PsyDuck90

I'm curious about how you know that you want to be a clinician if you have no psych background. I don't ask this in any malice. I just know people commonly have misconceptions about the day to day life of a professional therapist (most of my clients don't even know what to expect when first engaging in therapy). Also, I generally try to dissuade people from pursuing any sort of clinical degree online. While certain fields lend themselves well to online learning, psychology/counseling isn't really one of those. These programs require clinical placements, and it can be difficult to get clinical placements if you have to find them on your own (if you are online, the likelihood the program has connections in your area is lowered). Also, many of the skills you learn in your courses are really about human communication. I understand the draw to online learning, but you don't want a surgeon who did his/her med degree online, do you? There is quite a bit of "hands on" learning that takes place in graduate counseling/psychology education which is difficult to achieve in an online format. I say this as someone in a clinical psych doctorate program who is currently online due to COVID-19. I see a significant difference between our classes at the beginning of the semester and our classes now via Zoom.

I think it would be "other undergraduate" because you are taking undergraduate courses. That is really the only option that makes sense out of all those.

Keep it. Totally valid, and research grants are always a good thing. Money begets money, so if they see that you've been awarded money before, they will be more inclined to give you more in the future.

My university is in the epicenter, and there has been no mention of canceling the fall semester. Things may be online going into the fall as they are now, but the likelihood of straight up canceling/postponing I think is slim.

I would be pretty surprised if any universities did this. My program is in the US epicenter of all this and we are potentially going to still be online in the fall, but no word has been officially announced. I don't believe there has been any consideration to just canceling the fall semester as a whole. They will start making these decisions when they have all the facts. While classes can be conducted online, in-person is definitely the preferred method. Universities are going to want to cover all their bases and not make any firm decisions until they are absolutely certain this is the best course of action. Doubling back is never a good look, so they would rather wait a bit and have more information. The COVID-19 situation is changing so rapidly and states are figuring out what works best for themselves and the surrounding areas. The hardest hit states are just now thinking about a plan for re-opening and as far as I've seen, nothing has officially been announced by the Northeast 6 state council, which includes NY. Other areas that haven't been hit as hard may have different plans and timelines as well. I understand it's frustrating, but states don't want to open back up too early only to have an influx of cases, and they certainly don't want to keep things shut down longer than necessary.

Without knowing much about either program, I'd choose Roosevelt over Chicago School. Professional schools have the reputation of being diploma mills and the Argosy closure last year didn't help that sentiment.

Often times, people will take on paid research assistant positions as jobs, and these are two year commitments. I'm assuming that is where you've heard that number. There isn't really a magic number for years of research. More so, what you've done in that time counts. Having products such as posters presented at conferences and publications in journals are fantastic to have and show you had a large hand in the research project. For GRE, look at the average GRE for the schools you are applying to. Every APA-accreddited program is required to publish outcome data, and this often includes average GPA and GRE for the incoming class over the last few years. You want your stats to be close to that. The number of schools is up to you, but 8-10 is around the average I believe. Clinical psychology PhDs are competitive, regardless of ivy league status (rankings for undergrad don't really mean the same thing for grad programs, although the ivy league schools do still draw a lot of big name researchers to them). Two things to consider are research fit and geographic flexibility. Research fit is crucial when applying to programs, as you often apply to work directly with specific faculty. Geographic flexibility can also be helpful. Schools often get many applicants (well over 100 at the minimum) and usually admit approximately 5 people. Schools in desirable locations like NYC, California, Boston, etc. tend to get even more just because people are applying to live in that location. Check out the Psychology forum on here. There are tons of threads on applying that may be helpful for you, including a recent one about what people learned in applying this past season.

Search committees are made up of people in the field, so it's highly likely that they are aware of its reputation. Also, the stats seem to support that if they place alumni quicker. Research fit is important in a PhD. It sounds like you put a lot of thought into your decision prior to making it, but are getting last minute nerves. Trust in yourself and the decisions you've made. Northwestern is also a great school.

Yeah, grading can take up a lot of time. Since this isn't a one time opportunity, it sounds like holding off until later would be the better choice since comps are a big milestone.

If you haven't taught before, I would say to hold off. Do they offer it regularly? If there are 75 students, it sounds like it's a pretty popular class. Prepping a class, grading, answering emails, etc. takes a lot more time than you may think and that is a big class.

I'm so sorry for your loss. I can only imagine how this must feel. As a resident of the area that has been hit the hardest/second hardest, I don't think there is anything to worry about for Fall. There have been many measures put in place and the governors of the general area are working hard to see about what makes sense for re-opening. I don't believe they will re-open things if it is unsafe to do so. That being said, there may be the possibility of you having to start the fall semester online. This isn't ideal, but I know we've been making it work in my program. It won't be like this forever. Rutgers actually just developed a rapid saliva based test and it is being piloted around New Jersey and will extend outward, I'm sure. Less invasive and faster testing will help get a better handle on this thing.

