What's your backup plan?

[magpie77]

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I'm currently a college senior, applying to clinical psych phd programs. I've applied to a lot of programs with the appropriate mix of reaches and "safetys" (is there a such thing as a clinical safety school?) to increase my chances. Still, I'm realistic and I know it's a long shot. So, I'm interested in hearing what your backup plan is/was for clinical psych applicants. What are you going to do next year if you *cringe* don't get in?

For myself, I've applied to several psyc master's programs where I could boost my research experience. However, I'm thinking more and more about just moving somewhere and taking med school prerequisites, then going into psychiatry or neurology. My interests are fairly research-oriented and neurological, so I think I would be comfortable with that. I just don't know if I could put myself through this process again next year if the unspeakable happens.

 

[shock-me-sane]

I don't like to think about not getting in, but one of my backups will be done once I graduate. I can work as a nurse and support myself. I have considered applying to masters programs in psych or maybe masters in public health.

I really don't want to have to try again next year. I feel like I have to plow through this or I won't do it. I took too much time already finishing up my undergrad. I feel somewhat okay about my chances as I applied to good matches and I have decent stats and a somewhat unique background. My letter writers have also been really positive about my chances.

But right now I am just trying to stay positive and crossing my fingers for a few interviews and maybe even some choices about where I go.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

There really aren't 'backup programs', as they traditionally have a very low acceptance rate. Some people seem to go the MS route, and others become/continue to be a grad assistant for another year before re-applying.

-t

 

[WaitingKills]

This is my second time applying...

If I don't get in this time, I going to take off in a plane in May back to the land of sunshine and happiness, Australia. I'm a registered clinical psych down there already so I think I'll work there for a year and then consider applying for a third and final time back in Canada.

I tell you, it really blows that the registration requirements are SO different between the two countries.

 

[spillsomepaint]

This is my second time applying...

If I don't get in this time, I going to take off in a plane in May back to the land of sunshine and happiness, Australia. I'm a registered clinical psych down there already so I think I'll work there for a year and then consider applying for a third and final time back in Canada.

I tell you, it really blows that the registration requirements are SO different between the two countries.

I had no idea you were practicing (or able to in australia)! I am awfully curious what the major distinctions are between the two requirements.

 

[spillsomepaint]

btw hogwarts is my back up plan.

 

[magpie77]

I really don't want to have to try again next year. I feel like I have to plow through this or I won't do it. I took too much time already finishing up my undergrad. I feel somewhat okay about my chances as I applied to good matches and I have decent stats and a somewhat unique background. My letter writers have also been really positive about my chances.

But right now I am just trying to stay positive and crossing my fingers for a few interviews and maybe even some choices about where I go.

I know what you mean. Right now I'd settle for a single interview and acceptance.

 

[Ollie123]

Drugs?

Seriously, if I had not gotten in, I'd have moved to a different lab to get a job that better matched my research area and focus on getting a publication or two and making some connections.

If that failed, I'm quite confident I could get into an I/O or organizational behaviors program so I'd have probably gone that route. I still hope to do some collaborative work in that area😉

I picked clinical psych because it was "best" for me, and I definitely think its worth striving towards whatever is best for you. That being said, I could have been perfectly happy in I/O, corporate law, medicine or any number of other fields - if one path seemed closed to me, sometimes its a sign that another path is worth pursuing. I think there are very few people for whom "psychologist" is a calling, for everyone else I think its perfectly reasonable to approach things rationally and if psych is no longer an option for one reason or another, well, most people have more than one thing they enjoy doing🙂

 

[blindblonde]

Well, I had to use my backup plan last year, so it is good to think about it (as much as you may hate it). I took the MA route and will re-apply next year. Although next year, I think I will apply to some personality PhD. programs as well (since that is the research I am doing now). If I don't get into a program next year, i don't know what I'll do.

There is one thing to keep in mind. Although I have a strong internal locus of control, I had to recognize that applying to clinical programs also involves a lot of luck. So if things don't turn out well, have several backup plans. You never know when you may need it.

Good luck everyone!

 

[Cobblestone]

Honestly, not getting accepted to research based neuropsych programs in 2002 was the best thing that ever happened to me. Hear me out🙂

After being rejected:
1) I took a job in behavior analysis in special education
2) Got promoted at work
3) met my fiancee (also at work)
4) opened my own business
5) bought a fast car😀
7) Volunteered to help with therapy with individuals with traumatic brain damage
8) woke up one morning and realized that while I still love neuropsych, I really love working with people. Changed my outlook & goals to clinical neuropsych.
9) after 5 years of vacation from school, I started the application process this summer for clinical neuropsych programs.
10)I'm planning on selling my share of my business to my partners.
11) My grad school applications will now have a lot more clinical experience on them than they did when I was 22, as well as more research experience. I also have the benefit of the maturity that comes with running your own business, supervising people, and being 7 years older than the 22 year olds I'll be competing with. Serioiusly, after owning a small business and teaching special ed at the same time, it takes at LOT to freak me out or make me stress. Even the worst tales of grad school that I hear on this board still sound fun to me.

