girbgirl

For future school psych applicants, this web page is helpful for comparing schools. I'm not sure if it's posted elsewhere, so I'll just post it here.

If a faculty member refers to herself by her first name, and everyone else in the program (i.e., students and other faculty members) refers to her by her first name even though she has a PhD, is it appropriate to call her by her first name? I don't know if I've heard anyone referred to as Dr. So-and-so. I've got to accept my offer of admission and I hate thinking about etiquette, especially since it seems to vary program by program. Is there some guide that I'm missing? Maybe I should just default to Dr. **** since it's more formal. Oy vey. I wish I had studies to distract me from worrying about little details.

So, I received an offer of admission and it's signed by the program director, but the email was sent by the program assistant with the director cc'd. The email asks for me to respond immediately to the email so they know I received it. I'm pretty sure they mean for me to respond to the program assistant to confirm the email was received, but I also have a question regarding my assistantship... should I ask the program assistant that in my email or contact the director directly? The email did say to contact "me to discuss any questions you may have regarding the program" which I assume is in reference to the program director since she signed the email. I'm probably over-thinking this.

I went to UIUC for my undergrad, and the cities (Urbana and Champaign) are alright. They have some good places to eat and drink, nothing spectacular but definitely passable. I don't know where you come from (California?), but Illinois gets all four seasons. This winter has been exceptionally snowy and cold, with many days with highs in the single digits. Typically the highs are around freezing. The summers, if you'll be spending them here, are fairly hot and humid. Spring and fall tend to be short with long summers and winters. I know a grad student who came to UIUC from San Diego and the winter was a real adjustment for him. He had to go out and buy an actual winter coat for the first time.

Just had a specialist interview yesterday/today. They asked: why school psych, about the labs I worked at, what area of school psych I'm interested in, strength/weakness, and about an internship I had. There was also a group project thing that was a little stressful.

For all of you who have had interviews (or those who will be interviewing soon), what kinds of questions have you asked the faculty members/grad students in the interviews? General questions and/or program-specific questions?

1. N/A 2. Education Specialist degree 3. I'm only applying to specialist-level programs. As long as the program is a NASP approved specialist-level program, it doesn't seem to matter what the title (e.g., MA or EdS) is. If you're not interested in research then the specialist-level is appropriate. Edit: And I have heard back from one school on January 9th for its specialist-level program, but that does not seem to be the norm.

Hi everyone, I'm also applying to school psych programs and just got an interview invite for a masters/specialist program a couple days ago. Out of curiosity, were any of you planning on bringing resumes to give to the faculty members interviewing you?

1) My older brother has a degree in physics and is currently pursuing a M.S. in electrical engineering. I have one aunt with a Bachelor's degree in something related to politics/international relations and one uncle who has a Bachelor's degree in something related to agriculture/landscaping, I think. My parents both took some classes at a community college but did not receive degrees. 2) Hmm, probably the largest struggle is having parents that don't understand the importance of experience. My mother sees my time away from school as time to make money, and is confused and angry when I suggest trying to find unpaid experiences that could benefit me academically. 3) A good GPA, some research experience, and a better understanding of myself and others. 4) My strong will has helped me the most. It was instrumental in my success following a change of major in my senior year of undergrad.