I think that would really depend on the individual program. I came into my doctorate with an MA, and in order for any classes to be considered, I had to submit syllabi to show equivalency for specific courses and only a certain number of credits could be transferred.

I'm confused by the statement "difficult to find a tutor to do practicum hours from where I live." Typically, practicum hours are done in a clinical or school setting doing therapeutic interventions or testing under the supervision of a licensed professional in your field. When you say you have a few decades of psychology experience, do you mean that you're already licensed at the master's level or something? Online doctorates are not really the norm, so you will be hard-pressed to find a doctorate in any type of psychology from a reputable school that you can do entirely online, especially if you want it to lead to some sort of licensure.

Oh wow, that has not been my experience at all. We are also using Zoom, but faculty have expressed that turning the camera on is our choice entirely. They have also been recording the lecture in the event that someone was not able to log on so the still got the lecture. They have definitely been very understanding during this time. We had an exam recently, and we were on Zoom during it, but only because the professor wanted us to be able to ask him questions we may have had. All of us had our camera and mic off during the exam and then turned them on after submitting the exam and going over a few more things. I suppose it really depends on the faculty. I know our department chair has also stressed flexibility, as many of our undergrads come from underserved communities (we're a state school).

It'll probably be worse. When recessions happen and people lose their jobs, there is often a trend of increased grad school applications. Essentially, people think, if I can't find a job with the credentials I have, let me try to get some better credentials.

If you intend to work as a licensed clinician in the US, you will likely run into many issues in trying to show equivalency for licensure requirements. While the US and Canada have a reciprocal training agreement, that does not exist for the UK. Check out the FAQ from APA: https://www.apa.org/support/us

I'm in a funded PsyD. Honestly, if you aren't interested in doing assessments at any point, I would do the MSW. You will be able to practice sooner and incur less debt (or spend less of your parents cash). MSWs can work in private practice, hospitals, etc. so there won't be too many opportunities you'd be barred from.

If the programs abide by the rules of the Council of Graduate Schools, you would only be able to rescind your acceptance at School A if they provide a written release of your offer to allow you to accept school B. Otherwise, you are bound to that acceptance after April 15th. https://cgsnet.org/april-15-resolution

Rutgers actually has a much better reputation than PGSP. They bank on the Stanford name to get people to pay the ridiculous tuition. While it does provide good training, it is not superior to Rutgers. Rutgers and Baylor are often considered the top PsyD programs in the country. Also, cost of living in the PGSP area is insanely expensive. Clinical psychologists really don't make enough to justify 6-figure loan debts.

I am a current student at a funded, research focused, university-based PsyD program, and I second everything that Itzik and Clinapp2017 have said. My experience has been similar to Clinapp2017 in that I did an externship in a research clinic within a VAMC and there were several postdoctoral fellows and staff psychologists within the clinic who had their PsyD. Definitely hear out what Clinapp2017 is saying about the debt. I absolutely would not attend an unfunded PsyD because that debt will be an albatross around your neck for the rest of your life. You can always just do more research work for the coming year, try to get a conference poster or pub and try again the following year if this program is unfunded. Feel free to PM me as well if you have any other questions.

This is actually not just UMD. Many schools have offered this option, including Columbia University. I think faculty probably won't think twice about it since a good chunk of schools are providing this as an option.

Which one is cheaper? They're both pretty psychodynamic and have about the same reputation. If all else is equal, is either giving you any sort of scholarship?

You can always move after if you really want. It is usually best to go with the program that you feel is a better fit for you, with sometimes considering cost of living, etc. Also, the logistics of moving on a student's stipend are not fun, and the support network of family and friends that you have built up may actually be helpful in navigating and coping with the stressors of academia. What is sometimes frowned upon is going to the same institution for grad school that you went to for undergrad, as it can signal that you weren't competitive enough to get accepted where you aren't well known and that you are limited in the different academic experiences if you keep working with the same mentor from undergrad through grad.

Decisions aren't solely those of the PI. I know that in my program, even though it's a mentorship model, the program needs to vote and then the graduate dean needs to approve before the offers can come through. There are a lot of moving parts outside of the faculty member's control you have to remember. Add on universities shutting down due to COVID-19, and I'm not surprised there are delays.

This may be a difference due to fields, but in my field, you don't ask people to be on your dissertation committee until you have passed comps and have pretty much outlined a whole dissertation project with your mentor (who is also your chair). Only then do you choose committee members who can add certain expertise related to your project. We start developing relationships with multiple faculty and think about who may be a good fit earlier on, but the actual approaching of faculty is done in the 3rd year.