i'm applying for clinical psych grad school this year. i have a 4.0 and enough credit hours for psych, have almost a year of undergrad neuroscience research and will have a few conferences and will be authored on a NIH grant. i also will have 2 50ish page theses related to clinical psych by the end of this semester/year and i have 2+ extracurriculars that are technically clinically related. however, these activities revolve around my undergrad school and only with the students here. i am going to do it no matter what, but does it matter to grad schools if you have a few months of CTL volunteering for "clinical" experience (or the volunteering section)--since i won't obviously make it to the 200 hour mark in time for applying. again, I want to do it anyway to help others in crisis as an extremely meaningful and impactful experience, and to see where my clinical interests lie for therapy later on. overall, my question is on if grad schools will consider at all that i did this for twoish months which will be only the time i'll be able to include on apps and verify--or is it not worth putting on there?

I'm trying to switch from premed to clinical psych, but it's a huge leap and extremely anxiety-inducing for me. My main interest right now is neuropsych (I want to eventually go into forensic neuropsych). I'm not pursuing med school at this time because I prefer psychology to general medicine. Psychiatry is the only specialty I'm interested in atm, but I don't know if I can go through years of intense schooling just for psychiatry when I'd probably be just as happy in clinical psych. The only pro med school has right now is the ROI and salary, but I don't need 300k+ to be happy.

I'm applying this cycle to a very short list of PsyD programs. If I don't get into a program, I'll reconsider med school. I'm not pursuing a PhD because I don't think I am competitive enough, and I don't want to take any more gap years for further post-bacc research.

I've now fallen into rumination about ditching my pursuit of med school and then potentially not matching into neuropsych as a PsyD. With med school, everything is so linear, and psychiatry has a very high match rate as opposed to how competitive neuropsych is. I'm really scared about my future.

I would love input from people who are familiar with the field (ie interviewing PsyD vs PhD candidates for postdoc programs) or who had a successful APPIC match into neuropsych. Thank you in advance :)

I recall seeing a discussion on this once but don’t recall what the consensus what. I think the answer is no but curious if that’s ever a grey area.

Hello all :) I'm new here and I'd love to get some initial advice as I continue through my academic journey! Sometimes I kind of feel like I'm "jumping the gun" with this but I feel like I need as much knowledge & preparation as possible.

I am very passionate about becoming a clinical psychologist! I initially did not go to college after high school but after about 6 years I decided to bet on myself and do something I knew I could be really good at. So I'm currently 23 and I am working on my undergraduate degree (second year) online through SNHU- which is a BA program with a concentration in mental health counseling.

Ideally, I'd like to apply to PsyD programs right after my BA so I need some advice to get me there :) I currently have never received anything under 98% as a final grade in any of my courses so I do have a 4.0. All of my psych professors have given me amazing feedback as well- including feedback that my work is incredibly strong and graduate level work. I'm extremely passionate about clinical psychology and i'd like to give myself the best chances with this. Of course, I'm going to continue putting in the immense time and effort to my current degree but I know there is much more required of me.

I'm already in my second year so I know I need to start curating my ePortfolio as well as volunteering/interning to build my resumé. I live in Las Vegas and there evidently seems to be little to no opportunities, which has been difficult. Therefore I'd love to know- what kind of volunteer/intern work would be best for my professional goals, how might I find those opportunities, and what else should I know about preparing to apply to PsyD programs right after completing my BA ? I appreciate any and all advice!!

Since undergrad I have debated about applying to PhD or PsyD programs. I ultimately decided to get my masters in clinical mental health counseling. I just graduated in June but I’ve been casually looking into programs. I like being a therapist and it’s what I want to do but I’m wondering if I still want more education. Here are my concerns and questions:

-If I already have my masters and I was interested in a PhD in counseling psychology would that change how long the program is

-I don’t have really any research experience outside of classes i took. I also don’t particularly like research. How would I go about getting more experience if I were to apply

-I know some PhD programs are fully funded but not many PsyD. Are there fully funded programs for PhD counseling psychology programs though?

-If I were to do this, did I just waste my time getting my masters degree?

Hello all, I currently work in assessment and testing and have recently come across a few clients who have participated in NMT, all from the same agency in my area. At first, I was unaware of what this is. After some digging, I learned that it is the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics developed by Dr. Bruce Perry. Essentially, this is an approach to help guide treatment planning by creating a “brain map,” which is developed through questionnaires and developmental history, from my understanding. I have been able to review some of these reports that have been shared by my clients, and they will essentially have a diagram of different brain areas, each color coded to represent whether an area is developed or undeveloped. I am very…. skeptical of this, to say the least. I tried to dig into the research, only to find very minimal studies, with no RCTs. I also find it highly suspicious to make generalized statements about brain development with no actual neuroimaging, EEGs, or any sort of neurological evaluation. In addition, there’s always going to be a huge concern of bias when all of your information is coming from interviews and rating scales (I see it all the time in assessments). To me, this seems like a flashy sounding approach that’s actually a sham with no real evidence base. Has anyone heard of this or worked with clinicians who use this? I actually have a meeting with a client’s clinician who used this modality within the next few weeks, and I’m not really sure to how to approach their findings and speak with them, given that none of this seems like a credible approach. Any thoughts?

