Am I competitive for Psy.D and MA/MS programs?

[Forensic M.S.]

Hi my name is Justin, and I am a senior pursuing a BA at UCONN in psychology with a minor in criminal justice.

I currently have a 3.0 gpa and got a GRE V 460 Q 660 writing 4 and have done an internship at a correctional facility.

my interests are mainly clinical psychology and forensic psychology especially and i lean more towards practice than research.

i am applying to antioch new england and mspp for the psy.d programs.
i am applying to masters programs in ct and ma as well as a few msw programs.

i was wondering if it was too unrealistic to apply to such programs?

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[psych101]

Antioch New England is not APA accredited (don't know if that matters to you), MSPP is. I think it's hard to determine strict cutoffs across the board, although some programs do offer cutoffs and don't even look at your application if you don't meet them. But the websites usually say that if that's the case. From what I have seen, many PsyD programs do less of this and are often interested in your clinical experience, in which case your internship would be an asset. Don't get overly caught up in the numbers unless you're running across programs that simply state they require a certain cutoff. I don't think it's unreasonable to apply to any of the programs you named -- the worst they can say is "no." Hopefully you'll just get some inteview invitations and seal the deal. Also, the standards for admission often vary from year to year in light of the type of applicants who have applied (i.e., the greatest applicant one year may be only mediocre when compared to other applicants during another application year). And it's not a bad idea to go the master's route first with the idea of going on to doctoral training later...just helps to keep the doctoral training in mind while you're in the master's program and take as many similar courses as possible in hopes of waiving some later. Good luck to you!

 

[Forensic M.S.]

Antioch New England is not APA accredited (don't know if that matters to you), MSPP is. I think it's hard to determine strict cutoffs across the board, although some programs do offer cutoffs and don't even look at your application if you don't meet them. But the websites usually say that if that's the case. From what I have seen, many PsyD programs do less of this and are often interested in your clinical experience, in which case your internship would be an asset. Don't get overly caught up in the numbers unless you're running across programs that simply state they require a certain cutoff. I don't think it's unreasonable to apply to any of the programs you named -- the worst they can say is "no." Hopefully you'll just get some inteview invitations and seal the deal. Also, the standards for admission often vary from year to year in light of the type of applicants who have applied (i.e., the greatest applicant one year may be only mediocre when compared to other applicants during another application year). And it's not a bad idea to go the master's route first with the idea of going on to doctoral training later...just helps to keep the doctoral training in mind while you're in the master's program and take as many similar courses as possible in hopes of waiving some later. Good luck to you!

thank you! i just sent out the applications. i've had a few colleges so far want me to re-submit transcripts (guessing for the new grades this semester). i don't really care about apa acreditation to be honest. i just want to get into a doctoral program, with some forensic specialization being offered.

 

[twiggers]

I had a friend get into a PsyD program who had around a 3.0 (the program didn't require GRE stuff) and no clinical experience.
She told me that she thought it was the interview that got her in because they asked her a ton of questions (more than I got asked at a clinical PhD interview).

 

[Forensic M.S.]

I had a friend get into a PsyD program who had around a 3.0 (the program didn't require GRE stuff) and no clinical experience.
She told me that she thought it was the interview that got her in because they asked her a ton of questions (more than I got asked at a clinical PhD interview).

i haven't heard anything yet except from a master of science in forensic psych at american international college. they accepted me upon graduation this year. i am really relieved by it.

i am going there unless i get accepted to a psy.d program. i am no longer sending out msw apps.