Your honest evaluation of my chances

[ninahas]

Dear friends ,

I am looking at doing a Phd. in Counselling Psychology and come from a very non-traditional background to do so. Please take a look at my profile and tell if i am nuts to be considering this.

My profile
* BA and MA in economics from Illinois Wesleyan University(IL. USA) and Tufts university (MA, USA) respectively
* Undergrad GPA of 3.7
* I expect to do fairly well on the GRE General Test (maybe 80th percentile and above)
* Am an Indian citizen and will be an international student seeking financial aid
*No psych courses - do have statistics courses. Will have a certificate 100 hours classroom course in counselling from a local indian institute.
* Have a corporate career currently of about 8 years or so (international experience in the US and India)
* Am not looking at organizational psychology as a research area, this is really a career change !!!
* Am 35 years old.

I would love an outsider's perspective on my weaknesses and strengths. What should i emphasize in my application (if I do apply) ? Are student visas granted for such courses by the US embassies ? How do you think I would fare vis-a-vis other students.

Thank you for reading this and I highly appreciate any comments you may have. I do hope I can return the favour someday to you or to other aspiring grad students

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[cmuhooligan]

Without having any psychology courses under your belt, and having no research experience, I'm afraid you wouldn't stand a chance. Most programs require that you have at least a minor (or equivalent) in undergraduate psychology courses. In addition, you would need to demonstrate some research experience. Perhaps you should consider taking some time to enroll in psych courses at your local university, as well as seek out research opportunities.

Best of luck.

 

[ninahas]

Dear cmuhooligan,

Thank you for your reply...

Do you think having research experience in my previous major counts for anything ?

I've seen some schools say they dont require previous psych coursework - what then are they looking for ?

thanks again, N

 

[cmuhooligan]

Dear cmuhooligan,

Thank you for your reply...

Do you think having research experience in my previous major counts for anything ?

I've seen some schools say they dont require previous psych coursework - what then are they looking for ?

thanks again, N

I think that having research experience in psychology is important.

As for schools that don't require previous psychology coursework, I haven't encountered this before. Honestly, I would be a little leery of any school which didn't require students to have at least a basic foundation in psychology. Just my opinion though.

 

[sicologia]

I would agree that you should, at the very least, have a basic/Intro psychology course and, perhaps, a handful of other courses. The problem with allowing people into psych doctoral programs without any coursework (albeit, some experience) is that there is no way of knowing how you may perform on graduate level psychology courses. I would fatten your chances by taking a course or two and that way showing your sincere interest in the field. Good luck to you!

 

[JockNerd]

We have an incoming student in my (rather competitive, not to put too fine a point on it) counseling psych program who I believe has an economics degree or something similar. I think he was doing wage disparity research or something. I don't believe he had a background in psych at all, but I think he did a bunch of research in econ.

 

[RayneeDeigh]

Since you have no psych coursework they're going to expect you to take the Subject GRE as well.

I think you could probably spin your previous coursework to sell your research experience if done correctly.

 

[dekared82]

I would ask the programs, because most programs do have specific requirements regarding the number of psych courses in undergrad you need to have for admittance to grad school. I know people who have had degrees in History and Computer Science...and they had some coursework in Psych.

 

[elite1]

You are going to want to buy the American Psychological Association's book about getting into graduate school. I forget the exact title but getting into clinical or counseling programs is VERY hard --- the most difficult graduate program to get into. The book is available at apa.org


Found it; here is the direct link:

http://books.apa.org/books.cfm?id=4313018

 

[CheetahGirl]

Hi Ninahas,

You asked for an honest opinion: You have to ask yourself...why all the education (one BA, two MAs) in your career path, which may lead to an additional MA and PhD once you complete a program? Were you being tactful, indecisive, a spendthrift, lofty? What happened to you to spark the transition from economics to psychology? These are rhetorical questions - I'm not intending for you to reply to - but, during interviews for PhD programs, especially in clinical psychology, they will ask you these obvious questions. Delve deeply into your personal experiences...make it interesting. Did your friend have a nervous breakdown and you helped out, discovering it was your calling in life? Did you volunteer at a clinic providing services to the underserved and realized you were more passionate about making changes to these individuals through psychology rather than economic analyses? Just "wanting to help people" doesn't sound unique, although it is true for all of us interested in this field...and your application must be unique in order to stand out amongst the hundreds of others (just being a foreign national and non-traditional doesn't separate you from the other foreign national, non-traditional applicants). Also, you've been educated in the US, so you can draw comparisons between psychology in the US and in India, which is a strong point - use this duality to your advantage.

As everyone else stated, you will need good grades in your psychology prerequisite courses and high scores on the GRE plus Psych GRE (look at the specific programs). You have the good grades in your past education. Just work on your personal statement to spin around why this change came about and how you can merge the past with the future goals.

Check the archives on this forum for information about personal statements and non-traditional students. A lot of good information has already been shared about making your application standout in this highly competitive arena. As for Visa information, call the US embassy (or go to the website) - start with the one in New York City - and begin your research there. You can also pick one US university and begin to correspond with them and model your preparation packet around what they suggest (although, when you get down to application time, you will need to check out each university individually).

Good luck!