I have a few questions regarding research experience. How big of a factor is it for admission into a clinical psych PhD program? Is there a general rule of thumb for the length of time that you need to be involved in research prior to applying? Or is it more important to demonstrate that you were actively involved in the research? Finally, is it critical that your prior research "match" the work you want to do in graduate school?
On a personal note, I'm a little worried about this part of my application. I feel strong on the rest of the criteria, but research experience might be my achilles heel. I served as a research assistant for 1.5 years in a social cognition lab. I spearheaded a study (with the help of a grad student) that focused on how we differentially attend to fearful and angry faces. I was involved in practically every part of the research process (e.g., design, IRB/DRM, stimuli creation, ran the participants, input data, analysis, etc.) A lot of work, but it wasn't called a "senior thesis." Recently, I landed a paid research assistant position studying autism. I don't know how appealing this will be as were only a couple months from applying. Additionally, I want to pursue psychotherapy research, which isn't really related to what I've been doing. So no senior thesis, presentations, publications, etc. What are my chances? Be honest please....
On a personal note, I'm a little worried about this part of my application. I feel strong on the rest of the criteria, but research experience might be my achilles heel. I served as a research assistant for 1.5 years in a social cognition lab. I spearheaded a study (with the help of a grad student) that focused on how we differentially attend to fearful and angry faces. I was involved in practically every part of the research process (e.g., design, IRB/DRM, stimuli creation, ran the participants, input data, analysis, etc.) A lot of work, but it wasn't called a "senior thesis." Recently, I landed a paid research assistant position studying autism. I don't know how appealing this will be as were only a couple months from applying. Additionally, I want to pursue psychotherapy research, which isn't really related to what I've been doing. So no senior thesis, presentations, publications, etc. What are my chances? Be honest please....
