Research Experience

[1985psych]

Hello,

I am writing because I have been confused about something. I have aspirations to be a clinical psychologist. I've figured that to do this, I should get a master's in general/experimental psych first, then go to a Ph.D. program. I am doing this in order to gain more research experience in fields related to clinical psychology. However, I have lots of research in the Human Factors field. I've worked as a RA in this field for the past 2 years, have conducted several user tests and am already published. This is because I was almost dead set on this field, as I've worked in IT for 4-5 years, but after some soul searching, I realized that I crave something more in tune with the human condition and want more human interaction.

I was wondering if this type of research experience sufficient for me to get into a Clinical Psych. Ph.D. program? Or, am I doing the right thing by getting my Master's first b/c Clinical psych programs want to see more research related to that field, in field like neuropsych, social psych, cognitive psych, etc.?

Thanks.

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[apumic]

Assuming the human factors research was done under a psychology professor who can give you a good LOR, I see no reason you could not apply now. Two years and an author credit sound good. Do you have any experience that would help you back up your desire for clinical? You'll want to have experience or something to use in your purpose statement to convince the schools that you really want to be a clinical psychologist and not involved in human factors anymore, but you sound like you'd be fine applying now to me. (Except, perhaps, that the first schools' deadlines are in less than 2 weeks!)