dancedementia

One thing I wish I had done was started much earlier, and really spent time researching programs and figuring out exactly what I wanted to study. I was late to the party in understanding that sometimes the people doing the research you want to do aren't in the department you think they're in. It was in the process of writing my statement that I started to see more clearly what I wanted to focus on and then I realized that some of my initial application choices weren't the best fit, and I needed to look elsewhere. It was near the end of the application season when I found that many of the people studying media effects on children were psychologists in communication departments. I'm so glad I discovered this because I was very successful with those applications, but I see all of the programs I could've applied to that might have also been great opportunities if I'd had more time.

Yes, I actually have the graduate program in psychology book, so it tells me all of the requirements as well as other helpful information. Thankfully, I am currently in a masters program, so I will meet that requirement!

Sooooo. Who's ready to get a head start on next year?
(Yes I know April 15th isn't quite here yet, but I've been going through GC withdrawal so I'm making this thread WAY in advance.)
I was originally going to wait for 2 years before applying (to boost my research productivity), but I was just alerted that my grant-funded research coordinator position (which starts in June!) expires after 1 year and there is no guarantee there will be funding for a second year. Thankfully, it is a hyperproductive lab so I should be able to get some pubs before I need to leave (I'm already on a poster and I haven't even started work yet? lol...) I already have a ton of posters/presentations so I really just wanted more research experience in my area of interest.
Anyways! Here's the list for fall 2020, a total of 10 schools 
Boston College (Counseling PhD) -- POI: OMK Boston University (Clinical PhD) -- POI: LB, TP Drexel University (Clinical PhD, reapplicant) -- POI: AJ, EF, MB (you're supposed to choose 3 on the application) Fordham University (Clinical PhD) -- POI: NB Fordham University (Counseling PhD) -- POI: MK Northeastern University (Counseling PhD, reapplicant) -- POI: RR, JEG Suffolk University (Clinical PhD, reapplicant) -- POI: SR (maybe... she rejected me this round so idk if I'll try again), SS UMass Boston (Clinical PhD) -- POI: LR Virginia Commonwealth (Counseling PhD) -- POI: SM William James (Clinical PsyD) -- safety school (got in last round but deferred offer, so would not need to reapply) Yeshiva University (Clinical Health PhD) -- POI: CS This is, of course, assuming all the POIs are taking students next year.
I'm geographically constrained a little bit b/c my fiance will be in med school next year (at least someone will be earning the big bucks in this family), and I'm not interested in doing a long-distance marriage that spans more than 3 state lines =P

Oh my gosh. Top 20-40 is NOT low ranked. 

Sooooo. Who's ready to get a head start on next year?
(Yes I know April 15th isn't quite here yet, but I've been going through GC withdrawal so I'm making this thread WAY in advance.)
I was originally going to wait for 2 years before applying (to boost my research productivity), but I was just alerted that my grant-funded research coordinator position (which starts in June!) expires after 1 year and there is no guarantee there will be funding for a second year. Thankfully, it is a hyperproductive lab so I should be able to get some pubs before I need to leave (I'm already on a poster and I haven't even started work yet? lol...) I already have a ton of posters/presentations so I really just wanted more research experience in my area of interest.
Anyways! Here's the list for fall 2020, a total of 10 schools 
Boston College (Counseling PhD) -- POI: OMK Boston University (Clinical PhD) -- POI: LB, TP Drexel University (Clinical PhD, reapplicant) -- POI: AJ, EF, MB (you're supposed to choose 3 on the application) Fordham University (Clinical PhD) -- POI: NB Fordham University (Counseling PhD) -- POI: MK Northeastern University (Counseling PhD, reapplicant) -- POI: RR, JEG Suffolk University (Clinical PhD, reapplicant) -- POI: SR (maybe... she rejected me this round so idk if I'll try again), SS UMass Boston (Clinical PhD) -- POI: LR Virginia Commonwealth (Counseling PhD) -- POI: SM William James (Clinical PsyD) -- safety school (got in last round but deferred offer, so would not need to reapply) Yeshiva University (Clinical Health PhD) -- POI: CS This is, of course, assuming all the POIs are taking students next year.
I'm geographically constrained a little bit b/c my fiance will be in med school next year (at least someone will be earning the big bucks in this family), and I'm not interested in doing a long-distance marriage that spans more than 3 state lines =P

