Neuropsychology

[Ml65514]

Hello all,

I am currently a Senior studying Psychology at a small liberal arts university in Maryland. I have become increasingly interested in pursuing neuropsychology at the graduate level (PhD in Clinical Psychology with neuro track/opportunities). I have about two years of research in organic chemistry working on benzodiazepene compounds. I have experience in writing grant proposals, obtaining funding and presenting posters at conferences. I will be graduating in two semesters and am not sure of the best route to take in order to get into a Clinical Psychology PhD program. My gpa is around 3.7 and I have yet to take the GRE. I have seen a few different options that were posted in other forums such as: A) Get a masters in psychology at a funded program which gives the option of composing an empirical thesis and is heavily research oriented (which would make up for my lack of psychological research) or B) Try to get a job as a RA in a neuropsychology/neuroscience lab. Being that my GPA is relatively competitive for such programs, i'm not sure that getting a masters would be my best bet. However, being that I have no research experience in psychology i'm not sure how easy it would be for me to obtain a RA position in a lab somewhere. At my current school (Salisbury University), the psychology department is fairly weak. Most of the research in the department consists of handing out surveys to the general psychology pool and there is no real lab work. Basically, i'm just looking for the best option for me to gain competitiveness in applying towards Clinical Psych graduate programs. I'm confused on where to go from here and any input would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks a lot,
Matt

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[AcronymAllergy]

Hello all,

I am currently a Senior studying Psychology at a small liberal arts university in Maryland. I have become increasingly interested in pursuing neuropsychology at the graduate level (PhD in Clinical Psychology with neuro track/opportunities). I have about two years of research in organic chemistry working on benzodiazepene compounds. I have experience in writing grant proposals, obtaining funding and presenting posters at conferences. I will be graduating in two semesters and am not sure of the best route to take in order to get into a Clinical Psychology PhD program. My gpa is around 3.7 and I have yet to take the GRE. I have seen a few different options that were posted in other forums such as: A) Get a masters in psychology at a funded program which gives the option of composing an empirical thesis and is heavily research oriented (which would make up for my lack of psychological research) or B) Try to get a job as a RA in a neuropsychology/neuroscience lab. Being that my GPA is relatively competitive for such programs, i'm not sure that getting a masters would be my best bet. However, being that I have no research experience in psychology i'm not sure how easy it would be for me to obtain a RA position in a lab somewhere. At my current school (Salisbury University), the psychology department is fairly weak. Most of the research in the department consists of handing out surveys to the general psychology pool and there is no real lab work. Basically, i'm just looking for the best option for me to gain competitiveness in applying towards Clinical Psych graduate programs. I'm confused on where to go from here and any input would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks a lot,
Matt

The two options you've listed (i.e., experimental masters or RA position) are likely going to be the two that most people here would suggest to you, yep. As for which would be better in your case, as you've said, you don't need help with your GPA, so the masters could be an expensive and potentially less-helpful option. I'd say send out a slew of emails/applications to nearby labs to see what types of responses you receive. You may have to end up volunteering rather than actually landing a paid position, but that will still likely be cheaper than a masters. Check local hospitals/academic medical centers, psych offices, universities, etc.

 

[Ml65514]

That's exactly what I will do, thank you for the response!