clinical_chicana

Clinical Psych turn up!

After a change of plans I will be now be heading to Marquette University of Clinical Psych!

I'm also attending in the Fall for Clinical Psych PhD!

I also did this - I only heard back from one faculty who I actually interviewed with.  I will say it wasn't super helpful for me in terms of pinpointing specific areas to improve (I got a "you seemed really qualified, this was just not a good year for you," which was really frustrating).  However, she did emphasize networking before applying, and making sure to email all the faculty you want to work with to hear about 1)what their current research is, and 2)what they are looking for in a student.    
If you're struggling for what to say in the email, here's basically what I said: 
Dear Dr. XXXX,    I want to first thank you for reviewing my application for the XXXXX program for this admission cycle.  I enjoyed getting to meet you and the students in your lab on interview day (change this sentence if you did not interview, obviously).  Unfortunately, I had an unsuccessful admissions cycle this year . If at all possible, would you be willing to provide any feedback on my application?  Were there areas of weakness in my application (e.g. research experience, personal statement, or my letters of recommendation)? I would appreciate any feedback on how I might be able to improve myself as a candidate for the next submission cycle.    Thank you for your time, 

I did think about this too. At one school I was more of a priority waitlist and at two others I was towards the middle of the list. It does sting the pride a bit not being the top choice but a good offer is a good offer at the end of the day.

how do people feel about accepting a waitlist offer? I decided not to accept an offer from a school because I felt like since I was not the first choice, I wasn't truly wanted in the program. 

You can do a lot with a gap year! I definitely recommend working as much as you can on research. If you can continue to do that, then your full time job isn't as important. Just make sure to clarify in your interviews or applications that you had limited options for jobs since you had no transportation. Programs will understand how survival jobs are sometimes necessary and the only option.
The biggest thing I could suggest is to make sure you have experience working with the populations you hope to study in grad school! If you are planning on working primarily with kids, find a volunteer position that allows you to do that. This is especially important if your research experience isn't directly related to what you want to do in grad school. You want your application to show that you have strong research experience but also a good understanding of the populations you want to work with. 
During my gap year, I had a really hard time finding a full-time research job. I started applying to jobs in March and didn't start a position until December. In the meantime, I worked odd jobs, got a volunteer position in a research lab and worked on a manuscript there. I also had two volunteer positions working with the populations I wanted to study. These positions could be just as a hotline worker or a volunteer at an after school program. The most important thing is to have experience interacting with people. 
Also, GRE scores are important. Take a lot of time to study and prepare and make sure you do well on both tests. If you're having trouble boosting your GRE scores (like I did), really focus on getting that good research and volunteer experience. If you can show that your research interests permeate other parts of your life, it will prove how committed and passionate you are about your area of study! 
Best of luck! 

Hi! I think it depends on the program. Is there an option to say you are bringing a guest when you register for the event? If yes, then definitely feel free to bring with you parents! I think programs understand that a lot of parents are invested in their kids' education and they want to learn about/see the university for themselves. If it doesn't give you an option, maybe ask the person who is coordinating the event. 
 

I literally just made an account moments ago just to tell you that this would be incredibly weird. Do not bring your mother. Nobody else will have parents (or friends) there. You are an adult and this will make you seem like an immature child. I don't know of any program/circumstance in which it would be normal to bring a parent.

I will officially be going to the University of Pittsburgh for Clinical Psych! V excited 

UWM for Clinical Psych! Glad to see future Milwaukeeans on this thread 

I'll also be attending Marquette University's Clinical Psych PhD program!! Congrats!

Thought I would start a thread so people can say where they decided to attend and maybe connect with other people going to the same program!
 
I will be attending Marquette University for Clinical Psychology!