Sooooo. Who's ready to get a head start on next year?
(Yes I know April 15th isn't quite here yet, but I've been going through GC withdrawal so I'm making this thread WAY in advance.)
I was originally going to wait for 2 years before applying (to boost my research productivity), but I was just alerted that my grant-funded research coordinator position (which starts in June!) expires after 1 year and there is no guarantee there will be funding for a second year. Thankfully, it is a hyperproductive lab so I should be able to get some pubs before I need to leave (I'm already on a poster and I haven't even started work yet? lol...) I already have a ton of posters/presentations so I really just wanted more research experience in my area of interest.
Anyways! Here's the list for fall 2020, a total of 10 schools 
Boston College (Counseling PhD) -- POI: OMK Boston University (Clinical PhD) -- POI: LB, TP Drexel University (Clinical PhD, reapplicant) -- POI: AJ, EF, MB (you're supposed to choose 3 on the application) Fordham University (Clinical PhD) -- POI: NB Fordham University (Counseling PhD) -- POI: MK Northeastern University (Counseling PhD, reapplicant) -- POI: RR, JEG Suffolk University (Clinical PhD, reapplicant) -- POI: SR (maybe... she rejected me this round so idk if I'll try again), SS UMass Boston (Clinical PhD) -- POI: LR Virginia Commonwealth (Counseling PhD) -- POI: SM William James (Clinical PsyD) -- safety school (got in last round but deferred offer, so would not need to reapply) Yeshiva University (Clinical Health PhD) -- POI: CS This is, of course, assuming all the POIs are taking students next year.
I'm geographically constrained a little bit b/c my fiance will be in med school next year (at least someone will be earning the big bucks in this family), and I'm not interested in doing a long-distance marriage that spans more than 3 state lines =P

Sooooo. Who's ready to get a head start on next year?
(Yes I know April 15th isn't quite here yet, but I've been going through GC withdrawal so I'm making this thread WAY in advance.)
I was originally going to wait for 2 years before applying (to boost my research productivity), but I was just alerted that my grant-funded research coordinator position (which starts in June!) expires after 1 year and there is no guarantee there will be funding for a second year. Thankfully, it is a hyperproductive lab so I should be able to get some pubs before I need to leave (I'm already on a poster and I haven't even started work yet? lol...) I already have a ton of posters/presentations so I really just wanted more research experience in my area of interest.
Anyways! Here's the list for fall 2020, a total of 10 schools 
Boston College (Counseling PhD) -- POI: OMK Boston University (Clinical PhD) -- POI: LB, TP Drexel University (Clinical PhD, reapplicant) -- POI: AJ, EF, MB (you're supposed to choose 3 on the application) Fordham University (Clinical PhD) -- POI: NB Fordham University (Counseling PhD) -- POI: MK Northeastern University (Counseling PhD, reapplicant) -- POI: RR, JEG Suffolk University (Clinical PhD, reapplicant) -- POI: SR (maybe... she rejected me this round so idk if I'll try again), SS UMass Boston (Clinical PhD) -- POI: LR Virginia Commonwealth (Counseling PhD) -- POI: SM William James (Clinical PsyD) -- safety school (got in last round but deferred offer, so would not need to reapply) Yeshiva University (Clinical Health PhD) -- POI: CS This is, of course, assuming all the POIs are taking students next year.
I'm geographically constrained a little bit b/c my fiance will be in med school next year (at least someone will be earning the big bucks in this family), and I'm not interested in doing a long-distance marriage that spans more than 3 state lines =P

