Looking for some perspective and advice - Rejected from clinical PhD programs

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You've done well in stats classes, but how about in other math classes? If those are good as well, you should look at your studying and test-taking strategies and demeanor. Why does the quant section "drive you up a wall?" Maybe test anxiety is a factor during the GRE or maybe you need to get some different study materials (I liked the Manhattan prep stuff).

Your GPA is not unacceptable, by any means, but you need to bring up your quant score. If you can do that, i don't see why you wouldn't be competitive for programs in the next cycle.

You might also look at how you're applying. Are you geographically restricting your applications? Are your letters of recommendation just good or are they glowing? Are your personal statements generic or do they contain some of the "kisses of death?"
 
Couple of things to consider
1. Did you get any interviews? If you did but received no offers, re-examine your interview skills (e.g., responses, demeanor, anxiety level)
2. Are the mentors you're applying to good matches for your interests research wise? How research oriented are your programs of interest?
3. From a cursory look, your quant score is in the 30s percentile, try to get it up to at least 50th %ile
4. This is just my opinion, but your experiences regarding "phlebotomy certified, med administration certified, cpr/aed certified, narcan trained" seem interesting, but screams premed to me. This isn't a bad thing at all, but if you are over-emphasizing these skills, it may not align with applications to a clinical psych program.
5. What were your roles on the 1st and 2nd author publications? If you have a 1st author, you would have already completed an independent project, correct?

Other than that, your other stats look fine and I am surprised if you didn't at least get 1 interview. Also, 8 programs is not that many to apply to, I've heard of people applying 10-15.
 
Likewise, I would agree that your research, work, and clinical background are solid, and your overall uGPA and Psychology GPA are acceptable. As @bpsydme asked, I'm also curious to know if you had been invited to any interviews.

Also, if you don't mind sharing, which schools did you apply for? Perhaps you applied for all top-tier, extremely competitive programs instead of including some middle-tier choices.

Additionally, I don't think your 150 V on the GRE is a deal-breaker, if you made all A's in your other statistics & math courses. I was able to get admitted into a funded, APA-accredited Clinical Psychology doctoral program with a similar verbal score as yours. You just need to emphasize your strong math & statistic grades on your application and perhaps your Statement of Purpose.
 
I made the comment regarding your pre-med like experiences. Just to clarify, that is not a negative aspect of your application. I myself was premed and that has been part of my narrative to get into grad school, to internship, and to a certain extent, even postdoc. I was primarily concerned that if you really emphasized those skills in all aspects of your application, you may come off as applying to clin psych as a back up plan. It's not uncommon for ex-pre-meds to turn to clin psych for one reason or another, so I wouldn't worry about that.

If I were you, I would be excited to receive feedback about a particular part of your application that is holding you back. In this case, it's the quant GRE. Given the remainder of your application, I would imagine that if you can pull your quant GRE up to near 50th %ile, you may have better luck securing interviews. A low quant score might raise red flags because they don't want to have to worry about whether you can pass grad-level stats classes. IMHO, the GRE is a test you can study for, there are tons of prep materials out there, you just have to find one that works. For my quant GRE, I used the GRE Math Bible. Granted, this was several years ago, so I don't know how the test has changed, but from what I remember, the GRE quant is less about math skills but more about abstract reasoning skills within the context of numbers. Just like the GRE verbal doesn't ask you to define words or recite the dictionary, but you need good vocabulary to be able to critically think through those questions.

In addition to pulling up your GRE-Q, you might want to emphasize all statistics-related roles in your publications. Doing a meta analysis is pretty impressive stuff, so show that stuff off! Half of my cover letter talked about stats and my specific role in data analysis on a (yes - ONE) paper I was 6th author on. You have a lot more going for you than I did then. Granted, the caliber of applicants have really gone up as well, so your competition is stiffer.
 
hellohun said:
Thank you all! Your input is so appreciated. Hopefully a better application season awaits me.
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Honestly, I'm very surprised that you weren't offered at least one interview invite this cycle. You've displayed clear dedication and relevant competency in research and clinical-related work. Additionally, most Clinical Psychology programs are increasingly emphasizing diversity with recruiting more minority applicants to their programs.

To clarify, I referred to "mid-tier" programs as the ones ranked between 40~100 on the US News' Top Clinical Psychology programs List. Though, it sounds like you were already aiming for programs in that ranking range this application cycle.

