The postgraduate programs in Clinical Psychology are highly competitive and there are many more applicants than places available. Therefore, at Griffith there is a highly structured application process. Admission to all Clinical Psychology programs is restricted to students who are registered Psychologists or who are eligible for provisional registration with the Psychology Board of Australia. The application process involves three stages.
Stage 1: The application
All applicants are required to demonstrate their capability for training in Clinical Psychology as follows:
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Academic Achievement/Intellectual Ability: Applicants must have completed a program in Psychology extending over four years and accredited by the Australian Psychology Accreditation Council (APAC). Preference is given to applicants who have completed an Honours degree in Psychology which involves an individual research project awarded at the level of a First or Second Class Division A. It is highly desirable that applicants will have completed courses or units that are relevant to Clinical Psychology (for example, Abnormal Psychology, Counselling Psychology or Health Psychology). The Grade Point Average in the undergraduate degree, fourth year and relevant courses will be taken into account.
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Interpersonal and Counselling Capability: Given the interpersonal sensitivity and awareness required for effective clinical practice, successful applicants will be expected to demonstrate a high level of interpersonal skills. Furthermore, in order for the program to build on a reasonably advanced applied skill baseline, successful applicants will be expected to demonstrate at least a basic level of competence in the counselling context, evidence of warmth and empathic responding and an openness to a range of approaches. This may be demonstrated by evidence of previous counselling training and relevant volunteer or work experience.
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Personal Statement: For assistance with this statement, see the Position description for a Clinical Psychology trainee and the Self-assessment / Colleague-assessment checklists.
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Support from Referees: Two referee reports are required - one from an academic who knows your work well and a second from a professional referee who can attest to your interpersonal and counselling capabilities. See below for the Australian Psychology Postgraduate Program Reference Request System process.
Stage 2: The interview
Please note that, given the competitive nature of this program, only those applicants who have been evaluated by a panel of the clinical team as having demonstrated their suitability for training in clinical psychology (according to the above criteria and ranked sufficiently high enough relative to others) will be shortlisted for an interview.
The interview itself consists of a multi-station assessment process. Applicants are required to attend a face-to-face session that takes around half a day to complete. Applicants will be required to demonstrate sound interpersonal and emotion management skills as they respond to the various tasks at each station. Tasks include, for example, responding to an ethical dilemma, roleplaying an interview, roleplaying a supervision session, discussing research, responding to questions relating to their own reasons for applying for training in clinical psychology and a written task.
Applicants are assessed by a panel of clinical program staff in the multi-station interview process. Applicants will be ranked according to their performance at each station and those ranked highly enough will be offered a place in the program.
Stage 3: The offer
First round offers will be made by mid-November to applicants who are ranked at a sufficiently high level. A waitlist of applicants will be retained as second and third round offers may be made as late as January. Unsuccessful applicants will be advised as soon as is practically possible.
Note: Applicants are not permitted to defer an offer. Should you be unable to accept an offer, you must re-apply for entry in the following intake.
