maester

I'll be attending in the fall! I'll be a part of the specialist program for school psychology. I'm actually from Delaware, but moved out of state for undergrad, so I'm really excited to meet some other grad students!!

Hope you're all doing okay with this! I just received an interview request from Lehigh the other day, so I had a few questions about that process: 1. How long after an interview does it typically take to hear back from a school? 2. I'll need to spend the night with a student, which they offered, and was curious if anyone has had an experience doing that? What was it like and did you feel like it was an important aspect of your trip?

Good luck to everyone waiting on school responses or interviews!! Officially applying to UDel (top choice!), Lehigh, Towson, James Madison, Uni of Rhode Island (PhD), Albany, and one or two with later deadlines that I have on the fence if I get antsy. How are you all dealing with this stress? I've been an anxious wreck the past few days and am having a hard time with the idea of not getting into the schools I want or only getting in somewhere I can't afford. Would love any tips you guys have or that you've been using, haha!

@Necrovex That's awesome and it sounds like a great fit! I'll be rooting for you!! I'm sure your experience with the topic will come in handy on interview day too. @DLS Thank you for the clarification on APA as well - that makes a lot of sense and helps a lot! I'm finally getting letters squared away. I'll still have a strong one from my mentor in the department and have another confirmed one from a professor I know well, but the third never responded to me (which is something that has happened in the past with people who have asked for a LOR from them). Since my soonest deadlines are two-ish weeks away, I asked my supervisor at my job at the library (she has her MS and was in a PhD program, it's just unrelated). I know they can say great things about me and talk about my interpersonal skills and work ethic, but I'm thinking of mentioning it in my statement as well that I know it's unconventional to have a non-academic reference. Does anyone know whether this seems like a generally okay idea? It's not an ideal situation, but I'm hoping to make the best of it!

@transfatfree Thank you so, so much!! I genuinely appreciate this and this is so helpful! I've found a lot of PhD programs that I'm falling in love with and I'll definitely check with some of them, like University of Delaware, to see whether they offer anything like that. I'll also definitely refer to NASP's database! Thank you so much again for this reassurance and the answers! There are a few NASP-approved programs I'm looking at that aren't APA-accredited, so I'm trying to weigh the costs and benefits of that currently. I'm really grateful to be able to come here for support

@DLS Thank you - I feel much, much better!! I've really started to like a lot of the PhD programs I've found up here around the east coast and am very interested in some of the research that I've found!! I've already had one notoriously flaky professor not respond to me in regards to letters, so I'm pulling out an emergency back-up that isn't academic, but should still be a good letter, since some apps are two and a half weeks away. Do you know anything about the importance of APA-accreditation for programs? I've heard a lot that you shouldn't apply to schools without it, even if their DL programs are NASP-approved, but I've started looking at University of Cincinnati and University of Delaware (I was originally applying for an EdS there). Does it only effect the internships that you can get? UD mentions on their page something about students still being able to apply for APPIC internships regardless, though I imagine they're harder to get. @CMG As far as I've been told from my mentor here at Temple, as long as your Q+V total is over 300, you should generally be okay. From the advice I've been given in the department here, I imagine you would be fine with EdS programs that I've seen. My Q is pretty bad too, but I think you should be okay so long as the other two are fantastic like your GPA, especially if you've got a ton of school experience. I don't think it hurts to acknowledge it in the essay, although not necessary, but I'd ask around about that one. I hope everyone is doing okay in this process!! I've been a constant ball of stress and can't wait to have (some) apps in finally! Does everyone have a solid list of schools yet?

