Admissions Criteria for Ranking Master's-Level Applicants to Clinical Doctoral Programs

Abstract

scores on the PRT. Moreover, members of general academic honors groups consistently outperformed non-honors students, although their formal training in psychology was generally n o more extensive. These findings are consistent with another report (Gutman, 1979), which suggested that better students may "know" more psychology and be better able to intuit research results than students with poorer academic standing. The finding that Psi Chi psychology honors students did significantly better than all of the other students tested is not surprising and indicates that formal training in psychology enhances one's knowledge of the subject matter (see Lamal, 1971)).In sum, the results of this study suggest that much of what personality textbooks purport to teach undergraduates about research findings in the area may already be known to them through common, informal experiences. The extent to which research findings in other areas, such as social psychology and developmental psychology, are commonsensical has yet to be determined. But, as teachers of psychology, perhaps we should not be overly concerned with assessing what undergraduates already know (or misconceive) to be true or false about psychology. It would seem to be more important to help them to appreciate the complexities of human behavior that are rarely captured in simple true-false statements.References Brown, L. T. (1983). Some more misconceptions about psychology among introductory psychology students. Teaching of Psychol-ogy, 10, 207-210. Brown, L. T . (1984). Misconceptions about psychology aren't always what they seem. Teaching of Psychology, 1 l , 75-78. Gordon, M. E., Kleiman, L. S., & Hanie, C. A. (1978). Industrialorganizational psychology: Open thy ears o house of Israel. American Psychologist, 33, 893-905. Gutman, A. (1979). Misconceptions of psychology and performance in the introductory course. Teaching of Psychology, 6, 159-161. Lama], P. A. (1979). College students' common beliefs about pb!chology.

Admissions criteria as predictors of performance in a family therapy doctoral program

“…Research typically focuses on academic criteria (Gimmestad & Goldsmith, 1973;Hines, 1986). Academic variables such as grade point average and Graduate Record Examination scores, however, have generally not been found to relate to counseling skills such as the ability to show empathy, genuineness, and respect (Hurst & Shatkin, 1974;Patterson, 1969;Wittmer & Lister, 1971).…”

Does Research Experience Make a Significant Difference in Graduate Admissions?

“…Practica, internships, or field placement experiences and nonpsychology activities are not given as much weight in PhD program admissions. Although it may be that these hands-on experiences are important for those wishing to enter PsyD programs in clinical psychology, researchers who have studied admissions to PhD programs in experimental, clinical, counseling, and school psychology have found that practica, internships, or field placement experiences are not as important as GPA, GRE scores, letters of recommendation, and research experience (Hines, 1986;Landrum & Cashin, 1991;Landrum, Jeglum, Cashin, 1994;Purdy, Reinehr, & Swartz, 1989).…”

“…In another study of APA-approved clinical psychology programs, research experience was only exceeded in importance by verbal and quantitative GRE scores. These were followed in importance by letters of recommendation and grades (Hines, 1986). Purdy, Reinehr, and Schwartz (1989) looked at the priorities of admission committees in a variety of types of graduate psychology programs.…”

“…When Hines (1986) and Bonfazi, Crespy, and Rieker (1997) asked faculty teaching in doctoral programs whether any particular course or activity would have made a student with a master's degree more attractive for admission, the most common response was research involvement. In Bonfazi, Crespy, and Rieker's (1997) study, 33% of the respondents from APA-approved PhD programs in clinical psychology, 44% of respondents from PhD programs in counseling, and 27% of respondents from school psychology programs said that research experience would make an applicant from a master's program more attractive.…”

“…Although enrolling in a master's degree program does not typically give you an edge on the competition, if you don't get into a doctoral program on the first try, it may be helpful to enroll in a master's program that has a research emphasis (Bonifazi, Crespy, & Rieker, 1997;Hines, 1986). An empirical master's thesis and any papers or publications you could produce during the program would be viewed very favorably by admissions committees.…”