Speaker 1: Thank you for checking out this video. My name is Arielle and I'm a third year PhD student in clinical psych and I'm the founder of Grad Life Grind. In today's video, I'm going to be going over a year-by-year review of my PhD program in clinical psychology. So if you are considering applying to PhD programs in clinical psychology, then this would be a nice overview of what to expect. However, please note that every program is slightly different and for privacy reasons, for safety reasons, I don't share the program that I go to. It is a US-based program and it is designed to be completed typically in five years. So the overview that I'm going to be giving is on a five-year track. However, some people do end up taking six years or even seven years to complete their PhD in clinical psychology. I will also preface this video by stating that my program is not a research-intensive program. It's not an R1 or a Research 1 institution where students are being bred to be academics. It's also not a sidey program that is primarily clinically based for folks who are trying to go into private practice or have a career that is focused on the clinical side. My program is actually somewhere in the middle so students who want a career in research can find opportunities that will get them there. Folks who want to focus on the clinical side can find opportunities to focus more there. My program is sort of in the middle and that's great because my career goals are on both sides, research and clinical. So as you're watching this video, just be mindful that the format of my program is based on its design. So it is a scholar-practitioner model, which is different than a practitioner-scientist model. There's also the clinical science model, which is not the model of my program. I should probably do a separate video on the different models for psychology doctoral programs, but basically how a program is structured is largely based on the training model. So just know that my program is sort of equal parts clinical and research focused. Now let's start with year one in the program. So first-year students in my PhD program pretty much only take classes, so they are not expected to do research. They're not in a lab or working under a specific faculty member yet, and this is rare. Most programs admit students to be working under a lab immediately. They're working with a specific faculty member from the beginning and the application process is different. And when they're applying to programs, they're applying to work with a specific faculty member. In my program, you're admitted to the overall program and you join a lab later, which I'll get to. So first-year students in my PhD program just take classes. They can participate in research, but that's more on like a volunteer basis. So that is something that I did before I was officially part of my current lab. I volunteered. And first-year students in my program are also not expected to do any type of clinical practicum. If you're wondering what practicum is, I have an entire video explaining that, but essentially first-year students are not seeing any clients under the supervision of a licensed psychologist because they're just focusing on their coursework. So I started GradLife Grind in the first year of my program and there's plenty of content about what that was like and the classes that I took. Should probably go back, review some of the things that I covered in first year, and fill in the gaps wherever I didn't cover certain topics. So I actually recently uploaded a video about what my experience was like doing that practicum because within my university's clinic, there is a specialty clinic that focuses on the Latinx population and I was able to do psychotherapy in Spanish and be supervised in Spanish. So definitely check that video out if you want to know what it was like for me to see my first clients ever and have that training experience. So second year is all about juggling those three things. Clinical work, research, and classes. So second year is all about juggling those three things and figuring out how to wear a whole bunch of different hats. Juggling classes, research, and clinical work. And that's obviously aside from any part-time work or other things that students are engaged in. So I was also running Grad Life Grind. I was working part-time within the admissions department. I think that during my second year, yeah during my second year, I was also working a part-time job at a local gym and there's just a lot, there's a lot going on in grad school. But I also did some day in the life type of content during my second year on Instagram and on other platforms I've shared about my experiences. So if you're not already following on Instagram, that's where I'm most active. You should definitely follow Grad Life Grind. And here on YouTube you'll find some overviews like recap type videos of what my PhD experience has been like. So third year is where I'm at now and something you should know is that as you advance in a doctoral program in psychology, you start doing less and less classes and more and more independent work such as research and clinical work. Oh in addition to research, clinical work, classes, and external work, I was also TAing at the end of my second year. I had other peers that were TAing the entirety of their second year. So teaching experience is another thing that can be added. In my program specifically, teaching is not required but other programs it may be part of like a graduate assistantship or a fellowship where funding is attached. So at my program, being a teacher assistant is kind of like having a job on campus so you get paid a paycheck and it's not attached to any particular funding source because our program is completely private and unfunded. So I also juggled that towards the end of my second year. Now as a third year, I am also TAing, taking far far less classes, seeing more clients, spending more time doing clinical work, and doing a whole lot more research. So something you should know is that as you advance in a doctoral program, at least in psychology, you start doing less and less coursework and more and more independent work which is research and clinical training. The other thing to know is that I'm doing more clinical training in this third year but I'm actually at an external practicum so I'm no longer within my university's clinic which is housed within my school. I'm out in the community doing separate work so currently I'm placed at a domestic violence agency and my peers are placed at all types of different agencies throughout the area such as hospitals, other community mental health centers, non-profit organizations, etc. So definitely do check out the video that I just recorded and uploaded about the application process for practicum. Every school handles practica slightly differently. Some students are within their university clinic throughout, some students end up seeing clients actually in the first year. In certain programs some folks are at external practica throughout, in some