Any non traditional students with research experience?

[psychmamma]

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I am going back to school after being out of school for 10 years. I have approximately 31 credit hours left to complete my BA psychology degree. I was thinking of applying for Phd programs next year. I currently work full time and I am married with 3 children. My concern right now is getting the research experience that will make my application competitive. My husband and I have considered the option of me getting a part-time evening job in order for me to be considered for research assistant positions (I also want to get a Certificate in Trauma Studies, 85% of the classes are only offered during the day). How important is research experience? My grades are not that good and I have not taken the GRE yet.

 

[Student4Life0]

I am going back to school after being out of school for 10 years. I have approximately 31 credit hours left to complete my BA psychology degree. I was thinking of applying for Phd programs next year. I currently work full time and I am married with 3 children. My concern right now is getting the research experience that will make my application competitive. My husband and I have considered the option of me getting a part-time evening job in order for me to be considered for research assistant positions (I also want to get a Certificate in Trauma Studies, 85% of the classes are only offered during the day). How important is research experience? My grades are not that good and I have not taken the GRE yet.

Research experience is probably the most essential part of an application. A PhD in clinical psychology will require you to be extremely involved in research, and so involvement in research is critical to applying. In addition, you will want to strive for a high GPA/GRE in order to meet program's cut offs.

 

[Ollie123]

Unfortunately for your situation, research experience is probably the #1 most important thing that graduate schools look for in an applicant. Without any research experience, you are unlikely to be a serious candidate even at programs that emphasize clinical work. While there are applicants who are admitted with minimal research experience, they will generally possess other exceptional qualifications. With mediocre grades, that is two strikes against you and I suspect you would not fare well in the admissions process.

While I recognize that there are some barriers here, I would really, really, really encourage you to find some way to get research experience. This does not necessarily need to take place from 9-5, some labs may need people available in the evenings and on weekends. While I think it is generally preferable to have experience working in a laboratory environment, there may exist opportunities where you can complete work under a flexible schedule or even from home - though it will certainly limit the type of research you can be involved in and the quality of your experience. If you have expertise in technical or mathematical areas, you may be able to do things like program laboratory experiments or analyze data at home, though those are unusual activities for people new to research and you would need to make a case for why you are qualified to do so.

 

[deleted176373]

I am going back to school after being out of school for 10 years. I have approximately 31 credit hours left to complete my BA psychology degree. I was thinking of applying for Phd programs next year. I currently work full time and I am married with 3 children. My concern right now is getting the research experience that will make my application competitive. My husband and I have considered the option of me getting a part-time evening job in order for me to be considered for research assistant positions (I also want to get a Certificate in Trauma Studies, 85% of the classes are only offered during the day). How important is research experience? My grades are not that good and I have not taken the GRE yet.

Research what it will take to get somewhere in this field before you bother to complete a degree in it.

A B.A./B.S. in psych is nearly worthless. A Masters is a useful degree but not nearly as useful as a M.S.W. for social workers. The competition to make it into a Ph.D. psychology program at this point is extremely keen and without a really solid undergraduate performance (3.25 or higher) and good GRE scores (typical is 1200+) you won't have a great chance and without research experience of some kind, you'll stand NO CHANCE at funded programs.

Good luck in your decision, I wish you the best of luck if you decide to go for it!

Mark

 

[psychmamma]

Thank you for your input! I have been pondering my situation for several months. We (my husband and I) have decided that it is important for me to finish school and put myself in the best possible situation to be accepted in a Phd program. If all goes as planned I will be able to leave my job in May. Now I will begin my search for research assistant positions.

 

[roubs]

Thank you for your input! I have been pondering my situation for several months. We (my husband and I) have decided that it is important for me to finish school and put myself in the best possible situation to be accepted in a Phd program. If all goes as planned I will be able to leave my job in May. Now I will begin my search for research assistant positions.

What is your end goal for a job?

 

[PrisonPsych]

Also, when you say your grades are "not good," how "not good" are we talking?

 

[psychmamma]

What is your end goal for a job?

I want to work with victims of trauma. I'm very interested in the effects of ptsd or other symptoms of trauma and how it influences decisions of people in various stages of life. I'm considering also obtaining a Psyd, because I believe that will provide me with more clinical training, but I do not want to rule out working in research later.