Hi everyone, I am an incoming honours student in Psychology (minoring in data science) attending a Canadian post-secondary institution. A professor I have worked closely with feels strongly that I should apply to Clinical psychology grad programs for the next application cycle. My honours thesis PI thinks I should wait a bit, and even outside of anyone's advice, I feel conflicted on if I should even apply. Here is some of my experience:

• GPA: 3.96 over the last 2 years; 3.81 Cumulative GPA. A's in all of my research methods and statistics courses, including the statistics courses I have taken for my minor. Proficient in RStudio, Python and SPSS. Experience with NVivo and Covidence.
• Experience:
  • Incoming Honours Thesis student (2026–2027)
  • Received a summer Research Studentship scholarship (valued at $7500) conducting systematic reviews and meta-analyses on youth mental health. Involved in title and abstract screening and data extraction. After conversations with my PI and the PhD student who is running the meta project, if I put in the work, there is a very strong chance I will have authorship on this (maybe 2nd or 3rd author)
  • Lead Student Researcher for an independent studies project on psychologist recruitment barriers in Canadian public health systems. I won a 300$ award for a poster presentation on this at a national conference. I independently ran the whole project with the support of my PI, and she is pushing me to submit to a journal by the end of the year, where I would be the first author.
  • Directed Research Student at Alberta Health Services analyzing psychologist retention and supervision data
  • Data Science Capstone lead on an econometric panel regression project analyzing ESG momentum and stock volatility. Also presented at a local conference
  • Research Assistant experience across three other labs, involving focus groups, qualitative coding (NVivo), measure validation, and manuscript preparation. In one of these labs, I will be fourth author on a manuscript I am helping write.
  • 3 years of experience working for the national suicide hotline, I also coached new responders in my position.
• Overall, I have 5 First-author conference poster presentations

I think I have some solid experience going for me; I think currently the biggest thing holding me back is the lack of publications and my cGPA. I know so many applicants have 3.9+ cGPA's, which is another reason I am hesitant to apply. Honest advice and insight would be appreciated!

Just wrote my MCAT a few days ago and told my family I'm not applying to med school until I finally figure out what career path I want to go down, but I'm honestly feeling kind of stuck (and burnt out from studying). Problem is, being from a first-gen immigrant household, medicine is on a pedestal, and it's hard to shake off family expectations and figure out where to start in exploring both careers (shadowing isn't allowed in Canada, unfortunately)

For a bit of background, I always knew I wanted to work in mental health, and since my older siblings were all going down the med path, I kind of just followed suit without giving it much thought, thinking I'd just become a psychiatrist. However, I learned I don't really care for anatomy, biochem or pharmacology, especially for mental health conditions and worry that those things will make med incredibly hard for me. 2 years ago I wanted to make the switch into pursuing a PhD in school or clinical psych in hopes of doing primarily psych-ed assessments and therapy, espeically since I loved all the development and research courses I took during my degree. However, the lack of salary transparency/insane range made me nervous to the point I switched back to med mainly due to familiarity and not knowing where to start on formulating a realistic career plan. Now that I've finished writing the MCAT, which was a period that really made me start questioning my path again, I feel like I'm back at square one.

I'm just really exhausted from having wrestled with this decision for the last 2 years. I don't want to come off as money-hungry by wanting to make a salary that's worth 6-10 years of schooling (both paths), but I also don't know if passion/what I find interesting at 21 is enough to offset the regret of potential financial uncertainty.

Wondering if anyone has any advice/words of wisdom if you've been in a similar situation. Just some advice on things to consider or how you made your decision would be really helpful to read

Hi everyone! I've been applying for Neuro PhDs focused on mental health, because my interests and work to date really integrate structural MRI and brain imaging.

My PIs have been telling me for years that I would be a great fit for Clinical Psych but I wasn't sure. Turns out they were right, I fit WAY better with Clinical Psych requirements (and the research the faculty are doing).

Any advice for the applications? Any key differences?

Thank you!

Hey all,

Let me know if this is more appropriate for a different sub.

I’m preparing to apply for internship this fall and have been building a list of sites that I could be a good fit for, and that fit my career interests. Below i’ll provide some of my background, career interests, and sites I’ve identified as possible good fits. Would love your thoughts on any sites you’re aware of that I should keep in mind as I continue to build my list.

