally confident in the strength of my application...I essentially applied to only the very most competitive schools (they were the best research matches, unfortunately it just worked out that way). Now, I've done my research, and I'm aware of the nonsensically low chances that I'll be admitted.
While there are unique experiences and aspects of my application that I think will give me at least a fighting chance at some of these programs, and that is as much as anyone can hope for, there is nonetheless a very much greater than 0 chance that I will be left in the cold come April.
Therein lies the crux of my problem. I haven't officially received my grades for the term yet, but the outlook is fairly bleak. Even if I generously squeak out with a 3.0-3.3, that would still bring my GPA below where I'd feel comfortable reapplying next year if I do not get in (i.e. below 3.5/6 or so). I don't think I'd be well served pursuing a Masters, but I'm not quite sure what else to do if my cGPA ends up being sub-3.5ish come graduation; my initial backup plan had been a post-bacc RA position, I'm fairly sure I could get a paid one in my area of interest at my current school. Could I defer graduation and take an extra semester to bolster my grades? Would that be off putting for adcoms?
I'm not sure what to do in this situation, but it feels like I've gambled with my future by rushing the app through this Fall. Needless to say I am tottering at the precipice of somewhat debilitating anxiety until any word comes back. Advice? Solidarity? Sagely wisdom? Anyone else been in a similar situation? Please let me know! Cheers everyone.
I applied to 11 programs (10 clinical and 1 cognitive), and while I am generally confident in the strength of my application...I essentially applied to only the very most competitive schools (they were the best research matches, unfortunately it just worked out that way). Now, I've done my research, and I'm aware of the nonsensically low chances that I'll be admitted.
While there are unique experiences and aspects of my application that I think will give me at least a fighting chance at some of these programs, and that is as much as anyone can hope for, there is nonetheless a very much greater than 0 chance that I will be left in the cold come April.
Therein lies the crux of my problem. I haven't officially received my grades for the term yet, but the outlook is fairly bleak. Even if I generously squeak out with a 3.0-3.3, that would still bring my GPA below where I'd feel comfortable reapplying next year if I do not get in (i.e. below 3.5/6 or so). I don't think I'd be well served pursuing a Masters, but I'm not quite sure what else to do if my cGPA ends up being sub-3.5ish come graduation; my initial backup plan had been a post-bacc RA position, I'm fairly sure I could get a paid one in my area of interest at my current school. Could I defer graduation and take an extra semester to bolster my grades? Would that be off putting for adcoms?
I'm not sure what to do in this situation, but it feels like I've gambled with my future by rushing the app through this Fall. Needless to say I am tottering at the precipice of somewhat debilitating anxiety until any word comes back. Advice? Solidarity? Sagely wisdom? Anyone else been in a similar situation? Please let me know! Cheers everyone.