PhD/PsyD Letters of Reference Non-Trad Student

[jmiah717]

What do non-traditional students do for LOR's for grad school? I will have the PI on the study I'm helping with, which will be my best LOR. It's at least possible one or more of the Co-I's will be able to also write a letter but I'm not counting on it. A neuropsychologist I work with offered to write a letter yesterday. I have lots of people who can attest to my clinical abilities and my abilities to reason, overall, but nothing research related. I am learning that the clinical experience will not help me as much as my goal is a funded program.

Reminder: I'm 35, an LCSW with lots of good clinical experience but not much research exp. I'm working on a study with a prof from a well-respected University and the plan is for me to do multiple presentations/posters and possibly work on more than one manuscript before I apply to many schools all over the country in 2018. I've been helping with the study design as well.

Thanks!

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[calimich]

I was close to your age when I applied to grad school with no recent research experience, although, like you, I had several years of excellent work experience. My letter writers were a direct supervisor, the organization's "big boss," and the director of a gov't agency I had volunteered several years with.

I suggest focusing on scoring exceptionally well on the GRE, being able to clearly articulate your research interests/goals and perhaps how you might execute such a research trajectory over a likely shorter career as a psychologist, and in your written materials highlighting why/how your lived experience has prepared you for doctoral psychology study and a career as a psychologist.

You will look different than the typical applicant -- own it and make it a strength.

 

[jmiah717]

I was close to your age when I applied to grad school with no recent research experience, although, like you, I had several years of excellent work experience. My letter writers were a direct supervisor, the organization's "big boss," and the director of a gov't agency I had volunteered several years with.

I suggest focusing on scoring exceptionally well on the GRE, being able to clearly articulate your research interests/goals and perhaps how you might execute such a research trajectory over a likely shorter career as a psychologist, and in your written materials highlighting why/how your lived experience has prepared you for doctoral psychology study and a career as a psychologist.

You will look different than the typical applicant -- own it and make it a strength.

I very much appreciate the response. I will certainly do those things you mentioned. I'm chipping away at the GRE over a long period of time. That's one of the big wild cards in this scenario. Again, thanks so much for the thoughtful reply.

 

[psych.meout]

Whether clinical experience will help your application really depends on a lot of factors. Part of it is dependent upon the overall programs to which you are applying and the specific POIs you've chosen. By this, I mean that some individuals and programs are just more favorable to certain kinds of clinical experience (e.g. psychometry work) than others might be, though there's not really any way to predict or account for this. Many of the fully-funded PhD programs I applied to, ranging from balanced scientist practitioner programs to clinical science programs, specifically mentioned my clinical experiences in phone and in-person interviews.

The other part of it is how you're communicating your clinical experience. It shouldn't just be you listing or taking account of clinical experience. That doesn't really help you much, because the clinical experience you already have is generally qualitatively different from that you will get in training and be expected to do in the future. Your clinical experience should be crafted as part of your overall narrative of how you came to apply to their program, what you are interested in doing in grad school, and what you want to do for a career. E.g. if you were a psychometrist working with a neuropsychologist, you can talk about how that influenced your research and clinical interests in neuropsych, gave you preliminary experience with the topics and/or populations you are interested in studying, oriented you towards their particular program and POI(s), and shaped your outlook for your future career.

 

[jmiah717]

Whether clinical experience will help your application really depends on a lot of factors. Part of it is dependent upon the overall programs to which you are applying and the specific POIs you've chosen. By this, I mean that some individuals and programs are just more favorable to certain kinds of clinical experience (e.g. psychometry work) than others might be, though there's not really any way to predict or account for this. Many of the fully-funded PhD programs I applied to, ranging from balanced scientist practitioner programs to clinical science programs, specifically mentioned my clinical experiences in phone and in-person interviews.

The other part of it is how you're communicating your clinical experience. It shouldn't just be you listing or taking account of clinical experience. That doesn't really help you much, because the clinical experience you already have is generally qualitatively different from that you will get in training and be expected to do in the future. Your clinical experience should be crafted as part of your overall narrative of how you came to apply to their program, what you are interested in doing in grad school, and what you want to do for a career. E.g. if you were a psychometrist working with a neuropsychologist, you can talk about how that influenced your research and clinical interests in neuropsych, gave you preliminary experience with the topics and/or populations you are interested in studying, oriented you towards their particular program and POI(s), and shaped your outlook for your future career.

Great advice, thank you! I'm hoping that I'll be able to show that my experience has molded my thinking and conceptualization to the point of thinking more scientifically about clinical problems/issues. It pushed me to constantly try to be a better clinician, which inevitably led me to not only learn evidenced based therapies, but also to scrutinize the research...etc. etc. This is how I landed on this program and why I think I could be a great asset for (insert POI) and the research he/she is conducting, etc. etc. (Obviously this is off the top of my head but it's the general gist)

One of my hang-ups though, and I'm trying not to get too ahead of myself here, is my varied interests. Although I'm passionate about and interested in what I am researching and treating (PTSD), I worry that I will pigeon hole myself into having to stay on that path forever. I have a strong desire to study and learn neuropsychology as well. I know, me and everyone else....So, how hard is it to shift gears? I plan to look at programs that have POI's who are trauma researchers, maybe even more broadly stress/anxiety. My current mentor says that when it gets closer to apply, she will give me a list of people she thinks would be a good fit for me. So, I'll apply to those places and throw some of my own in. I plan to also try to find programs that have neuropsychology offerings/researchers so I can round that part of my education out and tie that in to my trauma work? Any of this make sense? Again, not trying to get too far ahead of myself but I was curious about the LOR's.

Thanks for the help!