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I thought you were in your first year. Things may then be different. I've seen people who transferred from an MA/CAGS program to a doctoral program after two years of coursework (within the same department though) as well. This allowed them to do one internship for their doctoral degree only, and because both programs are in the same school, many courses are the same and can be used to satisfy the credit requirements. While technically you do have an MA in school psychology, you may have to check with individual schools as some websites clearly state certification as a requirement for advanced standing and some just say master's degree in school psychology or are unclear (e.g. Fordham, Syracuse and Maryland, which I suggest you take a look at and contact). So the routes you can choose include 1. If your current school has a doctoral program, ask them if you can switch to it and complete it faster e.g. (2 years of MA/CAGS + 4 years of PhD/PsyD) 2. Doctoral programs that allow advanced standing in your case (2+4) 3. Normal doctoral programs (2+5) 4. Original route (3+4) 5. Completion of MA/CAGS + normal doctoral programs (3+5) If you were a first-year student, I would definitely suggest you apply to normal programs so your options won't be limited. But as you're in your second year, you should consider different factors based on what you find important (goals, interests, time, funding etc.)

Instead of applying after completing your MA/CAGS, you can consider applying directly to school psych doctoral programs this year. NASP-approved programs are likely to have similar courses, especially in the first year. You can get some of your 1st year credits transferred. This will certainly save you a year or two compared with your original route.

An upward trend would help. As long as you make the first cut-off, your application will likely be looked at and they may consider other components in your application e.g. your research experience. If location matters to you, you can look at other schools such as George Mason, SDSU, Cal Lutheran and some of the Cal State schools which offer both urban settings and better programs than CSPP. Wasting your money and time at CSPP may not be the best idea even when you consider it your safety.

I'm not sure if your GPA is objectively bad as some Asian universities are known for grade deflation. You can ask your recommenders to "talk you up" a bit if your GPA is indeed not bad. If you plan to get a PsyD or PhD ultimately, a good master's can make up for your undergraduate GPA. I would suggest replacing CSPP with William & Mary though because CSPP doesn't have a good reputation.

The NASP approval should be considered separately for EdS and doctoral programs. If the EdS is approved and the doctoral is not, that is the way it is. A NASP approval makes things easier to get the NCSP credential. If you go to a program that's not NASP-approved, you'll have to prepare more to get the credential. Some doctoral programs may focus on training researchers for the field and in this sense an APA accreditation is more important as they may not become school psychologists. But the rule of thumb is to apply to programs that are both NASP-approved and APA-accredited so you have more options later.

It's certainly related to your personal experience. If why psychology is too broad, think about why school psychology. Try to make sure there's a strong connection from your experience to your interest(s) to your goal(s).

I talked to a grad student (not in school psychology) at UT Austin about this issue and he said it's a school-wide issue. UT Austin tends to spend more on research rather than on research students.

Second what Psychologyandpizza said. 50%/ .5 FTE RA usually means full funding (full tuition remission + stipend). .5 is considered full-time because you should be a full-time student and 20 hours of work is supposed to be the full load you can take. Some schools only offer 25% with half tuition remission. You can certainly ask the faculty/grad students on the interview day.

Another 1st year school psych PhD student here to help as I was helped here before as well. My school also has both specialist and PhD programs (NASP and APA accredited). I'm sure you've been browsing the NASP website quite a lot. There is a page that tells you how to choose the right programs to begin with. Make sure you check it out. From what I heard, Ed.S. programs place less emphasis on research experience, but many of the specialist-level students did have some experience with kids with special needs or teaching experience etc. What I think you should consider is the curriculum of the programs. Even though I applied for only PhD programs, I found the courses quite different across programs. So if you have a particular interest e.g. population, you can see whether the curriculum focuses on that. Also, if you are interested in getting an extra credential, there are programs that incorporate ABA training into their curriculum which enables you to become a BCBA if you're willing to take extra credits. I really don't know much about reputation of particular Ed.S. programs, but do cast a wide net and apply for as many programs as you can afford so that you have different options instead of waiting for another year. Good luck!

I agree with TakeruK. It'll be best to ask the person that broke the good news. The same happened to me when the funding offer came two months after acceptance. In between I asked my advisor and he assured that I would be funded but the administrative process was quite long. The profs are definitely the people who know whether there's funding for their PhD students.

As an international student, I would look beyond these schools if I were you. I've read here and there that some public colleges have limited funding for international students. Try to include more private schools and/or find PIs who have got a big grant (so they're "financially independent" in a sense) to increase your chance.

You should take a look at this guide: http://www.apadivisions.org/division-41/education/programs/guide.pdf

A friend of mine (Canadian though) is doing their PhD in an arts subject at McGill. They said their funding is terrible but they can make it up with TAing. You're probably getting more than them I suppose. Is it possible for you to check where your POI's PhD graduates end up? Some labs are quite open about that and if they had no problem finding an academic position, you shouldn't be too worried about it.

I think you should talk to people in your field in your home country and see what they have to say about the programs. But if you've already done so and heard conflicting comments, then it should be a matter of personal opinion. As an international student who studied in two universities in the UK and is going to study for a PhD in the US, I would say Yale. I chose to study in a less well-known university in the UK instead of one with a global reputation because of the former's better research and program, and I would say it was totally worth it. It changed how I think and do research significantly. But the main thing about research in the UK is that I didn't see professors educated in the UK include undergraduates or taught masters students in their actual research as often as US trained professors. I believe this is an important part of the whole educational experience. I believe either school can get you interviews in the future no matter which European country you end up in. However, whether they will hire you always depends on how much you've learned and can demonstrate.

@Gvh Thanks a lot for clarifying. That makes perfect sense then. I wish I knew how bad it really is before I applied. To make things worse, from what I heard from my professor, international students are not allowed/preferred to have their clinical psychology internship in VA hospitals. I guess all these hurdles make things so hard for international students to compete when a lot of local students have credentials that are just as good without the language and/or cultural barriers.

I've heard that international students may be put at a disadvantage when it comes to public schools because of funding, but the two POIs you mentioned are both from private schools. This makes me wonder how funding is allocated within a department, and what hidden difficulties there are for international students to be accepted...

I took it last April but only had three days for revision. DO start early! I used Kaplan and Introducing Psychology by Schacter et al (I got Princeton as well but didn't have time to read it). I spent most of my time reading the introductory psych book but skipped a few sections that I thought were unimportant, which proved to be a mistake. FINISH it for real. I only had time to read the first few chapters of Kaplan. The MC questions are useful for fact checking (even though they are a bit easier). I second Jay's Brain's suggestion on the heavier sections. If you have time, study them in greater depth because the really trivial questions seem to come from those sections (probably because they need to set more questions for them). Review your lecture notes and textbooks on those topics if you have time.

Hi all, I'm an international student planning to apply for clinical psychology (and school psychology) programs in the US. As I was not a psych major I completed an MA in psychology. So far I've ask a clinical psych professor (I helped at his lab for more than a year) and a cognitive psych professor (she was my thesis supervisor) to write LORs for me. I've read guide books and posts but still can't make up my mind with the third one. I hope you can give some opinions about which one would give me a better edge: 1. a senior lecturer from the UK (non-psych but he was the supervisor of my non-psych master's dissertation. Last contact was 5 years ago but pretty sure he remembers me as I was one of his first students.) 2. an associate professor from my home country (she's an educational psychologist and I got an A for her class for my education diploma. She also wrote me an LOR for my application for my MA in psych. Last contact was 2 years ago. ) 3. an associate professor from my MA in psych (he's a developmental psychologist and I got an A- for his class.) Any thoughts are welcome!