Viable plan B

[Emilee]

Hi All,

So far I have received mostly rejections, am waitlisted at two school, and have not received any acceptances. So I am coming to terms with the possibility that I will not be going to a clinical program next year. What would be a good plan B for next year, if I already have a masters. I would like some type of research job, but how does one go about getting one? I have been checking jobs sites and university websites, but research jobs are not listed. I am just out of luck because of the economy or am I looking in the wrong place.

This Plan B might have to be permanent. I have been spending the past three years preparing to apply to clinical programs and improving my credentials. I am starting to think I need to move on with my life and get a real job....Ahh this is so frustrating.

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[deleted176373]

Hi All,

So far I have received mostly rejections, am waitlisted at two school, and have not received any acceptances. So I am coming to terms with the possibility that I will not be going to a clinical program next year. What would be a good plan B for next year, if I already have a masters. I would like some type of research job, but how does one go about getting one? I have been checking jobs sites and university websites, but research jobs are not listed. I am just out of luck because of the economy or am I looking in the wrong place.

This Plan B might have to be permanent. I have been spending the past three years preparing to apply to clinical programs and improving my credentials. I am starting to think I need to move on with my life and get a real job....Ahh this is so frustrating.

Dust yourself off, and apply again next year and work as if you were going to be in the job on a permanent basis. It takes the pressure off and you can then be really picky about the programs you would accept. Focus on match, it's critical. Don't panic yet. I was accepted to my number 1 choice April 12th after being told I was out of the running. Strange things can and do happen around the 15th. Good luck!

Mark

 

[knowing]

Hi All,

So far I have received mostly rejections, am waitlisted at two school, and have not received any acceptances. So I am coming to terms with the possibility that I will not be going to a clinical program next year. What would be a good plan B for next year, if I already have a masters. I would like some type of research job, but how does one go about getting one? I have been checking jobs sites and university websites, but research jobs are not listed. I am just out of luck because of the economy or am I looking in the wrong place.

This Plan B might have to be permanent. I have been spending the past three years preparing to apply to clinical programs and improving my credentials. I am starting to think I need to move on with my life and get a real job....Ahh this is so frustrating.

Keep your head up, square your shoulders and apply again. Then like Mark said you can be choosy about a good match for you. Believe me...I am feeling it too..the frustration..The more I read on this website the more I realize I may not get in at all ever.... And I have all this year to work on it. My point is determination and diligence will get you through to where you want to be...

 

[cara susanna]

I think I'm going to accept an offer into a Masters program if I get it (which they gave me the impression was likely, but honestly this process has taught me never to think anything is a done deal until you actually have the acceptance in hand) and then apply to their PhD program, as well as maybe a few others.

That, or an RA job.

 

[Aggieanthony]

Hi All,

So far I have received mostly rejections, am waitlisted at two school, and have not received any acceptances. So I am coming to terms with the possibility that I will not be going to a clinical program next year. What would be a good plan B for next year, if I already have a masters. I would like some type of research job, but how does one go about getting one? I have been checking jobs sites and university websites, but research jobs are not listed. I am just out of luck because of the economy or am I looking in the wrong place.

This Plan B might have to be permanent. I have been spending the past three years preparing to apply to clinical programs and improving my credentials. I am starting to think I need to move on with my life and get a real job....Ahh this is so frustrating.

Emilee,

I suggest an active approach instead of a passive one. What I mean is that instead of browsing a university's website, hopelessly looking for a list of (highly competitive) RAs, you look at the "faculty" portion of the website. Besides the obvious, this page will also tell you all about each faculty member's specialization/interests, and if you find someone that matches with you, e-mail/call him or her!

That might sound rudimentary, and you might have already done so, but that's exactly how I got my foot in the door for my very first RA and that first contact has served me all the way to entrance to a PhD program!

Also, where did you get your Master's from, (I assume you have one, based on your OP) and if you haven't spoken to your former professors from there, why haven't you? Did you distinguish yourself at all in UG so that perhaps there's a prof. there that can take you into his or her lab for a semester/quarter? Who wrote your LoRs for your Master's? Have you hammered them for space yet?

