Getting a Master's before PhD due to bad undergrad GPA- what to consider.

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MissPickles

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I read the other posts I could find about this issue, but I didn't find anything that would address exactly what I'm asking.

My undergrad GPA was a 2.96, which obviously is not going to be good enough to get into any PhD program in clinical psych or school psych, especially with some geographic limitations. For this reason, I am considering getting a master's in clinical psychology or counseling psychology, then later applying for a PhD in clinical or counseling psychology.

My question is, because I am geographically limited right now, there are only 1 or 2 schools near me that I can go to for my Master's. I am assuming getting research experience will be an important component of preparation for a PhD and so I have taken that into consideration. How much does the prestige of the school I attend for a master's really matter as long as I 4.0 all my classes? I plan to use the Master's degree to show my academic ability and to give me some time to get more research experience- what else should I be considering or working on?

Thanks a bunch.

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I read the other posts I could find about this issue, but I didn't find anything that would address exactly what I'm asking.

My undergrad GPA was a 2.96, which obviously is not going to be good enough to get into any PhD program in clinical psych or school psych, especially with some geographic limitations. For this reason, I am considering getting a master's in clinical psychology or counseling psychology, then later applying for a PhD in clinical or counseling psychology.

My question is, because I am geographically limited right now, there are only 1 or 2 schools near me that I can go to for my Master's. I am assuming getting research experience will be an important component of preparation for a PhD and so I have taken that into consideration. How much does the prestige of the school I attend for a master's really matter as long as I 4.0 all my classes? I plan to use the Master's degree to show my academic ability and to give me some time to get more research experience- what else should I be considering or working on?

Thanks a bunch.

If your intention is to get into a doctoral program, it would be better to get a Master’s in experimental psychology so you can get greater exposure to research experience (which is, as you know, perhaps one of the most important factors in applying to clinical psychology programs). I think a clinical/counseling Master’s program will be less likely to give you opportunities to do that. However, if you can find such a program that gives you considerable opportunities to do research (especially if they’ve consistently placed their graduates into doctoral programs), I’d say go for it.

Prestige does not matter as much at the Master’s-level in my opinion, but I’d still suggest that you avoid certain for-profit or online programs (you can easily search for information on these programs in the forum). If you can improve your psychology GPA, get good research experience, and obtain a respectable GRE score, I think you’ll be set.
 
If your intention is to get into a doctoral program, it would be better to get a Master’s in experimental psychology so you can get greater exposure to research experience (which is, as you know, perhaps one of the most important factors in applying to clinical psychology programs). I think a clinical/counseling Master’s program will be less likely to give you opportunities to do that. However, if you can find such a program that gives you considerable opportunities to do research (especially if they’ve consistently placed their graduates into doctoral programs), I’d say go for it.

Prestige does not matter as much at the Master’s-level in my opinion, but I’d still suggest that you avoid certain for-profit or online programs (you can easily search for information on these programs in the forum). If you can improve your psychology GPA, get good research experience, and obtain a respectable GRE score, I think you’ll be set.

Would it be just as good to get a RA position and immerse yourself in research for a few years? Possibly publish a paper/be first author on posters and such?
 
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So I found myself pretty much in the same boat as you. ****ty ugrad GPA and not really willing to fork out a bunch of cash to get my GPA up with more ugrad classes. I opted to volunteer for a lab and then apply for a Masters in Clinical. I found a funded research focused program, that advertises itself as a predoctoral degree, with a prof doing research in stuff I am really interested in. So I got lucky,,,, BUT I am applying to just one school. I am biting my nails and waiting.

I'll probably end up applying for at least a couple of Counseling PhD's so I looked at Counseling Masters but was turned off by
1. costs (not paying for school in this profession where income potential is limited. and double down on that if it involves taking out debt to pay for school)
2. the curriculum of most programs did not have enough bio-based and psychopathology etc. I got the impression that clinical programs would not look upon it too favorably. This is a just for a couple of faculty I talked with, so it might have just been my sample
3. Research opportunities seemed sorta limited. Though there are a couple of programs that seemed to have formal research tracks (ASU for e.g.)

I looked at experimental masters as well but did to find any in areas I wanted to live (besides San Diego State which says its program takes 2/5 to 3 years... ugh). Also as a late career changer I wanted some clinical experience. If I don't enjoy the work (though I am chancing careers because from my limited exposure I really do think I will) then I'd rather know now before investing in a masters.

I have not really worked out a back up plan in detail. But I think working as a RA in a place where one of the benefits is a free classes (a univ or a hospital associated with the same) is what is floating around in my head. The nice part of all of this work of looking at programs is that its clarified my research interests so at least I have a couple of people in mind to write to first about the RA position.

PM me if you want to know what masters programs I considered and my impressions of them.
 
Would it be just as good to get a RA position and immerse yourself in research for a few years? Possibly publish a paper/be first author on posters and such?

It would absolutely help, but I don't think it would really mitigate the undergrad GPA. In the end, you are still applying to a school, not just a job where you do research. If you have a low undergrad GPA but good research experience, the department/adcom/POI will probably still wonder if you can do well in your graduate classes while juggling many other responsibilities.
 
