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baunlee

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Posts posted by baunlee

  1. So basically there are direct unsubsidized loans that will cover up to 20,500 per year.  Anything more than that would be a PLUS loan.

    This amount is considered after any scholarships from your institution and work study.

    Or are you looking for information about private sources of funding?

  2. I second what the last poster said about your GRE's.  I know students that just applied to masters and had higher scores. I mean of course it depends on what you want to do with a degree.  But just being brutally honest those GRE's are not good enough. I would get the verbal at least to 160 and the quant a little higher. Shouldnt be too hard since you are pretty close.

  3. i agree with iphi about not letting them make you feel bad.  One of the programs that I feel rather strongly about but have not accepted from is always emailing me asking where I am in the decision process even though I already informed them I was waiting to hear from all my schools. Today one of the faculty called and left a voicemail and still wanted another update on the decision process...but I already gave it to them so I'm not really sure what to say but it's kind of annoying.

  4. funding isnt something that I'm worried about because I have funding taken care of for whatever program I join through a private scholarship 

    I was hoping people would have information to offer other than money

     

    Anyways its for the eds program so if anyone has any other info other than financial thats what i'm looking for ~ thanks!

  5. school psycher sorry I don't know about delaware but i remember reading some posts about their eds program on the student doctor network so perhaps that might be worth investigating.

     

    Personally I had a hard time picking which school to go to for my EDs program.

     

    Right now it is between Columbia and Albany, but I'm 90% sure I'll be going to Columbia.

    Likewise if anyone has information on either programs, Please let me know  :D

  6. Yeah I would definitely go with Ball State. The interview day at MSU just seemed like such a production and unnecessary in a lot of ways. For a more critical applicant looking at factors that actually matter, it is pretty obvious that the program is taking a downward turn. I thought it was funny how they had the coffee break but said you could only get "small" sizes. I would rather not have had a coffee break at all because it just seemed like the department didn't have any money.  In reality MSU as a university has money they just don't want to put it into the Ed.S program so why should we put our money into it, when they don't even think its worthy?

    The other insufferable part was the applicants I happened to get stuck with.  That is a matter of chance but the people in my group didn't ask any questions which was awkward and then when they finally asked a total of 2 questions, they were stupid such as when the blonde in my group asked, "would you say all the professors are supportive?" casting quite the wide net there.  Seems pretty obvious even the best program would have some less involved faculty.  Another of the applicants in my group did not ask a single.question.all.day  :o .  Even when she was directly asked questions her response was "pretty much what they already said" (referring to my and other applicants in our group's answers). I would say the applicant pool at MSU was the least impressive of all my interviews, the students seemed immature almost and over 80% were in state. Anyways I wouldn't mind the way the visiting day was structured but it seemed (or at least I felt) like they didn't care to really get to know you as a person. Lastly, the faculty interview I had was slightly inappropriate.  

     

    Overall it sucks, because going into the process MSU was my TOP choice and I was fully prepared to go, but I think keeping an open mind about things is always best.

    It sounds like you made the right choice though! :D

  7. Yeah although I feel like masters is the perfect path for me right now, I admit it is unfortunate that more schools don't offer funding for this track. I know Albany msu and columbia specify there is no funding opportunities for Edm/eds. So it's tough to choose, I like programs at those schools but it's hard to decide when there are cheaper options. What do you guys think?

  8. hey guys i just talked to albany's school psych division for masters.

    Turns out they are still reviewing files but the secretary said they will contact you today or tomorrow to set up an interview.

     

    Kinda late in the cycle for my personal timeline but I really like their program so I might just go anyway.  I hope their offer comes quite quickly after the interview since I've already heard back from everywhere else.

  9. Dear XYZ:

     

    Thank you for the admissions offer to [school]. I am still highly considering [school], but I did not anticipate having to make a choice so soon. Given the amount of time and money that I have already spent on hotels and flight for interviews, I feel like I should wait until I have at least visited all of the schools.  I anticipate I would need until [date]. Please let me know if this option is possible.

     

    Sincerely,

    Allie Gator

  10. hey guys, 

     

    looking for some advice.  One of my schools has offered me acceptance but requires that I respond/accept by March 3rd.  I feel this timeline is unreasonable for the program because I would still be completing interviews during that week.  Since it is my earliest/first acceptance I still want to keep the offer on the table just in case (very unlikely I won't get in at other schools but I just like a sure thing).

    I don't want to pay the couple hundred dollar deposit but right now I'm thinking I'll have to ...since they force you to decide before you have even explored all your options to make sure they are a right fit.

    Besides, I have already spent so much money on the process, including plane flights out of state that it would be crazy for me to just accept this school in money and mind just yet.

     

    So that forces my next question, if I were to accept this school in the money sense (paying the deposit) and giving into the unreasonable timeline,

    • Would it look even worse to not go there after I accept their offer?          <<I feel like this would happen to them a lot just by nature of having such an early deadline but who knows
    • Should I pay the deposit but make it known that I have not done interviews at all of my schools??      <<Just to make it less awkward/ more professional if I later go elsewhere? 

