2.2.1 What do Social Workers do?

The Master’s in Social Work (MSW) is a very versatile degree. Social workers can be involved in many different types of careers and in many different types of settings. I recommend a visit to the website of the National Association of Social Workers (www.socialworkers.org) for an excellent description of the field. As you will see on this website, some social workers become involved in advocacy or policy settings. Others become licensed clinical social workers and are able to provide therapy to clients in ways that can be remarkably similar to the practice of a doctoral-level psychologist. Clinically trained social workers may include: Social Caseworkers (case management, assessing needs and applying agency services and resources to address social, health, or economic problems); Medical Social Workers (working with the special needs of patients and families in hospitals, long-term care facilities, and other medical care facilities); School Social Workers (helping with emotional, social, and economic problems so students can focus on getting an education); Clinical Social Workers (found in private practice or in psychiatric and mental health care settings, or employee assistance programs within larger companies, where they provide psychotherapy and counseling); Administration and Management (overseeing the programs and systems that provide social, health, and public welfare services); Community Organization (working in cooperation with the community to identify needs and to develop or improve services and systems to meet those needs); Social Policy and Research (analyzing social problems, designing and conducting in-depth research studies and developing ways for social programs and systems to overcome those problems).

2.2.2 What is the Training Like?

Although you can obtain a doctorate in social work (DSW or PhD), it is completely possible to be an autonomous, practicing social worker with a master’s degree. With only two years of schooling (plus an internship), it also can be a quick way to get into the workforce. Master’s programs generally can accept a much higher proportion of applicants for admission than doctoral programs; thus, it is somewhat easier to gain admission if going this route. Many social work graduate programs offer some training in evidence-based practice, but this varies considerably from program to program. This is important to look into further when determining which social work programs you want to apply to.

2.3.1 What do Counselors do?

Admittedly, I do not know much about the field of mental health counseling beyond what one can learn from professional websites, such as the site for the American Counseling Association (www.counseling.org/). The distinction between mental health counseling and other mental health fields may be lost on the general public as well. Even a casual look at “Find a Therapist” directories on sites such as Psychology Today reveals many who identify themselves as mental health counselors, yet their education and effectiveness as mental health providers is relatively unknown, at least to me. The American Counseling Association indicates that counselors may have focused expertise in addictions, career counseling, clinical mental health or community agency counseling, marriage, couples and families, school counseling, student affairs and college counseling, gerontology, or counselor education and supervision.

2.3.2 What is the Training Like?

A counselor is eligible to practice after receiving a master’s degree, typically in about two years. There are many programs nationally to obtain this type of degree, and relatively few of them promote training in evidence-based practice. However, this may be changing.

2.4.1 What do Marriage and Family Therapists do?

Marriage and family therapists (MFTs) treat psychological disorders by considering the couple or the family as a system, or a unit that should be treated conjointly. The American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (www.aamft.org) reports that most MFTs conduct brief therapy, usually under 20 sessions. Marriage and family therapy typically includes an approach to therapy that relies on family systems theory, which has some limited support as an evidence-based approach.

2.4.2 What is the Training Like?

One may obtain a master’s or a doctorate in marriage and family therapy, although the master’s is sufficient for independent practice. Given the nature of the discipline, training in evidence-based therapy delivered to individual patients is rarely available within marriage and family therapy graduate programs.

2.5.1 What do School Psychologists do?

The National Association of School Psychologists (NASP; www.nasponline.org/) has a great website to describe the field and the roles (and even salaries) of school psychologists. School psychologists generally are focused on helping children succeed in the school setting, both academically and emotionally. Most work in a school setting. Their work can involve individual consultation with children and families, designing programs to assist teachers with specialized classroom instruction needs, and program development to help train basic skills like anger management and social skills. In these ways, school psychologists are kind of like the ambassadors of psychology in a school setting. When a child is experiencing difficulties, if there is a crisis in the school (e.g., trauma, death), if administrators are setting policy that will affect children’s educational lives, school psychologists are there to ensure that psychological well-being is maintained and to help educate other professionals on children’s psychological needs or limitations.

A major task for many school psychologists also is to conduct assessments of children’s academic and social–emotional functioning. Every child who may be eligible for giftedness placement, or for learning disability (LD) services, needs to be evaluated using standardized assessments. School psychologists typically are the only professionals within the school setting with the training to administer and interpret these types of standardized assessments. LD evaluations in particular have important implications not only for children, but also for school policy and funding. Public law mandates that children receive the services they need to obtain an adequate education, and each child meeting LD criteria must have an individualized educational plan developed and evaluated periodically. School psychologists often serve the lead role in this endeavor.

2.5.2 What is the Training Like?

You may have heard that to practice as a “psychologist,” you must have a doctoral degree. That is true for all fields except school psychology. School psychologists can be hired with only a master’s degree (plus year-long internship). This may be, in part, because there is a tremendous shortage of school psychologists working in the US, and the field is reducing barriers to getting new, bright students into the profession! Keep in mind that master’s-level school psychologists are not able to practice autonomously, however, but they can be hired and even tenured within a public school system (e.g., elementary, middle, or high school).

2.6.1 What is the Master’s in General Psychology?

There are not too many terminal master’s programs in psychology, but those that exist offer a nice option for students who wish to gain advanced experience in psychology before pursuing a doctoral degree. Each master’s program varies in its training goals. However, many offer graduate coursework and require the completion of a master’s thesis to obtain a degree. Programs typically last 1–2 years.

There are benefits and drawbacks to the terminal master’s degree. The good news is that this is an opportunity for structured education in psychology. The coursework is taught at the graduate level and may even include some specialty work (e.g., training in clinical psychology specifically). The master’s thesis also offers an opportunity to learn more about psychological research. Students who did not major in psychology during their undergrad years, or who feel like their interests are not yet well-developed, may find this structured educational opportunity enormously helpful.

Unfortunately, the terminal master’s degree in itself does not offer many career options. It should be noted that many doctoral programs in psychology offer a master’s degree en route to the doctoral degree. Thus, within the 4–6 years of doctoral training, a master’s thesis may be required, and the degree will be granted – somewhat marking the half-way point of doctoral training. The terminal master’s degree is different. Many students in terminal master’s programs go on to a doctoral program. Some of these doctoral programs will credit the time in the terminal master’s program toward the doctoral training requirements (e.g., some courses or the need to write a new thesis may be waived). However, other doctoral programs will not waive requirements; thus, there is the potential for some repetition in training. A final drawback pertains to the cost of training. Many schools will charge tuition for terminal master’s training. In contrast, most PhD doctoral programs in clinical psychology waive tuition and typically offer a stipend. Thus, for students who are certain that they are interested in doctoral training and can gain admission into a PhD program, the terminal master’s may not always be a wise option. However, for other students, this can be a very valuable experience!

