happyveggie

Hi all, I was hoping to get some advice on my situation. I applied for an MA (thesis) in Counselling Psychology at the same university where I completed my undergrad. I had an interview and we were asked if we'd also be open to doing an MEd (exam only), and I agreed at the time. Now I was offered admission to the MEd stream, however I worry that this would limit my options in the future. I always wanted to go into clinical psych and wanted to do a PhD to become a psychologist and teach at colleges later on. Clinical psych is likely too competitive for me although I do have a relatively high GPA and clinical/counselling (mostly working with kids and youth) and research experience. I enjoy research and have many years of research experience but no papers published and not currently working on anything specific. I also have pretty broad research interests and haven't found my "specialty" yet, which makes it a bit tricky finding a prof with a good research fit. Another consideration is that the MEd program takes almost 3 years to complete and there is not a lot to no funding available, so it will likely cost me almost $15,000 out of my own pocket. There are limited options to do an EdD but I am not sure how those compare to PhDs. After having worked in healthcare for a year, I realized a 2 year MSW with entry for non-BSW students might be a better option but at the same time I am very worried about rejecting this offer (I was rejected by all the other programs I applied to, so this is my only option for now). Since grad school admissions are so competitive, I obviously cannot expect to be admitted somewhere next year. Rationally it doesn't make a difference in terms of how long it will take me to complete my graduate studies if I got into a two year program next year but at the same time this would mean another crazy year of volunteering tons in addition to working full time. I recently accepted a job in marketing research, which is probably not gonna help me with grad school apps next year as it is not clinical research, so I would likely have to find another job that will provide me with more relevant experience. My two biggest worries are that I would make a mistake by not starting the program now and risk not getting in next year either and that doing an MEd will limit my options in the future as I would like to work in hospitals as well. At the same time, I don't think it would be smart to commit to a program like this out of fear that nothing better will come along. Any advice would be really helpful because I don't know anyone who could give me advice with this decision! Thank you!! :-)

I got my rejection for the Project concentration but haven't heard anything regarding the internship concentration. I am expecting another rejection. Got my U of T ones today. 3 "notifications of refusal" printed on fancy thick paper. I guess that was worth the $210 application, weeks of preparing, followed by months of waiting... I wish they at least gave some more information on what wasn't "strong enough to be awarded admission" in my application. Oh well, now I know where not to waste my money again.

Aw, thank you - I hope you do, too!! I have no clue when I will find out... I was told to keep in touch with the program assistant and I will be able to get updates that way. I guess I will email again on Monday to see if there are any updates and to ask a few important questions. I am not even sure if I am waitlisted for the MA or the MEd. I guess I should have consulted the link you sent before replying to the email but patience is not my strength when it comes to these things... I also don't want to annoy her because she probably gets hundreds of emails a day by students who want information. Some people tell me I should just go to the office and try to convince them but I don't see that working at all. There's not much information regarding the timeline for notifications for U of T, is there? If this year doesn't work out, I'll try to get into an MSW as well next year because there are way more job options in healthcare with an MSW.

Oh, you're right, that is a bit confusing. I don't think I understand enough about this to share any insightful comments. I can't believe how many people applied to the Counselling MEd and School psych programs... no wonder I didn't even get waitlisted! The tips on what to do when you're on the waitlist are pretty cool. It seems that most schools don't have ranked waitlists, so I hope the fact that I was told I am number one on the waitlist means that I am next in line if a spot opens up. I just hope enough people reject their offers that I can get in because I don't think I can go through this again... and I don't think I would have a stronger application next year because my new job is in marketing research and I was hoping not to spend another year working and volunteering 80 hours a week just to get rejected in the end anyways.

Yeah, I guess it means I have a bit of a chance of actually getting in this year but it also makes me really worried that for some reason this happens to be the one year everyone accepts. I guess most people will be taking the weekend to decide depending on how much time they have. I hope you are high on the U of T waitlist! With your experience it sounds like you should have a really good chance of getting in. My friend (who was also waitlisted for U of T) found some stats that said that 32 of 48 who received an offer for the MEd last year accepted so that means that up to 16 from the waitlist got an offer!! I really hope you both get in. I'd love to at least be on the waitlist but at this point SFU is my only chance of getting in this year...

Thank you, ToughCookie. This seems to be my week of rejections. I got reject by McGill for the Project concentration (which pretty much means I will be rejected for the intership one as well but they're not releasing results until the end of the week) and found out I am waitlisted at for SFU counselling. I am first on the waitlist which is exciting but what if this is the one year everyone accepts?!

Just got my email from McGill Counselling Psych Project concentration. I was rejected :-( The rejection letter doesn't say anything regarding reasons just that they had lots of applicants. Too bad but I guess it just didn't work out this time. The Internship concentration is still in review but I am expecting another rejection. 3 to go....

