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I currently go to a community college and I will be earning an associates of arts and then transfering to a local four year university and majoring in Psychology. I would like to get my Ph.D. in clinical psychology right after I earn my bachelors degree. Another four year university an hour away from me has a fully funded Ph.D. program and that’s where I would really like to do my Ph.D. in clinical psychology. Besides having a very high GPA and doing well in the GRE, what else can I do to improve my chances of getting into a Ph.D. program? I’ve thought about doing research and maybe volunteering at a local hospital. I’m sure the research experience would definitely help but would the volunteering make me stand out? Also will going to a community college have any affect on me getting into a Ph.D. program?

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1. Clinical Psychology is competitive, expect that your chances of admission to any single program are around 5%.
2. Volunteering will help, but it doesn't make you stand out. Many(most?) applicants have done this.
3. Research makes you stand out - that means posters and (if you are fortunate) a publication. Most have also done this.
4. Good/high GRE scores help you stand out. Most successful applicants also have this.
5. Community college will impact you in so far as it can limit your exposure to research labs and opportunities to engage in the stuff that does make you stand out
6. Location isn't a good reason for wanting to do a PhD at a program - fit with a research agenda is. Moving is the rule rather than the exception.
 
I currently go to a community college and I will be earning an associates of arts and then transfering to a local four year university and majoring in Psychology. I would like to get my Ph.D. in clinical psychology right after I earn my bachelors degree. Another four year university an hour away from me has a fully funded Ph.D. program and that’s where I would really like to do my Ph.D. in clinical psychology. Besides having a very high GPA and doing well in the GRE, what else can I do to improve my chances of getting into a Ph.D. program? I’ve thought about doing research and maybe volunteering at a local hospital. I’m sure the research experience would definitely help but would the volunteering make me stand out? Also will going to a community college have any affect on me getting into a Ph.D. program?
Going to a community college by itself should not hurt your chances.

Aside from high GPA and GRE, you will need research experience. Many applicants will have had at least one year of full-time research experience, which may have resulted in conference presentations and publications. When getting that research experience, try to get something more than data entry by the time you graduate so you can make the most out of your time.

You may want to consider applying to more than one program and doing so across a wide geographic area. It's common for PhD programs to receive 100-600 applications for less than 10 spots.

What has you interested in getting a PhD in clinical psychology specifically?

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You have the advantage of knowing what you'd like to pursue at an early stage in your career. You are going to need LOR's and aside from your PI as a research assistant, I recommend developing a strong relationship with a couple professors. Do well in the course, and try to obtain a TA position. This strengthens what they can say about you and is another line on your CV.
 
I don’t think that having attended community college is going to hurt your application. You will need to hit the ground running once you transfer and volunteer as soon as possible in a psychology research laboratory, preferably with a faculty member who does human subjects research. The more research experience, the better (and ideally you should be able to show increasingly complex/responsible duties over time). Having a poster or two, or a publication, to your name is a bonus and is the norm for highly competitive applicants. Of course, also keep your grades up and do well on the GRE. You don’t really have to worry about other extracurriculars.

When it comes to applications, it’s fine to apply locally, but to be competitive you’ll need to apply to multiple programs. Fit will also be important, since most funded programs operate on a mentor model and it will be expected that most of your hands-on research training is related to your mentor’s area of focus/specialization.
 
I am currently in undergrad and attending a community college and will transfer to a four year university and major in Psychology. I have thought about taking the GRE and applying to programs right out of undergrad but I have also thought about getting a Master’s in Social Work. The University i’m transferring to has a program where your senior year courses of your major count towards the first year of grad school. So you earn your B.A. and Master’s in five years. Would it be a good idea to first get my master’s and become a mental health counselor and then apply to a Ph.D. program for clinical or counseling Psychology later down the road. Wouldn’t I have a better chance at getting in since I would have a Master’s and professional experience?
 
Yes, having a masters definitely helps you -- particularly when it comes to funded PhD programs. Get some research experience along the way as well.
 
I am currently in undergrad and attending a community college and will transfer to a four year university and major in Psychology. I have thought about taking the GRE and applying to programs right out of undergrad but I have also thought about getting a Master’s in Social Work. The University i’m transferring to has a program where your senior year courses of your major count towards the first year of grad school. So you earn your B.A. and Master’s in five years. Would it be a good idea to first get my master’s and become a mental health counselor and then apply to a Ph.D. program for clinical or counseling Psychology later down the road. Wouldn’t I have a better chance at getting in since I would have a Master’s and professional experience?

