I'd like to know how possible it is for me to get into a Clinical/Counseling PhD program with a weak GPA but very strong research experience.
My undergrad GPA is 3.475. My psychology major GPA is 3.89. I double majored, and the grades from my other major dragged down my GPA. I was initially hoping that schools would be willing to only focus on my Psych GPA, but after doing more research, I feel like this is not a realistic expectation. I've never struggled with grades in psychology or statistics; it's always been my other major, which was quite brutal (i.e., exams where over 50% of the class failed) that I had difficulties with. Considering how difficult it was, I'm proud that I completed it and still proud of my GPA, all things considered. However, I know that I'm going up against people with GPA's in the 3.8-4.0 range. I did take one upper-level graduate statistics course and received an A, but I don't think this will hold much weight.
One thing that I do have going for me is research experience- I've been working full-time in psych research for 4 years now. I'm a co-author on 5 publications, and this fall I'm submitting 3 first-author papers for publication. I've presented papers at 5 conferences, including an international one. I'm a co-principal investigator of one research project with another research assistant, where we conduct our own research independently, without supervision (for the other projects I work on, the PI is always a research scientist with a PhD). I'm very comfortable with running analyses in SPSS. I've worked on about 20 different research projects, 3 of which I have been a key contributor on for over 3 years. The research topics vary greatly, so I usually have at least one overlapping research interest with at least one professor at the schools I want to apply to, and I feel confident in my ability to have an intellectual conversation on these topics (i.e., not just stating the research I've done but also asking thoughtful questions about the research the professor has done and ways I'd be interesting in continuing the research).
GRE scores: Verbal=160; Quant=162; Writing=5
Do I stand any chance with such a low UG GPA? I have no intention of applying to schools like Harvard/Columbia/UPenn- I'm focusing on schools that are less competitive (while still being funded), but I'm continually left feeling like I have no chance.
Any honest advice would be greatly appreciated.