General MA programs and the future

[wdd]

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Hi all,

I'm currently looking into general MA programs in psychology, as I've been out of school for some time, and would like to bolster my chances of getting into a solid PhD/PsyD program. I minored in Psych, and went to grad school for English/Linguistics (but left pre-thesis). My GREs are good (600/660/5), and 2 years ago I was accepted to NYU's Gen Psych MA program before having to move to Chicago for my job. I've decided to drop out of the 9-5 world (awful, awful life for me), and go to school full-time--not going to make that mistake again.

That said, I'm looking into the General MA programs at Villanova, NYU, DePaul, Boston University, and Pace. Does anyone have any positive or negative feedback about these universities? Am I going to right route by going for the MA? (I have no Psych experience other than my minor and some independent reading.)

If it helps, my ultimate educational goal is a Clinical PhD (e.g., Temple, Northwestern's Feinberg Med, Rutgers), or a university-based PsyD (e.g, Rutgers, Yeshiva, NYU). A clinical hospital setting appeals most to me at this early point, perhaps a private or joint practice later in my career.

Any advice (and I'm sure there's plenty!) will help!

Thanks.

 

[Ollie123]

Don't know much about MAs so can't comment there.

However, any particular reason you are interested in Temple for the PhD? Its a very research oriented school, so it doesn't seem to match well with your goals of being a hospital-based clinician. Say that is your goal during the interview, and you probably have near-zero chance of getting in.

 

[wdd]

Thanks, Ollie. In my initial research (to tell you the truth, I haven't looked at Temple much since I began this process), there is a Clinical PhD program there. I'll have to take another look at it, so I can keep it on or scratch it off the list. The more reading I do about fields in Clinical, the more interested I'm becoming in Neuropsych.

Again, though, I'll have a good two years of work ahead of me before I get into a PhD anyway.

Thanks again!

 

[Ollie123]

Huh?
Sorry, maybe I'm not understanding. Yes, they do have a clinical PhD program there. I applied to it🙂

However, there are many clinical PhD programs that either emphasize research, or focus on it to the point that they absolutely will not even consider people who want to be clinicians. I only applied to Clinical PhD programs, and for all but 2 of them, even mentioning clinical work as a goal would likely have gotten my application tossed in the shredder before they even read all of it. Temple wasn't QUITE as extreme as some, but its pretty close.

Anyways, I realize this is probably years away for you, just wanted to make sure you were aware that Temple is unlikely to consider you if you want to be a clinician. Best of luck with the MA applications🙂

 

[wdd]

I only applied to Clinical PhD programs, and for all but 2 of them, even mentioning clinical work as a goal would likely have gotten my application tossed in the shredder before they even read all of it. Temple wasn't QUITE as extreme as some, but its pretty close.

Oh, yeah, I got that--but like I said, it's been a while since I looked at it, so at that point I probably just saw "Clinical" and said, "Okay, it's clinical, it's geographically appealing, put it on the list!" Clearly I need to take another look 🙂!

 

[blindblonde]

Well, I don't know about any of the programs you mentioned, but I'm at a MA program at Wake Forest, which is an excellent program. But other than that, I can't really help you too much with the programs you mentioned.

Good luck!

 

[kyril]

I'm struggling with the MA thing myself - applying to PhD's.

Many of the schools you mentioned are really quite expensive. I'd suggest looking into the aid they give MA students. While there are some that fund, many many, like NYU, don't, and most PhD will only accept a small portion, if that, of your MA credits. 2 years at NYU and you could be 60K+ in the hole, before you even begin the 4-7 years of PhD.

I'm considering applying to a few 1 year, purely experimental MA's for safety, at the public university. I can still work, would have maybe 5K debt, at worst, and build up my research skills, which in this competitive market, it seems can't be fine tuned enough.

wdd, would just taking the classes you haven't yet, getting research experience, would that be a better option than getting a whole MA? I don't know. Financially, it may be less burdensome.

 

[wdd]

wdd, would just taking the classes you haven't yet, getting research experience, would that be a better option than getting a whole MA? I don't know. Financially, it may be less burdensome.

Interesting--the head of the NYU Psych department suggested that himself, kind of. We were discussing options back when I originally applied, and he suggested that I not complete the master's, but take just the classes that would qualify me for a PhD. So, it's an option, for sure. Does my ego like it? No. But my wallet does ...

 

[kyril]

i've been thinking of that too, because, as i mentioned with the 1 yr exp. MS in psych, i guess i could have done that before i took this RA job (2 years ago) and gotten my research expereince that way. at the same time, being a paid, this-is-my-job-how-ever-poorly-i-may-be-paid, RA i think may be a very diffferent animal. i have resigned interventions, run all our subjects, handled all aspects of the data and been invested in not only traditional data analysis but also in developing coding schemes for qualatative analyses, developing training protocols for said schemes, and supervising and training many undergrad independent studies and student vols. i've written a good portion of our paper, and done the full lit reviw on others, and presented at conferences. i sort of feel that doing this as a job is what gave me the opportunity. it also gave me a taste of what research in grad school will be like, a full time, always thinking about it kinda thing.
do you know what kind of clinical work you'd like to do? some areas, you could perhaps get an entry level job right now, whereas others, volunteering may be your best bet. don't forget with nyu, even if you're thrifty as hell, to add on another 15K just for living and added expenses.

 

[wdd]

do you know what kind of clinical work you'd like to do? some areas, you could perhaps get an entry level job right now, whereas others, volunteering may be your best bet. don't forget with nyu, even if you're thrifty as hell, to add on another 15K just for living and added expenses.

I'm still trying to figure that out, though I do know that I would prefer a practice-leaning PhD or a PsyD, as I'm no fan of living as purely a researcher. I have every intention of practicing, and as of this moment, a hospital setting appeals most. That's why I'm looking at these General programs--I think I need a variety of experiences to hone my interests a bit. So while I'm kind of feeling CBT, kind of feeling Neuropsych, I'm "kind of" all over the place.

As for the money, I would definitely have to work part-time. My wife would have do the bulk of the supporting, but I'd still have to contribute a bit, especially in NYC. We're both making comfortable livings in Chicago right now, own a condo, etc., but it's rather empty, and we aren't remotely happy here. However, while we know our lifestyle is going to take a big hit when I go back to school, we'd like to maintain a semblance of comfort. So, if that means working a few hours a week before I'm in a funded program, so be it!

 

[kyril]

j

 

[wdd]

Thanks, Kyril! I just sent you a PM, since this is getting to be more of a one-on-one!

 

[paramour]

. . . so you get your MS first, and then can leave and apply somewhere else, which'd put you in the same boat as other MS candidates, but you also have the opportunity to apply directly to the PhD, and none of your masters credits go to waste, . . .

Please note that this is not necessarily the case. If you are applying to programs at other universities for your doctorate after you have already obtained your master's degree, then they may or may not actually accept your previous coursework and give you transfer credit for those classes. This varies by program--some will give you credit for absolutely nothing (which seemed to be most common when I was applying), some will try to give you credit for what they can but typically not much, whereas others will cap your credit to a certain number of hours and only allow it for specific classes.

Something else to take into consideration if pursuing a master's, especially if in clinical/counseling--there are some programs who will not consider you a benefit to their program or any better than the other undergrad applicants. Some of them may not even look at your application twice, whereas others might consider you for admission but assess your application file more stringently. This is something else that varies by university, of course, but I would keep it in mind when researching potential programs.

Cheers~