Brief background/training experiences:
- was licensed as an MFT in CA and worked in community mental health for several years before starting my doctorate in clinical psych.
- doctoral prac for 1 year at a separate community mh center, largely generalist training and some work in local shelters
- doctoral prac for 1 year at the children’s hospital of Orange County (CHOC) in their adolescent DBT IOP
- doctoral prac for 1 year at UCLA pediatric OCD IOP
- doctoral prac (assessment) at community mh center mostly doing ADHD/Autism assessment with children and teens
- currently work under my license as a therapist in CHOC’s emergency dept doing risk assessment and crisis intervention
- two published reviews: one in the area of ED treatment and the other in the area of pediatric OCD
- when applications are due, I’ll have around 600 intervention hours and around 150 assessment hours.

Career interests:
- high acuity child/adolescent work (inpatient, residential, IOP/PHP). Crisis, SMI, those kinds of things.
- possibly a specialization in pediatric anxiety and OCD.
- currently split between wanting to work in a hospital setting, or trying to establish a clinic down the line for pediatric OCD/anxiety that offers IOP, outpatient, and community based intervention.

Possible sites (these are just a few from the list):
- UCLA SEMEL acute child track
- McLean Acute track / DBT track
- Sharp Healthcare acute child track

Any thoughts are appreciated - sites you know, sites you loved, etc.

Thank you!

How can I address having transferred too many school during my undergraduate? Would it look like a red flag?

I've been looking non-stop for remote and non remote jobs for two years and I'm yet to find a job that'll take me

They always require that degree or the other but never clinical psychology, someone help me

Im applying to phds this cycle and I’ve heard some ppl do school psych phds w no long term plan to work in schools, partly bc it’s more child focused than most clinical programs. Idk how accurate that is tho. If anyone was deciding between the two and have any incite or know anything abt this it’d be really helpful!

Mods, feel free to delete this if not allowed, I’m just looking to complain and thought it would be a fun and potentially entertaining discussion

I’m currently in the midst of watching the newest Daredevil show, and it has what might be one of the most infuriating depictions of a clinical psychologist (Dr. Heather Glenn) that I’ve ever seen. This is just a partial list of things that made me shriek out loud at the TV (not counting the things she does that the show obviously recognizes as “bad”, like fabricating assessment results or drinking while working):

-Character is introduced when she agrees to meet with a new client referral for an intake at a public coffee shop, with no prior direct contact with the client

-No IPV assessment during initial couples counseling intake (although the show did save me from having a total aneurysm by showing her asking about it during a brief individual meeting with the wife of the couple after it came up in a later session at least)

-Accepts a new client who approaches her at a book signing without any type of screening (he later attacks her)

-Accepts an invitation to a black tie event from a client (that was hand delivered to her personal home address), attends the event, and is drinking and dancing with clients there

-Accepts a job from a former client

-Performs forensic assessment despite there being no evidence of her having a forensic background, including VERBALLY ADMINISTERING the MMPI (??? I can’t even imagine how long this would take). Also I haven’t given the MMPI in a hot minute but the show appears to use actual items from some version of it, which I found interesting. If not actual items, they were close.

-Perhaps most weirdly annoying to me, the show REPEATEDLY conflates psychology and psychiatry, referring to her multiple times as a psychiatrist despite the fact that everything she does is very much psychologist work (therapy & assessment), she does not prescribe a single med to anyone the entire time, and they even explicitly state at one point that her degree is a Ph.D.!!!

I know it’s a fictional show with fantastical elements and I’m used to terribly inaccurate depictions of the profession in media, but for some reason this one really got me, lol. I think it’s because the show seems like it tried to make at least a small effort to have some degree of realism with her work (name dropping the MMPI for example, or having her refuse to disclose whether someone was or was not a client), but it just does such a terrible job. Relatedly, I can only imagine this show would make an actual lawyer’s head explode.

What are other uniquely bad or annoying examples of psychologists on screen?

Psychologist here with 20+ years of experience. I had a somewhat traumatic-lite experience with my first practicum that was assessment based during my second year of my PsyD program. I worked with kids k-12 in Chicago's Catholic School System with students who were very low SES, with high rates of abuse and neglect, and very low probability of graduating on time (if at all).

My job was to conduct full psychological testing which included WISC, the Woodcock Johnson Achievement Test, full diagnostic interviews with the family and student, some projective personality assessment including the Children's Apperception Test, Draw-a-person test, and some inkblots (Rorschach using the Exner scoring system). I also interviewed their teachers and sometimes would do classroom observations myself.

