PsycUndergrad

Not a current student there, but was accepted (went elsewhere). The faculty member who accepted me didn’t care much about funding applications and didn’t mention it until I had already been accepted. I got the impression that it’s less important than at some other schools because the university already provides good funding (~25k) to all students. But someone actually in the program may have more insight.

I agree with all the previous posters. And try to have fun! Of course be professional and appropriate, but don’t be afraid to show your personality. PIs and grad students are looking for someone they want to spend the next 5+ years with, and personality fit can go a long way. I strongly believe that my acceptances were due to connecting well with PIs because I was not the strongest applicant on paper.

You could apply to OGS for Ontario schools and save CGS-M for non-Ontario schools? Unless you only apply within Ontario. Its crazy that they only let you list 3 schools (was 5 until last year). As schools get used to this change, I would expect that the importance of applying for funding will decrease since most people apply to more than 3 schools.

Same here. The faculty is the intermediate level between institution and department.

What research experience do you have? PhD programs are super competitive (under 10% acceptance rate) and most successful applicants have 2+ years of research experience with conference presentations and/or publications. If you don’t have solid research experience, I would focus on building up that area of your application before spending time and money on the application process.

It will be important to find a mentor who is willing to help you. Whether that’s your current PI, your former professor, or the PI of a new lab. At this stage in your career, it would be really unusual and not advisable to publish or present without direct supervision, and it’s unlikely you would get anything accepted (not a jab at you, all students need help with this). Also, be proactive in seeking out opportunities. Maybe not right away after joining a lab, but eventually you should ask if you can take on more advanced roles or use lab data to prepare an abstract, etc. Many labs are happy to have students do independent research but they won’t necessarily go out of their way to offer it.

Apply!! Many incoming grad students get the award. You can write about whatever you want because there’s no expectation you’ll actually complete the project. Most importantly, it makes you look much more attractive to programs since there’s a chance that you’ll be bringing your own funding and saving them money. It’s a good way to show your top choice programs that you’re a serious applicant. I’ve also seen situations in which the CGS-M was the deciding factor on who to admit, so it’s always good to do everything possible to improve your application.

If you are in a CPA-accredited program, you might be better off staying where you are. Like the first poster said, there is a reciprocity agreement between the APA and CPA and you can apply to the US for internship and subsequent licensure. It would almost definitely take longer to go through the application process again, get accepted (which is obviously not a guarantee) and start over again.

What kind of research experience do you have? Most successful applicants will have 2+ years of solid experience (I.e., not just data entry or data collection) with some poster presentations. Publications are even better. Honestly, most people don’t go to grad school straight from undergrad and instead work in full-time research positions for a year or two to bulk up their CV. Clubs, clinical experience, etc. don’t matter much (if at all) for grad applications. I would recommend focusing on getting as much high quality research experience as possible, refining your research interests (fit with advisor is key!), and studying for the GRE. I’m a 3rd year clinical PhD student, for reference.

I wouldn’t place so much importance on whether this grad student will be available to help or not. It’s great that you have a mentor, but I don’t think you should base your decisions on it. Even if you decide to wait to apply, you can still get advice now or ask other people to comment on your application. I took a gap year because I needed more experience and to solidify my research interests. I’m glad I did, and honestly wished I had taken more time off when the business of grad school began. I don’t think it would hurt to apply next year as long as you personally feel ready, and are okay with potentially not getting into as strong of a program/needing to reapply.

I’m a clinical psychology student in Canada, but the application processes are pretty much the same. There are a few considerations for applying as an international student. First, it sounds like your masters was more of a research-based degree. Counselling PhD programs are looking for applicants who have completed the prerequisite clinical coursework and practicum placements. You seem to have some good clinical work experience, but it likely won’t count since it isn’t part of a graduate program. You might have to complete a second MA in counselling psychology before being eligible for Canadian PhD programs. If this is an issue, you might consider the US since I don’t think a masters is required before the PhD. Also, counselling psych programs in Canada don’t have great funding to begin with, and you won’t be eligible for many scholarships as an international student. This is on top of tuition rates that are much higher than for domestic students. I would look into the costs and opportunities for international students at your programs on interests. I can’t speak personally speak to the research requirements, but it probably depends on the school. It’s good that you have managed to get some experience despite the challenges. Is it possible to work with someone from your MSc university to publish your masters thesis?