One other question- would it be better to do a master's in a degree that is unrelated to psych but more research focused, or to do a master's in psychology and volunteer in a lab OR try to get involved in research?

I did take 4 classes at the graduate level (don't ask...long complicated story) and got As in all of them, two of which were counseling courses. So I do think that will help at least with the Master's degree admission; I don't think its enough to get into a clinical PhD, though.
 
One other question- would it be better to do a master's in a degree that is unrelated to psych but more research focused, or to do a master's in psychology and volunteer in a lab OR try to get involved in research?

I did take 4 classes at the graduate level (don't ask...long complicated story) and got As in all of them, two of which were counseling courses. So I do think that will help at least with the Master's degree admission; I don't think its enough to get into a clinical PhD, though.

What would be the other degree program? Will you be able to do psychology research?

As I mentioned above, I don't think doing research alone will help your GPA woes.
 
Right now the way I see it, I have 3 options:
1. Get a master's in clinical counseling/clinical psych/psych counseling (ect...they all seem to have different names) and try to be as involved as possible in a research lab.
2. Get a master's in experimental psych to get more research experience.
OR
3. Get a master's in a relatively unrelated field that has a lot of research focus (for example, at WMU you can get a master's in evaluation, measurement, and research. This program also allows for 9 credits to be taken in a graduate speciality, like psych. It requires no GRE, either. What do you think of this idea?). Biology would be another option for me since that was my minor.

Interestingly, I should have applied to Master's programs in December. A lot of them had December 1 deadlines, just like PhDs. Call me stupid (if you want) but I didn't realize this was the case! This leaves me with somewhat fewer options. I am hustling to figure something out- I do not want to wait until Fall of 2013 to start....!
 
Right now the way I see it, I have 3 options:
1. Get a master's in clinical counseling/clinical psych/psych counseling (ect...they all seem to have different names) and try to be as involved as possible in a research lab.
2. Get a master's in experimental psych to get more research experience.
OR
3. Get a master's in a relatively unrelated field that has a lot of research focus (for example, at WMU you can get a master's in evaluation, measurement, and research. This program also allows for 9 credits to be taken in a graduate speciality, like psych. It requires no GRE, either. What do you think of this idea?). Biology would be another option for me since that was my minor.

Interestingly, I should have applied to Master's programs in December. A lot of them had December 1 deadlines, just like PhDs. Call me stupid (if you want) but I didn't realize this was the case! This leaves me with somewhat fewer options. I am hustling to figure something out- I do not want to wait until Fall of 2013 to start....!

I believe there are some Master's programs which have later deadlines. Is there some way you can try to make things work for other programs that might be a little farther away?

Either way, I think options 1 or 2 are your best bet. Option 3 is the weakest because those programs aren't very connected to the field at all. I'm assuming that your undergrad major was in psychology, so the adcoms would wonder why you are switching from psychology, to biology, back to psychology (if you choose the biology route). The other program does not seem like a good fit IMO if you want to go into clinical psychology, but that's up to you.

With option 1, if the program is a terminal Master's that prepares for licensure as a counselor or something similar, you can still find employment if things don't work out next time you apply (thinking of the worst case scenario). The con is that maybe these types of programs won't give you quality research experience unless you actively seek other opportunities.

If you are absolutely intent on getting a doctorate, #2 is your best choice. But if you are interested in doing clinical work in your career and you don't get in next time (hopefully you will), you probably won't be able to do clinical work at all based on licensure laws. If, however, you are 100% passionate about research, this option would be a win-win situation for you.
 
Right now the way I see it, I have 3 options:
1. Get a master's in clinical counseling/clinical psych/psych counseling (ect...they all seem to have different names) and try to be as involved as possible in a research lab.
2. Get a master's in experimental psych to get more research experience.
OR
3. Get a master's in a relatively unrelated field that has a lot of research focus (for example, at WMU you can get a master's in evaluation, measurement, and research. This program also allows for 9 credits to be taken in a graduate speciality, like psych. It requires no GRE, either. What do you think of this idea?). Biology would be another option for me since that was my minor.

Interestingly, I should have applied to Master's programs in December. A lot of them had December 1 deadlines, just like PhDs. Call me stupid (if you want) but I didn't realize this was the case! This leaves me with somewhat fewer options. I am hustling to figure something out- I do not want to wait until Fall of 2013 to start....!

I'd definitely recommend numbers 1 and 2 well before 3. I'd likely make the argument that many programs would rather see a master's with more clinical and less research experience than they would a master's in an unrelated field obtained solely for the opportunity to gain any kind of research experience. Social sciences (and specifically psychological) research is often much different than that in most other disciplines, and so while some skills obtained in a biology lab (for example) might transfer, many probably would not.
 
Interestingly, I should have applied to Master's programs in December. A lot of them had December 1 deadlines, just like PhDs. Call me stupid (if you want) but I didn't realize this was the case! This leaves me with somewhat fewer options. I am hustling to figure something out- I do not want to wait until Fall of 2013 to start....!

Hum. That wasn't my experience... a couple of Jan 1 and Jan 15 deadline. Some Feb one and even one in April (University of Alaska Anchorage i think).
 
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