And, I really don't think it's worth your retaking the GRE again at this point in order to raise your Quantitative score. To be honest, a program that places more emphasis on GRE scores (which, by the way, has been shown to be a poor predictor of an individual's success in graduate school) over your other merits isn't worth your time anyway.

Did you ever contact or meet with any of your prospective PI mentors for the programs you were applying for? Perhaps you can build your social capital within the Clinical Psychology field by networking with PI's at major research conferences for your particular interests, which may help leverage application decisions into your favor. Many applicants fail to realize that networking plays a large role in this application process, and you can tilt the odds into your favor if you can get connected with the right people.
 
JoePianist said:
And, I really don't think it's worth your retaking the GRE again at this point in order to raise your Quantitative score. To be honest, a program that places more emphasis on GRE scores (which, by the way, has been shown to be a poor predictor of an individual's success in graduate school) over your other merits isn't worth your time anyway.
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Irregardless of the veracity of any of this, the fact is that all funded programs are likely to get MANY applicants with all the other markers of likely success in graduate training AND with higher GRE scores. All of them can’t be offered an interview, and there needs to be some weeding out. This may be a case where GREs are not given much weight, but are given some. OP got specific feedback from a decision maker that GRE was an issue. I’d encourage her to not ingnore what is (i.e., GRE quant negatively impacted her her application) out of feelings for what should be (GRE shouldn’t matter, given all the other positive and valid predictors of success).
 
As others have said, certainly it would be ideal if you could get your quant score up. I empathize with the difficulty though. I spent a good deal of time studying and practicing and didn't manage to bring mine up from 50th percentile- always ran out of time. But, like you, verbal is a strength. You could consider studying hard and doing very well on the subject test to add as another positive indicator of your knowledge and desire for the subject. Also, assuming it is true and given your higher verbal than quant skills, you could talk about in the interview (or find some way to work into application essays) that you do enjoy writing and the process of publishing. In my program there was a nice balance of people who loved and were great at stats, but not so much at writing, and vice versa. Made for some great teamwork/coauthoring situations, so if you do like writing and are good at it, that can be an asset to the program worth highlighting.
 
Yes, it is tedious, but hang in there! You have many positives going for you. I am also surprised you did not get several interviews. I wonder if you could get feedback from any other programs about what would strengthen your application. You might consider having a good mentor look over your application essays? Even if you're a great writer, there are certain things that programs look for and there may be ways you can improve the content and to make sure you've avoided any of the essay-killers (e.g., delving too deep and detailed into personal issues that may send the wrong impression)
 
Bringing up your quant score would be helpful, and also note that your GPA is on the low side. I only mention this because in my program, there are fellowships which are often contintgent upon GRE and GPA, and we tend not to invite people for interviews who don't make the fellowship cutoffs (because otherwise our stipends are abysmal). Your experience sounds excellent, but if the GPA is keeping you back, you could do a masters program. For some programs, gettting a solid GPA in a masters program will "overcome" a lower undergrad GPA. (Your GPA isn't TOO low, but it might not make cutoffs for programs that have cutoffs.)
 
I think you've been getting some great advice about retaking GREs and looking over your letter. I would suggest think it more about your interests as well. If you have a more developed set of interests that will show in your personal statement and I think that may help answer some of the other questions you have. I worked in a hospital setting and would think about being an APRN as well, the pay is similar and less school to get there so it made rational sense to think about it, but I didn't actually want to be an APRN. If you find that youd prefer that over psychology then that's ok too but don't only pursue it because the application process is scary. My GRE quant score was also 32% and my verbal was 50%. I found that I learn best from videos and I did Magoosh. My quant increased to the 80th percentile and verbal to 70th I think. I studied about 10 hours a week for two months though. Lastly, to go back to developing interests, I'd think about advisor fit. I know you said your interested in a specific population but you can be a stronger candidate by knowing your interests a little deeper because that will allow you to match better with an advisor. Tailoring essays is important but sometimes people can get the sense that your saying what they want to hear vs being really passionate about a specific topic. Also, just have someone or several people read over all of your documents. I had one person look at my iterations of the CV, another for essay, etc.
 
As mentioned, I would consider doing a short masters program to supplement your undergrad GPA. I think the 3.36 GPA may cut you out of the running in many high-quality programs.
 
hellohun said:
I'm seriously impressed by the caliber of clinical psychology students! It makes sense to me, given that significant funding is put into these students. Aspiring to be the whole package is tiring though... and perpetuating the myth or mirage that I am the "total package" is tedious. Still, I'll study on. :horns:
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You've clearly demonstrated some considerable strengths that will be valuable to clinical programs, so you should be proud of your accomplishments. It's really just about learning how to write and talk about your accomplishments and assets while avoiding pretentiousness.

