Possible to get into Clinical Psy PhD without psychiatry research experience?

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kaleidoscopes

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I just graduated from college and am choosing between a few job offers for clinical research coordinator positions. I am not sure if I want to pursue med school or a Clinical Psych PhD, but I was wondering if it is possible to get into a Clinical Psych PhD program with job experience doing clinical research but not psychology related (working in an Endocrine Unit, which also involves patient interaction but obviously not with mentally ill patients). I have already had one year of internship experience during college working as a research intern in a schizophrenia and bipolar disorders lab and was a Clinical Psych major in undergrad. Thanks!

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It's still possible. Any research exp is better than no research exp. Although, research experience in the area that you'll be going into grad school with is best. One of the things they'll be looking for is if you have a tentative plan, and a coherent path to grad school speaks to that. That being said though, plenty of people end up doing something other than what they originally started out doing in grad school.
 
Possible but it makes you less competitive. There are still very clinically-focused PhD programs that function under scholar-practitioner models that do not emphasize research (I can think of a couple here in the NY area).

Your training might actually make you competitive in health psychology focused clinical PhD programs. Health, PM&R, primary care, and other medically oriented branches of psychology are gaining popularity in some circles.

Good luck!
 
Looks like you need to also consider what would make you more competitive for med school. Did you post over on one of those boards asking the reverse? Do med schools care about research experience? If med school doesn't care (idk one way or the other) and psych does (we do) you should take a psych research gig. Are you leaning toward med school or grad school?*

If you were to go into clinical psych, what would you study? How biologically based would it be? Could you draw connections between your interests and the research?

Best,
Dr. E

* my bias is that if you are interested enough in med school to be in the position to apply, you should go that route instead of psychology. With med school you will have abundant opportunities at triple the earning power. You could do research or clinical work. You could even do (high priced) therapy if you became a psychiatrist. If I could do it over, that is what I'd do.
 
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