PsyD Personal Statement Examples

Future School Psychologist Stays on the Ball in College

____ University if my first choice of graduate study towards the PsyD Degree for a variety of reasons, principal of which is the sheer excellence of your program and the alignment of my professional aspirations and interests with those of your distinguished faculty. I also have sentimental reasons for wanting to attend ____ since I grew up going to all the ____ basketball games. My father has always been a season ticket holder, and I was a designated “ball girl” for the ____ team. My hometown and family are close by ____, providing me with the support base that would allow me to give my all to Psychology 24/7.

I keenly look forward to a professional lifetime of both research and practice. After earning my PsyD at ____, I see myself serving as a school psychologist in the public-school system for at least several years. Eventually, I plan to open my own practice specializing in psychological services and assessments for children with ADHD or other behavioral issues. I really look up to organizations like The Child Mind Institute who are exemplary at integrating research and practice and I look forward to starting my own non-profit at some point, related to the cognitive and emotional development of special needs children.

I especially admire the work of Dr. ____, the Chair of the Psychology Program at ____, particularly his work in Self-Regulated Theory (SRL) along with his Self-Regulated Empowerment Program (SERP). Educating to achieve self-regulation is fundamental, as I see it, to the successful socialization of children and adolescents and would be especially helpful in my current position as a psychosocial teacher. It would also be a special privilege for me to study under Professor ____ since he has a special interest in the assessment and treatment of children with ADHD. I currently work at a school for gifted children who are twice-exceptional learners. This concept of the “twice-exceptional learner” is new, and we need research with respect to this specific population. Twice-exceptional learners are gifted children who also have some form of disability(s). Most twice-exceptional children are gifted and diagnosed with a learning disability or ADHD. I think my experience working with this population will help me to make contributions to future research into effective therapy for children and adolescents diagnosed with ADHD.

During the Fall semester of 2015, I was enrolled in Psychology of Personality, where I first learned that I am most drawn to child psychology. I remember my professor asking the class to think about what Erik Erickson meant when he said: “You see a child play, and it is so close to seeing an artist paint, for in play a child says things without uttering a word. You can see how he solves his problems. You can also see what's wrong. Young children, especially, have enormous creativity, and whatever's in them rises to the surface in free play.” The professor shared a clip about play therapy and how psychologists investigate the function of a behavior through free play and imagination. Since then, I knew I wanted to work with children. As I learned more about psychology through my undergraduate courses, my focus kept bringing me back to children, to apply what I was learning.

In the summer of 2016, I participated in ____ University’s Summer Study Internship Program, where I was enrolled in two summer courses chosen from the Psychology Research and Practice Track. For the final six weeks of the program, ____ University arranges for students to work in professional internships that meet one's professional interests. The paid internship I worked at was the Summer Enrichment Institute at ____ Children's Center, affiliated with ____ Medical School, working as an undergraduate counselor. The Summer Enrichment Institute (SEI) is a five-week day program based on Summer Treatment Program (STP) that teaches children ages 6-12 effective ways to manage ADHD and other behavior issues. I learned to effectively implement an evidence-based positive reinforcement treatment program with a focus on positive reinforcement, effective commands, and immediate consequences. Using token reinforcement and response-cost methods, children received points for appropriate behavior and lost points for inappropriate behavior as they engaged in activities throughout the day. In addition to the point system, time out, social skills training and problem-solving training, children received daily report cards used as a means of targeting a child's individual behavior problems, providing daily feedback to parents, to provide rewards at home for meeting their goals.

I completed my undergraduate studies at ____ University in New York City, with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a minor in Art. During my Junior year, I served as Vice President of Psi Chi, an international honors society. This position helped me to cultivate my leadership skills. Fully convinced that a career in Psychology is my destiny, I set about exploring all facets of the field, acquiring research experience in three different labs at ____. I found the Mind, Movement, Interaction and Development (MMID) lab especially stimulating during my senior year. I enjoyed feeling challenged to articulate my observations and interpret data, especially since the lab collaboratively developed the proxemics scale in preparation for the MMID poster presentation.

During my time as an undergraduate research assistant for the MMID lab, we developed an observable reliable proxemics scale by coding video recorded data of mother-infant dyadic interactions. While observing a parent-infant interaction, more distance can reflect a secure-base exercise of autonomy and independence, or it could reflect a lack of comfort in proximity. Similarly, more closeness (less distance) can reflect heightened emotional warmth, or it can indicate greater need, fearfulness, and dependence. The cumulative and sequential flow of interpersonal distance could result from factors as diverse as the child or baby's temperament, parenting style, parent personality, and the emotional availability (EA) maintained between them. Hence, the labs need a reliable proxemics scale to apply to video-recorded data. I was able to present our coding system and findings in poster format at the ____ Psychology Conference in 2017.

To get another perspective on working with children diagnosed with learning disabilities, this past summer I interned as a psychosocial teacher at The Quad Manhattan’s summer camp for children ages six to eight who are twice exceptional, in New York City. Often referred to as 2e students, the children are gifted, and have some form(s) of disability. I supported the head teacher while fostering optimal psychosocial development through academic curriculum and activities. I was trained by Dr. Ross Greene’s collaborative and proactive solutions (CPS), Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) and Michelle Garcia’s Winner’s Social Thinking. I learned how to effectively use collaborative proactive solutions, PCIT, and Social Thinking with twice-exceptional students throughout the summer. I also supported my clinical supervisor by taking on the role of a cogmed coach for a child at the summer camp. Cogmed Working Memory Training is an evidence-based, computerized training program designed by leading neuroscientists to improve attention by effectively increasing working memory capacity over a five-week training period. A cogmed coach provides support and motivation to ensure growth throughout the training period. I noticed that using PCIT’s PRIDE skills was successful for getting the child to participate and served to enhance their self-esteem. In addition to getting applied experience working with the children in a school setting, I was grateful to learn about each child by reading Individual Education Plans and neuropsychological assessments as preparation before the start of summer camp.

Like my previous internship in ____, psychosocial teachers were assigned 3-4 students to track goals on the child’s daily report card and the data tracking sheet. At the end of camp, teachers authored a final report with extensive information about strategies that were used and proven to be successful, goals that were addressed, and recommendations for the future. Thankfully, I was hired within the Quad community to work as a 1:1 psychosocial teacher for the 2017-18 school year at The Quad Preparatory School, where I now can learn more about this sensational population. I currently work in a third-grade classroom of nine twice-exceptional students, with a range of diagnoses like Specific Learning Disorder, ADD, ASD, ADHD, DMD, ODD. My extensive experience in research labs, serving as Vice President of Psi Chi International Psychology Honors Society, crafting an engaging research poster presentation, and taking the initiative to seek applied opportunities in addition to my academic efforts, have all prepared me to hit the ground running at ____ University and throw myself into my studies. 

As someone who is very much looking forward to serving as a school psychologist, I could not be more convinced of the importance of staying abreast of the literature in our field, especially as applied to practice.  I am prepared for and committed to begin training as a school psychologist. I believe that my interests in children with learning and behavioral difficulties makes me a good fit with ____ where numerous investigators are engaged in this and closely related areas. Finally, I appreciate the sense of community and school-spirit which for me ____ has come to symbolize.

Thank you for your consideration of my application to your PsyD Program.

PsyD Personal Statement Examples