As an update for the folks who helped me (and for future applicants who may be in my situation): I got a full-time job as a research coordinator in an extremely productive lab at an amazing institution (which I frankly didn't think I had a shot at getting into). I'm honestly more excited about this "acceptance" than the three non-funded PsyD acceptances I had earlier this year, which really solidifies 1) the fact that I'm passionate about research, and 2) that I've made the right choice by declining offers and planning to reapply to PhD programs in a few years.
Yaaaay

As an update for the folks who helped me (and for future applicants who may be in my situation): I got a full-time job as a research coordinator in an extremely productive lab at an amazing institution (which I frankly didn't think I had a shot at getting into). I'm honestly more excited about this "acceptance" than the three non-funded PsyD acceptances I had earlier this year, which really solidifies 1) the fact that I'm passionate about research, and 2) that I've made the right choice by declining offers and planning to reapply to PhD programs in a few years.
Yaaaay

If you're interested solely in providing psychotherapy as a treatment, then you can do all of that with only a masters
I'm not sure what you mean by "assess" - masters level clinicians can diagnose, but some specific assessments (e.g. Rorschach, neuropsych batteries) can only be performed by doctoral-level psychologists with proper training.
Also worth noting that many masters in "psychology" (unless they are specifically clinical psychology) are not license-eligible unless you take extra courses. Many of them are geared towards folks who need research experience and GPA boosters for doctoral applications. They will require a research project / thesis and may not include enough hours of internship to meet state licensing requirements as an LPC/LMHC.

School: Kean University
Concentration: School-Clinical Psychology
Type: PsyD
Date of acceptance: 3/31/19
Notified by: Email from director of the program, with official acceptance to arrive soon.

Applying to programs based on how easy they are to get into rather than based on the research their faculty do is probably not going to result in a very successful admissions cycle. Being able to convincingly articulate fit was, at least in my experience, effectively what determined whether or not I got into a program. I had the same GRE scores you mentioned on the soc forum as well as 2-3 years of research experience and the programs I didn't get admitted to are the ones for which I was least excited about preparing my application. 
In other words, you're a strong applicant and worrying about which program is "easiest" to get into is kind of a waste of your time. You're better off perusing faculty rosters at any department which you think might be a good intellectual home for you until you've developed a list of programs whose faculty do work that really gets you excited. Geeking out a bit was what distinguished my successful SOPs from my unsuccessful SOPs. 
In any case, I'm not convinced that at the level of the top 5 or 10, programs across these disciplines are really any more competitive than one another. Maybe you can make a case for differences the quality of the "average" PhD student in that discipline, but I think that these differences are more rooted in the philosophical orientations of the disciplines themselves (and therefore the socialization structures they create) than in intrinsic differences between their students. Either that, or students self-select into disciplines based on these philosophical orientations. 

Sooooo. Who's ready to get a head start on next year?
(Yes I know April 15th isn't quite here yet, but I've been going through GC withdrawal so I'm making this thread WAY in advance.)
I was originally going to wait for 2 years before applying (to boost my research productivity), but I was just alerted that my grant-funded research coordinator position (which starts in June!) expires after 1 year and there is no guarantee there will be funding for a second year. Thankfully, it is a hyperproductive lab so I should be able to get some pubs before I need to leave (I'm already on a poster and I haven't even started work yet? lol...) I already have a ton of posters/presentations so I really just wanted more research experience in my area of interest.
Anyways! Here's the list for fall 2020, a total of 10 schools 
Boston College (Counseling PhD) -- POI: OMK Boston University (Clinical PhD) -- POI: LB, TP Drexel University (Clinical PhD, reapplicant) -- POI: AJ, EF, MB (you're supposed to choose 3 on the application) Fordham University (Clinical PhD) -- POI: NB Fordham University (Counseling PhD) -- POI: MK Northeastern University (Counseling PhD, reapplicant) -- POI: RR, JEG Suffolk University (Clinical PhD, reapplicant) -- POI: SR (maybe... she rejected me this round so idk if I'll try again), SS UMass Boston (Clinical PhD) -- POI: LR Virginia Commonwealth (Counseling PhD) -- POI: SM William James (Clinical PsyD) -- safety school (got in last round but deferred offer, so would not need to reapply) Yeshiva University (Clinical Health PhD) -- POI: CS This is, of course, assuming all the POIs are taking students next year.
I'm geographically constrained a little bit b/c my fiance will be in med school next year (at least someone will be earning the big bucks in this family), and I'm not interested in doing a long-distance marriage that spans more than 3 state lines =P