I typically recommend this option in two cases. First, for those who wish to eventually obtain a doctoral degree in psychology but have a low undergraduate GPA, a terminal master’s program can offer an opportunity to demonstrate an applicant’s ability to succeed in a graduate-level curriculum, and may “forgive” lower undergraduate grades in the eyes of the doctoral admissions committee. Second, those who wish to eventually get their doctoral degree but just can’t narrow their areas of research interest may benefit from a master’s program to get more extensive research experience. For all others – that is, those with adequate GPAs (at least 3.2) and reasonably focused research interests (i.e., an identified disorder, psychological process, or mental health risk/protective factor) – a terminal master’s program is unlikely to help increase chances of eventual admission. Getting (paid or volunteer) additional research experience for a year or two after graduation is a far cheaper alternative that will bolster your doctoral application much more.

2.7.1 What is Counseling Psychology?

“Counseling psychology” is not quite the same thing as being a “counselor.” The American Psychological Association’s Division 17 (www.div17.org/) is specifically focused on Counseling Psychology and offers examples of the opportunities available within the field.

A long time ago, a clear distinction between clinical psychology and counseling psychology was offered. The field of clinical psychology was meant to address serious mental illness, such as any of the disorders that might be found in the DSM. In contrast, counseling psychology sometimes was referred to a field that addressed “normal people with normal problems,” often including vocational counseling.

This distinction remains somewhat true, but the boundaries between clinical and counseling psychology are certainly a bit more blurred. Both require a doctoral degree for independent work. Both are referred to among the public as “therapists” or “psychologists,” and few potential clients discriminate between the fields when selecting a therapist. A great many clinical psychologists primarily offer “counseling” to clients with no obvious DSM symptoms. Counseling psychologists also have substantial contact with individuals who meet criteria for some specific disorders (depression, anxiety, substance use, and eating disorders, for instance).

Counseling psychologists work in private practice and many work in counseling centers (e.g., College Student Mental Health Services; Community Clinics; Community Mental Health Centers). Some counseling psychologists also work in academia as professors or clinical supervisors in counseling psychology graduate programs. Counseling psychologists also can conduct and interpret assessments.

To a large extent, counseling psychologists, and counseling graduate training programs, are less heavily involved in research activities than are clinical psychologists. Counseling psychologists also are less likely to work as professors within university departments of psychology, or as instructors in undergraduate classes. As compared to clinical psychologists, counseling psychologists also are less likely to work with severe forms of mental illness, such as autism, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, etc. See the web link (www.div17.org) above for more information on counseling psychology, its mission, and training emphases.

2.7.2 What is the Training Like?

Like clinical psychology, counseling psychology requires a doctoral degree. Doctoral programs typically require 4–6 years to complete in addition to a year-long internship. A dissertation is required, although the research expectations for this project sometimes are lower as compared to the clinical psychology dissertation. Counseling programs often involve more coursework and practica than in clinical psychology programs.

2.10.1 Research and Clinical Work in Clinical Psychology

Perhaps you still are unsure whether you are interested in research, or you would like to know more about different possibilities for research activity in clinical psychology. This section discusses three clinical psychology sub-fields that offer distinct opportunities for research and clinical work.

Most clinical psychology programs offer experiences that could be broadly categorized as fitting the sub-fields of Clinical Child/Adolescent, Clinical Adult, or Clinical Health Psychology (or combinations, such as Child Health Psychology, also called Pediatric Psychology). Some programs have specific “tracks” or “concentrations” in these sub-fields, and some offer more varied experiences across two or more of these areas in a more generalist training model. A brief description of each is included below.

2.10.2 The PhD or PsyD

A final issue to discuss pertains to two types of doctoral degrees that are available in clinical, counseling, and school psychology. All of the information above describing doctoral training has been focused specifically on the PhD degree. However, a separate option exists for doctoral training. Although not an expert on this type of degree, I have offered a general description of this option below.

The PsyD was developed as a new type of doctoral degree several decades ago in response to some opposition regarding the “Boulder Model” (i.e., scientist-practitioner). Specifically, it was argued by some that the training in science was not necessary to become a practicing clinician, and a new training model largely emphasizing clinical work was developed.

Today, many PsyD programs are available. Like other doctoral degrees, PsyD programs typically take about 4–6 years to complete (plus an internship year). The vast majority of training experiences are clinical in nature, as well as some coursework. Some programs require a “dissertation” document; however, this usually is quite different in scope from what is expected in PhD programs.

Many students ask whether PsyD programs are less prestigious than PhD programs. Although it is difficult to comment on this specifically, there are some important differences between some of these programs that should be noted.

As mentioned above, PhD programs are almost exclusively located within university settings, which are not-for-profit institutions. Some PsyD programs, however, are located in for-profit institutions, such as freestanding “Professional Schools of Psychology,” or institutions with the word “university” in the title, but not offering a wide range of degrees like most universities do. While most PhD programs typically waive tuition costs for graduate students and offer assistantships that provide a modest annual stipend (typically between $20,000 and $27,000), many PsyD programs charge tuition to students, which can cost approximately $20,000–$40,000 annually.

Data comparing PhD to PsyD programs on several other metrics also reveal a number of differences. Compared to clinical PhD programs or PsyD programs in traditional universities, PsyD programs in large “professional schools,” or “universities” that exclusively offer psychology degrees tend to offer far less training in evidence-based practice. They also have much less desirable faculty to student ratios, with some students unable to see their mentors for months at a time. Data reveal (https://mitch.web.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/4922/2013/10/MatchRates.pdf) that the rate of obtaining an accredited predoctoral internship (required to become licensed for practice in many states) also is significantly lower within unaccredited PsyD programs (7 percent) and accredited PsyD programs (48 percent) as compared to accredited clinical PhD programs (81 percent). The rate of passing the national licensing exam (called the EPPP) also differs between PsyD and PhD programs. These data (https://mitch.web.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/4922/2013/10/EPPP-scores-combined.pdf) reveal that students from accredited PhD programs score significantly higher and are more likely to pass than those from PsyD programs. This is critical to consider – the last thing you want to do is to spend tens of thousands of dollars on graduate school, but end up unable to graduate or get a job!