If you feel that you're qualified for the programs you applied to (I.e., you don't have a 2.8 Jr/Sr GPA, 3.1 Master's GPA and a 900 GRE composite and you tried for an Ivy), then you need to isolate why it is that perhaps they declined your application! Perhaps, despite academically "matching", you just didn't want to study what those particular Universities study. I've observed that as a common reason for UGs and Grads alike that don't get into PhD/PsyD programs here on SDN.

Whatever the case may be, you need not forfeit your dreams so quickly. As has been noted by several laureate posters here on SDN, a doctorate comes not without much sacrifice and blood. Don't resign yourself so quickly to a "real job" (Although I'm unsure of what you really mean by that) and just re-double your efforts and bolster your CV. Research will almost certainly accomplish this, and to figure out some new avenues for RAs that might very well exist in your reach, read a couple paragraphs up. =)

Hope this helps.

 

[cara susanna]

Dust yourself off, and apply again next year and work as if you were going to be in the job on a permanent basis. It takes the pressure off and you can then be really picky about the programs you would accept. Focus on match, it's critical. Don't panic yet. I was accepted to my number 1 choice April 12th after being told I was out of the running. Strange things can and do happen around the 15th. Good luck!

Mark

Would you mind sharing the story? Were you waitlisted and then told you were out, or just outright rejected? You can PM if you want. Sorry, I need to hear a "success" story like that right now

 

[Emilee]

Thanks everyone for the advice. My present advisor did offer me a spot in her lab next year, but funding is limited. In addition, I think the type of research I am doing is part of the problem, since the program I'm in is not a clinical program. My thesis has clinical components, but some of the other research I do don't. So I think I will try to get a position during clinical research and think about re-applying in a year or two. It just hard being near 30 and thinking about how I haven't really started my life yet.

On the upside, one of the schools I am waitlisted at has sent me several hopeful emails. They only have three spots, so I was expecting to be waitlisted. But it sounds like I am at the top of the list. So maybe I won't need that plan B after all.

Oh and let me add that NIH is receiving extra money for medical and behavioral science fellowships as part of the stimulus package, so a few researchers may have extra money to take on extra RAs. So there are some rays of sunshine peeking through the rain clouds.

 

[Aggieanthony]

It just hard being near 30 and thinking about how I haven't really started my life yet.

I certainly know the feeling! Resulting from 4 years with the Army, I am starting really late compared to the guys and gals I graduated with in 2004.

But, as my mother constantly reminds me, 30 is just the start of your life!

 

[Cosmo75]

I agree with what others have said. And 30 isn't the end of the world I started grad school when I was almost 29. You won't be the only "older" student around.

 

[Psyched77]

I agree with what others have said. And 30 isn't the end of the world I started grad school when I was almost 29. You won't be the only "older" student around.

Definitely! I started at 31 with no masters.

 

[deleted176373]

Would you mind sharing the story? Were you waitlisted and then told you were out, or just outright rejected? You can PM if you want. Sorry, I need to hear a "success" story like that right now

Cara,

I don't mind sharing it publicly, it was rather amusing. I think I have shared it before, so others please forgive the repetition.

I had interviewed at USUHS and was told that I would not be offered admission but that I was highly ranked amongst the interview candidates. (There were only 5 of us!) I asked if the candidates had both passed their physicals and if either would be disqualified what would happen. To which the answer was, "That won't happen." Well in early April one of the two who were accepted tore his ACL playing basketball. This medically eliminated him from attending USUHS and freed up a slot. I was contacted on April 12th, and asked if I wanted the slot. At this point I had already accepted at Texas A&M and was looking for property out there in College Station.

Even stranger though, was April 16th I was contacted by the University of Maine and asked if I would like to attend there. I had not previously interviewed with the program but obviously things had not gone well with the applicants and I was at the top of that list. So I had 2 last minute offers.

Good luck and may your April be as strange as mine was!

Mark

 

[cara susanna]

Oh wow, that's so interesting! Thanks for sharing, and for the well wishes