Focus on significantly improving your quant score and possibly completing a short master's program and you'll definitely be competitive for many programs. I wouldn't listen to anyone telling you to write off programs simply because they didn't admit you for your GRE scores and GPA. It's childish and ironically prejudicial.

Good luck!
 
hellohun said:
It makes me a little sad that my GPA could be holding me back 🙁 I received a full ride to a state school as a senior and I bypassed the opportunity because I thought that UG prestige could be helpful to me. Of course, I have no idea how I would have done at a state school, but I have the suspicion that my GPA would have been better :/

I really really really do not want to do a masters program. I have neither the money nor the desire to pursue this, so why bother? If I'm really not going to be considered for acceptance because of my GPA, I'm fairly certain that I'll pursue nursing. Clinical psychology can miss out on me in that case 😉
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Two things.

Firstly, as has been previously noted, your GPA is far from bad. If you can bring up your quant score and do everything else well in your applications (e.g., stellar LORs, good personal statements, etc.) you will almost definitely get interview offers. From there, it's up to you to interview well, which is something we can't really comment on or help you with.

Secondly, you might want to reevaluate what you want to do. I'm not saying you have to complete a terminal master's program to get into a doctoral program, but should it prove necessary and you can't and/or won't do that to improve your competitiveness and chances of admission, then you need to consider how much you really want to go to grad school and be a psychologist. I'm not saying that you should anything and everything to achieve this goal (e.g., taking on hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt through unfunded doctoral programs), but completing a terminal master's degree is a common and reasonable way to gain admission.

I'm not trying to discourage you. It's just that grad school is difficult and psychologists are underpaid, so if it's not something that you value enough, e.g., being unwilling to go to a master's program first, then maybe another path might be better, easier, and more realistic.
 
OP, how many years have you been out of undergrad?

Like others have said, your research experience is great, but I think a combination of a middling GPA and low GRE is likely holding you back and getting you screened out early in the review process. A lower GRE combined with a middling GPA may raise immediate red flags about your academic ability to succeed, even if not justified--a lot of applicants with low GPAs may have strong GRE scores to make up for them or vice versa, which helps show some "objective" evidence of academic ability.
 
As everyone has said, it would really help if you got your Quant score up, if only just to survive the initial screening process. Your GPA isn't super low but is a little low. However, a strong Quant (at least 50th %) could really help boast that, especially since your research experience is strong. How exactly have you been studying for it? I find that methodology is everything when it comes to standardized testing studying and with math it is all about foundation building and making sure you have the basics down and building up from there. When I studied, I went through an entire GRE math book and identified every single concept in the comprehensive book that I needed to further review, did every single practice problem, and continued identifying specific concepts I was unsure about throughout while interleaving practice tests every weekend.

Standardized testing is anxiety provoking but methodical studying using solid strategies (which you can glean from various studying sources or GRE study guides) really help alleviate anxiety because they make the test feel manageable and provide tools you can fall back on when things are going south. In addition, taking as many practice tests as humanly possible gets you used to the format and makes the test feel more familiar (and thus less scary).

As for your research goals, clinical programs are more likely to have faculty doing work in psychotic disorders. However, your shift in health psychology and studying a patient as a whole person could also align with faculty in counseling psych programs. Honestly, the training is nearly identical save some differences in core philosophies regarding mental health care. You are eligible for the same training opportunities and jobs so long as the program is APA-accredited and there are several fully funded counseling programs in various locations. They tend to be less competitive but honestly, that's still not saying much. It might be the difference between 6/100 vs 6/200. That's twice the likelihood but it's still 6% vs 3%. Look into counseling programs and if no one's doing work you're interested in than totally disregard this advice. However, you might be surprised.
 
hellohun said:
I'm really glad I posted on this forum. I really appreciate all of your thoughts, they've given me some great perspective.

@futureapppsy2 I'll have been out of school for 3 years in May.