I don't mean to be a bother, but I've been set on going to school for my Ed.S. the past few years (I decided that I wanted to do school psych by my sophomore year). I recently had a conversation with my graduate mentor (a school psych Ph.D. student at my school) who put things into a different perspective and has me really thinking about if I should apply for some of these programs. I know that she and the others in my lab believe in me a lot, but I'm nervous about how I look to others in the field that don't know me or whether I'm qualified enough. My GPA is a 3.53 and I am in the Honors program, and my GRE scores were 159V, 148Q, 5.5W. It's a weak Q score, but I was in the 80% percentile for V and 98% for W, so I'm hoping those make up for it. I've been a member of a research lab in my school's school psychology department for the past two years, entering my third, and have been very involved in such, having led large projects and managed teams of current school psychology grad students. I will have my name on one publication and four poster presentations, all in the field of school psychology, at the time of application. Three of those posters have been or will be presented at the NASP annual convention and the other was a presentation I did on my work at my school's undergraduate research symposium. I am currently applying for a research travel grant to actually go to the NASP convention and present with two of the posters I have authorship on, which would be on the application should I receive it. Two of my letters of recommendation will be from school psychology faculty (a third likely from one of my regular psych professors) and one will be glowing, as it's from my lab director who I've worked closely with. I also participate in a social skills program in a kindergarten class and visit a local high school twice a week to work in an ESOL classroom, as well as having run a SAT prep and college readiness class for low-income students. I'm proficient with research-based technologies like Qualtrics and SPSS, have some extracurriculars listed, including a position in a club based around mental health awareness and visibility, and am certified in Mental Health First Aid (though I'm not sure that means much). I also work ~20 hours at an unrelated job to help support myself. Do I have a shot at a Ph.D. position? I think I'm fairly competitive in the Ed.S. sphere and that this is a late time in the game, considering I have some apps due December 1st, to be considering this change, but I'm currently thinking of applying for a mixture of programs. A few other related questions: It's not possible to apply for the Ed.S. and Ph.D. at the same school right? I have a certain school that I really want to get into for multiple reasons, but I'm afraid if I take a chance and apply for the Ph.D. (they only take two or so students a year for this) and don't get in, I'll be stuck in a hard situation. I know funding is better for Ph.D. students, but is it really that bad for Ed.S? I've heard about schools like Lehigh that are better about funding Ed.S., but have had a hard time kind of getting an idea of what to generally expect. Would I take on even more debt for going for a Ph.D. than I would an Ed.S, or would funding balance that out? Sorry, I did post this in the school psychology general thread, but I'm just really nervous! I can't afford to mess up or wait another year to try again. Thank you so much for any help or advice!!

So glad this exists - I've scoured last year's thread multiple times! I've been set on doing Ed.S. for the past couple years, but just today started thinking about potentials of a Ph.D. from the urging of my graduate mentor (a current Ph.D. student in the department). I know that she believes I'm competitive enough, but I'm afraid that I'm not because of how few those programs accept. I've been in a research lab in the school psychology department at my school for two years now, going on my third currently. For the GRE, I had a 159V, 148Q, and 5.5W, but I have a 3.53 GPA and will be graduating in the Honors program. I have my name on a publication under review and four posters, all in school psychology, and three have been or are going to be presented at the NASP annual convention, of which I am also applying for a research travel grant to attend (which would also go on my resume/CV, should I get it). Two of my letters will be from school psychology faculty (and then one likely from one of my regular psych professors) and one will be glowing as it's my lab director who I have worked closely with. Beyond this, I'm also a part of a social skills program in an elementary school, have run an SAT tutoring/mentoring class for low-income high school students, and visit a local school twice a week with another program to provide support in an ESOL classroom. I have a few club positions listed as well and all of this is on top of working to support myself at an unrelated job. I think I'm at least a competitive applicant for Ed.S., but I guess I'm just looking for an unbiased opinion on whether I have a shot at a Ph.D. program or not! I'm sorry to post another one of those "what are my chances," but I'm just really nervous about whether to just apply to Ed.S. programs or to include some Ph.D. ones in there. I can't really afford to wait a year if something doesn't work out, so I'm only a little bit terrified, haha. I'll definitely have tons more questions soon though! I'm so glad that we have a place where we can all support each other during this