Grades in psychology doc program

[PhDBound1]

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The DOT of my program states that GPA in doctoral coursework does not matter to internships sites. Is this accurate?

 

[CheetahGirl]

The DOT of my program states that GPA in doctoral coursework does not matter to internships sites. Is this accurate?

I believe your DOT is assuming that you will all do well, and in that case, the statement could be accurate. But, there is an assumption that your academic level will be superior and stay superior throughout your training.

As I understand it, they weigh the applicant as a whole. Your GPA doesn't matter so much as long as it's 3.5 or above. For all those overachievers, a person with a 3.9 will not be considered over a person with 3.5 based on GPA alone, especially if the 3.5 person has plenty of assessments and well-rounded externship experience. Also, letters and personal statement are going to set the tone, just as they do with the doctoral program applications. I hear one thing that sets you apart is your dissertation status. Internship sites want to train you to go into the field shortly afterward. They don't want you to sit out another year or 2 while you finish up your data collection, etc.

One professor affectionately said that if you're getting 4.0 in clinical psychology coursework, then you're most likely slacking on your clinical work or dissertation status. Ha! Seems like you can't win! In graduate school, As & Bs are good...Cs are a problem and I don't think they give out Ds?!

 

[ClinApp]

In my program (and many graduate programs I believe) a C is failing, so everyone pretty much has As and Bs. There tends to be less variance in grad school grades than in college grades, though some people will get all As, and overall it is not weighed very heavily by employers or internship sites, from what I have heard. Everyone graduates with Bs, so no one frets too much.

 

[beantownpsych]

In my program (and many graduate programs I believe) a C is failing, so everyone pretty much has As and Bs.

Agree with this. Although I think in my program a B- or lower was considered unsatisfactory.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

As others have said, in general, internship sites aren't going to care about your grades so long as you're passing (i.e., A's and B's). They're much, much more interested in the quality, quantity, and breadth of your clinical and research experiences, and in how you come across interpersonally during interviews.