@psych.meout It's probably right for me to question if clinical psychology is actually what I want to do. I've felt an evolution in my perspective about what I want out of a career since working in community case management and research with people with psychotic disorders and other forms of SMI. I think research in itself is wonderful and I enjoy the process of it greatly, from conception to write-up. However, if I'm honest with myself, the patient population is what gets me up in the morning. Further, since working with people with psychotic disorders, I've become interested in the often significant impact medical co-morbidities can have on this population. The ability to take care of the entire person has thus become increasingly attractive to me. I work with two nurse practitioners, who both enthusiastically endorse the profession. Their skill set is highly sought after and they are compensated well. Apparently, psychiatric nursing is one of the least chosen nursing specialties, so people who are enthusiastic about it have the luxury of being cultivated within the profession.

Still, clinical psychology has been my goal of mine for a while now (not that this in and of itself is a good reason to keep pursuing it). It would allow me to specialize in the study of psychotic disorders, contribute to research, and develop some really evolved clinical skill. There's a part of me that hesitates to pursue nursing and eventually nurse practitioner work because there is little clinical supervision involved in the degree. From what I've gathered, experience and mentors are vital to building clinical skill in psychiatric nursing. It's important to me that I have an adequate clinical skill set and this may be lacking in nursing. Still, clinical psychology is enduring some growing pains, from a professional and financial standpoint. Clinical psychologists are vital, but I know that they are on the 'losing' side in terms of scope of practice as it pertains to clinical work.

Apologies if my financial considerations seem vulgar to anyone. It's not my intention to be so. Its not an immense consideration of mine moving forward, but it is a facet of the job to note.
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I think you are ABSOLUTELY right to be thinking about financial considerations. Far too many people jump headlong into more and more schooling with more and more debt without thinking about how it will reasonably affect their long-term quality of life. You do NOT want to be one of those people who gets out as a psychologist with 100k+ of debt. We're not physicians and don't get paid like physicians, and it would really hurt to be stuck with a loan payment that is larger than most folk's mortgage payment. It is important to consider not just your career goals, but global quality of life.

Frankly, I tend to tell people that if you have any inkling that some other career might be equally satisfying to you, then you should definitely look hard into pursuing that, regardless of your financial situation. As far as I can tell, even the most motivated grad students who are 100% sure psych is the only career for them still have doubts at some point throughout school because it's long, hard, stressful, and not lucrative.

So not to entirely discourage you from this path, but i would look more closely into psychiatric nursing if I were you. I can tell you they are in high demand and good ones are hard to come by (and worth their weight in gold). As a nurse you're required to get continuing education, so you could always choose education that aligns more iwth what you want to learn more about, and if you do your research into which are the best programs I would hope there are some somewhere that would allow for continued quality supervision and perhaps even some involvement in research. But maybe not- I really have no idea what that path looks like. But I do know the good psych nurses I have met along the way have really stood out and made a difference. So again, not trying to entirely dissuade you. But if you would be satisfied and fulfilled as a psych nurse, you'd be valued, in demand, and making a difference, and making a decent salary a lot more quickly than if you pursued the PhD route.
 
singasongofjoy said:
I think you are ABSOLUTELY right to be thinking about financial considerations. Far too many people jump headlong into more and more schooling with more and more debt without thinking about how it will reasonably affect their long-term quality of life. You do NOT want to be one of those people who gets out as a psychologist with 100k+ of debt. We're not physicians and don't get paid like physicians, and it would really hurt to be stuck with a loan payment that is larger than most folk's mortgage payment. It is important to consider not just your career goals, but global quality of life.

Frankly, I tend to tell people that if you have any inkling that some other career might be equally satisfying to you, then you should definitely look hard into pursuing that, regardless of your financial situation. As far as I can tell, even the most motivated grad students who are 100% sure psych is the only career for them still have doubts at some point throughout school because it's long, hard, stressful, and not lucrative.

So not to entirely discourage you from this path, but i would look more closely into psychiatric nursing if I were you. I can tell you they are in high demand and good ones are hard to come by (and worth their weight in gold). As a nurse you're required to get continuing education, so you could always choose education that aligns more iwth what you want to learn more about, and if you do your research into which are the best programs I would hope there are some somewhere that would allow for continued quality supervision and perhaps even some involvement in research. But maybe not- I really have no idea what that path looks like. But I do know the good psych nurses I have met along the way have really stood out and made a difference. So again, not trying to entirely dissuade you. But if you would be satisfied and fulfilled as a psych nurse, you'd be valued, in demand, and making a difference, and making a decent salary a lot more quickly than if you pursued the PhD route.
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I just wanna warn that the only problem with becoming a NP is that you need to FIRST have a BS in nursing in order to qualify for pretty much all Master's in Nursing programs. It doesn't seem like you majored in nursing in college so unfortunately you would need to take a supplementary program to get your BS in nursing FIRST before then getting your master's in nursing in order to become a nurse practitioner and psychiatric nurse. There are some programs that allow you to do both within the same program (like the nursing program at the University of Pennsylvania). However, they usually take longer and schools like Penn are very expensive and competitive. That is the only thing I'd like to make you aware of, not to discourage you, but just so you go in fully prepared.
 
