seasick

Does anyone know of school psychology programs with late or rolling admissions? I just got rejected from the only program I can afford (with loans). :/

Cosigners are unfortunately out of the question. The only person I know who could is my mother, and she does not support me continuing my education. (Living in poverty with no education was good enough for her, so she feels it should be good enough for me.) I've missed the deadlines for most of the scholarships I qualify for, but I'm still looking. This is a master's/certification level program to become a school psychologist. I know I'm lucky to even get any sort of aid, but I have no idea how anyone can afford school. I'm not even sure if any of the other schools would offer anything at all. The last two years of the program should be more manageable, but the first seems insane due to all of the credits/high cost per credit. I'm not sure if attending part-time is a possibility, but I may ask about that as well. Would waiting a a year (or few years) hurt my chances even more? I feel like I was already ill-prepared this year. I don't think I can find any jobs with my current credentials (I only have a B.A. in Psychology, and no work experience other than retail/office work) that would pay for tuition assistance for the major I want to pursue. I'm also a non-traditional/older student, which makes this a little more difficult, in my opinion. At this point in my life, I could have just been finishing up a doctorate or had a career for a few years already. Maybe it's me being paranoid, but I feel like this could all be a red flag to admissions. I'm not too worried about federal loans -- I already have tons of debt from undergrad, and since I'll be (hopefully) working in a public school once I complete grad school, I can qualify for public service forgiveness after 10 years. I did e-mail the school, and hopefully something could be worked out. I know they offer assistantships, but I would still owe quite a bit outside of the annual loan limit with one (or even two). As pessimistic as it may sound, I feel like graduate school is my only way out of a really bad situation. I hope I can figure something out.

So far, I've gotten 3 rejections. I got accepted to one of my top 3 choices (the other 2 rejected me), and I'm waiting to hear back from 5 more schools. I got a scholarship, but it isn't very much at all -- it barely covers the cost of 1 class per semester. For my first year, I would exceed the annual limit for the Unsubsidized Direct Loan by over $10,000. I don't think I can get a PLUS loan because I filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy about 4 years ago. Should I reject and hope a cheaper school accepts me? My credit is horrible, so I don't think I can get a private loan. No idea what to do at this point.

I finally got an offer from one of my top 3! The other 2 rejected me, so I'm very tempted to just accept and forget about the other schools I'm waiting to hear from. What factors do you look at when making your decision? What is more important -- the reputation/name of the school, or being able to make/save more money? The school is in a big (and expensive!) city, but I could commute. I would have to cut 17 hours from my work schedule at most, and transit would be fairly affordable. I was looking at class availability for this school and one closer to where I live, and I would be able to keep my work schedule the same if I were to be accepted / chose to go to the local one. The classes available would already be on my day off, which is perfect. This school is a small school, and the one I was accepted to is very well known. Working is a necessity for me, especially because I would like to move by my 2nd semester. What would you do? I would lose about about 1/4 of my salary if I went with my top choice, but it would be doable. There is one more school that I really like that I'm waiting to hear back from, but I would have to move to a different state. I haven't gotten any funding information, and that would be a fairly big factor too.

Getting pretty anxious at this point. 2 rejections, 1 interview. I should (hopefully) hear back from that school in a week. I have 4 programs I haven't heard from at all yet, but two of them had a later deadline. :/ Would it be weird to e-mail the programs I was rejected from to ask for advice? Has anyone else had bad luck their first time applying for graduate programs? I feel like my biggest issue is a large number of transfers during undergrad, and low/average GRE scores. My GPA was very good for my most recent school, but when you average them all together, I'm a little bit under a 3.0. Ugh. What would be the worst move -- taking a year off, or getting a masters and applying to school psychology programs after?

I feel like living off campus would be best. It's not hard to meet people in Philly at all! There's a group on Facebook called "Affordable Housing: Philadelphia" that could be helpful. Good luck!

Nope! Nothing at all. Most of mine were 1/15 (or earlier) as well -- Fairfield, Fordham, Towson, William & Mary, and UDel. Has anyone else heard from these schools?

Is it normal to not hear from any schools at this point? I've only applied to Masters/EdS programs.

Another question -- what's best to submit, a resume or CV? Is anyone willing to take a look at my resume? I'm worried because I don't have any relevant work experience or research experience.

Does anyone know of any colleges that accept either unofficial transcripts or just transcripts from your degree-granting institution/last 2 years? I have a transcript being withheld, and I cannot afford to pay it off in time for application deadlines.

Sorry to double post, but I've been reading the older threads and see mentions of contacting POIs -- is this a necessity for specialist level program applicants?

Hello everyone! I’ve been doing a bit of thinking and came back for some advice. Do you know of any programs that accept unofficial transcripts for the application process? The only one I’ve found is UDel. I owe one of my schools a bit of money before I can get an official transcript, and I’d rather be safe than sorry with getting applications in on time. I will more than likely have it paid off by early-mid November, but I'm still kind of nervous about it. Also, are there any schools that have both a specialist level and doctorate level program that will let you transfer into the doctorate? Right now, I feel like I want to work in a school, but that might change in the future -- I don't want to limit myself. I also enjoy research, and having a better chance of funding doesn't hurt either. Would it be a waste of time and money to apply to some now? I don't have much experience, as I'm a non-traditional student that's shifted around a lot.

Thank you! I kind of rushed when signing up to take it. I did buy one of the books, so I'll see if it helps. Thanks! After thinking about it, I think EdS is probably the best choice for me. I think I will retake the GRE just to see if I can do better.

Hi! I posted here a while ago but it's time for me to really get everything together and start applying. Can anyone give me any insight into programs for the following schools? Fairfield University, Towson University, Georgian Court University, Rowan University, Columbia University, PCOM, St. John's University, Temple University, Fordham, College of William & Mary, Loyola (Marymount or Chicago), Tufts, Northeast, University of Washington As you can tell, I'm all over the place and overwhelmed. Honestly, I just want a school with a good reputation and hopefully some kind of grant/scholarship/assistantship. My GPA is pretty good (3.9) and my GRE was so-so (153 verbal, 142 quant, 3.5 writing). Also, this might be a dumb question, but is there any benefit to getting a P.D. vs an Ed.S.?

Hi! I posted here a while ago but it's time for me to really get everything together and start applying. Can anyone give me any insight into programs for the following schools? Fairfield University, Towson University, Georgian Court University, Rowan University, Columbia University, PCOM, St. John's University, Temple University, Fordham, College of William & Mary, Loyola (Marymount or Chicago), Tufts, Northeast, University of Washington As you can tell, I'm all over the place and overwhelmed. Honestly, I just want a school with a good reputation and hopefully some kind of grant/scholarship/assistantship. My GPA is pretty good (3.9) and my GRE was so-so (153 verbal, 142 quant, 3.5 writing). Also, this might be a dumb question, but is there any benefit to getting a P.D. vs an Ed.S.?