Overall, the PsyD option can be a reasonable choice for students who are interested in obtaining a doctoral degree in psychology and have decided that they do not wish to be involved in research – either during graduate training or during one’s career. However, the PsyD option should be exercised cautiously. Some very high-quality programs are available (often those that are at not-for-profit institutions), and excellent training is certainly possible. However, applicants will need to do their homework investigating the adequacy of training more thoroughly if pursuing this type of degree.

For more details regarding the qualities to examine in a clinical psychology doctoral program, see the undergraduate website for the Council of University Directors of Clinical Psychology (CUDCP; https://clinicalpsychgradschool.org/).

What is the Training Like?

For all of these programs discussed in this section, doctoral training is similar to clinical psychology doctoral training in many ways. All involve 4–6 years of training, coursework, a master’s thesis, and a dissertation. Doctoral training in developmental, social, cognitive, biological, and quantitative programs does not involve any clinical practicum work, and there is no clinical internship year.

2.11.1 Developmental Psychology

2.11.2 Social Psychology

2.11.3 Quantitative Psychology

2.11.4 Cognitive Psychology

2.11.5 Behavioral Neuroscience

3.3.1 Educational Background

Typically, the evaluation of applications begins with a review of basic educational credentials. Sometimes this stage of the evaluation process is conducted by the university’s graduate school, or an administrative person, rather than a psychology faculty member. Thus, the review is fairly brief, blunt, and admittedly imperfect. Factors evaluated include the quality of the undergraduate institution, the undergraduate GPA, and the GRE scores.

At this stage, you have likely already selected, and perhaps are close to graduating from, your undergraduate institution. There’s not much you can do about that now.

3.3.2 Which GPA?

Students often ask whether their overall GPA or their psychology (major) GPA will be evaluated. In my experience, the overall GPA is given far more weight than the psychology GPA. In many cases, however, undergraduate students began school with hopes of pursuing a pre-med curriculum. After several low grades, however, students switch career aspirations, and their overall GPA now suffers from these few low grades during freshman year. In this situation (particularly if this has been noted somewhere in the application; most appropriately by a referee), the evaluator may briefly glance at the transcript to see if a single outlier grade or two is contributing to a low overall GPA. But to be frank, I believe that even in this situation evaluators will focus only on the overall cumulative GPA. I believe it is extremely rare for students to be admitted to any PhD clinical child program with a GPA below 3.2. I believe the vast majority of admitted students have a GPA above 3.4 or 3.5. You can visit the website of almost any accredited PhD clinical program to obtain GPA averages and ranges on the last few classes of admitted students (look for links that indicate “performance and outcome data”).

3.3.3 Specific Classes?

Students sometimes ask whether specific classes might increase or decrease the likelihood of admission. Beginning in 2019 or so, the short answer is: Maybe. Your graduate training may be significantly streamlined if you have taken courses that cover the following topics before matriculation into graduate school:

• Affect or emotions

• Biological psychology (or something like it broadly focusing on the brain, neurons, etc.)

• Cognitive psychology (or a course on learning and memory)

• Developmental psychology

• Social psychology

• History of psychology.

Beyond these courses, which electives you may have taken, or which classes you took outside of psychology, probably won’t matter much at all. Because the psychology major typically includes a similar set of classes in most undergraduate institutions (e.g., Intro 101, Research Methods, Statistics, etc.), it often seems unnecessary to examine the course choices of every applicant. You will not get into graduate school simply because you took one or two electives or difficult courses, and you will not be denied admission simply because you took Advanced Basketweaving as an elective.

3.3.4 What if I Didn’t Major in Psychology?

The vast majority of admitted students have majored in psychology, but a significant minority have not. Applicants who have not majored in psychology likely need to have even more research experience, however, to demonstrate a familiarity with the field. I recommend that non-psychology majors try to take as many of the courses listed above as possible (in descending order of importance: Intro, Research Methods, Statistics, followed by the six courses bulleted above) and also the Psychology GRE subject test. But if it is not possible to take, your chances of getting in are not terribly lower than if you had a psych major.

3.3.5 The GRE

Before 2020, GRE scores also were used as an important marker of potential success in graduate school. As with GPA, the higher the score, the better. Two GRE exams were relevant: the General exam and the Psychology GRE. The General exam is quite similar to the SAT, and students on average score 100 points higher (for Verbal and Quantitative combined) on the GRE as compared to the SAT (thanks to a quality undergraduate education!). As with the SAT, several companies (e.g., Princeton Review, Stanley Kaplan) offer courses and books to help students study for the exam.

Percentile scores were often evaluated more closely than the standardized scores. The program websites mentioned above also include data regarding the averages and ranges of GRE scores for admitted students. Also, APA offers a book, Graduate Study in Psychology (50th edition), with information on every program, as well as data regarding admission criteria. In practice, I believe many students’ verbal and quantitative scores exceed the 75th percentile; however, significant deviation in these scores was allowed when considering cultural and language limitations/biases of the GRE.

The Psychology GRE is not very important to most PhD programs. When I applied to graduate school approximately 300 years ago, I was told that the Psychology GRE score “will not get you in, and will not keep you out.” I believe this is still true.

Since 2020, there have been substantial changes in the use of the GRE exams for graduate admissions in clinical psychology. This is for two reasons. First, in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic made it practically difficult to administer the exam while applicants were following strict quarantine rules. Second, and more importantly, however, this change in 2020 allowed many universities to consider whether the GRE was creating a systemic barrier to the admission of diverse classes of doctoral students in the field.

Issues regarding diversity in clinical psychology have been discussed for many decades. In 2019, about 3300 students graduated with a degree in an area of health service psychology (i.e., either clinical, counseling, or school psychology). Data from APA (www.apa.org/workforce/data-tools, and see below) reveal an under-representation of doctoral graduates from several racial and ethnic minority groups, suggesting that much work is needed to increase diversity in the field. Efforts to remove systemic barriers to admission are under way more concertedly now than ever before in the history of the field, but much work has to be done. For more information, a panel discussion regarding admission for BIPOC applicants is available on YouTube (www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcC9GrWeamk).

