psychpride9

Does anyone have a reliable list that ranks/displays the top counseling psych programs? I know rankings are pretty subjective and not always helpful, but I'm trying to get a sense of which programs are the best in the United States in terms of quality of research and clinical work/supervision. Any guidance would be much appreciated.

Thank you, this is very helpful!

Reviving this thread to see if anyone applied for this cycle (or if there are any applicants from past cycles who would like to share their wisdom)? Mostly worried that my proposal will be dinged for being "too clinical," even though I didn't mention anything related to psychopathology.

Slightly off topic, but are people bringing their laptops to interview? I feel like it'd be really nice to just have your clothes and necessary papers with you, so I'm curious if people think carrying a laptop around would be necessary.

When are you all buying your plane tickets for travel? I have an interview 1/27 but the program hasn't sent specific details about timing (e.g., when we should arrive there, how late we should stay). I'm thinking of emailing them around Tuesday of next week to ask for details (because I feel like it's not unreasonable to want to get the ticket ~2 weeks ahead of time)? Or am I jumping the gun?

Does anyone know if there's any circumstance that might prevent someone from being able to accept the award if they receive it? Excluding that they're not going to grad school after all, once someone earns the award, is it pretty much guaranteed that they'll be able to accept it? I'm slightly concerned that my intended graduate program might be perceived as too "counseling" focused, but if they grant me the award, then that's that? (I'm aware there's an extremely low chance of me getting the award, but just in case).

As someone who's thinking of applying in a couple of years, what motivated you all to apply? I know it's extremely competitive, but it seems that their criteria don't have any stringent cut-offs - what made you feel prepared to take it on this year?

What % of applicants from the total pool do ya'll think get preliminary phone/Skype interviews? And roughly how many of those do you think get the in-person invite? Curious if this varies by program too.

Interesting, thanks for the feedback! I do wonder how much the availability heuristic plays a part, as I know that the majority of clinical psych grads don't end up going into academia - and with the program I'm interested in, they have a sizable amount of grads getting academic jobs. While it makes sense that more clinical grads are getting academic positions in clinical PhD programs, I wonder if a general psych department would have a preference between a clinical or a counseling psych PhD, if all else is the same (e.g., rigor of research background/experience, teaching ability, etc.)

Hi all! So this application season, I actually applied to primarily clinical programs, but one of the counseling programs I applied to has quickly risen to the top of my list (after just a phone interview with my potential PI). I wanted to ask: what draws you to the field of counseling psychology? The more research I do, the more appealing it seems to me, especially the emphasis on diversity. If your program gives you the opportunity to do some clinical work with more severe populations + the opportunity to conduct a lot of research, is there any drawback to getting a counseling psych Ph.D. compared to a clinical Ph.D.? Would love to hear opinions on this.

So if others received an invite for an interview from the DCT but we didn't, is it safe to assume that we're off the list (specifically referring to Temple U)?

To the poster who got a phone call from UMich at Ann Arbor - could you please post or message me your POI? Thanks and no worries if not!

Anyone know the timeline that takes place in between us submitting our apps and us hearing back? Even though it doesn't really make a difference, I wonder if they're already reading our apps, or if that won't take place until next year.

I wonder if the young age can be offset by strength of GPA/GRE/research experience. Especially if a younger applicant (e.g. 22-23) has papers under review, multiple conference presentations, etc. Hopefully their application wouldn't automatically be rejected based on age, though I'd be curious to hear if this is the case at any program.

How old is everyone here/how many years have you been out of undergrad? Hope everyone is coping with the waiting game well!

Any self-care strategies you all have found helpful as we await interview/rejection notifications? One of my friends at my school got an interview, and while I am super happy for them, it also slightly elevated my nervousness (I didn't apply to the school they got a notification from, so it doesn't reflect on me, but social comparison is hard to shake.)

How is everyone feeling about potentially getting interviews? It's kinda nerve-wrecking to think that so much of this process is dependent on the level of quality of our specific cohort, which is really out of our control.