Older non traditional applicant with questions about Developmental and Clinical PHD Programs

[lamplighter88]

Hi:

Apologies for the super long message! However, I believe that a discussion/feedback on many of the questions I pose after my brief introduction is highly beneficial to anyone applying to Clinical or Non- Clinical Phd Programs in Psychology.

I'm glad to have joined this site ! Over the past month I've been reading many of the posts and have found them to be very helpful! I'm a non traditional student: 39, mother of two kids that are already in high school. Before having children I use to work as a Special Education teacher. I have a Masters Degree in Special Education and Undergraduate degree in Sociology. My GPA from undergrad (ivy league) 3.7

from graduate (3.9)



Im focused and determined to go back to school full time and pursue a PHD in clinical

psychology or Developmental Psychology. I would like to get accepted into a funded program near where I live in South Florida. If I don't get accepted into one, my family is willing to move. However, I'd prefer not to uproot everyone and therefore don't mind broadening my areas of interest to have a specific research area that is a good fit with a professor from a local program.



My main goal is to do research, writing and academic work and hopefully find a tenured position one day. Though, I know that academia can be very competitive and there are not a lot of tenured positions. Thus, I like the flexibility of a Clinical Program as I can always fall back on private practice therapy. I am definitely interested in doing psychotherapy but I see it more as secondary to conducting research. For this reason as I've heard developmental programs are easier to get into, should I not get into a Clinical one that I'll apply to developmental programs and afterwards get a counseling license to do psychotherapy.



The only clinical Psych programs near where I live are at University of Miami and Florida International University. NOVA has a program as well but I have zero interest in a program that is not funded. I've heard great things about NOVA but I don't want to be in a program that is not financially invested in my success.



The Master's I completed in Special Education 15 years ago did involve a couple of Psych classes, and many classes related to cognitive and developmental disabilities etc.



I am lacking in a lot of pre requisite courses but I've already done one Master's degree and on the way to the Phd one obtains a second Master's it seems rather costly and a big waste of time, (especially at my age) to do a Master's or Post Bacc.



I'm thinking that I plan to apply for Fall '24. In the meantime, I realize I need a very calculated thought out roadmap to follow to gain acceptance to a program.



I know schools are looking for a "fit," with a professor. I've been told that one is really applying to a professor - not a program. As I don't have the luxury to go anywhere in the country and as I fortunately find most everything in psychology fascinating i'm thinking to do an intense amount of research into what professor's in programs near me are studying and then tailor my line of interest accordingly. Would that make sense ?



more questions :

• As I have no research experience yet I'd like to contact professor's soon and inquire about volunteering in a lab?

• would it make sense to put together a well written letter with a brief intro, description of my personal research interests and questions and how they align with the particular professor's? I'm thinking then to write about specific aspects of the Professor's research I find most interesting.

_ What other details should I add in the letters to these professor's?

• I don't want to waste years in a masters program to get accepted so I'm thinking I should discuss how my Master's in Special Ed and 3.9 GPA shows I can complete rigorous graduate work ? What else would you suggest I discuss about in reference to prior Masters
• 
  
• I'm thinking then to mention to the professor's I write that I'd like to prove my ability to succeed in their graduate program and contribute to their field of study and if I could volunteer to work in their lab and then create an original paper perhaps to demonstrate my writing abilities ?
• 
  
• As I don't want to waste time, does it make sense to flat out ask the professor what I need to do (ie classes, experience etc. )to get into their lab as a graduate Phd student for the 2024 year ?

• Does it look bad if I contact more then one professor from the Psych department at one school ? I'm thinking that might be a bad idea as they might speak etc.

• Instead I'm thinking it might be ok to contact first one clinical professor at each school and if it seems like they are not interested in me then either contact another or go ahead and contact professor's from the developmental department ?

• The UM is suppose to have a very low acceptance rate of 3.5 for clinical. However, I'm thinking maybe that there might be some labs such as one's studying Adults with Psychosis that may not receive many applicants. What do you all think? I find studying this area fascinating but have noticed there seems to be less interest in it. I'm thinking that it therefore might make sense for me to just apply to this research lab in the U of Miami Clinical Program.

• In the Developmental program there are several labs I find interesting as well and I think it's far less competitive then clinical and I'm also thinking they may require less prerequisite and be more open to a career changer.

• If I do contact a professor from the adult clinical at University Miami do you think they would also be speaking to professor's from the developmental department ?

• Should I just contact only one professor from the whole psych program at UM?

• I'm also thinking if I go into an area of developmental psych ar UM with a lot of crossover with clinical child then perhaps after a couple years I could get approval to do a joint degree?

