Where do I stand? Clinical Psychology PhD

Graduate School
1

I am a current undergraduate student at a small, private university in New England. It isn’t necessarily a top-tier school (~65% acceptance rate), but I believe I have received a quality education. I am a psychology major with a double minor in neuroscience and biology looking to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology.

Although I have been searching for schools for a year or so now, I just recently compiled a list of about 15 schools that have programs I am interested in. I put together a word document with each school’s admission requirements, admissions data, notable faculty/labs, etc to have at my disposal as I begin the application process in early fall.

Anyway, I’m not sure where I would stand as far as admissions are concerned. After sifting through the data, it seems as if most of the programs I am applying to accept anywhere from 5 to 15 (with an average of 7 or so) students out of anywhere from 200-600 applicants. I know that the odds are against me, especially considering that I would be coming straight out of undergrad (vs. working first or getting a masters). While my GPA is slightly above the average for most programs, I’m assuming that doesn’t matter all too much.

Some stats:
Cumulative GPA: 3.92/4.0, Major GPA: 4.0/4.0
Honors Program
Dean’s list every semester
Graduating a Semester Early
Member of 2 Honor Societies
Broad coursework (liberal arts + hard sciences + psychology + various lab courses = everything from Cell Biology and Chemistry to Statistics to Neuroscience to Social Psychology)
Research experience (I am a neuroscience research assistant at my university during the school year and have taken several lab courses)
Clinical experience (I worked 100+ hours at a nationally-ranked psychiatric hospital for a summer, and continue to volunteer there now)
Summer Internships (freshman year: internship with a psychology professor at a different university - helped with data entry, sorting, etc. sophomore year: psychiatric hospital. junior year: medical school neuroscience research COVID-contingent, but has been planned since the winter and there is a potential for publication).
Leadership/Student Involvement (2x summer orientation leader, Psychology Club President, Psychology Honor Society President and VP of Research
Tutoring experience (2 years of tutoring in Human Bio, Cell Bio and Chemistry, Gen Bio, Law Psych, Social Psych, Intro to Psych)
Work experience (worked 3 different retail jobs from freshman to junior year, some during school year and some during summer)

Schools I am looking at: UNC Chapel Hill (#1), Duke, Yale, UVA, Vanderbilt, JHU, UT Austin, UT Knoxville, BC, BU, UNC Charlotte

I am particularly interested in anxiety disorders and OCD. Health anxiety is very interesting to me as well. I am also open to any biological psychology and neuroscience research. UNC has an Anxiety Lab that I am EXTREMELY interested in, but I believe they only take one student per year, which is kind of terrifying.

My eventual career goal is to be a clinical psychologist, and I’d love to work in a psychiatric hospital or a private practice.

I haven’t taken the GRE yet but I am planning to take it for the first time sometime before June 30th, as it is currently being offered remotely and I figured I may as well. I am a very strong reader/writer, while my math skills lack a bit (very good at statistics, otherwise… not so much). Depending on how I do I will take it again and most likely take a prep course. As far as recommendation letters go, I have some really strong relationships with faculty members so I think I will be alright.

I’d really appreciate any feedback or advice. I’m very worried about the fact that each program only accepts a handful of students each year, and I know that I may not be as competitive due to my age and lack of experience. I am open to doing just about anything between now and the fall to increase my chances.

Thanks so much in advance!

2

You seem to be a pretty strong applicant. Your research and neuro experience will be an asset. I’m no expert, but I think you have very strong credentials. All you can do is apply, right? Good luck.

3

I’d say you are a relatively strong applicant, depending a lot on the quality of your research experiences and your fit with the departments you’ve selected. Lots of applicants do have post-college experience on top of great undergrad stats, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t stand a good chance.

You’ve also got a good spread of schools across a spectrum - some competitive programs and some good, solid mid-ranked programs. That’s good for clinical psychology, especially if your goal is actual clinical work.

Most individual psychology labs only take a 1-3 students a year. If you think about it, a medium-sized department may have 10-15 faculty members in it. Even if half of them are taking students, and they on average take 2, that’s 10-15 students - which is far larger than most cohorts.

Do note that the programs at UNC Chapel Hill (#1), Duke, Yale, UVA, Vanderbilt, UT Austin, and BU are all clinical science programs. You can read more about that at the Academy for Psychological Clinical Science (https://www.acadpsychclinicalscience.org/mission.html), but the short version is they primarily focus on training researchers and academics who will contribute to clinical knowledge. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go there - they’ll still train you to be a clinician - but do note that the focus will be very science-oriented, and your peers may primarily want to be academics.