3.5.1 The Personal Statement

The vast majority of personal statements follow an identical format. First, a brief anecdote is offered describing a watershed moment in which the applicant fully realized their interest in clinical psychology. Next, a brief section describes the applicants’ enthusiasm in one or more psychology undergraduate courses. Research experiences then are described in succession. For each experience, the title and principal investigator of the project are listed, followed by a list of the applicant’s responsibilities and tasks on the project. The statement often ends with a brief paragraph describing research interests, career interests, admiration of the graduate program, and perhaps the name of a specific potential mentor or two.

This type of personal statement is fine. It accomplishes many of the main objectives that the personal statement is meant to serve. It indeed is important to clearly state research experiences, to express enthusiasm for and a match to a specific aspect of the graduate program, and to articulate clear research and career goals. It also often is a good idea to identify a potential mentor.

Yet, this type of statement is not quite as effective as it may be, in part because so very many statements appear to be remarkably similar to one another. I believe that the statements that truly distinguish themselves are those that demonstrate evidence of the potential to become an independent investigator. As a graduate student, you will be expected to progressively develop research skills that will establish you as an independent scholar. To the extent that it is possible to convey this within the personal statement, you may be able to make your potential to excel as a graduate student very clear to the reader.

Listing research experiences, principal investigators, and project responsibilities can accomplish an important goal. Often, your experiences will reflect exposure to a project with goals that are particularly relevant to the potential mentor’s own research, a large, impressive project, or an undergraduate mentor who is known for producing excellent training experience among their students. This can indeed be very helpful to your application in that it expresses a great foundation on which to build during graduate training. If your potential graduate mentor is familiar with your undergraduate mentor’s work and reputation, you may benefit from positive assumptions and attributions made about you and your undergraduate work.

Conveying an account of your various responsibilities on research projects also can be useful to help describe your readiness to assist in ongoing projects in your graduate mentor’s lab. You may even possess a particular skill that is lacking and needed in the lab; thus, you will be a particularly strong asset to your new environment.

Graduate mentors may differ in their selection criteria. Many are extremely excited to have an enthusiastic and experienced applicant join the lab. Others may be mostly concerned with your academic ability and interest in their research, knowing that they can train you to complete whatever tasks are needed in their lab. However, all graduate mentors are likely also invested in seeing you succeed as an independent scholar. Thus, I believe an applicant “can’t go wrong” by going a step beyond this common format, and clearly conveying an aptitude for independent research.

Perhaps more important than a list of prior research experiences and responsibilities is a brief description of what you learned from each of these research experiences. This is the piece that separates a good research statement from a great one. Too often, the research statement reports prior research experience as if checking off a box, seemingly indicating that with this requirement satisfied, the applicant should be granted admission. Thus, statements that go beyond simply confirming prior lab participation immediately stand out.

What was the project about? What were the hypotheses that interested you the most? Are you familiar with any of the literature that is related to the research project? How did your experience in this research project help shape your interests?

In other words, the personal statement does not need to simply restate your CV or résumé, but can help the admissions committee understand what is “between the lines” of your CV/résumé. A description of your responsibilities might indicate that you “coded and entered data using SPSS on a project examining autism.” But in addition to this information, you might also indicate that “the project was designed to examine the efficacy of IBT treatment,” and that you were “particularly excited by the opportunity to examine different treatment approaches in an applied research setting,” or that you “observed that children’s intellectual ability notably changed the presentation of PDD symptoms,” leading to your “strong interest in studying Asperger’s disorder.” Even better, it made you “wonder what factors may have made IBT [Intensive Behavioral Therapy] particularly effective for some in the study.” Anything that demonstrates that you are “knocking on the door of novel hypotheses” will work well. It doesn’t have to be a great or even especially novel hypothesis, but one or two that indicate you are thinking psychologically will do it.

As you can see, the inclusion of these statements is perhaps somewhat subtle. However, I believe it can be quite helpful for the admissions committee to “see how you think,” understand the motivations behind your research interests, and help convey your knowledge of the literature or theories involved in your past work. The applicants who do this successfully have personal statements that appear qualitatively different, and often they are more successful.

In 2020, the Academy of Psychological Clinical Science (www.acadpsychclinicalscience.org/), constituted of many research-oriented clinical programs, surveyed its membership to determine what factors may be most important to faculty when selecting students. Results suggested the following top 10 most sought-after qualities (see below, in descending order of importance). Note that many of these can be communicated within a personal statement by discussing how you pursued opportunities, what you gained from each opportunity, and how you thought about your experiences.

• Scientific curiosity – interested in many topics, ideas, and intrinsically rewarded by scientific inquiry

• Critical thinking – can recognize divergent/contradictory perspectives and challenge viewpoints/ideas

• Good interpersonal skills – encodes, interprets, and responds to social cues in a typical manner

• Analytical thinking – can recognize patterns, trends, summarize broader concepts from specific details, and demonstrates logic-guided thinking

• Problem solving skill – can identify problems, generate/recommend a variety of solutions

• Open-minded – is open to new perspectives and ideas

• Independence and self-guided inquiry – pursues additional knowledge, independent educational experiences beyond requirements

• Works well within a team – acknowledges others’ contributions, cooperates, collaborates, assists others

• Takes initiative – volunteers to do more, take full advantage of opportunities to expand knowledge, skills, and abilities

• Openness to supervision and personal insight – can reflect upon and review prior learning, solicit feedback, and change behavior.

3.5.2 The Diversity Statement

Many schools have begun asking applicants to provide a diversity statement as part of their application materials. This may be a part of the personal statement or a second essay. This statement offers you an opportunity to discuss how you will incorporate multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skills into your work as a graduate student and how you think about diversity. Note that you are not asked to discuss your own diverse identity and should not in any way feel pressured to do so (you are welcome to if you wish, but do not feel compelled to). Note also that typically you are not asked to reiterate that you believe diversity is an important issue that requires further consideration in the field; this is implied in the fact that you have been asked to write a statement.

What should you write in this statement? Personally, I subscribe to the idea we are a product of many biological, cultural, and social forces that forever reciprocally transact to create (a) our actual experiences in the world and (b) the way we think and feel about our experiences in the world. No two people are alike, regardless of apparent demographic similarities, and thus we all possess a distinct cultural bias – a lens or filter that affects how we recall our memories, experience the present, and consider the future. It is that lens that may be useful to consider when writing this statement. What will you bring to the table as a graduate student, and eventually, as a psychologist? What perspectives can you offer that will enrich the work of psychologists, whether as a scientist, teacher, practitioner, or in any other role? The answer should make you think deeply, so expect plenty of drafts, and you should be ready to explain yourself in a way that may feel a tad personal (to the extent you feel comfortable doing so) and as someone who has a unique and crucial voice to offer professionally as well (even though you may not always feel that way yet). In short, many students are eligible to be admitted to grad school and some may even engage in the exact same activities as you if they took your place. What will you bring that is irreplaceable – that is only you – that makes you an applicant with an important perspective?

