Applying from outside US with bachelors not in psychology – Help!

[Maleeha]

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I have bachelors in engineering. Over the past year I have been motivated to pursue a career in Psychology. I want to apply for graduate studies in clinical psychology for fall 2009 in US. And to make things worst I have my education and current residence in Pakistan.

To pursue the goal, I have enrolled in a Psychology program in Pakistan. I am also doing internship with a doctor in a hospital here and from next month will also be participating in a research project. Later this year I plan to give GRE Psychology.

I am concerned whether my Bachelor's degree in Engineering will negatively effect my application, and would appreciate your suggestions to strengthen my application? Do you think online courses from a US University can get me into a better position with at least some recognized studies in Psychology? Right now I can’t have any class room experience from US. If online courses can increase my chances of admission, can anybody suggest good online universities? I have heard of Walden and Capella. Are they the best?
There is a lot of fraud in online education, so any suggestions are most welcome.

Please help!

 

[RileyG]

I can't help you with finding good online universities, but I know at least some schools are willing to consider people who do not have undergraduate degree in psychology. Especially since you are making the effort to take extra classes and find an internship related to psychology. One suggestion I have is to apply to master's programs first.

I am currently in my 2nd (and last) year of a master's program and when I started, a girl with a BS in chemistry was admitted. She dropped out after a couple of weeks, BUT the point is that she got in.

 

[JockNerd]

I have bachelors in engineering. Over the past year I have been motivated to pursue a career in Psychology. I want to apply for graduate studies in clinical psychology for fall 2009 in US. And to make things worst I have my education and current residence in Pakistan.

To pursue the goal, I have enrolled in a Psychology program in Pakistan. I am also doing internship with a doctor in a hospital here and from next month will also be participating in a research project. Later this year I plan to give GRE Psychology.

I am concerned whether my Bachelor's degree in Engineering will negatively effect my application, and would appreciate your suggestions to strengthen my application? Do you think online courses from a US University can get me into a better position with at least some recognized studies in Psychology? Right now I can’t have any class room experience from US. If online courses can increase my chances of admission, can anybody suggest good online universities? I have heard of Walden and Capella. Are they the best?
There is a lot of fraud in online education, so any suggestions are most welcome.

Please help!

As long as you have the standard prereq classes, which are usually stats (which I'm sure you have a good background in with the eng degree), abnormal psych, personality, and some sort of psych research experience, I think you'll be fine.

I don't think taking online courses from the US would be beneficial if you can do them in-person in your country of residence. Plenty of people in psych grad programs come in from doing their undergrad in a foreign country without any US classroom experience.

I went to an interview where another applicant was just completing her PhD in engineering. So, I doubt your background itself is going to hinder you.

 

[psychanon]

One of the most critical things in Ph.D. admissions is research experience. It sounds like you're slated to get a little of that, but perhaps not enough to be competitive with people who have several years' worth. Another challenge is that people will be unfamiliar with the Pakistani educational system, and may have difficulty interpreting your transcript.

Perhaps you should consider applying to good master's programs in the U.S., and then apply for Ph.D. programs from there. Some of them are funded. This would give you the requisite coursework, research experience in the form of a thesis, evidence that you can succeed in graduate study in psychology, and credentials that will be easier for Ph.D. programs to evaluate. Since master's programs are less competitive, my hunch is that they would be more likely to admit someone with less of a psych background.

Stay away from the online programs. They are not well respected, and would be viewed very negatively by reputable programs.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

One of the most critical things in Ph.D. admissions is research experience. It sounds like you're slated to get a little of that, but perhaps not enough to be competitive with people who have several years' worth. Another challenge is that people will be unfamiliar with the Pakistani educational system, and may have difficulty interpreting your transcript.

Perhaps you should consider applying to good master's programs in the U.S., and then apply for Ph.D. programs from there. Some of them are funded. This would give you the requisite coursework, research experience in the form of a thesis, evidence that you can succeed in graduate study in psychology, and credentials that will be easier for Ph.D. programs to evaluate. Since master's programs are less competitive, my hunch is that they would be more likely to admit someone with less of a psych background.

I agree completely.

Stay away from the online programs. They are not well respected, and would be viewed very negatively by reputable programs.

As long as you have access to psychology classes locally (in an effort to meet the requirements for application to an MS or Doctoral program) I'd suggest taking them locally.

-t

 

[Maleeha]

Thanks for your response everybody! I will try to concentrate more on research and apply for a masters program first.