The morale of my story: Just because you're not accepted, its not the end of the world. Find something, do it well, and use it to make yourself a better applicant (even if it takes a while for you to apply again).

 

[WaitingKills]

I had no idea you were practicing (or able to in australia)! I am awfully curious what the major distinctions are between the two requirements.

Yep yep. Registered psych in Queensland. I actually did my master's down there, which is a much more rigorous program than the master's programs in the States and Canada. So after doing all the competencies and everything, I was able to remove my provisional status.

The doctorate degrees down there are different than North America. The Ph.D is strictly research (no practicums or courses) and the DPsych (the clinical degree, not the same as a psy.d) is only a year longer than the master's (they're integrated), includes a 6 month practicum, larger thesis and one advanced psych class. So again, not the same as a Ph.D here.

I was accepted into both doctoral level programs at my university down there but decided to not do them because I want to be able to register and work in Canada. I was not at all confident that the DPsych would be recognized, even though when my master's and that are combined it works out to almost the same amount of classes, same thesis size and requirements and same length of practicums/internships, except they are broken up (3-4 month prac's for masters and 6 month for doctorate). I didn't want to waste my time or money.

So ya.. for my last 6 months in Australia, I was a registered psych practicing in a government hospital making good money. I come back to Canada and I'm a 'therapist' making about $8-10 less than there. Totally blows.

 

[psychwanabe]

My backup plan was PsyD programs, which is pretty interesting. For various reasons my advisor recommended PsyD as backup rather than Masters programs. I only applied to two (11 apps total, all the others were clinical PhD programs). I was interviewed and accepted at both PsyD's and was interviewed and first alternate waitlisted at two PhD programs. Rather than wait and reapply the next cycle, I decided to accept one of the PsyD programs.

I am in the perfect place, doing exactly what I want to do with people I love. I am going to be able to do my dissertation and any other research on the topics I love and that I would never have been able to do at the PhDs I applied to (in hindsight, the advice I received for schools I should apply to was bad and I shouldn't have followed it).

As others have posted, you never know how things will work out for you. My other backup plan was to get a job doing research and try again. I am glad I made the choice I did.

Good luck!

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

11) My grad school applications will now have a lot more clinical experience on them than they did when I was 22, as well as more research experience. I also have the benefit of the maturity that comes with running your own business, supervising people, and being 7 years older than the 22 year olds I'll be competing with. Serioiusly, after owning a small business and teaching special ed at the same time, it takes at LOT to freak me out or make me stress. Even the worst tales of grad school that I hear on this board still sound fun to me.

This is why I think it is important for people to take time in between undergrad and graduate school. I felt SO much more prepared for all of the peripheral stressors and things that come with moving 2,000 miles away and starting a clinical program.

-t

 

[scienceisbeauty]

This is why I think it is important for people to take time in between undergrad and graduate school. I felt SO much more prepared for all of the peripheral stressors and things that come with moving 2,000 miles away and starting a clinical program.

-t

I'm going to take a year off ..... but the way you phrase it, it seems as though you're advising more time than a year. Am I correct? It's hard for some people do this because of family/societal pressures "When are you finally going to get a 'more than minimum wage paying bachelor's job'?" for instance....

 

[Ollie123]

One year off is okay, but the problem is that your application likely won't see one of the major benefits of taking time off since you'll have only been working in whatever job for a few months at that point, which isn't enough time for one to be heavily involved in a research project, or get a great LOR from said researcher.

That being said, shop around for jobs if they are trying to hire you at minimum wage post-BA. I got $14/hr and full benefits (medical, dental, vision, paid sick, holiday, vacation) in a relatively low cost-of-living area. Its crap compared to what I'd make if I'd gone the business route, but still about double minimum wage, plus MUCH better benefits than most minimum wage jobs carry.

My family was the same way about that (and they didn't want me to leave the area for grad school - and now here I am at the opposite end of the country) - my advice is tell them to back off and that working for a low wage now will likely mean you'll likely get into a better grad school, and be better prepared once you're IN graduate school, which will result in more money later on when it matters (assuming you don't have kids or anything now and can survive on something like 25-30k a year). I realize it isn't possible for everyone, but I hate to see people making decisions because of what other people think is best for them, rather than what actually is.

 

[scienceisbeauty]

my advice is tell them to back off and that working for a low wage now will likely mean you'll likely get into a better grad school, and be better prepared once you're IN graduate school, which will result in more money later on when it matters (assuming you don't have kids or anything now and can survive on something like 25-30k a year). I realize it isn't possible for everyone, but I hate to see people making decisions because of what other people think is best for them, rather than what actually is.

