Are we talking "Only 1-2 years of run-of-the-mill RA work" lack of research experience, or are we talking "Never seen the inside of a lab" lack of research?
Hey Ollie,
Thanks for taking the time to read and respond. Sadly, more as in the latter... ( for reaons and some background, please feel free to read my original post on the Dr/advisor thread, last week. Sorry, unsure how to post that link).
Teaching experience is certainly a positive on an application, and it sounds like your experience was quite extensive. At the more competitive clinical PhDs, you can have all the teaching experience in the world but with no research experience you are still very unlikely to even get an interview.
I know. I realize I will have to apply to a combination of PsyD programs, counselling PhD programs and a few practise-emphasis clinical PhD programs.
Beyond that, how it balances out will probably vary a great deal between programs, and even between individual faculty members within programs. As for PsyDs? Hard for me to say, though I would guess no since they aren't focused on producing academics. That said, depending on what sort of PsyD programs you'd want to go to, acceptance standards might be much lower on average than a traditional program (not trying to start another flame war...its just reality if you look at the data on professional schools, where the PsyD model is far more prevalent) so even if its not absolutely coveted experience it might be enough to get you in.
I intend to do my personal best and then let go. I am a fairly spiritual person and believe that we make the efforts but ultimately, what is meant to happen -- will. I have a wealth of life unique experiences, which may or may not make up for the absence of the more traditional experiences that are expected from applicants ( Nothing exotic, but I 've lived in three different continents and overcame many difficult circumstances). I think that I am a mature individual, with academic strengths and a good clinical potential. Will these come through when I apply? I certainly hope so, but I guess I won't know unless I try....
I doubt you'll find a large variability in terms of value of teaching experience between clinical and counseling programs. From what I've seen the only real difference in admissions is that clinical tends to be slightly more competitive (emphasis on slightly), probably due to larger numbers of applicants. Obviously, there are differences in terms of how well you "fit" with each model, but its not like one is looking for vastly different things than the other. I'd have been a miserable candidate for most counseling programs because my interests are heavy on things like cognitive neuroscience and counseling psych research trends more towards the social psych domain, though obviously exceptions exist.
