SchoolPsych_NYC

I took your advice.. hope this covers things :/

I received a federal unsubsidized loan for the 2015-2016 academic year. These loans are up to $20,500 annually. My annual tuition is more than $20,500... My loan has disbursed, was divided in half for the fall and spring, which has left me with a balance of almost $5,000 to pay out of pocket for the fall. I'm assuming the same will be due for the spring. I was just curious to know what other graduate students have done in the past to cover the costs of the tuition that isn't covered by your financial aid loan? Should I try to obtain a private loan to pay for the balance? Do they expect me to pay this in cash? They do have payment plans, but its to be paid in full by the end of the semester... I should mention I will be attending the MS School Psychology program at St. John's University in Queens, NY.

a lot of School Psych programs are now adding on one year ABA certification extensions. I hope to do this! St. John's just started their extension this year

2bridges You are correct; the job prospects are slim unless you are bilingual. And I work for an EI agency now as an admin so I learned they are phasing out the role of a school psych. I saved this from a memo last September: School psychologists may not provide psychological services in the EIP. In situations where there is an active service authorization for psychological services, municipalities and the EI provider agency should work collaboratively to ensure that such services are transitioned to a psychologist or psychiatrist, as soon as possible. EI provider agencies should not utilize school psychologists as part of their multidisciplinary evaluation or to perform supplemental evaluations.

congrats on your decision! best of luck

Found the answer to your question regarding "conditional approval" http://www.fordham.edu/download/downloads/id/457/accreditationschoolpsychologyadv

has anyone ever known of a student who accepted two admissions offers? I would never do this but I am just curious. For a long time I never thought I was getting into graduate school. My GRE scores were awful! so I would never want to take the opportunity away from someone else by accepting the offer of admission to two programs. But I am having a difficult time making a decision... off to make my pro/con list...

ME TOO!!! CONGRATS!

I was told unofficially I was accepted to St. Johns. They do make decisions pretty quickly! I'm sure you did well.

at an open house of theirs, I asked the faculty why they hadn't updated their admissions statistics online. I didn't really get a direct answer.. they were updating their website at the time, so they kind of brushed it off and said to check the nasp website for the numbers. However, look at St. John's certification/licensure data.. 100%! and their data of students passing the praxis is also 100%. It would make sense as to why they don't want to alter such attractive numbers.. not all programs even disclose this info online anyway, so maybe they've just stopped posting. I'm sure they keep track behind the scenes. I am interviewing there next week. Best of luck to you! FYI during an online program info session, one of the faculty shared that the program is expanding its training in ABA and is developing a certificate extension. The program is run by some of the top names in the field (they "wrote the books")

Nice! Yea, it is a different person. I would be attending the Queens campus though, if I did decide to go. good luck!

I emailed a faculty member I had kept in touch with after an open house to check up on the status of my application, since he had disclosed a few months ago that their tentative interview day would be in April. He provided me with the coordinator in the department who is responsible for emailing and scheduling interviews. I submitted in early December. Their deadline isn't until May 1, so I imagine they do multiple rounds of interviews. PM me and I can give you the coordinator's email.

Which interview day were you at? I was there 2/25 for the PD program. They told us mid March, though that sounded more like a projected time frame. I imagine the snow may slow things down.. I was also wondering about the dress code, and can't believe I forgot to ask about that during the interview! The students who were there with us shared their email addresses, so we can probably ask them? I have their info if you need

Just received word today that I have an interview with St. John's University for their MS School Psychology program. I have an interview with Adelphi coming up as well. Was accepted to Brooklyn Long Island University, and waiting to receive a decision from my interview with Fordham last week. That makes ALL programs that I applied to I have received invitations to interview! After taking 3 gap years, studying abroad, juggling various volunteer/research/intern and part time jobs, I can finally say I will be going to graduate school! Even though my admission status is still pending with the 3 other programs, I will indefinitely be going somewhere! My GRE scores weren't anything to talk about and I STILL got an interview with St. John's (only program I applied to that required the GRE score to be submitted with the app). Best of luck to all!

PhD or Specialist? I would be attending a NYC program, which for anyone who is aware of the standing lawsuit against the NYC DOE, only bilingual students who are accepted into the PIT (Psychologist In Training) program, are paid for this internship. Apparently, about twenty years ago, it was determined the public schools weren't providing adequate services to bilingual students (probably because there was a huge need for bilingual school psychologists!) Anyway, ALL other internships are unpaid. This is something I am dealing with as well, as there will only be my husband's income to support us during internship year, and throughout the full 3 years it will take to earn my certification. This is the sacrifice we, as graduate students, need to make to get where we need to be... If you are referring to a PhD program's internship, then forget all that I just said lol

I actually have an interview next week for the specialist program (not bilingual though). If anyone touches upon this, I'll let you know! Or you could always email faculty and inquire.. in other news, I got word of another interview invite! Long Island University: Brooklyn campus. Their program is not recognized by NASP, but it was my backup in case I didn't get in anywhere else..

Faculty in Adelphi's MA program mentioned their interview day was 3/6 and to expect to hear word by February 20. I'm sure with the snow things may have been pushed back. Just a heads up! Anyone else constantly checking their email?!

Thank you!! Thanks, best of luck!

I got my first interview invitation! Very excited to interview at Fordham on 2/25 for the PD (Specialist) School Psychology program

last week iphi posted some tips on interviewing. check it out! good luck

Maybe the writing prompt is only for the specialist program? I heard its nothing major anyway..

Thank you, iphi! you have been so helpful in this thread

well, judging by the enrollment data from nasp and the fact that there are two specialist level programs offered by Fordham (bilingual too), this number seems about right. I have a friend who is in her second year at Fordham and she already gave me the heads up about a group interview. There is also a writing prompt..

Fordham Interview days were emailed to all applicants today! They started reviewing applications today. This is what my email said: "Approximately 30 Ph.D. and 50 P.D. and Bilingual P.D. applicants will be invited for a half-day on-campus interview on February 24, 25, & March 3rd, 4th 2015. The purpose of the interview is for us to meet prospective students in person in order to determine - for us as well as for them - whether Fordham is the best place for the next phase of their professional training as school psychologists. Because of the large number of applications we receive every year, regrettably we can only invite a small group of applicants for an on-campus interview. All applicants invited for the interview will be notified via during the first week of February 2015, by a program faculty representative, not the Admissions Office, and more detailed information about the interviews will be provided in the invitation email message as well. Regardless of whether you are invited for an on-campus interview, you will receive an official decision about your application in March, 2015."

Good luck with your SOP! I severely underestimated the process of writing one.. you should seek feedback from at least two sources and you need to give them sufficient time to review and revise. I took a week off from work to sit at my computer and get it all out. I thought I'd be done by the end of the week and it would all be over. It ended up taking about 6 weeks to finish, but that was mostly due to those who I asked for feedback and their schedules prolonging the editing process. You also don't want to overwhelm yourself and cause writers block. Start by reviewing your resume and picking out one internship/research experience that impacted you the most. If the schools you are applying to specify any questions that need to be answered, answer those first and then count your words to see how much room you have left for anything else you feel is necessary to mention. Hope you will be able to enjoy your holidays!