Need help picking practicum in MA program- neuropsych hopeful

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[psychsquirrel]

Shouldn't your thesis topic help you get into a PhD program that is relevant to your interests? It sounds super awesome!

And I'm a little biased because I have worked with depression and behavioral therapy, but I would choose the second one haha

Good luck!

 

[xXIDaShizIXx]

Hello All,

First off, I want to say thanks! This board is really a treasure in terms of the specific fields that the members are in, and I'm so appreciative that there are so many threads regarding neuropsychology.

I'm enrolled in a master's program in Clinical Psychology that involves completing practicum. I am interested in obtaining my Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, with a research emphasis in neuropsychology. I understand because my goals are research-oriented and the Ph.D. programs I would like to gain acceptance to are research-heavy institutions (SDSU/UCSD JDP, Temple U, etc), that my clinical experiences will not be very relevant. However, when I did interview during this cycle, I was asked how I would handle certain clinical situations, for example, one school asked me how I respond when a participant or client is extremely emotionally dysregulated and volatile.

We have to choose from a list of practicum, and I have narrowed it down to two experiences. If possible, I'd love to get advice on which experience would benefit me best.

(1) There is a childhood diagnostic assessment center where children who possibly have ADHD, autism, or a learning disability are referred. At this center, assessments take 1/2 of a day, and children are tested in attention, cognition, information processing, and language, in addition to receiving behavioral surveys.

(2) There is an adult anxiety and depression clinic. 2-hour interviews are scheduled, and afterward, the student implements CBT with the individual once-weekly.

Due to my interests in neuropsychology, I feel like the first clinic is the obvious choice. Although it isn't utilizing brain imaging techniques, which many people I'm applying to work with use, I assume I'll be doing common neurocog tests with them based on the description.The reason I am interested in the second clinic is because I am more interested in these disorders. The people I am applying to work with study emotion dysregulation, non-suicidal self-injury and suicide, BPD, alcoholism, and schizophrenia (the unifying theme, and my reason for wanting to apply to a broad range of disorders, is really the method by which they are studied and also the severity of the disorders). Thus, I am interested in the second clinic as well.

I did not get accepted to a school I could feasibly go to during this cycle (got accepted to URI's Clinical Psych Ph.D. but was not offered funding, so that was a no go), so when I begin my applications in Fall 2014 for Fall 2015, I'd like to have a very cohesive curriculum vitae, that is unified, with good "flow", to increase my chances of acceptance, since it seems like sometimes it can come down to the very last detail when choosing between applicants.

It may help to know what my thesis is about- I have secured a thesis advisor and am drafting IRB approval to study brief Neurofeedback (biofeedback machine and EEG) trials for individuals with emotion dysregulation, to identify if this decreases their scores on the DERS and similar scales, in addition to looking at their output for physiological correlates. I am also trying to gain acceptance as a research assistant into a second lab, either a lab that studies neurocognitive functioning in elderly individuals with dementia, Alzheimer's, etc, or a lab that conducts EEG studies with individuals on the schizophrenia-spectrum.

TL;DR which clinic would you choose if you wanted to go into neuropsychological research to study severe psychiatric disorders?

Again, thank you so much everyone. I hope that when this is all over and done with- or perhaps in the middle somewhere- I can give back to this board as much as it has given me!

1.) for neuropsych.

 

[erg923]

Your choice of practicum in a masters program will have almost no effect on your "appeal factor" to (especially highly research focused) Ph.D programs.

 

[xXIDaShizIXx]

Your choice of practicum in a masters program will have almost no effect on your "appeal factor" to (especially highly research focused) Ph.D programs.

Sorry, let me add to what I said previously, it doesn't matter what you do as long as you get quality research. But from an interest point of view I would go for number one.

 

[neuronic]

I would actually go with number 2. Many neuropsychologists will stress the importance of gaining broad clinical skills, and having solid training in CBT evidence based practice will show your commitment to clinical psychology. Even heavy research programs (e.g., UCSD/UF/UHouston/UCinci) will have therapy requirements and I think that this will something you can talk about in an interview. Regarding the latter, acing the GREs is unfortunately what will get you looked at...

 

[cara susanna]

I'd take the second one because, at least at my program, it's easier to get assessment experience than therapy experience.

 

[paramour]

Yet, at the same time, there will be programs who will assume that any clinical work you completed during your master's was not done according to their standards and they have to teach you the "right way" anyway . . .

 

[PHD12]

Hello All,


We have to choose from a list of practicum, and I have narrowed it down to two experiences. If possible, I'd love to get advice on which experience would benefit me best.

(1) There is a childhood diagnostic assessment center where children who possibly have ADHD, autism, or a learning disability are referred. At this center, assessments take 1/2 of a day, and children are tested in attention, cognition, information processing, and language, in addition to receiving behavioral surveys.

(2) There is an adult anxiety and depression clinic. 2-hour interviews are scheduled, and afterward, the student implements CBT with the individual once-weekly.

Due to my interests in neuropsychology, I feel like the first clinic is the obvious choice. Although it isn't utilizing brain imaging techniques, which many people I'm applying to work with use, I assume I'll be doing common neurocog tests with them based on the description.The reason I am interested in the second clinic is because I am more interested in these disorders. The people I am applying to work with study emotion dysregulation, non-suicidal self-injury and suicide, BPD, alcoholism, and schizophrenia (the unifying theme, and my reason for wanting to apply to a broad range of disorders, is really the method by which they are studied and also the severity of the disorders). Thus, I am interested in the second clinic as well.

Honestly, I would forget about what you think schools want to see on your CV, and go with the experience that will provide you with the best training and supervision, and where the supervisors will be invested in you professionally. You can always make a case for why you chose # 1 or #2 and build a cohesive story later, but great training and strong mentor relationships are incredibly valuable no matter what you do. Plus, you never know why program X chose another student over you and it's honestly tough to predict what a program is looking for when they accept 1% of students literally.

I have always chosen my practicum experiences in my clinical psychology doctoral program based on learning, good supervision, and what would keep me engaged and excited. I turned down several big name hospital practicums in the past that were highly recommended to me because they would increase my chances of matching at a VA internship, but the work wasn't too exciting to me. I still matched at a top VA anyhow and my first choice postdoc, and I'm so happy I didn't listen to people who told me I had to take on a specific experience to get a X internship, especially since all the practicums are unpaid! I'm not saying you shouldn't listen to other people's input, but if you seek out places where you can learn and get great training, you can't really go wrong.

 

[paramour]

Thank you so much to everyone who responded to this thread with advice! It is sincerely appreciated. I understand that my research is much more important than any clinical work I would complete, and am going to devote the minimum amount of time my program requires to my practicum. That being said, I definitely want it to at least be a worthwhile experience (a lot of the practicum sites our school made available seem like complete messes and a waste of time). The most random pieces of information off my CV that I thought were unimportant ended up being a selling point to some of the people interviewing me (obviously not enough to get in though )

Based on the culmination of all of this advice, I have decided to go with the Adult Anxiety and Mood Disorder Clinic. I was thinking that the first clinic is obviously more neuro related, but I am doing a neuro thesis, and can switch practicum in my second year if I'd like. Additionally, I've worked with children throughout almost my whole undergraduate experience, so based on the comment that school's like to see a wide breadth of experience, it is definitely time I get some adult experience in (especially with the career goals I have in mind).

Thanks everyone!!

I've found this to be true during my employment search as well. So weird. 🙄