It depends. If your aspirations are to be a researcher in neuropsychology, then a cognitive psychology doctoral program is fine. However, if your aspirations include clinical practice, you need to attend an APA-accredited clinical or counseling psychology doctoral program. I have also seen clinical neuropsychologists go the APA-accredited school psychology route.
Interesting! Thank you. I know clinical routes are the most competitive and wanted to see if I could get into other programs that are less competitive because my GPA is not as competitive. I have researched quite a few schools and specifically looked at faculty. I am glad to know that I can go the school psychology or counseling psychology route if clinical doesn't work out. I appreciate your guidance.
From what I can see it is as though psychology and neurology came together. I love neuroscience but have no desire to be a researcher for the rest of my life. I work very well with people and am best at hands-on work. It sounds like this is a blend of research and clinical work. I have always done well in environments where I have two jobs in one place. For example, I used to be a Sommelier but I also had to be a manager. Or when I was a server, I worked regular service but also was a private dining captain. I spoke with a neuropsychologist last week and she explained that she is like a brain detective and meets with different physicians to come up with the best plans for patients etc. Is this how you view it?
I'm not a neuro person but regardless of whether a program is clinical, counseling, or school, the psych department (e.g., mentoring, faculty researching neuro-related topics), the larger university (e.g., being able to take additional neuroscience and neuroanatomy courses that aren't required for a clinical/counseling/school PhD), and the local community (e.g., practicum opportunities) may or may not be able to adequately support neuropsychology interests so research wisely and don't assume that every PhD or PsyD program will allow you to pursue this path.
I am so happy that most of my research is matching up to advice like yours! I purchased The Insider's Guide to Clinical and Counseling Psychology which has been very helpful. I have also highlighted schools of interest and found better matches based on my record. Then I have used Linkedin as a resource to find neuropsychologists who have attended these PhD/PsyD programs and viewed their two-year neuropsych postdoc. With the advice of others on this platform, I have also searched faculty and their areas of research and compiled a list. I think I am on the right track but if you have any other advice, I would love to hear it. Thank you for your time!
If you do not mind my asking, what is your GPA? I would not discount your chances right off the bat. Admissions is about a lot more than your grades. That said, counseling and school psychology are also very competitive, so they shouldn't be considered backups "if clinical doesn't work out"; find the program that best fits what you want to do.
My GPA is 3.4 but I anticipate it will be even higher by the time I graduate since I am much more focused than when I was younger. This was my first semester as a new transfer and have three semesters left. I received a 4.0 and hope to continue that trend for the remainder of my education. Thank you for that advice. I don't think I would apply to those programs anyway. I think most of my interest lied in the cognitive psychology field, but I will only apply to clinical programs. I have 15 programs I am interested in but have more time to dissect. There is one professor at the University of Colorado-Denver who I am particularly interested in working with. His research lab is my dream lab. This has been a fun adventure for school research