As an update for the folks who helped me (and for future applicants who may be in my situation): I got a full-time job as a research coordinator in an extremely productive lab at an amazing institution (which I frankly didn't think I had a shot at getting into). I'm honestly more excited about this "acceptance" than the three non-funded PsyD acceptances I had earlier this year, which really solidifies 1) the fact that I'm passionate about research, and 2) that I've made the right choice by declining offers and planning to reapply to PhD programs in a few years.
Yaaaay

Accepted my University of Arkansas - Fayetteville offer! When I started this process I thought my top choices would be Marquette or Arizona. Did not think I'd end up rejecting both of those offers and moving to Arkansas but I'm super excited

Formally accepted my offer for the University of Houston today! 
This was my 3rd round and I'm 3 years post masters, so this is a great feeling. I am celebrating by cuddling with my dogs and planning my honeymoon (why I thought it was a good idea to get married during grad school application/interview season, I have no freaking idea)

In your last year of undergrad, I highly recommend finding a lab on your campus to volunteer with to get some experience with research, and a volunteer or paid work experience with a crisis center or local mental health facility to get some experience in a counseling/helping role.  These experiences will help to give you a better idea of what you want in your professional life and provide good experience to put on your CV in applying for graduate programs. 
There are several graduate programs which can lead to a career in mental health, but they take different lengths of time, have vastly different costs, lead to careers doing slightly to vastly different tasks, and require some very different experiences as prerequisites.  Several Master's programs can lead to licensure as an LPC - LMHC, MA/MEd/MS in Psychology/Counseling, and LMFT (you could also go the social work route, get an MSW and become an LCSW).  These programs are generally 2-3 years and focus on the craft of counseling, with little emphasis in research.  The cost for these programs varies wildly, and funding assistance varies greatly, but you'll be more likely to find assistantships and funding for a program at a large state university.  You'll also want to check on license requirements for your state - my state aligns their licensing for LPCs with CACREP so going to a CACREP accredited institution helps to keep from jumping additional hoops for licensure.  There are some opportunities for participation in research with a Master's degree, but your chances of being hired by a university or hospital to be a researcher or of receiving grants from major governmental entities are limited to nonexistant without someone with a PhD being a Co-I.  So this might be a good route if you want to be a therapist and don't have interest in pursuing research.  There are lots of jobs available at community clinics, hospitals/clinics, or in online therapy orgs for those with LPCs, and you can also open a private practice. 
If you want/need a doctoral level degree to pursue the career of your dreams, and want to learn to incorporate research into your clinical practice, but not perform research yourself, you might want to consider a Doctoral of Psychology, PsyD.  These are typically 3-5 year programs, typically teach you well how to understand research articles and incorporate the information into your clinical practice, however it is quite rare to find fully or even partially funded PsyD programs so these are often quite expensive.  Most of these programs don't require you to have a Master's and very few will waive any courses if you do come in with one, so it's not advisable to do a separate Master's degree first.  You'd be eligible for a job as a clinician at lots of hospitals/clinics, community clinics, online therapy orgs or open a private practice.  Typically you'll receive a little more in compensation with the PsyD than you would as an LPC, but not by a ton, and there are some places where they prefer those with doctorates so it's much easier to get a job (the VA health system being one - far more openings for PsyDs than LPCs, but they require APA accredited programs, so that limits your PsyD program choices by a lot).  PsyDs are also sometimes hired as professors in LPC oriented programs or as clinical directors at PhD programs, but it is very rare to find a PsyD with a tenure track job at a top university since those jobs require research and a PsyD program doesn't train you to be a researcher.