wtfook said:
I just wanna warn that the only problem with becoming a NP is that you need to FIRST have a BS in nursing in order to qualify for pretty much all Master's in Nursing programs. It doesn't seem like you majored in nursing in college so unfortunately you would need to take a supplementary program to get your BS in nursing FIRST before then getting your master's in nursing in order to become a nurse practitioner and psychiatric nurse. There are some programs that allow you to do both within the same program (like the nursing program at the University of Pennsylvania). However, they usually take longer and schools like Penn are very expensive and competitive. That is the only thing I'd like to make you aware of, not to discourage you, but just so you go in fully prepared.
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Not exactly connected to OP's original question, but related- do people receiving their NP in psych receive any therapy training/experience or is it more similar to psychiatry residencies? I don't think I know any NPs who provide anything except medication management.
 
Perhaps I missed this somewhere, but do you have research/clinical experience with psychotic disorders? Aside from great stats, committees look for really relevant experience. It could be that other candidates with great stats + research experience with psychosis got all the interview spots. Also, sometimes research niches tend to be "small" in that many researchers know each other and tend to recommend their full-time RAs to their peers' PhD programs, who get in easily. If this is really what you want, might be worth it to volunteer or find a one-year RA job within a psychosis lab to get a rec and get in the game.
 
wtfook said:
As for your research goals, clinical programs are more likely to have faculty doing work in psychotic disorders. However, your shift in health psychology and studying a patient as a whole person could also align with faculty in counseling psych programs. Honestly, the training is nearly identical save some differences in core philosophies regarding mental health care. You are eligible for the same training opportunities and jobs so long as the program is APA-accredited and there are several fully funded counseling programs in various locations. They tend to be less competitive but honestly, that's still not saying much. It might be the difference between 6/100 vs 6/200. That's twice the likelihood but it's still 6% vs 3%. Look into counseling programs and if no one's doing work you're interested in than totally disregard this advice. However, you might be surprised.
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See this thread and scroll down to myths about counseling psychology: Counseling Psychology Misinformation

Counseling psychology programs are equally competitive (one percentage point moreso than Clinical, per APA statistics cited in the above thread). People tend to mistakenly believe that counseling psychology isn't as competitive, so I'd prefer if folks would be accurate about the info they share about the field.
Counseling psychology also isn't necessarily more health psychology-focused. Our university's APA clinical psych program was health psychology focused, and our APA counseling psych program was multiculturally-focused. I was under the impression that there is a push from APA for both programs to be more health psychology-focused?

As a counseling psychologist, I had 4 semesters of statistics, so quantitative ability is equally important in both. The same shortcomings blocking the OP from clinical programs would be the same in counseling. I would definitely suggest following the advice of others to get GRE scores up, etc. for either program.
 
foreverbull said:
See this thread and scroll down to myths about counseling psychology: Counseling Psychology Misinformation

Counseling psychology programs are equally competitive (one percentage point moreso than Clinical, per APA statistics cited in the above thread). People tend to mistakenly believe that counseling psychology isn't as competitive, so I'd prefer if folks would be accurate about the info they share about the field.
Counseling psychology also isn't necessarily more health psychology-focused. Our university's APA clinical psych program was health psychology focused, and our APA counseling psych program was multiculturally-focused. I was under the impression that there is a push from APA for both programs to be more health psychology-focused?

As a counseling psychologist, I had 4 semesters of statistics, so quantitative ability is equally important in both. The same shortcomings blocking the OP from clinical programs would be the same in counseling. I would definitely suggest following the advice of others to get GRE scores up, etc. for either program.
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I'm in a counseling program so it's not like I'm trying to misrepresent counseling psychology. I will say, as a disclaimer, that I can only speak on the competitiveness of the schools I applied to (all east coast). So OP can totally go with the website you posted rather than my own anecdotal data. My comment about their shift from to health psych and holistic treatment is primarily to point out that counseling psych also has people doing stuff in those areas. My counseling program actually has a faculty member who is doing health psychology research which is why I guess I pointed that out.

