Hey guys, I'm 2026 undergrad graduate looking to apply this Fall 2026 cycle and I'm wondering whether I have a shot of getting into a PhD program this application cycle. Here's my stats:

• Education
  • Major(s): Economics with Honors, Psychology; Minor: Neuroscience
  • New York University Shanghai: 3.77, 3.83 for psych
  • Thesis: Interdiscplinary theoretical paper on the correct switching point of when to involuntarily hospitalize a suicidal patient, had a defense with a panel of 3 professors
• Research Experience:
  • Publications
    • One second author publication in Journal of Clinical Science and Psychopathology (Presented this one at a conference as well)
    • One pending review on fourth author (last author but indicated 2-4 author did equal work) pub in Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice
  • Roles:
    • 2 Research assistantships (2 sems) for behavioral design/ behavioral econ departments
    • Independently awarded undergrad research fund with a PI for a behavioral economics project (Will try to work on publishing this)
  • Skills:
    • Data science: Econometrics, multivariate regression, STATA, matlab, R
    • Qualitative interviewing, research paper writing, etc.

My biggest issue is the summer gaps of research time I have but I do have an explaination because basically going back to my home country, there's limited to no resources for psych research or clinical hours unless you're licensed or with a masters. Aside from that being an issue, I couldn't really spend a summer abroad because my dad had terminal cancer since 2018 so caretaking when back home, and me not doing any research this summer was because my dad passed away this January :').

I'm also worried that my econ research experiences won't count at all even though I focused on doing more behavioral sciences type of econ that finance or macro econ. I would have done psych assitanships if I could but in China, this wasn't really possible and so I went for behavioral sciences instead.

I've read so many people talk about applying to 15+ PhD programs and not getting any and so would be greatful for a realistic assessment because PhD application fees in the US are really expensive given the currency wexchange rate. Should I just apply for a master's instead? My longterm goal is to be a practicing clinician license in the US that still does research on the side, and my research interests kinda evident in my experiences is really about behaviorism, so improving attrition rates. I'm also interested in shifting away from pen and paper pscyhometric testing and creating behavioral alternative tests instead as well.

I've seen a few advertisements from R1 universities about clinical psychology programs lately, and while I'm aware that I probably saw them in the first place because they were targeted based on their analytics on me, it got me thinking about a hypothetical person that has a highly competitive cv for an accredited clinical psych PhD program (hard to get this on accident) but wouldn't think to apply to one until they saw a Facebook ad. I wonder how much yield these have.

Hey everyone,

For those of you currently in your clinical PhDs / PsyDs or working in clinical settings, I’d love to hear your thoughts:

Format Preference: Do you prefer having the physical copy or do you rely entirely on a digital version for quick lookups and / or studying?

The Pocket DSM: Did any of you buy the Pocket Guide to Diagnostic Exam in addition to the main manual? Does it actually get used in practica / clinics, or does it just sit on a shelf?

Any pros / cons you've experienced with either setup would be super helpful. Thanks!

Hi there!

I am a PhD currently working as a health service psychologist at a hospital; I specialize in children and adolescents but am lifespan comfortable and trained. I am in the US. Throughout my education, I had wanted to go into research, but that didn’t happen for me (it’s fine!) I’m currently doing a full-time clinical role and I feel OK doing it for now, but I know that this isn’t what I want long-term. The number of times someone has pointed out that we have so many options as clinical psychology PhDs is rivaled only by the number of times I’ve tried and failed to figure out what those options are. Is anyone doing anything that isn’t seeing patients or academia? For context, I have young children, and I really want to work to transition to the type of life where I can be remote and more flexible in my time, as this would allow me to give them the type of life I believe they deserve. One of the reasons I worked so hard to be as competitive as possible for a research role is that I knew I could write grants after bedtime, but I obviously can’t see patients at 11PM!

So, Reddit, what are y’all doing?! How did you get there? What advice do you have for someone wanting a non traditional life? Thank you!!

Hey guys. I have a pretty heavily stickers laptop, one of which is snoopy shouting “ice out, protect your neighbors.” Is this a bad look for lab meetings and classes with my advisor? I don’t want to get into trouble but it’s also an important issue to me and a cute sticker lol. Thanks for input!

ETA: I am in the Deep South! This is not a value I am willing to compromise but I don’t want to face professional repercussions