I would also like to add a bit about what I learned. First of all, SAVE UP SOME MONEY. This process is expensive.
Anyway, I am a weird applicant. I majored in neuroscience and all of my research experience is in basic neuroscience (although I have a lot of clinical experience as well). I applied to clinical psychology Ph.D. programs, really not knowing what to expect since I lacked pure psychology experience. I sent out initial emails to confirm my POIs were accepting students (which like was said, is SO important to do - don't waste $50+ applying to work with someone who isn't taking students that cycle). I will say, I think I personally read too much into how enthusiastic POIs were about me as an applicant based on their responses to that initial email. Once interviews rolled around, I found myself surprised by who actually interviewed me and who didn't because it was not always the people I expected. 
I think my personal statement is what got me into graduate school though. I was able to tell the story of my weird journey from another field to clinical psychology, how my interests developed, and why my tangentially-related background actually makes me a great (and unique!) fit for the programs/labs I applied to work in. You're going to hear this a billion times but it's so true: it's ALL about fit. You won't get into a lab if it isn't clear how your interest in that lab developed from your experience. Oh, and yes, you definitely need research experience if you want to apply to a Ph.D. program. For research-oriented clinical Ph.D. programs, I would say most applicants that I met on interviews had 2 or more years of dedicated research in labs.
And interviews, like everyone always says, are ALL about your questions. At one program I interviewed at, I did not get asked a single question. They had already phone interviewed me before I got there, so I guess that was enough for them. Have questions on questions on questions ready for your POI, other faculty members, and other students. And keep an open mind when visiting programs. I ended up not liking a program I thought I would love, and loving a program I thought I wouldn't be super into. 
I think GradCafe has been an awesome part of the process for me, though. This is just such a confusing and stressful process, and it's nice to have a bunch of confused and stressed out people virtually commiserating with you.  Best of luck to everyone moving forward! 

Thought I would start a thread so people can say where they decided to attend and maybe connect with other people going to the same program!
 
I will be attending Marquette University for Clinical Psychology!

That’s so true! I didn’t even think of that option. Sometimes I just need to be checked lol Thank you!

I made a thread for people to talk about the programs they decided attend! 

I'm going to UMSL for Clinical Psychology!  Anyone else out there going to UMSL?

Ohio State for Clinical Psych

Fordham for Clinical Psych

hey folks - how did you word your email rejecting other offers of acceptance? Would highly appreciate the help! Feel like Im writing a novel for something that can otherwise be said succinctly and respectfully

I made a thread for people to talk about programs they were accepted to and will be attending! 
 
 

I made a thread for people to talk about programs they were accepted to and will be attending! 
 
 

I've received 3...THREE...rejection emails from the same school in a 2 1/2 week period. Like, I get it. I'm rejected. Please no more emails. 

No one will be offended that you didn't take their admissions offer (as long as you're not a jerk about it, of course!). So you shouldn't have to worry about losing out on future collaborations because you said no to them this time.
However, I am not sure if it's the best idea to instantly start research with the prof at the school you're not attending. Grad students are generally expected to be more focussed on their work and it might not be feasible to make good progress on your actual PhD program coursework and research work while also making progress on an outside project. 
In addition, if the prof at the other school is looking for students, if you turn down the offer/project, they might prefer to have one of their actual students take the lead on that project instead of you since you would be a student elsewhere already. They might want to have someone full time on it, plus there are other reasons to want to have your own students instead of just using someone else's. And similarly, your own advisor/dept at your grad program might not be happy that you are working on a side project with a professor elsewhere at this stage.
Personally, I found that starting a new PhD program is a demanding enough time and the period up to the quals exam is quite intense. I am glad I waited until later on in my PhD to start external collaborations and side projects. I found it better for me to be able to fully focus on doing well in my grad program and PhD project first instead of splitting my time and energy across multiple projects. But you're a different person than me of course. Just letting you know my own experience so you can decide what's best.
That said, if you were thinking of including this other prof on as a collaborator to the project you would work on at your actual grad school, then it might be possible earlier on (although I'd wait until I have talked to my advisor at my grad school and wait until a semester or two has passed before bringing it up). However, you said that these two profs did very different stuff so I didn't think this was the case.
But going back to your title, I read "future collaboration" as in 4+ years from now, not instantly! You can definitely still work with this person in the future. If they are the type of person that would never want to speak to you just because you took another offer then it's probably not a person you want to work with anyways. Don't make any plans now but keep them in mind for the future. When the time is right for you to start thinking of new avenues of research, then contact them again. You don't even have to refer to your past discussions as a prospective grad student, because in 3-4 years, you'd develop much more as a researcher and it won't really matter that you had applied to their program in the past (i.e. if you find another prof somewhere that you would want to work with but you didn't apply to them in the past, you can still reach out). Talk to your advisor at this point for tips and advice. In my field, near the end of the PhD, the student is expected to start thinking and planning for post-PhD work, which often includes reaching out to other profs and starting new research ideas.
Also keep in mind that while most people do choose to stay in the same area of research as their PhD initially, this is mostly because they want/need to be productive right off the bat as a postdoc. But during this time, people will often start shifting focus too and it's a good time to be going into other research directions that you were interested in before (and maybe you'll find other things to be interested in while a grad student). So it's not like whatever you choose for your PhD closes all doors forever and you must only work on this one single topic. As researchers age, they often expand their projects further and further. For many tenured profs, their PhD dissertations are nothing like what they are doing now.