Psychologyandpizza

Email from the program director. It looked like a mass cut and paste type email so I’m guessing they have reviewed all applicants and sent out all invites. DM for POI.

School: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Type: Counseling Psychology PhD Date of invite: 12/18 Type of Interview: interview day Interview date(s): 1/22/20

I would highly discourage sharing such a personal statement about what happened, as it may raise red flags about appropriate self disclosure. Again, people go both ways on this but I *personally* would refrain from sharing as much as you did here.

If you can’t reschedule either, do both. Last year I took a red eye with a connecting flight from the west coast to the east coast. Slept a few hours on the plane and flew in my interview outfit. Honestly I wouldn’t do it again but neither school offered an alternate day. ??‍♀️ You’ll be okay. Just drink some coffee and honestly you’ll have enough adrenaline that you’ll be just fine.

It’s reallt based on preference, but entry level for companies in my area typically require a bachelors degree and some level of research experience

Try these words also in different combinations and by themselves as well Assessment evaluation data research analyst analytics project coordinator / project manager (though this one will bring in a lot of unrelated hits) research adminstration

I have a research-focused MS in psychology so we may be in a similar boat in terms of our employment prospects. I would consider looking into state government research positions. Many hire research analysts for program evaluations. Otherwise consider market / human factors research with market research agencies. Organizational development may be a shot in the dark but may be worth exploring. Otherwise you could consider research assistant for medical colleges / hospitals depending on your previous experience. good luck!

I personally would not attend the MSW if you are for sure going to reappply to PhD programs. I personally applied and was accepted to counseling psych PhD programs and though they accept many students with MA counseling degrees, I believe there are some stark differences between social work and counseling and they may view you as someone who they will have to untrain and then retrain in their specific field. This really is only my views on it though. Maybe consult a counseling psychologist or someone in your department that you graduated from. Good luck!

This is the general format I used, and I successfully heard back from every professor that I contacted except for one (whom I successfully with at a conference prior to this and did not need to send this email to). I would change the additional questions I asked based on what was provided online - also, don't send an email if it clearly says online which professors are accepting students. All faculty responded very positively to this email, and I had Skype meetings with several prior to applying. Hello Dr. Professor, My name is Student, and I am currently a second-year Master's student in Program at University. I am emailing because I am interested in applying to the Program at University, and wanted to connect with you prior to applying. My current research interests revolve around A, B, C, which I believe makes me an excellent fit as an applicant to this program, given your interest in X, Y, and Z. Thus, I hoped to inquire as to whether you will be personally accepting students this upcoming application season, to matriculate in Fall YEAR. I also hoped to learn more about your personal mentorship style, as well as the culture and training style(s) of the Program at University. I have attached my current curriculum vitae for your convenience, and greatly look forward to hearing from you. Best, Student

I actually did apply in my last year of my Master's program and was accepted to a program and waitlisted at two more. I chose to decline my acceptance and withdrew myself from consideration for the other two programs. I really felt burned out after completing my Master's (I made my decision in March 2018 to not accept) and am glad that I went this route. I'm currently on the job market. I'm not sure if I'll go back in the future, so I am maintaining contact with my faculty I work with and am continuing to assist in conducting research remotely (consulting on research design and statistical analyses, and manuscript writing). I think if you know it isn't the right decision at the time, that you should honor your intuition and feelings and don't go just because you feel pressured to or feel that it's what you are "supposed" to do.

Why wouldn’t we just all post this on the results page? Just include your PI initials if you want in the notes section. Sometimes these threads feel a bit redundant..but perhaps people would be interested in doing this. Otherwise all the information you’ve posted might be more easily accessible on the results search!

I would say read the abstracts and discussions if you can to see where they may take the research in the future - also pay attention for the methodology as well. Pay attention to the most recent research and look over their lab website if they have one. Try to figure out how the research relates to one another or what the broader themes are. This doesn’t require reading every single article. Honestly though they aren’t going to “quiz” us on their research (but you should be prepared). I’m brushing up on their research, coming up with ways to relate it back to my own interests, and coming up with a lot of questions to ask about them, their lab, and the program.

Hi everyone! I just found out for one of my interviews that during the group sessions, we will have research and “clinical vignettes”. I’m a bit nervous about this because, while the program emphasizes that it looks for applicants who had masters degrees including clinical placements and practicum, I have a masters in research and don’t have that experience. How do I prepare for these, while recognizing that I don’t have the clinical skills required to make the same judgments that many of the other applicants are qualified to make during these group sessions? Any help is appreciated! Thanks!!

I pretty much only work from home this year unless it’s something that I anticipate needing to print a lot for. I’ve adapted to working in short, productive bursts so that I can take a lot of breaks. Home is definitely more amenable to writing than my office is (for me personally).

This is my thoughts on the matter too.