     

    I assume this might happen since I have all of my other schools to go to (and I haven't even heard from albany yet).  I feel like it is unrealistic for this school to ask for a decision so soon after my interview but also when school psych programs are well known to still be interviewing students.  This type of thing makes me think maybe they don't really care about their students finding a best fit and weighing their options but maybe I'm just being too critical.  Anyways shoot out your opinions guys.  At this point I think I'm just going to put in the deposit since I have no other offers (yet) but not sure how this would look if I back out later.

  11. hey again rosy,

    I have a friend who just graduated from Niagara's school psych program,  although they follow NASP ethos and might even be working toward accreditation they do not yet hold such a title.  That being said, when we spoke about this matter in her opinion it was not as big of a deal as people make it out to be (personal bias idk?)  What I do know is that she had good grades and was able to find an internship paid placement quite easily. hope that helps :)

     

    PS: How did things go at Syracuse, I was wondering about their program.

  12. on an unrelated note, anyone want to proof my "diversity" statement  :unsure:  pretty please

     

    My sop was pretty easy to churn out but because the diversity statement is so personal in nature I have a hard time being objective or telling if it's crap.

    It has nothing to do with race or ethnicity if that helps!

  13. (thanks iphi)

     

    I had a question related to masters/advanced certificate interview protocol.

    I have gone on a few interviews for MA in school psych and it seemed really informal compared to what a lot of you are talking about with the Phd programs.  This makes sense to me, but it causes a bit of a problem when it comes to the standard follow up.

     

    I considered writing thank you notes for the staff that I met with for my interview on campus but then it occurred to me that there was no unique interaction between both staff.  As such, both of my thank you letters would seem the same.  Of course this is problematic given that staff in the department could notice getting the same letter.

     

    Do you think this would be acceptable as long as I put information about the school in the letter so that it does not seem like a mass thank you that I send to each school?

     

    Any advice is appreciated! 

  14. Hey guys! This thread can be used for any questions related to Masters programs (non-phd)

     

    I had a question related to masters/advanced certificate interview protocol.

    I have gone on a few interviews for MA in school psych and it seemed really informal compared to what a lot of you are talking about with the Phd programs.  This makes sense to me, but it causes a bit of a problem when it comes to the standard follow up.

     

    I considered writing thank you notes for the staff that I met with for my interview on campus but then it occurred to me that there was no unique interaction between both staff.  As such, both of my thank you letters would seem the same.  Of course this is problematic given that staff in the department could notice getting the same letter.

     

    Do you think this would be acceptable as long as I put information about the school in the letter so that it does not seem like a mass thank you that I send to each school?

     

    Any advice is appreciated! 

  15. People always mention threads about Masters programs, but if you go through all 50 something pages on the forum you discover that there is actually very little information regarding your type of question.  There were a few threads about funded masters programs, and the usual suspects were provided (W&M etc). In my humble opinion, I care more about quality and less about funding.  I think, look at quality first and then we can consider funding.    

     

    I think there should be a thread solely focused on qualities of Master/specialist programs and what their potential rankings are since these are relatively non existent online.  For example, you could use scholarly productivity as a guideline for programs but if the publication is only looking at APA schools than this would exclude (a lot of) schools that only offer MA programs (not apa accredited).  Furthermore, besides examining which professors/schools align with your interests it can be hard to determine which school is better rated if you get accepted to a number of programs.  In a sense masters students usually have less matured interests (which is why they are choosing masters!) so I find it frustrating and a cop-out when people respond to this question by saying "pick a school that aligns with your interests" because one of the very tenets of this path is for students who don't have clearly defined interests yet.

     

    I think in the end, grad cafe could work to help potential master students navigate which school is better ranked objectively and then allow students to make personal choices using that information.  Part of this personal choice would stem from your research/academic interest and then another part might be your end goal (in your case Phd)

     

    I know it is frustrating when people keep saying "look at google" "look at past threads".  I can tell you I have read through all of those sources and each leaves much to be desired. I have also gone through hundreds of threads on SDN which provided slightly further insight but yeah..It sucks!

     

    Perhaps people applying to masters programs could list the programs and say why they chose this program.

    List school and reason with personal factors (I doubt this will catch on as a "movement" but I wish!) I'll start with one of mine:

     

    *All schools in this list should be NASP approved because that is widely understood as a basic starting point*

     

    For example:

     

    • Program:  School Psychology (MA)
    • School:                                           Plattsburgh (NY)
    • Objective Positive Qualities:              thesis requirement- financial assistance- Accepts up to 12 credits from another grad program- leave program with comprehensive portfolio
    • Personal Influence:                           POI studying topic of interest/Family in area
    • Objective Negative Qualities (if any):   NA

     

    On another note, I have found STUDENT HANBOOK to be really helpful and also reading about the faculty research will give you an idea of what's going on at the school.  Also look at what the practicum sites could be, if the campus has a Family Center (many do) where you could gain experience or any other training certificates you might leave with (for example play therapy).  Schools that have PhD programs could take less time to finish if you obtain your masters there (so in your case this would be a factor to investigate).  I wouldn't really email professors until you exhaust all other options because it can seem like you didn't do the leg work/didn't read their publications/wasting their time by asking questions you could problem solve on your own.  If you have a specific question though, it would be okay.

     

    I hope other people add to the list!!    *crosses fingers*  :D 

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