3.5.3 Should I List a Specific Mentor?

Short answer: Yes. But keep in mind that programs vary considerably on how graduate students are selected. Some programs allow each faculty member to make unilateral decisions regarding graduate admissions. Thus, your application is really meant to convince a single person to admit you, and your potential match with that person will be evaluated directly. Other programs make group-based decisions to varying degrees. It still may be important to express a match to a specific mentor, but your general match with the program and perhaps with other potential mentors also will be evaluated.

This reflects a general issue related to your decisions on how to select graduate programs. You are probably already aware that at the next stage of your career, your graduate school experience will be evaluated not simply on the reputation of your PhD program, but also on the reputation of your mentor and your productivity with that mentor during graduate school. This is different than the undergraduate application experience, which can be discussed in terms of various ranking systems of university reputations (e.g., US News and World Report). Remember, rankings are not generally considered to be very reliable for PhD psychology programs (at best, one might use existing graduate ranking systems to identify programs in the top quartile, second quartile, etc., but rankings more specific than that are somewhat false). PhD programs in clinical psychology are sometimes located within universities with excellent reputations for undergraduate training, but sometimes not. Similarly, the best possible mentor to study a particular area of research will sometimes be located at a graduate program generally regarded to be of high quality, but sometimes not. Thus, your application decisions may reflect an interest in a program, a mentor, or both – your personal statement should reflect these interests.

What if I am Applying During a Worldwide Pandemic?

In 2021, in-person interviews were not possible. Many programs realized that there may be advantages to remote interviewing that may change how interviews are conducted over a longer-term basis. It is recommended that you interview remotely in much the same way you would have interviewed in person (see below). It makes sense to wear clothing much as you would for an in-person interview (or at least insomuch as can be seen on camera), and that you attempt to find a quiet space for your interviews over Zoom. But faculty do know that this may be difficult for some applicants and have explicitly discussed that a crowded or noisy room should not be used as a sign of your disinterest in any way whatsoever. In other words, in an effort to allow all an equal opportunity to succeed, faculty will be focusing on you and your responses to questions more than anything else. It is probably not worth too much stress over the location of your Zoom meeting as a result.

1. What is the general salary range for researchers/clinicians in each of the fields?

No one is making a lot of money by being a clinical psychologist! But it is probably safe to say that clinical PhD psychologists do make more than social workers, and more than master’s-level counselors or marriage and family therapists. In academia, psychologist salaries largely are determined by the type of university (public, private), geographic region, and years in rank. In 2017, most brand new assistant professor salaries at arts and sciences psychology departments ranged between $70K and $90K. But keep in mind this is a nine-month salary. In other words, you are paid to work during the school year (although usually the checks are separated into 12 payments so you do not have to live on Ramen noodles in June, July, and August). In a faculty position, you can increase your salary from 9 to 12 months by paying yourself off of a grant or by doing summer teaching. So, a 9-month salary of $90K becomes a 12-month salary of $120K. A paper by the APA offers more data on faculty salaries at psychology departments (www.apa.org/workforce/publications/15-cupa-hr/index).

Salaries for doctoral-level clinicians are more variable. Depending on whether clients pay out of pocket or by insurance, whether you get paid based on what you bill vs. what you collect, whether you are paid to work as in a private/group practice vs. a staff psychologist, and where in the USA you live, salaries can range from $60K to $100K as a starting practitioner. The days of converting your garage into a little private practice and raking in $200/hour are mostly gone, unless you work with a very affluent clientele in a large metropolitan area. For more information, see the APA division on independent practice (https://division42.org/).

2. Is it possible to be both a researcher and a clinician at the same time?

Absolutely! Very few clinical PhDs do only one exclusively, in fact! When you went to college, you probably saw psychology professors who did mostly teaching and research. But only a minority of clinical PhDs go into this type of academic position. Psychiatry departments (e.g., hospitals, VAs) hire many psychologists. These jobs typically include some proportion of clinical vs. research work (20–80 percent, 50–50 percent, or 80–20 percent). Sometimes you can obtain a research grant to help “buy out” some of your clinical responsibilities. These days, many graduates will obtain first “jobs” rather than a first job, by getting a few piecemeal positions that help fill full-time responsibilities. For instance, you can teach a course somewhere as an adjunct faculty member (maybe $5–8K for a course one semester), see some private clients while obtaining your final licensure, help someone on their grant for some consulting money, and run some group therapy at the local inpatient unit. In many cases, there are jobs available that already have pieced many of these activities together.

3. After obtaining a doctoral degree in clinical psychology, is it possible to be a researcher for a few years, then become a clinician?

Sure, but it is more difficult to do the reverse. To maintain a successful research career, you typically have to stay active in the literature (as a reader and contributor). Also, remember that studies take a long time to propose, run, and write up (if you apply for a grant, collect longitudinal data, analyze the data, write it up, and then publish it, it could be as long as 5 years from start to finish!). So, it is hard to do research full time after a very long gap of inactivity.

Many researchers maintain active clinical work, however. A fairly sizeable proportion of your clinical psychology professors probably see clients one or two evenings or days a week. Most also supervise graduate students’ clinical work.

4. What is the lifestyle of a clinical psychologist in academia or private practice?

My unbiased position is that it is the best career in the world! In academia, you are your own boss, you work on whatever is most interesting to you, you are paid to study and teach what excites you, you get to interact with enthusiastic students, travel a lot, and set your own hours.

Academia comes with pressures, however. You need to publish, get grants, and teach well to get tenure. These are difficult tasks, and your success in them is not totally based on your own merits (e.g., some is determined by the idiosyncratic review process). Most activities in academia come with very delayed gratification. As mentioned above, some projects take years. Lastly, it is important to be self-disciplined in academia. Having no boss means that there is only one person to fault if work does not get done – you!

Practitioners (especially if in private practice) also often can be their own boss, pick exactly which clients they would like to work with, set their own hours, etc. Private practice requires business savvy. You need to advertise and market the practice, hire staff, organize billing and insurance issues, and be aware of your liabilities in case of emergencies and crises. The rule of thumb is that every person you hire decreases your work load by 1, but increases your management load by 1. In other words, as a manager or employer, you may have to address employees’ work habits, office politics, or personal issues.