I had a similar response from a school. I committed to another interview date much earlier than I received my invite from them, asked for an alternate date or skype interview (nicely-just don’t feel like typing it all out now) and was told they couldn’t offer me that but that If I cancelled my other interview it should be early enough that the other school wouldn’t be upset. Has anyone else ever had a program suggest they cancel a different interview?? Anyways, I was forced to decline my invite because I’m not comfortable canceling with another school when a) I already rsvp’d and b)the first school was equally as high on my list as the second.

Probably not. I want to open my own private practice with a PhD but if I’m not accepted this time I will probably go for my MA and get licensed as an LPC. Which really sucks because I will receive my MS in a few months in a non clinical field so those combined would be the length of a PhD basically. But I’m not down for trying again and putting my partner through all of the stress as well. Or I’ll get a research job in one of the larger cities near me and start paying down my student loans so that I can get on with my life.

I wouldn't worry about it. You should try to be on your phone as minimally as possible anyways and keep it tucked away in a purse, briefcase, or bag, etc. Somewhere where it is not noticeable. You don't want to appear uninterested, and if a program didn't accept me because of a cracked phone screen (if they happened to see it for some reason) I wouldn't want to be a part of that program anyways.

For those who applied, Arizona State’s Counseling Psychology faculty are meeting tomorrow to determine who will be invited to interviews.

This application season I am really seeing how people have diverging opinions on so many things. It is true - it definitely depends on the faculty and your fit together. On the flip side, at the same time I started working with the new faculty I mentioned, I was also recommended to work with another new faculty that was hired at the same time. Big mistake - she provided no guidance, didn't let her students do hardly anything in the lab, etc, which is probably part of what your faculty warned against. However, I wouldn't count out a faculty simply because they're new - I would definitely email with them and see what they have to say. Also, I'm not sure about this or if it's frowned upon but if they mention that they have a lot of mentoring/advising experience as a graduate student, you could also ask them if you could have contact information for a lower level grad student or undergraduate student that they mentored at their graduate university so that you can get a student's perspective on their mentoring style.

Welp, I received an invitation today - So maybe I will see you there ( I have two other invitations for the same day so I am carefully trying to navigate that situation)!

I know there have been threads on this before, but am too *lazy* to go back and search for a link to them. Anyways, when I was a senior in undergrad, I began working with a new faculty and then continued working with her during my two year master's degree. I do recognize this is different than when you begin your PhD but in my case, I can say it was honestly a blessing working with a new faculty. (a) She was far more motivated than many of the established faculty at my university - there is no way I would have as many outcomes as I do now without having worked with her. We cranked out project after project, and -this might be biased- but they were great projects. We are still working together. (b) They have certain guidelines and marks that they have to meet as a new faculty (whether that be getting a certain number of pubs before tenure, evals of a certain score, etc), and they are also feeling like they need to prove themselves in a sense. (c) They recently were in the same exact place you are and can perhaps offer advice/wisdom that is more pertinent to situations you may face. (d) You may get to play a larger role in establishing what their program of research is going to look like at the institution, which is good news for you as you may be able to intertwine your own interests with theirs even more than with an established faculty. However, sure, there are also drawbacks. They may not have experience mentoring students, may not have as large of a network or reach in the field, overall are not as experienced, etc. If I could pick between a new faculty and an older faculty though, I might be inclined to pick a newer faculty.

No, I completely understand. In my particular instance, I did reveal that I was invited to interview at another school - did not keep that a secret at all. The school that I am attending the interview for emailed me in December before Christmas with the invitation. However, I have heard advice to do the opposite, I really do think it depends on the school and how much you are comfortable providing. Some programs could view that as you not being 'committed' to attending their program and so you might not want to reveal this right away (idk, this is direct advice I received from a mentor of mine in the field - though I chose to reveal my other interview). As with many things, it's situation and person-dependent and either route could be the best option for you!

I won’t be drinking either - I have Invisalign so I can only drink water when I have it in, and don’t plan to have it out other than to eat because it becomes a hassle. I don’t think that anyone would mind (plus I’m not a drinker anyways).

When we attend the same conferences, yes, my advisor attends my presentations. Most of the work is usually something that she is also an author on and so she likely feels an obligation to be there. Often though, she does get benefit out of being there as well (e.g., at my last presentation we were approached by another psychologist to collaborate on projects together). In terms of networking, we do spend a lot of time together at conferences, though not all. She makes an effort to introduce my to colleagues and well-known persons in the field because as she always likes to say "if she has a student who is invested in developing their future career in that area, she wants to do everything she can to help them because she received the same treatment from her advisor in graduate school". So, it depends, but I do think that advisors should be helping, in some sense, to develop their students network and provide support at their presentations (if their able, and if it's not a presentation they've already seen before).