potentialpsychologist

What is grad student life like near campus? Do people stay in New Brunswick and go out, or does everyone head to NYC? Is there much of a grad student culture at all?

You can live a little cheaper in Queens than in Manhattan, but do you want to? If living in New York City is the big draw for St. John's, I don't think you're going to be happy with it. Manhattan is about an hour away from campus using public transportation. The neighborhood near the campus is a residential community. It's not what people have in mind when they think of NYC.

This article really answers your question, but I'm not sure if you can see it if you're not a member of NASP or if it's behind a pay wall. Basically, in the Northeast, only 32% of specialist-level school psych interns get paid, and the average stipend is $12,764. That's the lowest percentage and amount in any of the four regions. (Doctoral interns have it better, at 67% and $15,740, but are still the lowest among their peers in other regions.) The Northeast just has a tradition of not paying their interns, and since people keep taking the internships, they can keep doing it.

If you think there's a good chance you'll eventually try to get a PhD from a competitive program, then going to a program with a PhD is probably better for your admissions chances. At least from the interviews I attended, I gather that there's hardly a division between the PhD and master's students, so you get a lot of research experience. Also, a professor at a very competitive PhD-only program advised me that her program would look more favorably on a candidate with a master's from a program she's familiar with than one she's not, and she's only familiar with the ones that put out a lot of research. Master's students are also sometimes funded at these programs... But you have to do a ton of research, so there's a trade-off if you don't love that.

Rutgers? Yes. PM me.

I would advise khowe54 to expect to pay a lot more than that. Assuming we're talking about a standard three-year (two years of classes, one year internship) master's & EdS program, it's about 60 credits. Cost per credit varies a lot, but my state school is about $790. Multiply that by 60, it's $47,400. That doesn't include all the extra fees, which are nearly $2000 per semester. Plus living expenses if you don't work full time during school.

Rutgers interview email sent out today. Has anyone interviewed there? I'm in a master's program now but I'm confused about the part about bringing psychological reports...

I got offered an interview at Tufts last Thursday. Not sure if they sent them all out at once or not, but I thought I'd share in case anyone is waiting. Has anyone heard from Rutgers yet?