SchoolPsyched

I agree. You have to choose your battles on this one. I have been working with a professor for over two years now and everyone in the lab (including undergrads) refers to her by her first name, but I pick and choose when I think it is appropriate to call her by her fist name or to stay with Dr. so and so. I would keep going with Dr. until further notice. If you are working with them and will be interacting with them daily while in graduate training, I am sure there will come a day where they assure you to call them by their first name, but it is always better to be too formal than informal in this case.

Yes, and many schools do not know until June because so many of the grants actually come from the public school system and that seems to be the time where the schools find out their budgets thus giving word to the universities about how much money they will be able to provide for their services and programs. However, if the school has a good reputation and the school is pretty confident, I feel that it would be safe to assume that you will be okay. Did they say anything about departmental or university assistantships that are available just in case?

That's awesome. And I totally didn't mean to give this post a thumbs down. I am not sure how to reverse that, so sorry!

No, I was never invited to an interview. What about Denver are you still considering the PhD even though it is not accredited? I am thinking about accepting the EdS and then going into their fast track PhD program for EdS professionals afterwards, but ONLY if the funding situation and mentor support is comparable to the PhD offer I have.

Also, Congrats on all the acceptances! I was shooting for University of Northern Colorado, but did not get in!

I have narrowed mine down to two. I have heard that it is not respectful to hold on to more than two at a time. Try and narrow it down to 2 or 3. When are you going to finalize your decision by? I have set the date to make a decision by March 21. I know we have until April 15th technically, but I would feel bad waiting until then if I were rejecting the offer because I would want someone else to have it. More so, I would be afraid of how I looked if I did accept the offer but also waited so late to accept. With all that being said, would any of you say that the date I set to decline and accept offers is too late? I want to be as respectful as possible, but I want to also make sure that I have enough time to make this important decision.

Good question! For the PhD inteview, I wore black dress pants with a matching black blazer with a button up shirt underneath. Most people were wearing suits or like suit-type dresses. I think if you wore a pencil skirt with a top and blazer you would be fine, but I would definitely make it look like the blazer and pants/skirt came in a set and the skirt should be very conservative (i.e., right below the knee and with pantyhose) I got my interview attire at Express during their 40% off sale. As for shoes, comfort is the key. Nice flats are perfect, but if you wear heals, make sure that they are comfortable enough to wear all day/walk around campus in. I had a campus tour on two of my interviews, so I was thankful to be comfortable. My shoes were black oxfords that had about a two inch heal, but were super comfy. Some programs say "business casual", but it's okay if you "overdress", you are there to impress. In this case, I would probably drop the blazer and just wear the pants and maybe a nice conservative top or sweater. Or, you could wear a nice conservative dress with tights and a cardigan if the weather is nice. Hope this is helpful!

I wasn't going to use your answer, I am just curious what other peoples views are of what the most important topics of discussion are right now for SP. No worries if you don't want to share your answer thought. Also, I noticed that you got into Denver, Was that the EdS? I was also admitted and it says with funding, but we don't know sure how much yet. Does anyone know what type of funding they typically give the EdS students? Also, when I started this process out, I was interested in EdS and PhD for different reasons. After being accepted to a PhD and getting a sense of the work, I believe I would like to pursue the PhD because I like the various careers I would be able to pursue versus working strictly with schools with the EdS. So, I am interested if anyone knows a whole lot about the PhD degree program that University of Denver has that is specific for EdS professionals. It only takes two years to complete and since you have already completed the EdS with an internship, you do not have to complete another one. As long as your dissertation is done, you are out in 2 years. Does anyone know about this program? I was not able to make it to the on campus interview due to weather/plane cancelations but was still accepted after the Skype interview. Nevertheless, I am taking a trip up there in a few weeks to check out the program and attend a class, as well as talk to faculty and grad students in an attempt to replicate what I would have missed on interview day. Sorry for the novel!

May I ask what your answer was?

Anyone else interviewing at the University Denver tomorrow? What are you expecting? I am interviewing with the EdS, although I wish it were PhD. If you are, good luck and I will look forward to seeing you there! I heard it is COLD, so BUNDLE UP. Oh, and have fun in Colorado!

Hey Everyone, I had my first School Psychology PhD interview yesterday. It was a full day event that consisted of graduate panel (during your breaks), 30 minute long interviews with faculty and separate 30 minute interviews with the research teams. (8 interviews total). Breakfast and lunch were provided and we were encouraged to mingle with faculty and graduate students. The day ended with dinner and beer (which was nice) at a local restaurant/music venue. The graduate students seem to have a lot of say in who gets into the program because they are the ones that will have to work with you for 4 years or more. Most of the interviews with faculty included them telling me about their research and asking if I had any questions. So, come prepared to ask tons! The graduate students were more interested in my particular research interest and style as a professional than some of the faculty. Some of the questions I was asked: Why did you choose our school/program/lab to work in? What research ideas do you bring to the table? Do you play beer pong? Because we have tailgate parties every game day outside the building (which was odd, but definitely a nice ice breaker) What other schools have you applied to? (awkward question, but if I were you, you should only name a few and try to name ones that are similar to the program you are presently interviewing for) Why do you think you would be a good fit for this program/lab? What types of skills do you bring to the program? What made you choose this field as a profession and where do you see yourself after you graduate? Give me your story of how you chose the field of school psychology Are you familiar with Applied behavior analysis? What are your research interest? What kind of research have you conducted? What were your findings? Do you wish to continue doing this particular research if you were admitted? What do you like to do for fun? (don't say read psych articles and conduct reserach! They want to see your full personality. What weaknesses or hardships do you think you might face in grad school and how do you feel you will overcome these obstacles? Are you familiar with so and so? (read other researchers work in the area you want to specialize in and if you don't know who someone is, do not lie and say you do!) Have you had any experience working with children? Diverse popuations? What grades are you interested in working with? These are just some of the things I was asked. Interviews are notoriously bad for collecting accurate detailed information about someone. Therefore the goal in an interview such as this is to leave the interview with a net gain in positive emotion about you. As such, there are important things to avoid, things that would lead them to feel less positive about you. Such things include the following: 1. interrupting 2. showing off 3. asking odd, irrelevant questions 4. showing lots of anxiety or worry or doubt 5. coming on too strong or being cocky 6. asking too many questions and not being open to hearing questions There are also things that you can do to help the interviewer feel more positive about you, based on the research on interpersonal liking: 1. smile, a lot! 2. Be sweet, a lot! 3. like the interviewer 4. like what the interviewer likes 5. like the program 6. like the folks in the program 7. like the city 8. be curious about the program 9. be prepared and informed, but only enough to speak wisely if asked about something 10. don’t make the interview about getting your questions answered; that can come later if/when you get an offer 11. be professional with EVERY interaction you have (email, interview, dinner chat, car ride). Everything! 12. Dress professionally. Don’t try to make a statement with your attire. Blend.

I was invited to an interview at LSU, Baton Rouge! I was contacted by the POI in the School Psych department. Woo HOO! Good luck everyone.