u/Careful_Celery4763

I'm going into my senior year of undergrad, and due to poor choices my freshman year, I currently have a 3.01 GPA overall and a 3.22 GPA within Psychology. I'm a double major in Psychology (BA) and Public Health (BA), and if I really work hard, I think I can end with a 3.2 overall GPA. Im the co-president of my college's Mental Health Advocacy Club. I have TA'd for professors in my psychology (intro to psychopathology) and public health (intro to gender, sex, and intersectional justice) classes. I worked for 4 semesters with the local Boys and Girls Club after-school program, which involved tutoring kids, one-on-one and in group settings, ages kindergarten to 3rd grade. I have required research projects that I genuinely hope to publish within my school to get some kind of recognition beyond a grade. I am not entirely interested in pursuing a research-focused career, which is one reason why PsyD is appealing to me. I know a lot of programs would frown at my GPA immediately, and it really worries me. However, I have done a lot of things that I feel will really help me as an applicant. I currently work in a residential home for adults (18+) with eating disorders (Monte Nido if you've heard of it), and plan to continue that work for as long as I live. I have guaranteed transfer to a location near my home after I graduate, and that program works with adolescents. I am also currently doing an internship with a PMHNP who works with adolescents 6-17, where I get to actually sit in on her meetings with clients and learn medication management, communication between professionals, and basic therapeutic evaluation skills. I also assist with general case work management, non-profit "stuff", fundraising, etc. This internship is likely to last over a year. In an IDEAL world, i hope to be a primary psychologist at a location like Monte Nido where I am working with either adults or adolescents struggling with eating disorders and doing assessments outside on top of that. My aim would be programs like Rutgers PsyD, which I know is extremely competitive, but in terms of what I can afford and what i want in a program, it's a good target for me. I plan to live at home and continue my work at Monte Nido to get around 1,000-1,200 hours of clinical exposure before actually applying anywhere. For financial reasons, I want to stick to programs that are reasonably accessible from the NYC/Westchester area (Yeshiva, Rutgers, William Paterson, Hartford etc.), so I can live at home and mitigate as MUCH debt as I can. Sorry for such a large paragraph, just really struggling to tell myself that i WILL get in somewhere, even if it's not after my first go-around of applications, and i get a lot of mixed advice from professors. i will answer any questions and am open to ALL suggestions of how to strengthen myself, or more realistic options I should look into.

I hate to resort to Reddit, but I don't want to keep chatting with AI about my chances of getting into programs. I'm going into my senior year of undergrad, and due to poor choices my freshman year, I currently have a 3.01 GPA overall and a 3.22 GPA within Psychology. I'm a double major in Psychology (BA) and Public Health (BA), and if I really work hard, I think I can end with a 3.2 overall GPA. I am also co-president of my college's Mental Health Advocacy Club. I have TA'd for professors in my psychology (intro to psychopathology) and public health (intro to gender, sex, and intersectional justice) departments on top of 4 course loads. I worked for 4 semesters with the local Boys and Girls Club after-school program, which involves tutoring kids, one-on-one and in group settings, ages kindergarten to 3rd grade (some with definite undiagnosed disabilities that the B&GC are not equipped to help with). My college requires Psychology majors to take two capstones, both of which require research projects. My Public Health major also requires a research project for my capstone, one which I genuinely hope to publish within my school to get some kind of recognition beyond a grade. I am not entirely interested in pursuing a research-focused career, which is one reason why PsyD is appealing to me. I know a lot of programs would frown at my GPA immediately, and it really worries me. However, I have done a lot of things that I feel will really help me as an applicant, and so this is where I need help figuring out how to be realistic. I currently work in a residential home for adults (18+) with eating disorders, and plan to continue that work as long as they allow me to stay. The position is at Monte Nido, and I am a Recovery Coach; I fill in the gaps where dietitians, therapists, psychiatrists, and nurses don't work with the patients, essentially. I have guaranteed transfer to a location near my home after I graduate, and that program works with adolescents. I am also currently doing an internship with a PMHNP who works with adolescents 6-17, where I get to actually sit in on her meetings with clients and learn medication management, communication between professionals, and basic therapeutic evaluation skills. I also assist with general case work management, non-profit "stuff", fundraising, etc., that I feel will be very valuable knowledge for my professional career and life in general. I hope to work with this PMHNP throughout the rest of this summer and my senior year, and watch how medication works with complex cases, follow up with these patients, and see how professional teams operate together to help an individual. I don't plan on doing medication management, but it's definitely valuable to see how this side of treatment works, as I will probably refer clients eventually for medication management. In an IDEAL world, I currently hope to be a primary psychologist at a location like Monte Nido where I am working with either adults or adolescents struggling with eating disorders. I desire a PsyD program because, from everyone I have spoken to in the profession, the on-paper title of Psychologist opens a lot more doors to help a larger, not-so-concentrated population. So I feel if I ever wanted to pivot away from adolescents with eating disorders, I would still have the training and qualifications to do so. My aim would be something like Rutgers PsyD, which I know is extremely competitive, but in terms of what I can afford, it's a good target for me. I plan to live at home and continue my work at Monte Nido to get around 1,000-1,200 hours of clinical exposure. Who knows if my Internship with the PMHNP will continue after I graduate; I will have to see, but that will be an extremely strong recommendation letter and professional connection. For financial reasons, I want to stick to programs around the NYC/Westchester area (Yeshiva, Rutgers, William Paterson, etc.), so I can live at home and mitigate as MUCH debt as I can. Sorry for such a large paragraph, just really struggling to tell myself that i WILL get in somewhere, even if it's not after my first go-around of applications, and i get a lot of mixed advice from professors. i will answer any questions and am open to ALL suggestions of how to strengthen myself, or more realistic options I should look into.