Clinical Psych programs - How to chose?

[laxyhead]

Ok, so I am going to be a senior business major and have also taken coursework in psychology. I am studying for the GRE right now and trying to decide on where to apply for clinical psych grad school. I'd like to to go to a school that tries to balance research with clinical experience too rather than just full research as its main goal.

I am interested in cultural differences in eating disorders or health psychology even. Does anyone have any suggestions on which schools would be good for these areas?

Or even any helpful tips for someone who is coming from a non-psychology major background wanting to get into a clinical psycholog program?

thanks so much!

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[PublicHealth]

General information about Health Psychology:

http://www.health-psych.org/

Health Psychology Training Programs:

http://www.health-psych.org/guidebook.pdf

The University of Florida Ph.D. program in Clinical and Health Psychology is one of the best:

http://www.phhp.ufl.edu/chp/

http://www.phhp.ufl.edu/chp/prospectivestudents/doctoral_program/index.html

You may also want to contact individual faculty to discuss your plans. Here are some people in clinical Ph.D. programs who specialize in eating disorders:

http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/weight/tawbio.html

http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/weight/gdfbio.html

http://www.yale.edu/psychology/FacInfo/Brownell.html

http://www.albany.edu/psy/fac_da.html

Hope this helps!

PH

 

[laxyhead]

thanks public health for all your links -- i'll definitely be reading up on this stuff!

also, i keep reading about having publications prior to appling to graduate school. is this the norm? that undergraduate students have publications already under their belt before they get to grad. school?

what exactly would make a good applicant for these high-competitive clinical psych. programs?

 

[PublicHealth]

also, i keep reading about having publications prior to appling to graduate school. is this the norm? that undergraduate students have publications already under their belt before they get to grad. school?

what exactly would make a good applicant for these high-competitive clinical psych. programs?

Great question. Publications are certainly a plus, but not everyone has them. You must, however, demonstrate proficiency in research insofar as this is a major component of any doctoral training program in clinical psychology. Clinical research experience in general is impressive to admissions committees. It's also important to seek a mentor whose research interests match your's -- some people say that when you apply to Ph.D./Psy.D. programs, you apply to a person, not a program.

I personally had five publications -- four empirical papers, one book chapter -- prior to applying to clinical psych Ph.D. programs. However, I met several people on the interview trail who didn't have any, so people have a range of experiences.

I highly recommend that you meet with some of the clinical psychologists in your university department and discuss your plans for grad school. You may need to take certain courses in psychology prior to applying, take a prep course for the GRE, etc. Of course, please feel free to contact me with any additional questions.

 

[lazure]

Don't bother with the prep course for GRE - you can study for it yourself...
There was another pubs thread earlier on this forum..

 

[PublicHealth]

Don't bother with the prep course for GRE - you can study for it yourself...
There was another pubs thread earlier on this forum..

I agree. I studied for the GRE on my own. Just get as many books as possible to practice -- ETS and Kaplan Practice Books are highly recommended, also the Princeton Review WordSmart book. You'll also need to take the GRE-Psychology Subject Test. The ETS Practice Test and Kaplan books are good for this as well.

Prep courses may be necessary for people who lack the motivation to study on their own, who prefer to have others teach them the material, and who have money to burn.

 

[lazure]

Prep courses may be necessary for people who lack the motivation to study on their own, who prefer to have others teach them the material, and who have money to burn.


My personal opinion is that if you can't get your act together to study for a multiple choice exam like the GRE then you should not consider going to grad school....I haven't written the MCAT so I don't know whether the same philosophy applies...

 

[PublicHealth]

My personal opinion is that if you can't get your act together to study for a multiple choice exam like the GRE then you should not consider going to grad school....I haven't written the MCAT so I don't know whether the same philosophy applies...

While I agree with this statement, prep courses for the MCAT are very helpful for some people. I personally took a Kaplan prep course in preparation for the MCAT and found the Kaplan approach to be very effective in helping me identify "MCAT favorite" topics, focus my studying efforts, and allowing me to take several practice tests under simulated test conditions. In retrospect, however, I must admit that having access to the MCAT library at Kaplan is more helpful than taking the actual MCAT course -- it's also a lot cheaper.

"Getting your act together" is very different from "not knowing what the hell to expect on that [insert expletive here] standardized test."

 

[laxyhead]

Thanks so much for your thoughts. I've currently been studying for the GRE over this summer and will be taking it soon. Also, is a curriculum vitae required for all applications?

If that's the case, coming from a finance background doesn't seem to offer fitting experiences that could be added on mine. What exactly counts towards being acceptable experience in it?

I have done research for the past two semesters, but still that is just a research assistant position.

What do you think?

 

[lazure]

I wouldn't downplay your finance background totally. Do you have courses/experiences that are relevant to conducting research? Like statistics or management experience? Also, in your current RA position could you do some small project and submit it as a poster to a conference or two?

 

[laxyhead]

By a small project do you mean something that I suggest to the grad. student that i'm working under? Basically conduct my own study and then ask to see if it can get put on a poster somewhere? Or is it rather just helping out on a study that he's already running?

Thanks so much for ur thoughts lazure and public health!

 

[lazure]

Preferably you'd want something that your name would be on first but that would require that it is your own idea of what to look at and how.... but volunteering to do something extra so that your name can be added to lab publications that are in preparation is also good. Be aware that there tends to be complex politics regarding authorship in some labs so be nice but persuasive when asking about it....I've been in labs where everyone including the lab cleaner made it onto posters and I've seen supervisors be extremely touchy about pubs....

what type of research do you do? It's hard talking about it in the abstract...

 

[laxyhead]

I'm really interested in cultural influences on mental illness. Things like eating disorders, anxiety, and such. And really how that is aggrivated by cultural paradigms and things like that. I feel like there isn't much research in a multi-cultural sense although the purpose statement's for many schools try to include culture as a factor in their studies.

I'm also interested in women's mental health in general. Does that help a little bit?

 

[gaki]

hi laxyhead..
this is the third time today I am posting about this book.. heehee im starting to feel like a salesperson

This book has school entries in clinical and counseling psychology with their research interests and clinical opportunities as a part of each entry. also in the back there are indices (?) that group schools by clinical and research areas (good for cross referencing). they name categories for areas you mentioned, like multi cultural, women's issues, eating disorders, and anxiety.

you did mention you were interested in health psychology, which is a bit different from clinical and counseling but not by much. this book is only about clinical and counseling.

also, just something i noticed.. you might want to take into consideration what cultures or what aspects of multi-culturalism you are interested in. if you are interested in minorities who group near the east or west coasts, for example, you probably want to narrow your choices down to schools that are along the coasts so you have a greater chance of working with them (like if i wanted to study japanese americans im best of in hawaii or california). some of the multicultural programs are focused more on american indians or hispanics or some very specific groups. it would be good to look into this in detail to make sure you are really covering what you want. also, I have found there is some relationship with practice in "rural" areas dependinding on the ethnic group. but this is just my impression. anyway the book i am talking about is:

Insider's Guide to Graduate Programs in Clinical and Counseling Psychology : 2004/2005 Edition (INSIDER'S GUIDE TO GRADUATE PROGRAMS IN CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...f=sr_1_1/002-3563621-5444847?v=glance&s=books

i would recommend you flip through it before buying it.
hope it helps.