<p>Hopefully, I’ll be graduating from an out of state university (on an almost-full mmerit scholarship) next year and applying to a swath of School Psych PhD/PsyD programs and a few School Psych Specialist programs. If I don’t get in and can’t snag an RA position with insurance benefits (RA positions are relatively hard to get in psych–I got my current [paid] one through random chance), I’m considering the possibility of taking a full load (12 credits) and volunteering/working as a volunteer or paid RA at the instate university here and living at home. It would cost about 5300 in tuition for the year, cheaper than COBRA, and I have an automatic exclusion disability, so I can’t get private insurance nor allow my insurance to lasp. The other option I considered is applying for a Vista position through Americorps (which offer health insurance), though that wouldn’t give me any contact with research, which is vital for PhD admissions in my field.</p>
<p>Hopefully, I’ll get in somewhere, so that this will be a non-issue, but it’s always best to have a plan B (and C and D).</p>
<p>Check with your local instate about rules for post-baccalaurate admissions. Some universities strictly limit these applicants. If yours does, it might be wise to also look at CC programs. Anything to keep you fulll-time and insured!</p>
<p>State U does offer post-bac and non-marticulate (non-degree aiming) admissions. I think the situation would have to be pretty last-ditch for me to go to a CC, as that would not have give me access to labs and would raise eyebrows with grad schools.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that there is no Pell, SEOG, or FWS for a second bachelors. In addition, you may be put into a program that has limited or no undergrad loan eligibility. You may not need any of this, but it’s worth bringing up, just in case it affects you.</p>
<p>This does not sound like a very sensible plan to me. Americorps would be better than more undergrad activity; a job in a related field even better. Time to move on!</p>
<p>^
Not necessarily in this field, where research is key, king, and queen (and the rest of the court). If I don’t get in, I’d like to get a paid RAship, but those are hard to come by; I have one now, but I’m the only undergrad I know who does. AmeriCorps would leave me without research for a year, which would probably not be the best move…</p>
<p>For some reason, people think psych is all about the applied stuff when really it’s research followed, far away, by applied/clinical stuff.</p>
<p>“I’m considering the possibility of taking a full load (12 credits) and volunteering/working as a volunteer or paid RA at the instate university here and living at home.”</p>
<p>I have a Ph.D. and I know several people who were eventually admitted to the program doing just this. They volunteered as an RA for a year in the program they wanted to attend and were admitted the following year. It was a great way for the professors to get to know them and the work they could do. Good luck!</p>
<p>I’m applying to Specialist programs, too (the School Psych equivalent of a Master’s), but I’d also like to have plan C in case I don’t get into any programs.</p>
<p>What would be the point in just taking more classes with no goal in mind?</p>
<p>Unless you have a goal for those classes, don’t spend the money. If you’re going to take classes after you graduate if you don’t get in, at least take graduate-level classes, not undergrad classes.</p>
<p>Americorps may not give you direct research experience but it will give you direct human services experience, which is also important in school psychology programs. And actually, Endicott is right - a job in a related field will actually be far better than taking extra undergraduate courses that you don’t need. A psych professor would wonder why you stayed an extra year past graduation to take undergrad classes instead of taking graduate level classes and might assume that you couldn’t hack grad classes, couldn’t get a decent job, and couldn’t get into a master’s program.</p>
<p>Research is king in psychology, but you’re entering a scientist-practitioner field in which direct experience with people (especially children) is just as important as the research. And in the end, you have to pay the bills. I would think that it’s okay to have a plan A (PhD) and a plan B (Ed.S) and a plan C (RAship at a university) and then your plan D could be getting an actual job that will allow you to feed and clothe yourself that’s maybe almost/slightly related to school psych - maybe working as an administrative assistant in the school system, substitute teaching, applying for Teach for America or any number of similar programs, working with a community organization that does outreach to children, working at an afterschool program. There are other ways to earn valuable experience outside of the university. And you will have a BA/BS.</p>
Maintaining insurance eligibility, mainly, but also increasing knowledge base obviously,</p>
<p>And I do have some clinical/child experience (a year+ volunteering at children’s science center, a summer working with kids with bx d/o’s and working at children’s summer camps, two years doing substance misuse psychoed/therapy with college students, a year working with college students with disabilities). My clinical experience isn’t as extensive as my research experience, but that’s the case with most PhD applicants. And if I stayed an extra year, I would also be extensively volunteering with children., so it’s not like I would just be taking classes or even primarily taking classes.</p>
<p>Wow – its such a drag that you are looking at this choice jut to get health insurance! I’ve been talking to a lot of people in the medical profession, particularly billing departments, lately because of my own & my daughter’s relatively routine needs – and every single person I’ve talked to would prefer a national, single-payer plan. It’s outrageous that a young person is looking at staying out of the work force simply because of worries about insurance. And of course the idea that you have an “excludable” condition is ridiculous – it makes no sense that the people who need health care the most can’t get the insurance. </p>
<p>If you are interested in volunteering with children, then do look at Americorps – many, perhaps most, Americorps positions involve working in schools so it might give you the insurance you are looking for couples with experience with children.</p>
<p>And don’t give up on finding work with health coverage. My son had a job within 2 weeks of graduating with a BA that came with insurance. There are jobs out there, especially if you are willing to relocate if necessary.</p>