JoePianist
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Posts posted by JoePianist
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30 minutes ago, FacelessMage said:
Not all of them. One program I applied to disqualified me last year because my supervisor submitted his letter after the deadline.
Wow, that's harsh and I'm really sorry to hear that. It's not the norm that you'd be penalized for a late reference writer. And personally, I wouldn't want to attend a school that penalizes me for something outside of my control.
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Hi there! I actually experienced a similar situation last year when I applied for clinical psychology Ph.D programs. One of my reference writers (whom we'll call Laura) didn't submit their letters on time, despite my sending out reminder emails a week in advance and another the day before deadlines. Laura also wasn't responding to any of my reminder emails at all, which made me even more concerned and anxious.
I didn't know what to do, so I spoke with another reference writer (whom we'll call Sara) who was colleagues/friends with Laura. Sara told me that programs are usually understanding in these situations, and that Laura will probably tell them she's been "sick" to buy herself some extra time. Since Sara personally knew Laura, Sara also offered to contact Laura directly to help get the letters written on time, and I took her up on that offer.
Within a day or two, I finally heard back from Laura and she had submitted her letters by that time.
Long story short, as long as you get all your materials turned in on time, you're all good. Programs won't count it against you if your letter writers are late, so try not to worry about it too much. If you don't hear from this particular reference writer in a couple of days, email him again -- or if you have the option, it would be better to meet him directly in person during office hours and politely ask him about the status on your letters.
Good luck!
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With deadlines coming soon, I'm curious to know where everyone is at regarding their application process? So far, I've completed and submitted 4 applications, and I have one more application to submit before the December 1st deadline. After that, I have 3 more applications with a later deadline on December 15.
Also, did everyone have a good Thanksgiving holiday? :-)
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On 11/19/2015, 10:19:24, Jay's Brain said:
Just some words of encouragement from someone who went through the rigorous ordeal last year:
Stay positive! Don't ever give up and, remember, perseverance goes a long way towards your success! All of you have made it this far from diligence and hard work. You may not be the student with the 170/170/6.0 GRE score, perfect GPA, and a gajillion papers in high impact journals. Don't worry, because that person doesn't exist. The only person you need to compare yourself to is yourself. If you've done all you can to get yourself to this point, there's nowhere else to go but up
Good luck!
That's why I haven't even bothered posting anything about my applications on the Student Doctor Network Psychology forums ;P
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Nope...everyone has joined the clinical psych side! >:D
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1 hour ago, Piagetsky said:
Apologies for thread drift, but why is that? Grouchy MDs to be? The psych section over there seems to be a bit on the negative side too. What's up with that?
I'm not a regular member on SDN and I've only been a member there for a year, so I can only speculate. It seems that much of the "old guard" -- long-time members on the SDN Psychology forums -- come off as a bit arrogant and self-righteous as they've established themselves in their psychology career. The old guard also tends to back each other up like a gang whenever someone calls one of them out on their rude behavior. I honestly haven't seen many new active members stick around that particular forum for very long.
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If you've been following some recent threads on the SDN Psychology forums, I think it's clear to anybody that it's a very hostile and toxic environment over there
Anyway, congrats on your job offers!! Personally, I would choose the opportunity that provides the most relevant experience to the type of cases I'd like to specialize handling for my career. Are you more interested in helping people overcome eating disorders or borderline personality disorders? The Resident Advisor position seems like the best opportunity for a more generalized experience -- if your goal as a counselor is to be more of a generalist in handling a bunch of different cases, this might be the one for you.
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This is my 2nd consecutive year applying for Ph.D Clinical Psychology programs. I was invited to a couple of interviews last application cycle, and I'm feeling more confident this round after landing an excellent post-baccalaureate research job in a clinical health psychology lab this summer :-)
I'm applying for 8 doctorate clinical psych programs around the United States including:
- UAB
- Georgia State
- Wayne State
- Arizona State
- Virginia Commonwealth U.
- Kent State
- U. of New Mexico
- U. of Missouri-St. Louis
And my research interest broadly pertains to the intersection between physical health and mental health! (aka Health Psychology)
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Aspiring clinical psychologists UNITE!!
It's that time of year again as the cool autumn weather settles into the background of Thanksgiving holidays, while people like us frantically race to complete a number of graduate school applications 
It's getting late into the application process this year, so I wanted to create this thread so other applicants can share in the struggle together.