Group practices and other practitioner jobs are perhaps more common than private practice. Some compromises include: shared management and business-person responsibilities, but less freedom in setting your own practice and work hours, etc. Clinicians sometimes experience the pressures of difficult clients and clinical crises, which can occur at any time.

5. What’s the internship year about? Is it harder to get one as a PhD vs. PsyD?

All doctoral programs (clinical, counseling, school) require an internship experience, either full-time for one year, or part-time for two (more rare). This year involves almost exclusively clinical experiences. Although you also get clinical experiences on practicum during graduate school, this year is a more intensive training experience that allows you to immerse yourself in the role of a clinician. Consequently, your ability to learn clinical skills increases dramatically during this year. An apt analogy would be comparing the difference in Olympic training between doing a few laps one night a week for four years vs. 10 hours of training a day for one year. The former is important, but the latter will help you develop in a qualitatively different way.

The internship application process is a whole new fun experience to think about years from now. For now, just know that over 80 percent of applicants get an internship on their first attempt, and the vast majority of applicants get one of their top three choices. Some sites tend to prefer PhDs while others prefer PsyDs. Similarly, some sites prefer school or counseling psychologists over clinical psychologists. As long as you follow the advice of your program, you will be fine. For more data, see this document (www.appic.org/Portals/0/downloads/APPIC%20Match%20Rates%202011-16%20by%20Univ.pdf).

6. What accounts for variability in the length of graduate training?

This has mostly to do with you, and some to do with the program. Some programs routinely have students apply for internship during their fourth year, others during their fifth or sixth year. This is good information to obtain when applying.

The speed at which you finish requirements is the other determinant. It’s not a race! Sometimes an extra year of graduate school can help you take an extra class, practicum, collect better dissertation data, or get more publications – any of which might make you more qualified for your internship and future job placements.

7. What has been the effect of managed care on the practice of clinical psychology?

For a while, there was a very dramatic effect of managed care. Most notably, insurance companies began reimbursing a smaller hourly rate for individual psychotherapy (i.e., only $65 or so), limiting the types of diagnoses that would allow for reimbursement, the types of therapy that qualified for reimbursement (i.e., CBT vs. other approaches), and limiting the number of sessions. Insurance companies also started requiring a greater amount of paperwork to get reimbursed, which can add up to a lot of time! These restrictions have since been relaxed a bit. However, this still remains an issue that affects how individuals in private practice conduct their business. If one is interested in private practice, it is important to be in an area that is in need of new psychologists. Given that some locations already are saturated with licensed psychologists, some newly licensed psychologists may find that they are unable to become listed on insurance panels (i.e., if a psychologist is not one of the “preferred providers” on an insurance panel, its members may have to pay a larger fee out of their own pocket, and thus, it may be difficult to attract new clients). On the other hand, in some of these same locations, it may be easier to find people who are willing to pay “out of pocket” (i.e., not through insurance) for psychological services. Obviously, if all of your clients are paying out of pocket, insurance reimbursement rates have no effect on you at all. Alternatively, some psychologists will set a policy to not directly interact with insurance companies, but rather they will give clients a bill for services and ask clients to deal with all reimbursement issues directly.

8. What is the job outlook for clinical psychologists, both in research/academia and practice?

This is very hard to say, as it naturally depends on many factors, such as the economy, grant funding available, educational and health care policies, society’s acceptance of psychology as a field, and a host of other unpredictable factors. There are a few factors that may make it possible to offer some educated guesses, however.

As in many other industries, the Baby Boomer generation’s approaching retirement surely will have an effect on jobs available. In academia, there has been a notable increase in positions available (despite a recently restricted economy), perhaps due to the number of recent retirements. Not every retirement is replaced with a new position, however, and many institutions do not require retirement at a specific age. Thus, the effect of retirements on new positions available likely could be staggered and inconsistent. Nevertheless, when looking at multiple-decade trends, academic departments generally seem to be increasing in size. This means new positions, often at the entry level (i.e., Assistant Professor). This is good news. Especially for PhDs who are uniquely qualified for these positions.

Society’s increasing acceptance of psychology and psychological intervention suggests that more people will seek psychological services. The proportion of individuals in need who currently seek services is remarkably low; thus, there is great need for expansion here. Over the next few years, more states will adopt legislation offering prescription authority for specially trained psychologists, and this also may increase the market of people seeking services from psychologists. Clinical services may be offered by PhDs and PsyDs, as well as by counseling psychologists, school psychologists, and social workers. Clinical psychologists often are thought to be uniquely qualified for some assessment (especially diagnostic) services. If all youth in need of services sought treatment, there likely would be plenty of work for everyone. It is unclear whether the future will bring an increasing number of people to mental health providers for assessment and treatment.

Of course, many political factors may come into play when attempting to predict jobs in academia or practice. Educational policies soon will have to address the growing need for services that have been proven to have a strong effect on youth functioning (e.g., a prime example is the powerful effects of Intensive Behavioral Therapy on the prognosis for youth with autism), but these are very costly to school districts. This is an area in which child clinical psychology services are needed, and perhaps soon a system will be in place to hire many people to offer such services.

Political factors also strongly affect the budgets of the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and other organizations that fund child psychological research (e.g., Department of Education). As grant dollars increase, funds to support faculty salaries, graduate student tuition/stipends, etc. also increase. Researchers are not the only people funded off grants; often psychologists in practice can be hired to conduct treatments under investigation.

A final factor worth considering in our crystal ball may be trends in the number of new psychologists who are entering the market. If the number of new graduates increases but the number of positions do not, of course this will affect the job market. For several years, many graduate programs were increasing enrollment of new doctoral candidates. This means that new psychologists will enter the marketplace about 5–6 years later, who are licensed about a year after that. The marketplace is dramatically affected by PsyD programs as well; in some cases, PsyD programs admit 2–10 times the number of students that a single PhD program produces. This creates a large number of people who are eligible to provide clinical services.

The trend of increasing admissions has leveled off in recent years. At the website for APPIC, the organization that coordinates the internship match, you can get data on match statistics (www.appic.org/Internships/Match/About-The-APPIC-Match/Match-Statistics). You will find here that about 4000 students have sought an internship in each of the past seven years, with little variation in this number. This includes clinical (about 75 percent), counseling, and school psychologists. About 55 percent of these students are from PsyD programs; all others are from PhD programs.

