Clinpsyc01

Thank you both for the suggestions!

My advisor is purchasing a Mac laptop for me, and I'm looking for some input on my options. I can choose from MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and MacBook. Does anyone have any recommendations? For reference, I'm in a psychology program and will be using the computer for paper writing, reading, data analysis, etc- nothing that requires a ton of power.

Sorry if that was unclear- I meant volunteering in addition to your research project. There's absolutely nothing wrong with volunteering, and the vast majority of people I know volunteered in labs to gain additional experience on top of their honours/research courses. Speaking from experience, I spent a year volunteering in a lab after finishing my undergrad, and I would not have gotten into clinical without the experience I gained there. It sucks that you can't do a thesis, but your fourth year research project should be just as good. Many schools don't offer research courses other than an honours thesis, which is probably why the thesis is less restricted at those schools.

Doing your fourth year project in a social psych lab should be fine. The quality of your experience is much more important than the topic. If possible, try to join a lab where undergrads often get the chance to publish or present at conferences. Also, since you're in Toronto, it might be a good idea to look into joining a more clinically focused lab at one of the major hospitals or one of the other U of T campuses/other universities. The honours thesis is kind of the bare minimum for Canadian schools, and most successful applicants I know were involved in more than one lab.

Hi guys hope you don't mind a question from an incoming grad student. How important are MA SSHRC awards in obtaining a doctoral award? I've been told that getting a CGS-M gives you a large advantage when applying for the doctoral level scholarships, but I'm curious to know what your experience has been. Thanks!

Do any of you know if you can be awarded OGS at a school that rejected you? I know it happens frequently with the tri-council awards.

Lol same, I think they're sending our rejections by mail ?

Finally got my rejection from ryerson... only about 2 months after everyone else

I know of people who've gotten SSHRC off the waitlist, if you applied to them. I assume it's a harder to get CIHR if you're waitlisted since they tend to have fewer awards available.

I accepted my offer online. I think most schools have an online portal where you can see your application status and accept/decline offers. I also emailed my future supervisor, as well as the program administrator because that was requested in my acceptance letter. I don't think it's necessary to send a formal letter!

They've sent out their acceptances already, and a lot of people apparently got rejections like a month ago. I haven't heard anything either since a preliminary interview, so I don't know if they're just sending out rejections really slowly, or I'm waitlisted, etc.

Congrats it's so great to see people getting in off wait lists!

That sucks I think you're definitely justified in asking when so many other programs have a later deadline... the common deadline for accredited programs was created to avoid this problem! And I don't know how they expect waitlisted people to make their decisions on such short notice. Best of luck Fingers crossed that it works out for you but if not, at least you have an acceptance in hand!

I think the deadline for a lot of schools is actually April 18th, presumably because the 15th is a Saturday. Could this be the case for the school where you're accepted?

A lot of Canadian schools look only at your last two years... Do you think you could do another full-time year of undergrad psychology courses and reasonably expect to get 3.9-4.0? I would check with schools first, though, to make sure that they would count this as one of your last two years. You could also consider doing a masters in experimental psych before applying to MA/PhD programs. I think the most important thing for you to do right now is talk to any clinical faculty members you know to get their opinions.

Do you know how many people got in in the first round?

I know someone who was accepted so I think offers have already gone out.

It seems like they're sending out rejections sporadically for some reason... I haven't gotten one yet either but I'm 99% sure I've been rejected.

No, sorry!! I didn't apply there.

Ryerson and Calgary had their interview/visiting days in early February so if you haven't heard from them it's probably a bad sign. I wasn't invited to either of them but I've spoken to people that were. I don't think Dal technically requires an interview, but it seems like most profs at least hold skype/phone interviews. Their first round of offers apparently went out in January.

I've heard of it happening, but mostly in experimental programs where there isn't really an enrolment limit. I think it's worth asking though.

I totally get what you're feeling. I didn't decide on clinical until my third year, didn't have any research experience until then, and thought I had no chance at all. I ended up getting accepted to two schools this year on my first application cycle, and I'm realizing that I had a lot of misconceptions about the process. It might help to talk to one of the clinical profs at your school... I know my undergrad was full of rumours about clinical admissions, and speaking with someone well-informed really clarifies things. I think that the most important thing to do is to get high quality research experience. The topic of the research isn't as important as the skills you learn. Potential supervisors really want to see that you're familiar with different areas of the research process, that you're enthusiastic about it, and that you can articulate your interests and ideas for future projects. If you can get a publication or conference presentation, that's awesome, but don't worry about it too much if it doesn't happen. Also, you might want to consider taking a year off after undergrad to gain some more experience. I took a year off to work in my undergrad lab, and so did most of the people I met at interviews. It was definitely the best decision for me because completing my honours thesis/getting more experience helped me refine my interests and figure out what I really want to do. I would recommend applying broadly without limiting yourself geographically. You should definitely apply to UNB if you want to go there, but it's risky to put all your eggs in one basket. Some schools also limit the number of alumni they accept because they want diversity, so that's something to consider as well. At least a few months before you apply, you should research schools and identify faculty who you'd be interested in working with. It's important to make sure that they're accepting students; I didn't do this for one of my schools, and wasted the $100 application fee. Don't worry about not being good enough. I know it's hard not to feel unqualified when you look at the admissions stats, but there's no reason why you can't get in. You have a good GPA (mine was lower) and you have time to build your CV. Even if you don't get in the first time you apply, you can try again as a stronger applicant the next year.

I can't speak to UNB specifically, but I know people who have been accepted to Canadian schools with a 3.7 and rejected with a 4.0. Once your GPA reaches a certain point, I think experience and fit are more important. That being said, I would guess that a 3.85 is definitely competitive.

Has anyone heard from Ryerson lately? I didn't get an official rejection when they were going out last week, but I'm pretty sure I'm out of the running because I haven't heard anything since a preliminary interview. Just trying to decided if I should give up completely haha

I took 22 courses in my last two years, and then took two courses out of interest in the year following graduation. Does anyone know if those two courses would be included in my GPA calculation for CGS-M since I already had a full courseload in the last two years of my degree?