So I heard back from Todd and I was "recommended for refusal at this time" (what a nice way of saying rejected) for the Counseling MA and MEd but I have to email someone else to find out about the School and Clinical Child MA. I doubt I got into that one or waitlisted because people posted that they were contacted about a month ago... And the worst part is that I haven't heard from any of the other programs I applied to and I need to make a decision about a job offer by tomorrow. It's a medical marketing research job that would essentially put me on a different career track altogether but given my difficulty getting in this year, I doubt my application would be much stronger next year. I have a 3.86 overall GPA, 3.94 for my last year (these are out of 4.3 but high for SFU), I worked as a behaviour interventionist with kids with ASD for 3 years, a live-in caregiver for 30 teenagers for 8 months, was actually teaching 3rd year undergrads writing as a TA for a year and was a research assistant and research coordinator for 4 years... I had three reference letters from professors at SFU I worked for and took classes with and I doubt they were bad references... the only thing I didn't have is a paper published (just an abstract and posters) and no crisis line experience. So frustrating! I wish there was more info on the kinds of GPA and work experience people had who did get in, so I can try to get into similar positions. Sorry about the rant... what a frustrating process grad school applications are!

I haven't heard anything yet either. I don't think we'll hear back today. I doubt anyone works past 6pm there. I also applied for the MA and MEd and it's still in review.

Another day of no mail and no reply from Todd. I finally decided to email him today to see if it might have been sent to the wrong address because I had entered the wrong house number initially (maybe that was already stupid enough for them to not want me to be a student in their program...). In any case, no news from McGill, SFU or U of T. @Salamander: According to the OISE Counselling MEd website, the minimum admission requirements is a B+ which is 77-79% on the U of T 4.0 scale. I found this information here: http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/aphd/Prospective_Students/Programs/Counselling_Psychology/Program_Overview/MEd(CE)/index.html http://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/newstudents/transition/academic/grading I also went to a uni that grades on a 4.33 scale which is really confusing. I've been trying to find a good conversion scale and I found the UBC/SFU conversion scale which was helpful and I'm assuming it would be the same thing. I can post the link on here later today, if you want to check what the equivalent would be.

My friend who also lives in Vancouver got her letter today stating that she is waitlisted for the Counselling MEd. It was dated March 20th. I live in a different part of Vancouver but Van is not that big that it should take an additional day to get a letter delivered. It's starting to really frustrate me because I applied to 3 programs at U of T and I think I have decent qualifications (this is apparently not just my wishful thinking, I've been told this by many supervisors and professors I've had) yet I haven't heard anything at all. I know there are a number of factors at play with the selection process and I might hear back soon but why can't they just send a 2 line email regarding one's status and that the letter with more details will be arriving soon when they mail it off? What if someone never receives their letter because it got lost in the mail etc.?

I am in Vancouver and still haven't received anything from U of T. I am assuming it would take at least until the end of the week to get here from Toronto if they sent out the letters on Monday. I was pretty much expecting to hear back from all 3 schools I applied to this week but I guess "end of March" could also be next week...

@ ToughCookie - She says that they keep changing the requirements to graduate with the degree in order for it to be equivalent to other MA programs and allow people to register as clinical counselors later on. It's also marketed as much more flexible than it turned out to be, at least for my coworker. She was finding it hard to fit some one the components that required being at the computer at a certain time into her busy schedule. She also had some comments about other students in the program which I won't elaborate on but all in all she said she'd rather have done an in-person program. At the same time, I don't think there are any major disadvantages in terms of becoming a counselor and it is likely a bit easier and also allows for students to keep working while completing the program. And another day of hoping for an email or a letter about grad school.... Or for someone to share their results.

@ToughCookie yeah this waiting game is really not fun. I applied to McGill Counselling Psychology Project and Internship concentration, SFU Counselling Psychology MA and OISE. I had an interview at SFU two weeks ago but haven't heard anything yet and I am not expecting to get in. One of my coworkers is finishing up her MA from Yorkville and she seems to like it except that they keep changing the requirements and it's a bit harder to get your practicum/supervision hours in, so it takes about 1.5 years after finishing the program to apply for certification as a clinical counselor. I think she was saying the MA from Yorkville should allow one to continue to the doctorate level but I am not sure. And another one of my coworkers is also doing her MA in counselling from Yorkville and also seems to be enjoying the fact that she can still work while doing her MA. I work at a hospital and I just recently heard one of the psychologists question the equivalence of online MA degrees and counselors with this degree getting certified but I think it was mostly her personal opinion that she doesn't think it's a good option. If you're able to find a good practicum placement and supervision, I don't think it should be a disadvantage.

Hi all, I've been following this thread for a while now and decided to finally join in the conversation. I saw that someone posted in the results section today that they got accepted to the Counselling Psychology program but they didn't specify if it was the MEd or the MA. I applied to 3 programs (School and Clinical Child Psych, Counselling and Clinical and Counselling and Psychotherapy) at OISE but I am pretty sure I didn't get into any of them which is a bit sad after having put in so much time and effort. In any case, being in Vancouver I'm afraid it will take even longer for that dreaded rejection letter to arrive but I feel very similar to ToughCookie that I just want to get my rejection letters so I can move on with my life. I have been checking the forum and the results section obsessively since the end of January and at this point I just want to know so I can plan for next year and somehow work up the motivation to reapply. Sometimes I wish someone had told me how hard it would be to get into grad school or have an actual career with a psych degree before I decided to pursue psychology...! Has anyone heard about the Counselling and Psychotherapy MEd admissions and the status with that?