To students considering application to graduate school in psychology, I would say that there is good reason for optimism for jobs in either academia or practice after you receive your degree. Keep in mind that many psychologists are actively involved in two of the three main activities of a psychologist (i.e., research, teaching, practice). Attending a program that will offer excellent training should offer you opportunities to pursue whatever career you would like, with maximal flexibility and opportunity. APA’s Center for Workforce Studies (www.apa.org/workforce/) offers some information on employment in psychology, across clinical and non-clinical areas.

1. What is your opinion of some of the top clinical PhD psychology graduate schools?

Ah, a tricky and delicate question that I will attempt to avoid answering directly! I believe excellent training comes in many forms and at many places. As mentioned above, I also believe that excellent training is equally the responsibility of the mentor as the program, so sometimes that status or cache of the program is not as important as working with one of the top researchers in the field. Having said this, I think there is some important information out there that applicants can use to help them get a sense of the quality of PhD programs.

1. 1. At www.socialpsychology.org there are several different ranking systems available for clinical PhD programs. Most are outdated, and none are based on measures that the field has agreed upon as reliable sources for this type of information. This also is true for the US News and World Report Rankings of clinical psychology programs, which can be found under the Health Graduate Schools section. As stated above, I think these rankings are most useful for determining what programs are in the top, second, etc. quartile. However, I don’t think the fine-grained distinctions within each quartile are all that accurate.

2. 2. As for clinical child programs specifically, it is important to determine whether you are interested in a site that offers a specialty in clinical child (and/or pediatric) training, or whether you would like generalist training with some electives in child. To obtain an internship in child, it generally is thought that it is necessary to have specialized experience in child training throughout graduate school. The Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent psychology (www.clinicalchildpsychology.org) has a directory of graduate programs in child and pediatric training. For each program, you can view a list of the number of faculty, courses, and clinical practica available in child specifically. This information may help you with your decisions. Note that not all programs are listed on here, however.

3. 3. Each program has detailed information regarding its admitted students on the program website. By looking at the average GRE scores and proportion of applicants accepted each year, you can get a rough estimate of the program’s competitiveness.

4. 4. A final index may have to do with information regarding the predominant theoretical orientation of the program. This is quite a controversial item; here’s a brief summary. Clinical psychology currently is in the midst of a transition. This transition has been ongoing for well over a decade, and reflects a gap between science and practice that has been an issue in the field of clinical psychology for many decades prior. Many years ago, clinical psychology reflected the predominant theoretical emphasis of the time, which was psychodynamic (originally psychoanalytic – think Freud – then neo-psychoanalytic) in nature. Over the years, there have been several forces (e.g., scientific achievements, societal expectations, insurance reimbursement issues) that have necessitated practitioners to provide evidence demonstrating that therapy works. As this evidence accumulated, it became apparent that therapeutic approaches representing more modern theoretical orientations, specifically behavioral and cognitive-behavioral approaches, were especially effective.

Opponents of behavioral and cognitive-behavioral approaches suggested that this conclusion was premature and inaccurate for at least two or three reasons. First, most studies examining behavioral and cognitive-behavioral treatment have been based on university samples of pure (i.e., non-comorbid) cases, often with little ethnic diversity and highly specific procedures. Thus, it is unclear whether the efficacy of these approaches might translate into effectiveness in the real world where such homogeneity among clients and therapeutic procedures is rare. Second, the lack of evidence supporting psychodynamic approaches may be due not to their ineffectiveness, but difficulty in operationalizing some of the constructs and indices of change that are relevant to psychodynamic theory (i.e., rather than measuring observable behaviors, antecedents, and consequences, as in behavioral and cognitive-behavioral approaches, psychodynamic approaches may require the measurement of “internal working models,” “libidinal energy,” or themes of “play therapy”). A third issue that arose pertained to a perceived risk among some practitioners that the therapeutic process would become overly “manualized” and rote, as many behavioral and cognitive-behavioral approaches involve a didactic component in addition to the “process” that typically characterizes “talk therapy.”

Today, there has been substantial work demonstrating that “empirically supported” (now more commonly referred to as “evidence-based”) treatments do not need to be highly manualized. In addition, evidence continues to emerge (although more work surely is needed) that demonstrates the generality of evidence-based treatments to increasingly diverse populations. The overwhelming majority of work also continues to provide support for the merits of behavioral and CBT approaches, particularly in work with children and adolescents (as compared to adults). Although some work now examined other theoretical orientations, support remains most promising for behavioral and cognitive-behavioral theoretical orientations.

How does this all relate to graduate school? Many believe that it is outdated and perhaps even irresponsible to train graduate students in therapeutic approaches based on theoretical orientations for which there are little to no supporting data. This remains a highly controversial issue, however. Advocates of psychodynamic theories strongly assert the utility of certain therapeutic procedures and assessment instruments (e.g., play therapy, the Rorschach, apperception tests) that advocates of the evidence-based approaches firmly believe are bogus and based on “pseudoscience.” This debate will likely continue for many years.

Nevertheless, a quick browse through the websites of many graduate programs confirms that behavioral and cognitive-behavioral treatments are the primary emphasis of the majority of PhD doctoral programs in clinical psychology.

2. What are the funding sources for graduate school (i.e., tuition waiver, teaching, etc.), and how should one consider the stipend with respect to the cost of living in particular areas?

Almost all PhD programs in clinical psychology will waive tuition, usually for all years of graduate training. Most also offer a stipend, again usually for all years of training. Stipends can come in one of three forms: (1) fellowship; (2) teaching assistantship (TA); (3) research assistantship (RA). A fellowship is awarded by the university or maybe an outside body for students with very impressive credentials. Not all universities have fellowships to offer (or to offer every year), but if you are offered admission with a fellowship, it is a big honor!

TAs and RAs are fairly similar in that your stipend is in part a reimbursement for work that you provide. As a TA you are grading papers, serving as a discussion section leader, or perhaps even teaching a course on your own. As an RA, you are assisting with research. In both cases, you usually are expected to dedicate 10–15 hours/week toward these assistantship responsibilities. Because you are already likely involved in research as a graduate student, many prefer an RA position. If the RA position requires you to do work you would need to do anyway, then this can be a useful timesaver. Sometimes, the RA responsibilities are not as closely tied to your own research, however. TAs have some advantages too. Most notably, it is good to get at least some classroom experience while in graduate school if you are interested in academia at some point.