For a PhD program in clinical or counseling psych, it'll be more important that you get research experience. TONS of clinical experience wont match up to TONS of research experience. This is especially true if you are applying to fully funded clinical psych programs. I would make sure I get into a good lab once I transfer, get myself on posters and papers, and perhaps skip the master's if all it focuses on is clinical experience.
 
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For a PhD program in clinical or counseling psych, it'll be more important that you get research experience. TONS of clinical experience wont match up to TONS of research experience. This is especially true if you are applying to fully funded clinical psych programs. I would make sure I get into a good lab once I transfer, get myself on posters and papers, and perhaps skip the master's if all it focuses on is clinical experience.
This.

It is easier to the judge the quality of your research (and it better predicts how you will help my lab). I don't know if you practiced effectively, or anything else about it. There is also a lot of variability of masters training levels that I'm less likely to know about if it isn't local to me.
 
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This.

It is easier to the judge the quality of your research (and it better predicts how you will help my lab). I don't know if you practiced effectively, or anything else about it. There is also a lot of variability of masters training levels that I'm less likely to know about if it isn't local to me.

I also feel the reasoning with clinical experience is that you will be getting VERY solid clinical training at all reputable doctoral psych programs anyway, and most will start you with the assumption that you have 0 experience. Versus most professors hope you'll come in with some research experience so that they can fold you into the lab and hit the ground running collaborating. So while clinical experience certainly wont hurt you necessarily, the training model favors more a candidate who has proven research experience over clinical experience.
 
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Yes, having a masters definitely helps you -- particularly when it comes to funded PhD programs. Get some research experience along the way as well.

Just want to put my own 2 cents around this point. A Masters can be helpful, but it really depends on the circumstances and specifics of the work you do during your Masters. For example, if you just do all your coursework and a little data collection/analysis for your thesis, that is not really going to be significantly helpful for your chances of getting into a doctoral program.

If your end goal is a PhD, that is first and foremost a research degree and one of the most significant aspects of your application will be your research experience. Spending an extra year or two working as a research coordinator/assistant amassing experience that can be translated into something that will make you a better fit at the programs you apply to will be much more beneficial than a barebones Masters. Some other considerations, to my knowledge at least half of admitted applicants to programs tend to only have their Bachelors (a Masters is by no means necessary, nor is it some kind of automatic "advantage"). Most terminal Masters programs are not funded and will likely require taking out loans. Additionally, I've heard from mentors/peers that certain programs actually look down upon applicants who already have Masters degrees, as they'd prefer to train clinical students "ground up." I'm not sure how true this is, but worthy of mentioning at least.

Having said that, there are certainly situations where getting a Masters first would be more appropriate such as my own one. I had a (pardon my French) **** undergrad GPA, no real allusions to future goals, and limited research experience so pursuing a Masters just made sense. In addition to choosing a program that required an experimental thesis and defense, I also volunteered in research labs close to the specific interests I had accruing skills and experience that were instrumental in my admittance to a doctoral program.

Another point is to ask yourself what your end goal is. If it's to purely perform clinical work and see patients, there are other much shorter and cheaper paths out there than going for a doctorate. Just something to be aware of.
 
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I'm also a little confused, OP, by the trajectory of your posts on this website overall. It seems you've made similar queries to the Psychology, Pre-med (DO and MD), NP/RN, and Mental Health/Social Work forums. In some you say you want to be a physician (primary care), in others you say you'd like to go into mental health, and in others you say you're interested in perhaps even nursing.

I'd suggest potentially talking to a career/academic advisor at your school so you can solidify your career goals first. These forums are certainly helpful to get a better idea of what the particular field each forum services entails and what you might need to do in order to get there. However, in order to maximize the value of the information you are given, it might be necessary to give yourself some time first to decide on a career path. I was a psych and bio double major in undergrad because I couldn't choose between medicine and psychology. I didn't end up going the psych doctoral route till 29. Since you say you're just out of high school, I'd say you've got lots of time to think about it. Maybe just focus on what major you want in college first, take pre-med courses just to cover you bases if medicine is still something you'd consider, and revisit when you're a junior.
 
I'm also a little confused, OP, by the trajectory of your posts on this website overall. It seems you've made similar queries to the Psychology, Pre-med (DO and MD), NP/RN, and Mental Health/Social Work forums.

