Teach For America

[OhioStateUnderG]

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Curious what thoughts are on Teach For America and Phd Clinical Psych. Currently have a strong GPA, LOR, and a fair range of research exposure as an undergraduate.

I am choosing to participate in Teach For America because, to me, it is something important that I wish to be a part of. Even if it turns out to just be for two years. I also strongly wish to enter into the field of Clinical Psychology, eventually. I did not apply this year after much discussion (and realizing my desire for this before graduate school) with professors and advisers, a strong point being my focus was not entirely certain. But, that is actually coming together nicely and in the next two quarters at my school I will be continuing with one research group and starting in another (more intense) one.

So my question is this: Does Teach for America standout on a graduate application for a clinical psych phd program? I know a lot of people who plan on going into law school complete this program, and it seems to give them a little boost. Clinical Psychology seems to have very specific requests for it's applicants, such as strong GRE, GPA, LOR, and research (publications are nice) as well as I am being told some work experience. I had planned on applying to some post-bac RA positions if I did not receive a TFA offer, but I have accepted and now am curious if I should plan on perhaps pursuing a year of RA "real-world" work once my two years (or however long...if I choose to continue, if that is possible) is up. This is not a pressing issue at the moment, but does constantly weigh on my mind.

Furthermore, nothing that is said will sway my decision of accepting TFA as I am growing more and more passionate the more I learn and fall harder into the issues presented. So, be honest. 😀

 

[VeryHopeful2010]

Curious what thoughts are on Teach For America and Phd Clinical Psych. Currently have a strong GPA, LOR, and a fair range of research exposure as an undergraduate.

I am choosing to participate in Teach For America because, to me, it is something important that I wish to be a part of. Even if it turns out to just be for two years. I also strongly wish to enter into the field of Clinical Psychology, eventually. I did not apply this year after much discussion (and realizing my desire for this before graduate school) with professors and advisers, a strong point being my focus was not entirely certain. But, that is actually coming together nicely and in the next two quarters at my school I will be continuing with one research group and starting in another (more intense) one.

So my question is this: Does Teach for America standout on a graduate application for a clinical psych phd program? I know a lot of people who plan on going into law school complete this program, and it seems to give them a little boost. Clinical Psychology seems to have very specific requests for it's applicants, such as strong GRE, GPA, LOR, and research (publications are nice) as well as I am being told some work experience. I had planned on applying to some post-bac RA positions if I did not receive a TFA offer, but I have accepted and now am curious if I should plan on perhaps pursuing a year of RA "real-world" work once my two years (or however long...if I choose to continue, if that is possible) is up. This is not a pressing issue at the moment, but does constantly weigh on my mind.

Furthermore, nothing that is said will sway my decision of accepting TFA as I am growing more and more passionate the more I learn and fall harder into the issues presented. So, be honest. 😀

Congratulations on your decision to pursue TFA following college. If you are placed in an urban area, or near a university or medical center, I would highly recommend volunteering on a research study. I was working full time in an unrelated career before pursuing my PhD, and volunteered in the evenings and weekends to enter and analyze data on a study at a major medical center. I boosted the research section of my CV, and the PI wrote me a letter to graduate school,- and I was accepted into several programs. Hope this helps!

 

[PsychScience]

Curious what thoughts are on Teach For America and Phd Clinical Psych. Currently have a strong GPA, LOR, and a fair range of research exposure as an undergraduate.

I am choosing to participate in Teach For America because, to me, it is something important that I wish to be a part of. Even if it turns out to just be for two years. I also strongly wish to enter into the field of Clinical Psychology, eventually. I did not apply this year after much discussion (and realizing my desire for this before graduate school) with professors and advisers, a strong point being my focus was not entirely certain. But, that is actually coming together nicely and in the next two quarters at my school I will be continuing with one research group and starting in another (more intense) one.

So my question is this: Does Teach for America standout on a graduate application for a clinical psych phd program? I know a lot of people who plan on going into law school complete this program, and it seems to give them a little boost. Clinical Psychology seems to have very specific requests for it's applicants, such as strong GRE, GPA, LOR, and research (publications are nice) as well as I am being told some work experience. I had planned on applying to some post-bac RA positions if I did not receive a TFA offer, but I have accepted and now am curious if I should plan on perhaps pursuing a year of RA "real-world" work once my two years (or however long...if I choose to continue, if that is possible) is up. This is not a pressing issue at the moment, but does constantly weigh on my mind.

Furthermore, nothing that is said will sway my decision of accepting TFA as I am growing more and more passionate the more I learn and fall harder into the issues presented. So, be honest. 😀

I did a very similar program for two years before going into graduate school for clinical psychology (I applied for Ph.D programs in my second year of volunteering). For some programs I applied to they liked that I had this on my application but for other programs, they could not have cared less and had more of "why don't you have more research experience when you took two years off of school" kind of attitude. However, I think my experience suggests that it is possible to do community/volunteer work and then go straight into graduate school. If possible, try and get more research experience and possibly a publication or two (this will help you a ton). If you are going to get more research experience, I would not recommend doing that at the same time as you are completing your TFA years. The time commitment involved in this work makes it virtually impossible to do both jobs well.

 

[docma]

If you are considering Counseling Psychology or School Psychology programs they will absolutely value what you gain through TFA; if you actually have possible programs identified you could even make a similar inquiry to them directly later in the spring as a way of indicating your interest. It may be worth, however, getting current profs to draft LORs now that they or you can have on file for the future.--things can change in the academic world over 2 years and it is important to keep them updated on what you do after graduation. I agree that being able to do anything other than TFA is probably unlikely (eg: research/volunteer work) as it is a very full time committment in itself. But you will gain valuable material for application essays and no doubt come out of the corps with a strong sense of what you want to do next. Congratulations! Getting into TFA is a significant accomplishment.