Which clinical psychology programs are you applying for? Is this your first-time applying this year? Anything else you'd like to share about your academic/research background?
Good luck to everyone!!
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As long as you meet the GRE cut-off score, you should be fine especially since you have such a relevant employment history in the field already. However, with how competitive Psy.D programs are these days, you really should consider applying for a few more schools. I'm currently working as a post-baccalaureate research assistant in a clinical psychology lab at a public university, and I'm also in the middle of filling-out applications for Ph.D Clinical Psychology programs myself. My research mentor suggested for me to aim applying for 8 schools, since many of these programs only accept less than 10 new students out of hundreds of applicants per year.
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You should check out Seligman from U Penn. he was my advisers graduate adviser, and he does a lot with positive psychology (esp interventions and mindfulness). Another great resource is actually a book called The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Positive Psychological Interventions. It's a bit of an anthology, and all of the chapters deal with interventions. It's a great place to start and get some background info and leads on where to look next.
Seligman is a very well-known and well-respected researcher in the field (his contribution to "Learned Helplessness" studies in the 1960s is noted in every modern Psychology textbook), but do you know how he is as a mentor these days?
From my impression, he doesn't seem very approachable, especially considering that he has A TON of projects he's overlooking and book tours around the world. Last year, I had contacted him by email to express interest in applying to UPenn's doctorate psychology program with him as my mentor, and he replied with a rather standoffish and blunt response saying that I'd need a near-perfect application to even have a chance to be under consideration. I showed this email exchange to my undergrad psychology research mentor, and she felt his personality would be a bit "difficult" to deal with as a mentor
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I'm mostly interested in mindfulness-based psychotherapies for clinical disorders (depression, anxiety, BPD, etc). So everything you've mentioned would line up with my area of interest! Are the programs that you came across all in the States?
I have some ideas in mind -- I'll send you a private message with some of my results, in case you have some competition looking for ideas on this thread ;-)
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What kind of mindfulness research experience are you looking for? For the past week, I've been searching for Ph.D Clinical Psychology programs to apply for this upcoming application cycle, and I've noticed several Clinical Health Psychology professors incorporating mindfulness therapies for chronic illness & pain. There were also a handful of professors using mindfulness techniques for mood disorders, especially in treating anxiety
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Thanks guys! I'll look into it!
Seems like there are more programs in the states than Canada that are involved in mindfulness. I was hoping there would be a lot more in Canada haha.
USA > Canada
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To answer the topic title: yes, it's impossible.
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I've interviewed at U Arizona back in February, and unfortunately, I heard that Dr. Bootzin passed away fairly recently this past December. My host at Arizona was actually mentored by Dr. Bootzin as well.
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Mississippi State isn't even APA-accredited at this time
And they don't seem to be touting any funding packages on their website either. -
Thanks for posting this, because I'll be another applicant you'll have to compete against
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I was really stressed. I am usually really stressed. There was a nice article on stress a while back in the NYT, that spoke about how stress can be a great motivator for preparedness. I just tried to channel the stress to feel more prepared. Because of stress I woke up really really early every interview weekend, and just used the time to read more about the faculty. I didn't actually need to know nearly that much for the interviews, but it did make me feel more confident. I got into most of the programs I interviewed at.
Give your stress meaning, if you can. At least part of the weekend will be enjoyable, so try and make the most of that.
Good luck!
Yes, I did the exact same thing the morning of my full day of interviews. Make sure you get enough sleep the night before, but be sure to wake up an hour or two early to review notes about (1) Your own research experience (2) Your prospective mentor's research (3) Reasons why the program fits what you're looking for. Doing this greatly helped me prepare for all the high-level conversations about psychology that I had with professors and graduate students -- I'm sure that my quality of interviews wouldn't have been as good if I hadn't studied and reviewed.
A healthy dose of preparation beforehand should help calm your nerves, but make sure you also balance that preparation with adequate rest so your mind can be sharp and focused during discussions.
- TheMercySeat and leagueGirl
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I'm feeling quite overwhelmed by stress about this coming interview weekend... Will be flying to San Francisco for the first time... Will wearing suit be too hot? What about at night? Will be hosted by a grad student for two nights, interviews go on from Friday morning till Saturday night... I could only imagine this to be quite overwhelming for introverts like myself...