Yeah, this is really odd. The original poster has made several threads about different fields, and hasn't made replies in any of them.
 
I'm also a little confused, OP, by the trajectory of your posts on this website overall. It seems you've made similar queries to the Psychology, Pre-med (DO and MD), NP/RN, and Mental Health/Social Work forums. In some you say you want to be a physician (primary care), in others you say you'd like to go into mental health, and in others you say you're interested in perhaps even nursing.

I'd suggest potentially talking to a career/academic advisor at your school so you can solidify your career goals first. These forums are certainly helpful to get a better idea of what the particular field each forum services entails and what you might need to do in order to get there. However, in order to maximize the value of the information you are given, it might be necessary to give yourself some time first to decide on a career path. I was a psych and bio double major in undergrad because I couldn't choose between medicine and psychology. I didn't end up going the psych doctoral route till 29. Since you say you're just out of high school, I'd say you've got lots of time to think about it. Maybe just focus on what major you want in college first, take pre-med courses just to cover you bases if medicine is still something you'd consider, and revisit when you're a junior.

Yes, I have shadowed a nurse and a PA. I’ve mainly no on the fence about going to medical school because of the amount of debt most grads are usually in once they graduate.
 
I'm also a little confused, OP, by the trajectory of your posts on this website overall. It seems you've made similar queries to the Psychology, Pre-med (DO and MD), NP/RN, and Mental Health/Social Work forums. In some you say you want to be a physician (primary care), in others you say you'd like to go into mental health, and in others you say you're interested in perhaps even nursing.

I'd suggest potentially talking to a career/academic advisor at your school so you can solidify your career goals first. These forums are certainly helpful to get a better idea of what the particular field each forum services entails and what you might need to do in order to get there. However, in order to maximize the value of the information you are given, it might be necessary to give yourself some time first to decide on a career path. I was a psych and bio double major in undergrad because I couldn't choose between medicine and psychology. I didn't end up going the psych doctoral route till 29. Since you say you're just out of high school, I'd say you've got lots of time to think about it. Maybe just focus on what major you want in college first, take pre-med courses just to cover you bases if medicine is still something you'd consider, and revisit when you're a junior.
Yes, i’ve had a difficult time really making up my mind for several reasons on whether I want to pursue medicine, Nursing etc. Since i’m so young and haven’t even actually started taking classes for my major yet, I still have time to really make up my mind but regardless I will still major in Psychology because i’m more interested in it than Biology.
 
Just want to put my own 2 cents around this point. A Masters can be helpful, but it really depends on the circumstances and specifics of the work you do during your Masters. For example, if you just do all your coursework and a little data collection/analysis for your thesis, that is not really going to be significantly helpful for your chances of getting into a doctoral program.

If your end goal is a PhD, that is first and foremost a research degree and one of the most significant aspects of your application will be your research experience. Spending an extra year or two working as a research coordinator/assistant amassing experience that can be translated into something that will make you a better fit at the programs you apply to will be much more beneficial than a barebones Masters. Some other considerations, to my knowledge at least half of admitted applicants to programs tend to only have their Bachelors (a Masters is by no means necessary, nor is it some kind of automatic "advantage"). Most terminal Masters programs are not funded and will likely require taking out loans. Additionally, I've heard from mentors/peers that certain programs actually look down upon applicants who already have Masters degrees, as they'd prefer to train clinical students "ground up." I'm not sure how true this is, but worthy of mentioning at least.

Having said that, there are certainly situations where getting a Masters first would be more appropriate such as my own one. I had a (pardon my French) **** undergrad GPA, no real allusions to future goals, and limited research experience so pursuing a Masters just made sense. In addition to choosing a program that required an experimental thesis and defense, I also volunteered in research labs close to the specific interests I had accruing skills and experience that were instrumental in my admittance to a doctoral program.

Another point is to ask yourself what your end goal is. If it's to purely perform clinical work and see patients, there are other much shorter and cheaper paths out there than going for a doctorate. Just something to be aware of.
My end goal is I would like to do talk therapy. My therapist who has a master’s degree told me that when he was in undergrad he was considering applying to several Ph.D. programs but the amount of time it would take he didn’t want to do it so someone told him that all he needed was a master’s and didn’t actually have to get a Ph.D. if all he wanted to do was talk therapy.
 
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