HPB

You need to apply to more schools. You should apply to at LEAST 8. Personally, I applied to every school I could possibly tolerate being at for 5 years (schools with profs who had research somewhat related to what I wanted to do and were not more than 6 hours from home). If you had one shot at winning the lottery for the year, would you buy only one ticket? No, you'd buy as many as possible. You cannot be choosy. Getting an offer from a clinical psyc program is akin to winning the lottery, no matter how strong your application is. A number of very random factors need to line up for you and the chances of it all are quite low. Every school you apply to is another chance to win the lottery. I don;t think strengthening your application will help. It's already very strong and the majority of people I know who got in this year had much weaker applications than you do. Focus instead on contacting profs EARLY (May is a good time to start), introduce yourself, write a personalized couple of sentences about why you are interested in them (and mean it!), attach your cv or better yet include a link to an online cv that includes a picture of you. Be persistent but not annoying. If they are even considering taking a student for next year, do everything you can to get a meeting with them before the end of the year. Find out if they are going to conference you can meet them at, or if the school is relatively close to you, go to their office hours. The vast majority of people I know who got offers this year met the prof personally before the formal interview process and made an impression, making the prof want to fight for them because they liked them and felt that "fit". Do not discount the importance of a good "gut feeling" in this process - profs are people too, and they can't help it if they get a good feeling about one applicant and think they may like to work with them closely for the next 5 years, even over a more qualified applicant. This is all stuff I wish I knew earlier, but throughout this process it has become loud and clear. Hope it helps you.

I don't mean to toot my own horn. But I got into the very prestigious No Where University. Unfortunately, I turned down their generous offer and opted to go through this fun process again next year.

I have gotten a few offers for clinical psychology programs (although still waiting on the offer details for most of these programs) and I am wondering how much scope psychology departments/professors have to: increase stipends, offer a sign-on payment, amend research/teaching commitment, offer travel/training expenses?
 
Overall I am just curious to know how much I can negotiate to improve an offer and, if so, where amendments can be made. Appreciate any feedback anyone has.
 
Thanks! 

I think you guys are onto something. People with graduate degrees shouldn't just frame and hang degrees, they should also display rejection letters from graduate programs, journal rejections, grant rejections, etc.

Like a "look at all the crap I've had to deal with but I'm still here!" kind of message.

You guys are so cute, with your "I'm getting so old, rawr" and beard stroking.     heart

Can those with invites from UNC-Greensboro please PM me your POIs? The silence is getting deafening over here. Thanks!

Personally I would make sure you know their work, and how it fits in your research interests. Have a couple of questions ready about the research the demonstrate that you're knowledgeable and comprtent, and a couple about the school to demonstrate your enthusiasm.