programs you have to find your own practica whereas at mine it's a little bit more guided. So definitely check that out if you wanted to learn more about what it's like to actually be trained to do clinical work as a future psychologist. My third year has also been a lot more dissertation heavy so I will be focusing on proposing my dissertation, starting the IRB process, etc. in this third year. So right now it is the spring quarter of the third year as I'm recording this and I am preparing to propose my dissertation by the end of the quarter but I've been working on writing my proposal throughout the year. Most students in my program start their dissertation proposal around third year and try to propose by the end of third year or the beginning of fourth year so I'm on track to do that. So like I said classes are much less of a priority, not that they're not important, but you're just taking maybe one or two classes including required courses and electives and focusing a lot more on your own research and trying to get as much clinical experience as possible because if you want to apply for internship that'll start around the summer after third year going into fourth. So my fourth year is coming up and the general theme for fourth year is dissertation and internship applications if you're on a five-year track. A lot of my peers have decided to take a additional year and actually apply for internship a year later so they can spend their fourth year actually doing a full practicum, getting lots more hours, and then applying for internship the following year. I've decided that I will be applying to internship in my fourth year so that the fifth year of my program is internship. So basically the structure that I'm going for is year one full-time classes, years two and three practicum classes research, year four pretty much just dissertation work and preparing for internship, and then year five I'll be off on internship. So one of the things that lots of students do in their fourth year is another external practicum. I've decided not to do one in my journey and I'll be doing a whole separate video about that and what I plan on doing in my fourth year because it is a little bit more of an unconventional route that I'm taking, but essentially fourth year is much more independent. You're probably done with classes by then and you're focusing on your dissertation project and seeing clients and or preparing your applications for internship if you're on the five-year track. In addition to that fourth year students may also be teaching or working or doing some kind of external work so in my fourth year I also plan to focus on teaching experience as well. So I just want to rewind really quick because I forgot something about third year. So the third year in my program is actually where students obtain their master's on the way to PhD and that comes at the end of the third year after students have passed an oral exam that is clinical in nature. I will probably do a whole separate video on the oral exam because I'm preparing for it now and I can share more about what it's like once it's over. But the oral exam is sort of the benchmark to obtain your master's and that is also the benchmark to be able to propose your dissertation and then after that you kind of move on to the internship pieces. So by the time you're a fourth year student you already have your master's and if you are going to engage in teaching you can actually start teaching your own classes for example at undergraduate institutions because you already have that master's degree whereas prior to that unless you have a master's from before you entered your PhD program the the teaching would be limited to more like TA work. So in my experience teaching has been all TAing and in my fourth year hopefully I'll be able to shift into more independent teaching. Last but definitely definitely not least is fifth year. So in the fifth year of the program if you're on a five-year track you are spending that time on internship which is a full-time gig and internships are paid but they don't pay great and some students are still actually writing their dissertation while they're on internship. Some folks are able to write all of fourth year and defend in the fourth year before they move on to internship. For me we'll have to see what happens but my hope is definitely to be done with dissertation before I move on to internship. A huge chunk of time in the fourth year goes into applying to internship and interviewing and so forth so by the time you enter the fifth year you're kind of done with the PhD work and you're off working in another state potentially depending on where you get placed in the matching process. So generally speaking folks who end up taking an additional year or two do so because they want to do additional practicum time before they apply for internship. Hours is one of the things that makes us most competitive so students who do that are using the sixth year as their internship year and taking the fifth year to focus on dissertation maybe getting more hours and doing some of the other things like teaching research that might make them competitive for internship in the sixth year. So I know there was a bit of back and forth but hopefully this overview was easy to follow. In my program first year students are just taking classes, second and third year students are juggling classes, clients, research, fourth year students who are on a fifth year track are working on their dissertation and their internship applications, and then fifth year students are off on internship and the fourth and fifth year vary a little bit if you're deciding to take an additional year or two to make yourself more competitive or the other reason why people sometimes take an extra year is because life things happen. People have babies, people take leaves of absence, etc. So generally speaking this is what the inside of a PhD program looks like. All of these pieces vary a little bit by program especially based on whether they have a different type of model such as a clinical science model or the boulder model and I will be sure to cover that at some point in the future. But if you are considering a PhD in clinical psychology you are in the right place. You should definitely subscribe to this channel because that's what all this content is about. You should be following on Instagram, on TikTok, and you should be on my email list. You should be connecting with me if you have any questions about what it's like to be a graduate student, about what it's like to apply to graduate schools in clinical psychology, then I'm definitely your go-to person. I answer all of my DMs on Instagram and I've also done several workshops in the past about the pathway to PhD. The recordings for those workshops are available and all of the links that you need to access those are going to be down below in the description for this video. Thank you so much for watching this and taking the time to learn a little bit more about what a PhD program in clinical psych entails. Take care.