If you are a Quebec resident (have RAMQ card) then you can apply. If you’re a legal resident of another province then you aren’t eligible because you aren’t attending a Quebec school.

SSHRC and CGS-M are the same thing. You apply for a CGS-M funded by SSHRC so it’s just one application. There might be provincial scholarships too depending one where you apply. Like OGS for Ontario schools.

I’m not sure what you mean by also applying to NSERC, CIHR or SSHRC. They aren’t separate, CGS-M is administered by the tri-council agencies. You choose the one most applicable to your research and apply for the CGS-M through that agency. The deadline is usually around December 1 but might not be that exact day. Detailed instructions are available on the NSERC website (same instructions apply for SSHRC and CIHR).

When I applied to Canada programs, I had a section at the end of my CV for relevant work/volunteer experience. I didn’t mention it much in my interviews or statements, I just used it as support for why I want to work with a particular population. Another piece of advice- be careful when deciding to apply to MA vs. PhD programs. It’s not so relevant for school psych, but a lot of clinical programs will only accept MA level applicants, even if they technically accept PhD applications. Ive heard of people really hurting their chances by applying to PhD instead of MA. Also, when I applied a couple of years ago, Ryerson did not accept MA students with a previous masters in psychology, so I would check into this unless your degree is in another field.

I had a brand new professor as my undergrad mentor. It was a really valuable experience for me because I helped to set up the lab and got to see a different side of the research process. My advisor was also super motivated to publish and there were lots of opportunities available. That being said, it was harder in some ways than joining a more established lab. It can take a while to get grants, so there might not be much funding available for research materials, conferences, to supplement TAships, etc. There was also a lot of pressure to succeed, and it often felt like we couldn’t make mistakes because it would hurt her career (vs. a tenured prof).

Looks like SSHRC posted the award recipients online. I’d guess most of the waitlist movement is done now since they don’t usually post the list until everything is more or less finalized. Fingers crossed for next year!

How do you know you want to do clinical psychology if you haven’t done psych research or even taken a psychology class? That’s something to think about when you apply. You’re going to need a strong argument to convince PIs that you’re committed to and understand the field. If you can relate your research to psychology somehow, this might be easier. It won’t hurt to apply if you can afford it, but my first inclination is to wait. You’ll be competing against hundreds of people with perfect GPAs and years of psychology experience. If you take a few more psych classes (especially research methods and stats) and get relevant research experience before applying, you’ll be a lot more likely to get into a good program.

Just wanted to second this! Montreal is probably one of the best places in the world to study bilingualism because it’s so integrated into everyday life and most children grow up bilingual (or multilingual, in many cases).

My understanding is that it’s not nearly as common in the US. The CGS-M is not tenable in the US, but the tri-council Doctoral Fellowships (only the $20k ones, I think, but I could be wrong) can be held outside Canada. Applying for the doctoral competition would likely be an impressive addition to your application, even if it isn’t expected.

Don’t worry about it. They won’t see the email and probably didn’t even notice the typos. I’ve made multiple typos in actual scholarship applications and still got funding.

Yeah, unless it’s specified that you need to take the psychology GRE, it probably isn’t worth it. I only took it because one of my programs required it.

Wow, that’s a crazy score, probably the highest I’ve ever seen. Congrats!!

I used the Princeton Review book and it helped me score in the high 90th percentile. It’s actually much shorter and probably less comprehensive than the Kaplan book, but I found it to include all the necessary information without going into excessive detail. A lot of the information from the book showed up on the test, especially the names of famous psychologists. It also had helpful tips about taking the test since it’s scored strangely (e.g. leaving an answer blank is better than answering incorrectly, etc). I spent about a week memorizing the book content and taking the included practice tests multiple times. There’s also a practice test online from ETS that is almost identical to the real test.

Definitely retake if you can. I’m not sure how you studied last time, but I recommend learning how the test works and taking as many practice tests as you can find. Chances are you already know most of the material, but the test can require really specific response strategies to do well.