So any advice for relieving stress before and during the interviews other than taking deep breaths?
Thanks! Any advice is appreciated.
Hi LeagueGirl -- as a fellow introvert, I feel your pain :-< I just returned home from an interview weekend with a program in Arizona, and I shared many of the same worries as you (flying to the west coast for the first time, heavily interacting with faculty and current graduate students for an extended number of days, etc). Despite being an introvert myself, I ended up enjoying the weekend very much and had many high-level conversations about psychology with like-minded students, professors, and fellow candidates. But it was certainly draining for me to force myself to mingle and socialize so much when I'm not used to those types of situations.
When I had a break in my busy interview weekend schedule, I would occasionally call or text my support network of friends and family -- I felt that contacting people I already knew greatly helped me calm down. Also, while it is important to make sure you socialize during group activities, don't feel like you need to talk all the time. If you're starting to feel a bit tired, you can just mingle by joining a group conversation and listen. Also, I'm sure your graduate student host will be very accommodating to your needs -- if you need time to de-compress and relax at their home after a long day, they should be very understanding. It seemed that a lot of the graduate students I talked to had empathized with interview weekend being a very stressful and draining event, so it made me feel at ease that they would acknowledge this.
I'm not really sure about the outfit wear, but it was pretty warm in Arizona (around 70-80 degrees F). Perhaps you can contact your student host by email and ask them for advice? If they haven't emailed you already, they should email you soon about your interview weekend.
I hope this helps a bit. Good luck, and keep us updated! :-)
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Agreed. One POI in particular - who I had a positive interaction with over email for a number of months - completely lost interest in corresponding with me after hearing about my 50th percentile Q score. It was definitely disappointing, but at the same time I don't think I would want to work with someone who held a 4-hour exam in such high regard.
Sounds like a jerk
Look at it this way: that POI saved you a lot of grievance in the future by showing their true nature earlier rather than later if you were mentored under them. -
UCLA, Univ Minnesota, Univ Indiana in Bloomington, Univ Maryland, Univ Wisconsin-Milwaukee, UCSD/SDSU? And if an interview, who are your POI's?
I'm also waiting to hear any word from UW-Milwaukee as well. To add to this list, has anybody heard from the clinical programs of University of Florida, University of Louisville, or University of Pennsylvania? If so, can you PM me your POI and interview dates? Thanks!
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This is a great topic post! I'm pursuing a career in Clinical Neuropsychology, although my interests also extend into Health Psychology. As far as clinical programs with Neuropsychology tracks go, I've been extended one interview from the University of Arizona's clinical Ph.D program so far. I've also been extended an interview from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro's clinical Ph.D program as well; but unfortunately, they don't offer a specialized track in Neuropsychology (although, my POI at this program is primarily interested in neuro-endocrine and biological pathways to depression).
My research interests involve the neurology and physiology of cognition and emotions. I am particularly interested in the neuroscience and treatment of depression and anxiety. Also, I am interested in neurocognitive disorders (such as Alzheimers and Parkinson's) and developing treatments for these disorders as well.
I'm curious to know the answers to your own questions as well, @Rosiesg2
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If UNC Greensboro peeps could pm me their poi, I'd be really grateful!
I received an interview invite at UNCG's clinical psychology program today, and I'd be happy to PM my prospective mentor :-)
Fall 2016 Clinical Psychology Applicant Thread
in Psychology Forum
Posted
I'm actually in a similar situation as you. Last year was my first time applying for doctorate clinical psychology programs, and I put in an insane amount of effort studying for the GRE, crafting my C.V. and Personal Statements for the first time, and wrapping my head around the application process with its mentorship model. At the time, I was a recent graduate with my Bachelor's degree in Psychology, and I was greatly struggling to find a decent job besides working in retail.
However, this year, I was extremely fortunate to land a paid, full-time research position in a clinical psychology lab under a prominent mentor in the field who's been extremely supportive. As for my applications, I basically recycled and updated my materials from last year, but I felt more confident especially having my research position as my "ace" this time around. I'm not feeling too worried, as I've been in contact with several mentors who have expressed a genuine interest in having me as an applicant. I know all of that doesn't guarantee me a spot in a program, but after all the tribulations and hardships I went through last year, I'm just trying to relax and enjoy life right now.