What If I Don't Get Accepted?
It's seriously not the end of the world. It's happened to me twice and I'm still here, right? You just have to have a Plan B. I've talked about having a Plan B previously, but more detail couldn't hurt. There are several different types of Plan B's you could choose - the kind that will help you next time you apply (i.e. gaining more research experience), the kind that will simply make you happy, and the kind that will make you a lot of money. I'm going to address the first type, since there are infinite variations on the latter two.
- Enter a master's program. You'll probably gain the most research experience from an experimental psych program, and if you can get one that has a clinical professor or two, you're golden. The upside is, of course, the massive amount of research experience, and you get a nice taste of what grad school is like. Plus, you have a master's - even if you never get into a PhD program, you'll get paid more in jobs! The downside is that it's rare for you to be able to transfer more than a course or two - so when you enter a PhD program, you'll probably have to do another master's. Be prepared for this eventuality. Decide if it's worth it to you.
- Get a psychology research related job. Many professors, especially those who work at hospitals or free-standing research centers, will have paying positions for research assistants, research coordinators, and often more technical, data-oriented jobs. Often this type of work will deal with things like substance abuse or psychosis, but you can find other topics as well. Usually this work will be neuroscience-oriented, because that's where the money is. Jobs like this post ads at schools, neuroscience websites, and regular job search websites, but an even better place to look is on the websites for neuroscience research centers themselves. If all else fails, go to "About Me" and check out the centers I worked at, and centers linked to them.
- Get a non-psychology research related job. These may be easier to find, but harder to get if you have a pure psychology background. I got a job like this out of high school, kind of randomly, but I think that was a rare instance. If you do have some biology, chemistry, or physics background, though, you could look into jobs in those fields, as well.
- Take the desperate route. I was preparing to do this, until I got my current job. Who's your favorite researcher in the whole wide world? Look up where they're at, what the job prospects in their area are like. Then, contact that researcher. Say you're thinking of moving to the area, and if you do, would you be able to volunteer for them? Say, 20 hours a week? Get yourself a job and prepare to spend an inordinate amount of time doing various odd jobs for this person. But they'll be research-related jobs, and it might be a great way to get yourself in this person's radar for when you eventually apply to this, and other, programs. Be prepared, however, for this researcher to be very surprised and a little confused. I know mine was!