Also, when you say your grades are "not good," how "not good" are we talking?

3.0

 

[PrisonPsych]

3.0 is going to be difficult. You need to get that up to at least a 3.2 or 3.3 if not higher.

 

[Ollie123]

With a 3.0 and no research experience, I doubt you would have a chance anyplace remotely respectable. It would be a tough sell at most schools with a 4.0 and no research experience.

I normally do not recommend this option, but I would seriously consider doing a master's program. It would probably extend your training if you did decide to pursue a PhD, but it would probably give you an opportunity to get some research exposure and also give you a chance to prove you can handle graduate coursework. Right now you have no research experience (which likely means no particularly strong letters of recommendation from faculty since most people's strongest letters come from research experience), you may or may not have any significant clinical experience, and a GPA that will raise questions of whether you are capable of doing well in graduate school courses - I'm not trying to be harsh, but that doesn't bode well at all.

If you do a clinical master's (psychology or a related field), you could likely get opportunities to work with that population while getting additional experience in the field and boosting your CV, and decide from there if you want to pursue the PhD.

 

[psychmama]

With a 3.0 and no research experience, I doubt you would have a chance anyplace remotely respectable. It would be a tough sell at most schools with a 4.0 and no research experience.

I normally do not recommend this option, but I would seriously consider doing a master's program. It would probably extend your training if you did decide to pursue a PhD, but it would probably give you an opportunity to get some research exposure and also give you a chance to prove you can handle graduate coursework. Right now you have no research experience (which likely means no particularly strong letters of recommendation from faculty since most people's strongest letters come from research experience), you may or may not have any significant clinical experience, and a GPA that will raise questions of whether you are capable of doing well in graduate school courses - I'm not trying to be harsh, but that doesn't bode well at all.

If you do a clinical master's (psychology or a related field), you could likely get opportunities to work with that population while getting additional experience in the field and boosting your CV, and decide from there if you want to pursue the PhD.

Hi. I just wanted to say that I agree with Ollie's recommendation about doing a master's program. I'm an older student myself, and I had a tough time gaining admission to doctoral programs with a much higher GPA but only a little research experience before grad school. I was fortunate to get into a great PsyD program, but my backup plan was to do a masters and then reapply.

I think if you do well in a master's program you can demonstrate that you're capable of doing doctoral-level work, especially if you get your GPA up and use the time to do some research and strengthen your clinical experience. Good luck.

P.S. - Did you notice our similar screen names?

 

[psychmamma]

...you may or may not have any significant clinical experience, and a GPA that will raise questions of whether you are capable of doing well in graduate school courses - I'm not trying to be harsh, but that doesn't bode well at all.

Thanks, I appreciate your advice. It was not harsh at all.🙄 Unfortunately, when I was starting my undergrad I was not completely focused, then I took a break (a very long break). I'm fully aware that I will have to work extremely hard to submit my application for a Phd program and that may include obtaining my Masters.

P.S. - Did you notice our similar screen names?

Yes I noticed that after I created my screen name.🙂

 

[f4tls]

Threads like this one give me a little hope. I have a Bachelor of Science in English (US Naval Academy), worked as a Nuclear Submarine Officer in the Navy for 5 years to add to my 2 years of enlisted time, then worked in construction as a Quality Control Inspector, and am now a Senior Manager in a technical field.

My undergrad GPA was a 2.62 (spent all my time socializing), I'm working on a Master's in Engineering Management, and I live in the DC area (so good luck for me finding a school with a small number of applicants). Combine all this, and you can imagine how steep the journey looks now that I've realized (weeks ago) that Psychology holds my interest better than anything else.

I'm hoping to set up interviews with local college counselors to see if I can get a provisional admission (still have to take the GRE) this fall or next year into a Master's program (something compatible with my work schedule) and pay for it with my GI Bill. And I'm trying to see where I can volunteer in the meantime as well as concurrent with my studies. Then maybe I can apply to USUHS or another school (using HPSP). Being married with 2 kids and debts and all that just makes that mountain steeper and steeper.

I'm determined to climb it, though.