Stipends vary considerably based on the type of school (public, private), and geographic area. One thing is constant, however: it will not be a lot of money. Many students take out student loans to help with living and professional (i.e., conference travel, registration) expenses. I’ve heard of some graduate applicants making their acceptance decisions based on the amount of the stipend. Frankly, this seems somewhat silly to me. The value of education at a program (and with a mentor) that matches your interests is much more valuable and important to your career than an extra few thousand dollars per year in stipend. But this is just my opinion.

3. Can you explain the dissertation process and what is expected from a graduate student?

I wouldn’t get too scared off by the dissertation. The intimidating height of this hurdle is based much more on psychological factors than the practical aspects of getting the project done. By the time you begin work on the dissertation, you will have written a master’s thesis, so in some sense, you already have accomplished a similar task, and now just need to do it again a bit larger in scope.

A dissertation is a document that describes your original and independent research. In psychology, these are not the several-hundred-page tomes that you hear of in other fields. Typically, the document will be about 65–85 double-spaced pages of text, plus your references and appendices. More important, it describes one or two studies that together address a research question. It needs to be original, but not necessarily the most brilliant and innovative idea that has ever been developed in the history of the field. It needs to be independent, but you will be submitting and revising many drafts together with your mentor over the course of a year at least. There is much more to say about the dissertation, naturally – but the bottom line is that if your referees think you can handle a PhD program, then I bet you can. It’s a lot of work, but you can do it!

4. Any comments about the curriculum vitae (a format for the CV; what not to put; how much detail to include; # of references; which references to put; any professional associations that one should join; undergraduate clubs that would be good for experience; etc.)?

Actually, most people don’t include a CV in their graduate school applications. Some include a résumé, and others include nothing at all. Unlike a résumé that usually is less than two pages, a CV is comprehensive, accounting for your professional life. If you include one, you most definitely should list your educational institutions, dates of graduation, and any honors you received. Do not include grades for specific courses/assignments, but a GPA is OK if you must.

The CV is good for advanced applicants who have some presentations or publications to report. If you do list these, be sure to use APA style (https://apastyle.apa.org/)!

Applicants also sometimes list research experiences and clinical experiences on their CV. Specific extracurricular activities not related to psychology are frankly not very important in the overall evaluation of the application.

5. If I take more than one year off after undergraduate school, will that hurt my chances of getting into graduate school in clinical PhD programs?

Probably not, although it does depend somewhat on what you did during your time off. If you spent most of the time appearing on reality shows and traveling with the circus, you probably will have a harder time convincing the admissions committee of your serious intent to pursue graduate study. If your efforts were directed toward academic goals that demonstrate your commitment to psychology, that can work in your favor. Most importantly, it is great to show that you have gotten some research experience during this time out of school.

Sometimes people apply to graduate school as a career change. This is fine, and many applicants are successfully admitted a little later in life. A thorough and convincing rationale is needed in the personal statement in these cases to demonstrate that you understand what clinical psychology is all about, and why you want to change careers. This doesn’t have to get too personal, of course, but it is important to make it clear that you have thought through this decision and are knowledgeable of the expectations for you as a graduate student.

6. How do I get a full-time research position after I graduate from undergraduate education?

Unfortunately, there is no standardized system or procedure for obtaining this type of position. There are two things you can do to be successful. First, tell all faculty you know that you are interested in a position. Faculty are inundated with listserv postings for these positions, and if they have you in mind, they can forward the ads to you. Second, do some homework on what kind of research you are interested in. Find out who is doing work in this area (you can ask faculty at your school for some help on who these people are), and then send them an email in late winter or early spring expressing your interest. Sometimes faculty know that they have a position available. Other times, they may be waiting to hear about a grant and will not be able to promise you anything until months later. The more flexible you are on things like salary (most pay in the $20–29K range), start date, etc. the better! It often is helpful to send a résumé with these email requests. Even better – if you know of a faculty member who can send along a quick informal note to the person you’d like to work with, that quick note can go a long way!

7. What are some good, insightful interview questions?

It’s always great to express enthusiasm in the interview site, and in working with the designated mentor. The mentor is probably concerned about whether you will accept an offer should the program extend one to you, so enthusiasm is good.

Otherwise, the best questions to ask are informed questions about the research you will be conducting with the mentor, or about the program. Both convey a maturity about the applicant and also a little bit about “how you think.”

Questions about research do not have to be highly specific, or simply reflect the fact that you read and memorized an article. Remember that any article you are reading was written at least two years ago by the faculty member, and their current work may no longer be reflected in that article. The faculty member may not even remember the specifics of any one specific paper!

However, questions that reflect your ability to think about research questions, and perhaps add something to the research team, are always good. Yikes – that sounds intimidating, I know! But as an interview invitation probably means that you have some past research experience, perhaps the best way to think about this is to draw upon your accumulated expertise to keep the interview going. For instance, you may say, “When I was running subjects on the treatment study with Dr. Someone, I noticed that most kids we recruited came from maltreatment backgrounds. Is that something you have explored in your work on depression?” Or, maybe you could say, “I have been very excited by the opportunities to work in a hospital setting this past year. Do your studies on cancer treatment ever involve recruitment of nurses?” Again, these kinds of questions help you demonstrate how you think a bit.

Coming up with a series of multiple questions to ask on interviews should not detract from the general mission of your visit, however: be yourself and learn about the program. This sounds trite, but remember – you will be working with this mentor on a daily basis for four years, and then perhaps some more after you move on to your next career step. Fundamentally, your interviewer wants to get to know you and your work style in a way that simply suggests that you will be a good fit for the program and the lab.

8. To how many schools should I apply?

I have heard that many people apply to about 12–20 clinical PhD programs these days. Obviously, this will vary based on what sites look like a match, what personal or geographic restrictions you have, and how competitive your application is. But this seems like a good ballpark number to work with, and if you get interviews at even half, you will be plenty broke and exhausted by the end of spring!

9. What if I don’t get in the first time? Is it useful to reapply? Should I reapply to the same schools/mentors?

Yes, and yes – particularly if you have some more research experience! But don’t only reapply to the same sites – pick some new ones as well. Also, you may be able to get some frank feedback from programs about how far your application was considered in the process. If you did not meet educational requirements, obviously it does not pay to reapply unless this changes dramatically. Programs often cannot give personalized feedback, so it may be best to only request this information at a single site, and then only if you have few other clues as to why you were not accepted.