MA to PHD programs similar to NSSR

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confusedfuture

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Hello,

I have recently discovered my passion for psychology and as researching some graduate programs. My undergrad gpa was not excellent and i did no research during undergrad. I have come to terms that in order to get into a clinical psych program, I will have to get my masters. However I have been encountering some trouble. It seems like a lot of programs don't give students the mentorship needed in order to admit them into their own phd program. In fact many of the schools that have a terminal masters option rarely admit those students to the phd program. I was very disappointed, until I came across the New School for Social Research!



Their PHD program admit students who come from their MA program, and it seems to me that this school allows the students the opportunity to connect with a mentor and get some research experience. Although it is probably very competitive to gain acceptance to the Phd program, it seems like an environment that would nurture a student's potential.



Although I am new to the research of grad programs, I have not found any other program similar to this.





I was wondering if there were any other Clinical psych programs in which applicants can apply to the MA program, be exposed to extensive research opportunities, be prepared for doctoral programs, and admit students from their MA cohort?

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Hello,

I have recently discovered my passion for psychology and as researching some graduate programs. My undergrad gpa was not excellent and i did no research during undergrad. I have come to terms that in order to get into a clinical psych program, I will have to get my masters. However I have been encountering some trouble. It seems like a lot of programs don't give students the mentorship needed in order to admit them into their own phd program. In fact many of the schools that have a terminal masters option rarely admit those students to the phd program. I was very disappointed, until I came across the New School for Social Research!



Their PHD program admit students who come from their MA program, and it seems to me that this school allows the students the opportunity to connect with a mentor and get some research experience. Although it is probably very competitive to gain acceptance to the Phd program, it seems like an environment that would nurture a student's potential.



Although I am new to the research of grad programs, I have not found any other program similar to this.





I was wondering if there were any other Clinical psych programs in which applicants can apply to the MA program, be exposed to extensive research opportunities, be prepared for doctoral programs, and admit students from their MA cohort?
 
Check out the University of Kansas counseling psych program.
 
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Thanks for the info!

Does anyone know any more programs. Although I am primarily interested in clinical, I am open to counseling as well!
 
I am not so sure about the MA --> PHD route within the same school. I am not aware of many programs that do this frequently. I would look into terminal masters programs that have funding of some kind.
 
Hi,

I do not know of other similar programs but after having spent a semester at NSSR, I would personally not recommend it for the following reasons:

Yes, you get wonderful exposure to research but I would not call the environment nurturing...It is quite the opposite in my experience. It is also a costly investment ( = poorly funded) with little assurance of actually getting into the Phd program. The year I was there, they admitted about 75 students to their MA track but only a handful go on the PhD.

Best of luck,
Compassionate1
 
Hi, I'm a clinical psych PhD student at the New School, and everything that compassionate1 says is correct. Not nurturing, very expensive, 75ish MA students and 15 get into the PhD (although only about 30something apply to the PhD). The research exposure really is fantastic though, and I know a lot of students who get accepted into PhD programs elsewhere after doing the NSSR masters. So even if you don't get into NSSR's PhD, I do think the MA program is a good step. However, I would recommend checking out the faculty and if there are people whose research really really interests you then the expense of the school is worth it. If there isn't anyone in particular that you want to work with, then why pay so much when you could get a much cheaper MA elsewhere? For me personally, this was the issue. The cost is killing me, but I LOOOOVE the research I'm doing and I just decided that it was worth it.
 
Also a New School MA student, and about to begin the PhD. You might also consider a post-bac program in psychology (or create your own - see my rambling below) somewhere before you consider the investment of a master's/PhD. This is good for a few major reasons: 1) you can find out if you like studying psychology, 2) you can improve your GPA, and 3) you can find out about research/volunteer opportunities to gain experience (and also help you figure out if this is the right career for you).

What I did: I decided on a second career as a clinical psychologist (after a lot of research!), and applied to take post-bac courses at one of the best undergraduate schools in my area while continuing to work. (Why one of the best? So I could prove that I could have an excellent GPA at a very competitive school. My undergraduate GPA was just "meh" and from a long time ago.) Since I had a few psychology courses from my original degree, I elected not to complete their entire post-bac program, and instead only took core courses (research methods, statistics, abnormal psych, etc.) and one for "fun" (behavioral neurobiology). Sometime in the middle I found a volunteer "internship" opportunity with an affiliated hospital and worked there for almost 2 years.

The coursework and experience came in handy at NSSR - I think I would have felt overwhelmed had I not completed psychology undergraduate courses (especially in statistics!). There are many talented students at NSSR, and I think having the background really helped me to be prepared to be a competitive candidate for the PhD program. All of this really helped in my decision to pursue the PhD, too.

One last thing - while there isn't a terrific amount of one-on-one mentorship in the MA program (it seems to depend on the lab you are involved with), your fellow students can be very helpful - especially the TAs. Many of the TAs there really seem to go above and beyond to help. And yes, you can get excellent research experience - there are a lot of really interesting projects! Good luck!
 
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