GOOD ADVICE! and yes yes no kids! I also hate having to hear always that oh why'd you choose psych, you're going to be poor you should have gone into commerce etc. But I really want to do this. I'm so dedicated and determined to do this. I want grad school and to do the things that help me get in so badly that it makes my insides hurt.
I'm glad you told me what you did because I felt as though I had no way to defend the validity of taking a low paying job.....but now I do!

 

[Ollie123]

Psh. I was planning on corporate law when I got to college(which would have netted me 3x the starting salary with half as much education, with an even bigger gap in earnings later on) before I switched into psychology. Money isn't everything and looking at my lifestyle, I really don't need much money to be happy. If I was earning that much all it would likely mean is a few rooms in my house I wouldn't know what to do with, and more money sitting in the bank not doing anything. I'm not even sure I want kids, let alone lots of kids, so I really have no idea what I would do with lots of money and its not like university professors are starving - they earn alot more than either of my parents do and I sure don't think of us as poor.

Screw societal pressure, you have to decide for yourself how to be happy, don't let others tell you what will make you happy.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

One year off is okay, but the problem is that your application likely won't see one of the major benefits of taking time off since you'll have only been working in whatever job for a few months at that point, which isn't enough time for one to be heavily involved in a research project, or get a great LOR from said researcher.

Exactly what I was thinking. I didn't plan on doing psych when I graduated.....so my time away from school was in a different area, but it gave me a great deal of experience in life. I had a pretty good application from my undergrad experience, so I skipped post-BA research experience, though I was only looking at programs that were equally split or more clinical.

-t

 

[wdd]

Exactly what I was thinking. I didn't plan on doing psych when I graduated.....so my time away from school was in a different area, but it gave me a great deal of experience in life. I had a pretty good application from my undergrad experience, so I skipped post-BA research experience, though I was only looking at programs that were equally split or more clinical.

-t

I'm in the same boat you were in, T. (Thanks for leaving the life vest) ... I had no genuine plans on going into psych until I'd been away from English grad school for a few years. So, while I don't have the research experience, I can always get that (or, preferably, the clinical, since I'm looking at more balanced/clin programs as well).

What I can't get from volunteering in a lab is the experiences of living as an adult with a mortgage and car payments, or the kind of mind-melting cubicle experience that should make me appreciate grad school even more.

On topic, though, I have another year till I have to seriously consider a backup plan, but all I know is, once I'm out of pharma, I'm not going back. I'd sooner sell used cars (actually, I might like that). But in reality, I'll probably try to get a paid research job and apply again the next year.

 

[socialcog]

Screw societal pressure, you have to decide for yourself how to be happy, don't let others tell you what will make you happy.

indeed. indeed. nothing else is as true as this.

 

[scienceisbeauty]

Screw societal pressure, you have to decide for yourself how to be happy, don't let others tell you what will make you happy.

So true, yet so tough to follow at times. If there's constant beratement of your achievments (so at least you think they are achievements) then it's hard ... to just "go at them like there's no tomorrow". Some folks don't understand that a lot of hard work goes into doing research, they don't understad why I stay up late, get frustrated with data...."Why can't you just be a happy kid like everyone else's kid and go and find a job"
Doesn't help in the least that I have 2 cousins (3 if you count the one in school) who is doing business and are earning -- from graduating not even 3 years ago -- upwards of 100 K.
Money isn't everything, but apparently it plays a large part in showing how one is "successful and capable of supporting oneself". Grr as if doing grad school is simpy just more years of school for no reason GRR
😡 GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

 

[islandgirl1]

my aunt asked me yesterday, "so... have you gotten into a school yet?"
like it's the easiest thing in the world! 😡

i have had a lot of time to think about my Plans C and D though (i'm on Plan B now-reapplying)
either
a) occupational therapy
or
b) social work

 

[blindblonde]

my aunt asked me yesterday, "so... have you gotten into a school yet?"
like it's the easiest thing in the world! 😡

Ha, I feel your pain there. Once I explained to people that the odds of getting to some programs were less than 3-5%, it usually shuts them up. However, it never goes away. When I try to explain to family the work I'm doing in my masters program and life as a grad student, it is hard for them to understand (particularly grades, such as C's on midterms). So yeah, it can be annoying and frustrating, but it is something you'll have to get used to.

Also, great comments above. I'm glad this thread is popular early in the application process. It isn't something you really want to think about, but you need to.

Good luck!

 

[psychwanabe]

Ha, I feel your pain there. Once I explained to people that the odds of getting to some programs were less than 3-5%, it usually shuts them up. However, it never goes away. When I try to explain to family the work I'm doing in my masters program and life as a grad student, it is hard for them to understand (particularly grades, such as C's on midterms). So yeah, it can be annoying and frustrating, but it is something you'll have to get used to.

I got these same kinds of responses last year. I was trying to be very realistic about my chances of getting in, and saying "IF I get into a grad program..." and my extended family poo-pooed me saying "you're an A student, of course you're going to get in!" People have no idea how competitive it is.

I did the same thing and told them that at my top choice, only 2% of the people who apply are accepted. They didn't even know how to respond to that.