Jay's Brain

Hi, 100% agree with TakeruK! CIHR tends to be "harder", because most Canadian universities receive less allocations for CIHR compared to SSHRC. Assuming you are asking in the context of a undergrad aiming for Master's funding in your application, take a look at the schools you want to apply to, and the potential supervisors. If they tend to be funded more by a certain agency, it makes sense to leverage your proposal to that. On the other hand, if you generally have interest in one over the other, then capitalize on that and write your proposal such that the research is more social or more health-oriented. I had that same dilemma between CIHR and NSERC just last year (when I applied for my first year Master's). I ended up choosing CIHR, because I wanted to gear my proposal to a clinical and health-related research project. Turns out it was a great idea Remember, you can only choose one! So look at all your schools, see which one makes the most sense and you can cover the most bases, and write it for that agency! Good luck!

Wonderful to hear! Good luck with your future endeavors! I am sure that it will be groundbreaking!

It does depend on location, I suspect. For example, I'm from the Toronto area in Canada, and this is a hotbed for neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience research. Memory, aging, and any combinations of that with other keywords in gerontology/geriatrics is extremely popular. If you are interested in that form of research, and working with amnesic/AD patients, this is a great place to visit

That is really cool! I'm not too familiar with specific programs that may offer that as it seems kind of niche. It may be worthwhile to look at universities that may have a clinical psychology program, with opportunities to explore quantitative methodologies. For example, in my hometown of Toronto, there is a university that has a clinical psychology program with a quantitative diploma as an add-on for students interested in statistics and mathematics.

I agree with child_health in that it is very school dependent. Through the grapevine I have heard of different cutoffs and expectations. If it give any positivity, I do want to say that GPA is not the end all and be all. Students with decent GPA, but excellent research experiences have also been accepted to competitive programs. Sometimes it may also have to do with fit. If you were to apply local, speak with current faculty members at your institution and see who they know and what they can do for you. A good word and reference also goes a long way besides the traditional GPA merit! A few other nuances to think about so hope that helps!

If you haven't already I would recommend doing so regardless of availability of spacing the day of the test. I waited a week, and missed out on the test centre closest to me and had to drive 2 hours to the next one. Of course, that might depend on location! Better safe than sorry! Good luck

Some of the school's are rolling basis in terms of the waitlist, FYI. I only heard back last week. The second, third, and however many waves there are at your respective schools may depend on how many were granted to your departments. Don't give up!

If I remember correctly, there is a April 15th deadline that most graduate programs in North America are asked to go by where they must tell students about their final decisions, and students should accept by. Some schools are very stringent about it, while others give a bit more leeway depending on the program. That was just one of the PIs I applied to last year said offhand when I asked about when I'll hear back!

Perhaps not, the second wave was the first week of February last year. They contacted the additional students due to lack of fit for some of the students they had in mind. Officially unofficially the schools do follow the April 15th deadline. So an email may still be forthcoming for you!

Last year they had a second briefer round of interviews for applicants who didn't make the Interview Day. It's a much smaller group, but them saying that means you still stand a chance. Don't lose hope!

Not that I know of! Have not heard any word about that yet!

I believe the recruitment week last year was last week of January. For international or out-of-town applicants, they will start sending info the week before that. Usually that's arranged by your potential POIs (however many you applied to). Hope that helps!

York's Open House for Clinical is Friday, February 13th so still some time if you haven't heard back yet!

The UTSC program is pretty brand new seeing that it's only been around for about 3 years. So far there hasn't been any international students (that I know of), but this past cohort I believe 2 of the 5 were from UTSC. There's hope of course!

Hey guys just thought I'd say hi and answer any questions y'all might have. I'm a current Clinical student FYI - last year UTSC started doing interviews 2nd to 3rd week of January (around the same time as the UofT Experimental Psych program), but had another round of interviews first week of February. Ryerson had interviews throughout January with some contact in end of December. York is a bit more sporadic. Those are just some of the schools I know about Good luck!

Hi, not an applicant this year because I was accepted to a NP program in Canada last year, but just wanted to say good luck!

I would say go for the one that comfortably shows your aptitude the best. If there is no stringent cutoff, go with the scores that give you the highest possible. You will need to decide which of the three scores you will have to disregard.

@khunconan Actually, unless they changed it in the last year or so, the Score Select allows you to choose any SET of scores. So you can't choose, for example, QR from one test and VR from another test. It has to be the same 3 scores from one test. It can, however, be from any of the times you did the test. I did the GRE three times, and I could've used the set of scores from any of the three times I took it.

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!

Choose the GRE scores that matches the most with the programs you're interested in applying to. For me, after doing the GRE three times, I saw my QR score go down 2 points and my VR score go up 2 points. Ultimately, under the advice of my undergraduate supervisor, he suggested that it is better to see scores that are not low rather than scores that are. I chose to use the set of scores where my QR score was 2 points higher than take the set of scores where my VR went up, but my QR went down. If your programs is heavily quantitative-based, for example, it may be better to show you have the skills to do well in that area, or vice versa for a program that is more verbal reasoning heavy. Good luck!

If your interests are RESEARCH, there's no problem in highlighting that you have experiences in both research and clinical work. If anything, that's the kind of student that seems ideal for the program you want to apply to!

From my personal experience, I applied to a school last year and listed 3 PIs in my letter of intent who I would like to work with. Of the 3, the one that aligned with my research interests the most had told me she didn't see herself accepting a student due to lack of funding. I added her name anyway, and had a chance to speak with one of the other PIs I had listed. During our discussion, he realized that my interests aligned more with the PI I had mentioned previously. I guess they talked, and he convinced her to speak to me the next day. We did, and I received an offer for that program under her supervision at the end of it. My case may be isolated, but it's never a harm to include people you may be interested in working with. I do agree that you should make sure there's more than one person at the institution so that you know someone there may take you on. Co-supervisory situations may also arise so you never know! Good luck!

The difficult answer to this question is that it honestly depends year to year. The cohort varies, and sometimes there's applicants with high scores, and some with lower scores. Since you had a chance to take a look at past historical notes on GRE and applicant scores, that can at least let you know lower scores are not detrimental to your application. Trust me, I know it's daunting and completely taxing. I took it THREE times (!) and ended up using my original score. From someone who wasted time, money, and energy to retake the GRE twice more times, I would say to not overlook the scores you already have. It's easy to compare scores, and think you can do more. Relatively satisfied with my first score, I decided to retake it and imploded on my second attempt. On my third attempt, my VR went up and my QR went down. If the rest of your application is solid, the GRE is not going to be detrimental to your overall application. It's only meant as a booster in most cases, because research experience tends to trump all. Ultimately, if you fit with the program, and your prospective PI wants you to be his or her graduate student, that will be more of the deciding factor in my opinion. Good luck!

Nope, sorry I'm not at Western! I do know a few students who graduated from there that speaks of the environment and program fondly. Of course, this is third person descriptions so ultimately best for you to decide on your own (or with even better sources)!

Ah so they have. I think it's because their first PhD cohort started this year. I think it's of your interest to bridge the connection between the associate faculty and the clinical core faculty. As you can tell, they've added a whole lot of potential co-supervisors that you can work with. Ultimately, you'll be advancing their network and research if you are interested in working with one of the associate faculty members. The only hindrance is that, ultimately, the core faculty members have the final say on who is selected. You can be working closer with one of the associates, and have a system in place on how the core faculty member plays a role in your studies, but they decide who gets in.