psycgrad37

Please update everyone!

Can the Arizona State, Georgia State, UC Santa Barbara, and Colorado State counseling psychology please message me or comment on their POI?

I would also say that they're probably trying to workout another date for you. If possible, I would contact a program coordinator/admin contact because sometimes they are the people who are more on top of these things rather than professors. Obviously, I would word it in a way that doesn't sound pushy and doesn't make it seem like you are trying to go around the professor but rather contact someone who would be more appropriate for these types of questions. Maybe cc the admin contact in a follow up email to professor?

I just found it odd that seemingly everyone that got rejected for the PhD automatically got the offer for Masters with a scholarship.

I was rejected from a PhD program without being offered an interview but was offered acceptance into Masters with a small scholarship. The scholarship is not enough to cover tuition or living expenses. I am not planning to accept. However, my question is more about these programs. I am very skeptical of programs that offer you acceptance without an interview. It seems that a lot of private universities are doing this (Columbia, Boston College, NYU, etc.). What is the point? Is it worth it to attend their Masters program or is it better to attend one that has a more selective admissions process (one that requires an interview)?

I don't think it's an issue at all. It's possible that both departments won't know that you applied for the other one depending on how/who reviews the applications. The only thing I would suggest is that if you do get an interview, be prepared to answer the "why are you interested in clinical/counseling psychology as opposed to other fields"? which in my experience has come up quite frequently.

I wouldn't be too discouraged by it. It's fairly common for people to miss some/all social events. In this case, I would attend all other events as possible. I would reach out to current grad students via email and ask them questions as necessary. You want to do this in a way that doesn't come off as probing but just in a very friendly way and with a genuine interest. I think grad students are the best resource to find out about the program, POI, what the situation is like there. The interviews I have attended have all had a "current students panel" where they discuss some of these things with prospective students. I would definitely attend that and reach out to them afterwards if possible.

As many have pointed out, business attire is best for interviews. As for socials, I say business casual or even just jeans and a nice button down or nice sweater with plain shirt underneath. I wouldn't do just t-shirt and jeans as I think it's a little too casual. For piercings and tattoos, I think it really depends on the field. For Psychology, I think some piercings (such as a small nose stud or extra earrings) are acceptable but much more than that I think it would be best to take it out. I have seen people with small nose studs at interviews and no one seemed to mind. I haven't seen any visible tattoos but I think that as long as they're not in the neck/face area where they're very visible then you should be fine.

Had anyone heard from Georgia State counseling psyc? There was one person who posted they have an interview but then there were other posters who said they contacted the program and were told that invites had not been sent.

@TakeruK I meant considering if the things I had mentioned were not clear (official offer, financial information made available, etc.) THEN gliter250 should attend since he/she has already purchased the ticket. @gliter250 I would ask for the financial information so that you can decide whether or not it's worth it to attend the other interview. You could find a polite way of asking what the stipend etc. will entail and make a decision on whether or not to attend the other interview based on that.

I would say that before you burn any bridges consider all of the potential problems that could arise from your "first option" school. As long as you have received an official offer, you have discussed funding with your POI and program director, as well as talked to the current grad students thoroughly about what the program/POI/environment is like then it's okay not to go to the other school's interview. The way I see it, you have already bought the tickets, why not just go and check it out?

@artsy16 very odd... I also find it very odd that it has taken the school so long to send out invites. I have heard from everyone else.

Georgia State Counseling Psychology please share your POI. A few of us would like to know!

Has anyone heard from Arizona State, Boston College, or Georgia State counseling psyc?

Could the Boston College Counseling Psyc poster please tell me who his/her POI is?

This thread needs to be brought back. Please update!

I often find that I run out of questions to ask. If anyone has suggestions that they've found were helpful in the past (e.g. they gave you good insight into the program, research, or POI), please share.

What are some of the interview questions we can expect for clinical/counseling grad school interviews? I have seen other threads that discuss interviews but I haven't seen any specific for these fields that discuss questions. I would like to be prepared for upcoming interviews so any advice or specific questions that have been asked would be helpful.

Thank you very much to both. My main concern is the GRE being used as a tool to filter applicants. From what I am reading, the 50th percentile seems to be the "magic number" or rather the place where most of the schools I am looking at are willing to read through the applications and decide from there. So, since my quant score is below that, I have decided to go ahead and retake it. If my scores do not exceed my previous ones then I will not send them to the schools. I hope this is the right strategy :/

I'd like to preface by saying I would really appreciate any advice given for my particular situation. I have not received much guidance from my mentors regarding this matter so I am turning over my question to the grad cafe forum in hopes that I will get sound advice from people who have experience similar situations. I took my GRE last year and did fairly well on the verbal but not so great on the math portion (40%). I had a couple of interviews and did receive an offer for a program but rejected it because it was not a good fit. I am looking to apply again and I am wondering whether I need to re-take the GRE or not. I have been studying to re-take it but I did a practice test and while I increased by one point on the math, I did worse on the verbal by 3 points. I am afraid a similar scenario will ensue if I do go ahead and take the GRE. Thus, I would only be wasting money (and time) re-taking the GRE to get a similar score than what I already have (or even a worse one). The schools I am applying to are fairly competitive but not extremely so (from what I gather their average acceptance scores are not too distant, some equal, to mine). Am I better off keeping the scores and working on other aspects of my application or studying for another month (getting very close to the deadline) and re-taking the test in hopes that in this month I will be able to improve my scores?

Mastershaakti- Thank you so much! I have actually begun considering that option recently. I would, obviously, prefer to work with someone who is already working with LGBT populations but it is definitely something worth putting out there for others who may not have had that idea before. Juilletmercredi- good to know! I guess the way to go about it is by contacting whoever I am interested in and seeing if they are willing to co-mentor? How does that work in graduate school if say, I wanted to get a degree in clinical or counseling psyc and wanted to get licensed but the researcher I am interested in working with is not in clinical/counseling? I am assuming I would just work on their research but follow everything else under the clinical/counseling program?

when people talk about GRE free waivers, what are you referring to? I don't know this trick...

Magoosh, from what I'm hearing, has good results and is also much cheaper than other GRE prep courses at only $100 (whereas others are usually $400 and up).

Thank you julliet and Bubbala! Julliet- some of those people are not in the Psychology field, do they still advise students that are in psyc? For example, Christian Grov. (I guess this could also be my mistake since I just noticed I didn't specify above).

thank you both`