If you like research and want to learn to become an independent researcher, as well as receive training as a clinician, you'll want to look at APA accredited PhD programs (if you decide you only like the research and don't care about the clinical practice, you can look at non-APA accredited or research only PhD programs).  You can pursue clinical or counseling PhD programs, but if you already have a practitioner focused PhD program, like the LMHC or a Master's in Counseling, you'll be better suited to pursue a counseling psych PhD program.  Both clinical and counseling psych PhD programs are incredibly competitive, with clinical being the even more competitive between the two.  These programs are frequently partially or fully funded and will train you to be both a researcher and a clinician, with each program varying regarding the balance between the two.  Exactly what is covered in a "fully funded" program, varies between programs but generally that means you are working for the school part-time in some capacity - as a teaching assistant, research assistant, or general graduate assistant helping with program enhancement/development, and in exchange for that, your tuition is waived and you receive a stipend.  The amount of this stipend is never luxurious, but it's typically enough that most grad students make it work.  Typically you have to pay out of pocket for books and university fees (which I have seen range from a few hundred per semester to several thousand per semester), and insurance is becoming a more common thing to have to pay out of pocket for, but most universities have inexpensive student insurance you can purchase if you're too old to remain on your parents'.  Having a PhD from an APA accredited program opens the doors wide open regarding careers in the mental health field - virtually anything imaginable is a possibility.  For clinical jobs at hospitals there is rarely a pay difference between those with PhDs and those with PsyDs, but with a PhD you may have the opportunity to give lectures for Grand Rounds, help teach classes if it's a teaching hospital, be involved in research, or develop a hybrid career - working in several different places doing different things.  I've known many professors who teach, have a research lab, and have a clinical practice on the side, or do advocacy work/education on the side, etc.  The length of these programs varies depending upon whether you come in with a Master's degree or not, but 5-8 years is fairly standard.  Whether or not the program will accept transfer credit/waive courses if you have previously completed a Master's degree varies widely so you have to look at the program website and some programs specify that they prefer candidates with a Master's degree or straight out of undergrad, so that's important to know in advance. 
Regarding the logistics of getting to grad school, that entirely depends upon your individual situation - if you're location bound and cannot move for some reason (maybe you're the primary caregiver for an ailing family member, you have a spouse who cannot move, or you have special medical needs and changing doctors could put you at risk), then how many schools you apply to may be quite small and you may have to apply several cycles in a row before you are accepted somewhere.  Getting into a master's level program is much easier than a doctoral level program, and if you want a doc program with full funding you are virtually guaranteed to have to move.  It's typically recommended to apply to at least 7 PhD programs if you are applying around the country.  Last cycle I applied to 15, this cycle I applied to 14 (rejected from all last cycle, received 4 offers this cycle).  If your family has the financial means and good will to help you move - awesome, if not, you get to figure it out.  Occasionally some fully funded PhD programs will have small grants to help students move but those are rare.  Unfortunately, graduate programs are expensive all the way around - applying is expensive, traveling for interviews is expensive, moving is expensive, paying for books/fees is expensive, going to conferences is expensive, traveling for internship interviews is expensive.......it's all expensive and that is prohibitive to a lot of people who don't come from means.  Those costs, even in fully funded programs, are a significant consideration if you don't have a large saving account, family support, a spouse/partner who works and can support those costs, etc.
I always recommend filling out FAFSA every year - it doesn't take very long, and there are sometimes scholarships, etc. that require you to fill it out. So I find it's worth the 30-ish minutes every year to update it just in case it helps to get you more money There are different rules for how things are considered for grad school vs undergrad, and I'm not fully certain about those, but I do know that at some point in grad school you will no longer be considered as a dependent of your parents.  If you currently receive no support from your parents, there is a process to be considered independent during undergrad according to FAFSA, and you can talk to your school's financial aid office about how to go about that (it's been a long time since I did that and I don't remember what all I had to do).
Good luck!  You have a lot to consider, but luckily you have tons of potential avenues to pursue your goal of a career in mental health.  You just have to decide which one is the best fit for you.