I too get frustrated by the distinction people tend to make between counseling and clinical which is why I said the training is pretty much the same and you can apply for all the same jobs so long as your program is APA accredited. Generally speaking, I tend to encourage people to look at a range of programs (just as I did) when applying. There are people doing the same work in both Counseling and Clinical programs so when people hang their hats on being a "clinical psychologist" I have to point out that these days, the lines are becoming increasingly blurred and it's better to go where you will be doing the work you love, not based on an antiquated clinical vs counseling distinction.
 
In my opinion, your research record and clinical experience are in line with current Ph.D. enrollees (and well above the bar in many cases). Given that many programs put the GPA/GRE of their enrollees online, would suggest comparing your stats to current students. You also have been very generous with your response to feedback ... there's no indication that you wouldn't do great. Unfortunately, the application process is not a fair process or meritocratic. I believe your GPA is a bit low (not totally out of the running, but would feel better with 3.7+) and the quant score at this stage is too low ... can you get to 157? You often can get by with 1 "strike" on your application but not more than that, where the GPA might be seen as a "half-strike." Also, are any of your letter writers well connected? It helps a lot as that gives you an important mark of approval; it sounds like you have enthusiastic letter writers who have meaningful things to say, but unfortunately the connections matter also.

Given what you've said, I would suggest considering very seriously whether this is the right path. It might be a semi-curse if you are accepted next time - there are a lot of people who who are not pleased after year 3-4 in grad school. You work for very little money for a long time, and when you're done ... you often don't get paid in a manner commensurate with your experience and investment. Often, I advise people to pursue this career if you have a specific mission or there's something unique for you about the Ph.D. (e.g., you want to be an active researcher along with clinic work ... even then the research job market is a mess). But, if this is something you enjoy among other possible career options, often those other ones won't require as much time, and you can start making money and saving earlier on in your career. It's not that you aren't deserving, and you may look back and wonder "what might have been" ... but many people who complete the process look at "what has been" and don't find it better than other career options they could have taken. I'm not directly saying to pick one option or the other, but to not blindly forge ahead either (not saying you would, but many people do) ... while there might be guilt in feeling like you are taking the "easy way out," on rare occasion the easy way is the better way, and in this field that can sometimes be the case.
 
hellohun said:
Of interest, I see that PhD students come out of school with a median of $75,000 of debt. I knew some amount of debt, regardless of tuition remission and the benefit of a stipend, would be necessary but that still seems like a large amount of debt to me...does this happen because people simple cannot survive on a stipend? I'm a child of the recession and part of a generation steeped in student debt, so perhaps I am overly skittish about debt.
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Probably depends on what dataset you're looking at and how they break down the data. Last time APA did a comprehensive salary and debt survey, about a third of PhD students actually had 0 debt attributable to graduate school education. Really depends on where you live, as places like NYC and San Fran will obviously drive up your debt load simply from living expenses. Many student, like me, who went to fully funded PhDs in mid-size metro areas, have 0 debt from grad school and actually made money from side jobs enough to contribute to IRAs throughout graduate school. It's doable, but you have to budget and work your ass off.
 
FWIW, I’m in a fully funded PhD program and took out about ~$10k in loans over my first couple of years, mostly to cover moving related expenses and credit card debt incurred while adjusting to the cut in pay associated with entering graduate school. However, with this in mind, I’m now sufficiently funded (through clinical and research positions) to meet ends meet and contribute to savings, retirement, etc. Not living lavishly but treading water. Planning to have loans paid off within a few years of graduating.
 
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Also, re: burnout, I’ve definitely experienced it. I think that there’s a sort of parabolic relationship between doctoral training and burnout, with (at least from my perspective) late 2nd-3rd year being most distressing, followed by a gradual return to baseline in later years.
 
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Regarding your concern about finances, I have $0 debt from graduate school. However, I also live modestly, have savings, and have a partner.

I have to agree with @Boston2k. @hellohun, you already expressed ambivalence regarding pursuing this career path. That ambivalence will likely only grow throughout your time in graduate school; that is, after additional investment in time and effort to try to gain acceptance in the first place.
 
You seem like a pretty strong applicant to me--I agree with others that the GPA and quant score are what's holding you back. I don't blame you for wanting to avoid an MA. I would put as much time and energy as you can muster into raising that GRE score, though. I would also target your cover letters toward particular advisors with laser focus. And finally, I would consider applying to a few of the best MSW programs along with trying again for the PhD. I know quite a lot of happy LCSWs.
 
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