Wow!! The standards are very high I guess. I guess my plan is that if I cannot boost my GPA up to at least 1 3.5 Ill apply to Masters programs. My college I'm at now has a Masters program in Clinical/Counseling Psychology. Would it be weird if I transition into that program after undergrad or should I just apply to other programs?
Hey, maybe I'm wrong. It's definitely worth your time to look at the WAMC (what are my chances) thread. It's stickied up at the top for this exact reason. Lots of people talking about getting into lots of programs. Yes, it is very competitive. I wish there was a huge *** banner at the top of the psychology board that said "hey, its surprisingly competitive to get into clinical/counseling psych programs, and you are not a special flower", but alas, I'm not a mod. I told undergrads that I mentored for years while in grad school this exact thing. Being a psych major is relatively easy- getting into grad school is not.
Every year, people who have no business applying do so, and their applications get thrown out. Think of it this way- a typical phd program (I dont know about psyD programs, didnt attend one) takes something like 6-10 students. I've heard reputable PsyD programs are not much larger than this- ie 13-20 students). My program takes 6 every year. 6 students. 200 applications. ~18 get interviews. And they're already rank ordered when they come in, to be honest. What are the chances that you're one of the top 18, and that in that interview, you can become one of the top 6? If you have a gpa that starts with 2, I can tell you that your chances are very very small. But, if you can get into a masters program and kick ***, you get a few benefits. First, realizing that your GPA "starts over", and second realizing there's no "grow up wiggle room". Every B+ you make, every A- you make, potentially drops you out of one of those 18 slots.
As for getting into your university's masters program, there's positives and negatives. I considered the same thing. On one hand, my mentor was already there, and I had an "in". OTOH, there's less "growing experience". Going to a new university, in a new state, in a new climate, geography, culture, etc, showed me that I could transition and thrive. And I needed to know that to sell myself at the next level. At some places, there's also this negative I sense of not getting "fresh blood". They're looking to bring in outsiders to add energy to the program, not undergrads to keep the status quo. My personal opinion- and this is just my opinion- is that it's generally better to move on, establish yourself somewhere else, show you can do it, and move on from there. But that's just me. Do whats best for you.
BTW, my undergrad GPA started with a 2, but my last 60 hrs was 3.5, I had a publication, a few presentations, 2 years of lab experience, and an advanced stats course, too. I also kicked *** in all my research methods courses and had letters of rec to show it.