As an update for the folks who helped me (and for future applicants who may be in my situation): I got a full-time job as a research coordinator in an extremely productive lab at an amazing institution (which I frankly didn't think I had a shot at getting into). I'm honestly more excited about this "acceptance" than the three non-funded PsyD acceptances I had earlier this year, which really solidifies 1) the fact that I'm passionate about research, and 2) that I've made the right choice by declining offers and planning to reapply to PhD programs in a few years.
Yaaaay

As an update for the folks who helped me (and for future applicants who may be in my situation): I got a full-time job as a research coordinator in an extremely productive lab at an amazing institution (which I frankly didn't think I had a shot at getting into). I'm honestly more excited about this "acceptance" than the three non-funded PsyD acceptances I had earlier this year, which really solidifies 1) the fact that I'm passionate about research, and 2) that I've made the right choice by declining offers and planning to reapply to PhD programs in a few years.
Yaaaay

My biggest lesson this cycle: don't be afraid to turn down offers and try again next year (or the next, or the next). It's not a race to the finish line. There is nothing wrong with working another couple of years and reapplying if that means you will have better opportunities and less debt. This cycle, I was so caught up in the anxiety of "I need to get my career started NOW" that I applied to mainly unfunded schools and some schools that were, erm... indiscriminate about the folks they admitted. For some folks, those schools might be good fits. For me, I was trying to hard to get my career launched ASAP that I overlooked a ton of schools that would have fit my needs and research interests better. I had several offers from great schools that I just couldn't afford or weren't a good match for my career interests, and had to turn down.
And that's okay! I was talking to a friend the other day and she said this: I have a licensable master's. I could literally just keep applying every 2 years if I wanted the PhD that badly, until I got in. In the meantime, I can continue to get clinical and research experience. I don't need to take a giant step in the direction of my career - I can do it in baby steps if I need.

As an update for the folks who helped me (and for future applicants who may be in my situation): I got a full-time job as a research coordinator in an extremely productive lab at an amazing institution (which I frankly didn't think I had a shot at getting into). I'm honestly more excited about this "acceptance" than the three non-funded PsyD acceptances I had earlier this year, which really solidifies 1) the fact that I'm passionate about research, and 2) that I've made the right choice by declining offers and planning to reapply to PhD programs in a few years.
Yaaaay

As an update for the folks who helped me (and for future applicants who may be in my situation): I got a full-time job as a research coordinator in an extremely productive lab at an amazing institution (which I frankly didn't think I had a shot at getting into). I'm honestly more excited about this "acceptance" than the three non-funded PsyD acceptances I had earlier this year, which really solidifies 1) the fact that I'm passionate about research, and 2) that I've made the right choice by declining offers and planning to reapply to PhD programs in a few years.
Yaaaay

As an update for the folks who helped me (and for future applicants who may be in my situation): I got a full-time job as a research coordinator in an extremely productive lab at an amazing institution (which I frankly didn't think I had a shot at getting into). I'm honestly more excited about this "acceptance" than the three non-funded PsyD acceptances I had earlier this year, which really solidifies 1) the fact that I'm passionate about research, and 2) that I've made the right choice by declining offers and planning to reapply to PhD programs in a few years.
Yaaaay

As an update for the folks who helped me (and for future applicants who may be in my situation): I got a full-time job as a research coordinator in an extremely productive lab at an amazing institution (which I frankly didn't think I had a shot at getting into). I'm honestly more excited about this "acceptance" than the three non-funded PsyD acceptances I had earlier this year, which really solidifies 1) the fact that I'm passionate about research, and 2) that I've made the right choice by declining offers and planning to reapply to PhD programs in a few years.
Yaaaay

As an update for the folks who helped me (and for future applicants who may be in my situation): I got a full-time job as a research coordinator in an extremely productive lab at an amazing institution (which I frankly didn't think I had a shot at getting into). I'm honestly more excited about this "acceptance" than the three non-funded PsyD acceptances I had earlier this year, which really solidifies 1) the fact that I'm passionate about research, and 2) that I've made the right choice by declining offers and planning to reapply to PhD programs in a few years.
Yaaaay