PhD/PsyD Unrelated research experience?

[Lunargravity]

So I have been considering other pursuits if medicine doesn't work out after a few cycles and the field that I could also see myself in is clinical psychology, as I've always been drawn to it and it is something I keep coming back to if I were to not become a physician. However, I don't have any relevant psychology research and have only been in an ecology lab since last summer. I am grateful and enjoy what I'm doing in the lab and the skills I'm learning while in my post-bacc, as I never was able to get any positions during undergrad. I do plan to stick it out with this lab much longer as well. A masters in clinical or experimental psychology is something I've considered as well before jumping to a Ph.D. I think I would be fine with just being a clinician, so a Psy. D is also something I've considered but get kinda caught up on the costs. I know med school is my main focus and goal, as I want to be a psychiatrist one day, but I just want to be informed more about some other options I could pursue if life has other plans for me.

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[jdawg2017]

The earnings potential of a physician, relative to debt, is *substantially* better than pursuing a PsyD.

Some folks find PsyD training beneficial, but if your end goal is to be a clinician and do therapy, MSW or LMHC programs (or similar terminal masters, license-eligible training programs) would be quicker and make more financial sense.

I am not sure if the ecology lab work will be helpful for clinical psych PhD program submissions, aside from showing you have some basic lab and science skills. Another option, aside from masters programs before going to a doctoral program, could be do work as a research assistant in a psychology lab that studies something of your interest for a couple of years. Lots of folks do this and then either go on to clinical psych PhD programs or medical school, depending on how your interests unfold.

 

[summerbabe]

Working in an ecology lab would likely be viewed as a general extracurricular activity since it's not likely to make you more successful at completing your doctoral studies in psychology.

A masters in clinical or experimental psychology is something I've considered as well before jumping to a Ph.D.

Much like how med school applicants need to put together a profile that includes altruistic extracurriculars, shadowing, and stats to be competitive, you'll need to do the same for a funded PhD. I agree with the other poster that volunteering in a psych lab is a good option since it can provide you with opportunities to help design, propose, analyze, and write up projects (in addition to data entry and managing studies). And it might fit better with your timeline considerations and current pursuit of med school admission.

However, if your UG transcript has very few psychology courses, doing well in a masters program could be helpful. Not having certain UG courses or meeting a credit threshold can be a barrier for some programs from what I recall when I applied.

Have you also considered being a psychiatric nurse practitioner? My VA hospital has trouble hiring psychiatrists so we are shifting more and more outpatient appointments with NPs (and to a lesser degree, clinical pharmacists).

 

[Lunargravity]

The earnings potential of a physician, relative to debt, is *substantially* better than pursuing a PsyD.

Some folks find PsyD training beneficial, but if your end goal is to be a clinician and do therapy, MSW or LMHC programs (or similar terminal masters, license-eligible training programs) would be quicker and make more financial sense.

I am not sure if the ecology lab work will be helpful for clinical psych PhD program submissions, aside from showing you have some basic lab and science skills. Another option, aside from masters programs before going to a doctoral program, could be do work as a research assistant in a psychology lab that studies something of your interest for a couple of years. Lots of folks do this and then either go on to clinical psych PhD programs or medical school, depending on how your interests unfold.

I am actually waiting to hear back from a job offer to be a research assistant in a neuropsychology lab I had the interview the week before last. It might take some time since here in Texas we had the freeze and power and water outages last week, but we'll see.

 

[Lunargravity]

Working in an ecology lab would likely be viewed as a general extracurricular activity since it's not likely to make you more successful at completing your doctoral studies in psychology.

Much like how med school applicants need to put together a profile that includes altruistic extracurriculars, shadowing, and stats to be competitive, you'll need to do the same for a funded PhD. I agree with the other poster that volunteering in a psych lab is a good option since it can provide you with opportunities to help design, propose, analyze, and write up projects (in addition to data entry and managing studies). And it might fit better with your timeline considerations and current pursuit of med school admission.

However, if your UG transcript has very few psychology courses, doing well in a masters program could be helpful. Not having certain UG courses or meeting a credit threshold can be a barrier for some programs from what I recall when I applied.

Have you also considered being a psychiatric nurse practitioner? My VA hospital has trouble hiring psychiatrists so we are shifting more and more outpatient appointments with NPs (and to a lesser degree, clinical pharmacists).

I actually was a psychology major and have a 3.85 in my major gpa. A masters is definitely something I've been considering and if I weren't to get in this upcoming cycle for med school I would look into studying for the GRE. I am also waiting to hear back if I will be hired in a neuropsych lab. I do appreciate the response, thank you!