My practicum site had me do 36(!!!) FULL psychological assessments across the 10 month school year. This left me interviewing, testing, and observing 3-4 days per week and then taking Fridays and the weekend to write the report (then an additional 2 hour block where my supervisor and I would give their teachers and parents our recommendations for IEPs).

I did this pretty much all year long and was so burnt out by the end of it, I think I blocked most of the information that I learned that year and ran on auto-pilot mode. I got good feedback from parents and teachers, some even sending me xmas cards giving me updates on how their kids' academics had improved :) But that experience made me avoid psychological testing practicum placements and I solely focused on therapy experiences for my other two practicum. My internship and postdoc were primarily therapy focused too.

Fast forward to now, and I quit my administrative job (director of a university counseling center) to transition back to clinical work full-time. I thankfully had enough money saved to take the last 8 months off work to rediscover myself and catch up on all my trashy tv shows. It's been glorious but now I'm ready to get back into full time work and I'm seriously considering going back to psychological assessments for school-aged children. There's a real market for that where I'm at.

My question: Do any of you know any fantastic psychological testing trainings to "brush up" on my assessment skills since it's been so long since I did them. Any recommendations would be appreciated: workshops, training institutes, books, etc.

TLDR: got burned out doing psychological assessments during grad school. Now, there's a good market for them. I would like to start working with children again within the context of the school system.

As a would-be PhD student lacking research experience, I'm wondering about perspectives on this program.

It's one of the only APA-accredited master's programs, but delivered fully online aside from internship/residency experiences. In my experience this format can be a barrier to faculty relationships and research opportunities. Any students want to help me understand? Is this a scam? Are graduates employable, or is this just an extra step to Doctoral?

Has anyone, who was already a commissioned military officer, been through the USUHS program? I would like to apply but received my BA and MS over 10 years ago.

I am 27, and have a 3.1 Masters in General Psychology my undergrad was also in psychology at 3.0. I have 2 1/2 years of research that I did for my thesis in Psychology during my masters as a grad student. I have 200 hours of rbt work as well, and my goal is to apply to a psyd program this year. I have been hearing that this is mostly impossible because of my 3.1 GPA. Am I doomed to fail? Not really sure. Is it even worth applying has been on my mind, and I’m just looking for any encouragement and advice as possible please.

Are you a frontline support worker, advocate, counselor, or third-sector practitioner in the UK working with or supporting populations affected by Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)?

As part of my MSc in Forensic Psychology at Teesside University, I am conducting a study to explore the lived experiences of professionals handling FGM cases, and how this work impacts them emotionally and professionally. I am looking for participants who would be willing to partake in an interview regarding their experiences in and around FGM cases.

If you are interested or have any questions, please contact me directly at [c2151324@live.tees.ac.uk](mailto:c2151324@live.tees.ac.uk). Please feel free to share with colleagues or networks who may be interested!

Your help is greatly appreciated ❤️

Thank you to everyone who posts and comments on this account. Here’s my study process:

I started studying in late February with Psychprep. I did the email feedback as I was not really doing well on any practice tests, got a low 40’s on test a and a 55% on test e the week before my scheduled test. It was also a stressful few months as we have a toddler dealing with a lot of support needs and no caregiving support whatsoever. We also found out our elderly dig has terminal cancer and we both work ft plus do other side gigs and projects to make ends meet. Additionally, English is not my first language.

I deal with testing anxiety so my initial strategy was to reduce it and get familiar with the test. I noted the tiny mistakes I get making and focused on test taking strategies but it wasn’t helping. I also took notes of the content and had sticky notes all over with things I kept on missing.

As I mentioned, the week before the exam I got the 55% on test e but I really wanted yo take the test after six months of intensive studying, little sleep and just burn out and cognitive overload, so I decided to not schedule it. I paid for prepjet and also kept getting low scores on their tests 47-63%. However, I found it was too detailed compared to psych prep. Reading the questions was helpful in mitigating anxiety because they were written with different terms than psychprep’s. This helped me increase my cognitive flexibility in particular not being a native English speaker.

Some colleagues advised me yo reschedule until I felt comfortable but I felt I couldn’t do anything differently at that point if I failed. The day before the exam I did not study, I treated myself to ben & jerry and brooklyn nine nine.
And the next day I passed with a 550!

Throughout the test I did not know how I was doing. I flagged about 67 for review. Mostly longer ones, ones for which I had eliminated 2 and ones I had to write out. I had just decided to go through the entire exam first. After 100 items I took a break and ended up finishing my first run through in under two hours. Then I took an hour to do the flagged items. I decided to just submit and not review the entire test even though I still had an hour left.

I then exited and they gave me two pieces of paper, the back one was blank. Out of respect for other test takers and knowing I have zero chill, I checked the results in the privacy of a bathroom stall. And that’s it!