• FIorida International University's Clinical Psych program, while still competitive I've noticed has nearly a 25% acceptance rate compared with U of M's 3.5%. Therefore I'm thinking to first contact a professor in the FIU clinical psych.

• Thoughts on FIU clinical Psychology Program?

• The areas of research in the developmental at FIU are very interesting as well and I noticed the acceptance rate was pretty high. The expected time for degree completion is also significantly shorter. Thoughts on the developmental Psych Program there ?

• Florida Atlantic University also has a Developmental Psych Program. Does anyone know much about the program?

• Very interested to hear as well about different career options that can be obtained with a Developmental Psychology PHd? Thinking that I could also do a private practice with ABA and helping parents with Behavioral plans?

• What other capacities do graduates with a developmental Psychology Phd's work in ?

• Might it be a good idea as well to create my own research question right now and do my own research without a lab.... create a compelling paper and email it to the professor's Im interested in applying to work with to demonstrate my writing and intellectual abilities ?

Thanks so much for reading this long post ! Any and all suggestions are appreciated !

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[futureapppsy2]

Why not a school psych PhD program? There are several good ones in Florida, they will prepare well for both academia and clinical practice with children and adolescents (as well as traditional school psych work), your SPED background would likely be seen as a plus, and they tend to be a bit less competitive than clinical PhD programs.

 

[summerbabe]

As I have no research experience yet I'd like to contact professor's soon and inquire about volunteering in a lab?

Yup, everybody starts at ground zero.

I'm thinking then to mention to the professor's I write that I'd like to prove my ability to succeed in their graduate program and contribute to their field of study and if I could volunteer to work in their lab and then create an original paper perhaps to demonstrate my writing abilities ?

Yup, specificity is important. And if a prof doesn’t think they can meet your needs, you won’t want to waste your time. There’s no guarantee that volunteering in research will automatically result in contributing to authorship or other things that would make you competitive for a funded PhD.

Does it look bad if I contact more then one professor from the Psych department at one school ? I'm thinking that might be a bad idea as they might speak etc.

I doubt it. The typical undergrad is likely reaching out to multiple profs in their dept who have labs to identify options. If there is somebody you are especially interested in working with, you can try to ‘exhaust’ that option first.

As I don't want to waste time, does it make sense to flat out ask the professor what I need to do (ie classes, experience etc. )to get into their lab as a graduate Phd student for the 2024 year ?

Perhaps this can be part of second or third emails as you discuss whether or not to take a volunteer spot offer. Each prof will likely have a certain amount of time they can devote to mentoring so you’ll want to ideally find a match between energy you’re willing to put in and energy they’re willing to put in.

However, while firsthand experience can be very helpful, it’s far from a guarantee that a lab member will receive a funded offer if they apply in the future.

Does it look bad if I contact more then one professor from the Psych department at one school ? I'm thinking that might be a bad idea as they might speak etc.

I doubt it. There’s probably also less cross-dept communication between profs than what you’re imagining as each dept can potentially be very insular but YMMV.

However, I'm thinking maybe that there might be some labs such as one's studying Adults with Psychosis that may not receive many applicants.

Just from personal experience, the psychosis subfield is quite competitive generally speaking. But even at a very competitive school, one person’s lab could easily receive 50 solid apps each cycle while another receives 10. Things like subject matter and productivity of the PI might influence this.

Developmental Psychology PHd? Thinking that I could also do a private practice with ABA and helping parents with Behavioral plans?

I’m not very familiar with dev psych but to do ABA, you will need a clinical license and I don’t think that’s part of the modal curriculum for a developmental PhD (but could be wrong).

Might it be a good idea as well to create my own research question right now and do my own research without a lab.... create a compelling paper and email it to the professor's Im interested in applying to work with to demonstrate my writing and intellectual abilities ?

Anybody can work on research. But there’s a big difference between a research paper that would have gotten you an A in undergrad and academic research that is publishable because it is generating novel results (rather than compiling previous info like an undergrad paper). Even identifying an appropriate research question is a way more complex task than the ‘lay’ person would imagine. If you don’t know the ins and outs of this process (which research experience will provide), you’d almost certainly be shooting yourself in the foot.

It would be like somebody who knows what a good steak tastes like and might even be able to grill up a killer one at home and then decides to open up a steakhouse without ever having worked in the restaurant industry (front of house, back of house, inventory, taxes, health codes, HR, etc). There are parallels to each of these in academia that ‘go’ into each successful paper.

No offense but whatever you think a compelling paper is at this exact moment is probably not compelling at any academics because compelling papers answer very specific questions that have yet to be examined to concensus, have an action plan to gather new data, a research design plan to analyze the data, and more.

Good luck!

 

[R. Matey]

Agree that school psych would be the way to go in this situation, but am I wrong in saying that your research goals seem pretty murky?