PsyDuck90

Honestly, chances are that your spot went to the next person on the waitlist after you declined the offer. You can reach out, but it is unlikely to come to anything.

Close, PsyD in clinical psychology. I would recommend you figure out what you specifically want to study/do as a career before you spend any money on more education. You can also get research experience without being a current student by searching for research coordinator positions. This way you get paid to do research, which looks just as good (if not better) on PhD applications. Unless your undergrad was in a completely unrelated field or you need to make up for a low GPA, an MA isn't really necessary for PhD admission.

Don't the websites have pages listing the faculty and their research interests? And what do you want to do with your PhD once you get it? What type of job do you hope to have in the future? At the end of the day, a PhD is still a means to an end, with the end being your career aspirations. A PhD in clinical psychology is going to have a different career trajectory than a PhD in Developmental Psychology, for instance.

Which program has faculty doing research you're more interested in? Also, what are your ultimate career goals? Typically, masters in psychology are not terminal degrees.

Your doctoral program will matter more. As far as placements, you can search the forums here with many positive reviews of Wake Forest. And yes, they should have outcome data if you ask for it. As far as if their placements are better than MAPSS, no idea. But in the end, a program that is paying you is far more invested in your success than a program that you are paying a boatload of money for. I can't speak to influence outside of the U.S., as I've only ever lived in the U.S.

Between those 2, go with Wake Forest hands down. They have a good track record of getting students into fully funded PhDs. The main thing I've ever heard about MAPSS is that it's a big cash cow that brings tons of money to the department. A psychology MA is not worth the cost of that tuition.

Cost of living

Personally, I would probably go with B. It's guaranteed funding versus potential funding. However, is the tuition the same between the two? That's going to also make a big difference. If school B is $10k but the tuition is $50k per year, while A is potential $15k and tuition is $30k a year, then A would still be the better financial decision, regardless of funding.

You could reach out. It won't hurt anything. However, not all programs send out immediate rejections, even if someone isn't on an official waitlist. Some wait and just send all rejections around this time.

Just FYI, the poster you are asking posted that a year ago. This thread is for last year's cycle.

I know several people who graduated from there who do fabulous work on an institutional level as well as in a clinical capacity. That said, I know just as many who do similar work with an MSW from Rutgers for a fraction of the cost. MSWs really don't make a ton of money, and I'm personally not convinced that school recognition warrants a loan balance that is not commensurate with expected earnings. While people don't typically get into the field to make money, one should still expect to be able to live with some means of financial security post-grad.

Typically programs only allow deferrals for serious issues, like a health concern or something. In this case, if you are intent on taking a year, I would decline the offer and let the spot go to someone who is ready to start this year, hoping that you can get accepted again the following year.

They may have just had the information incorrect? My program went through this process, and my advisor had a large role in preparing and submitting all of the documentation for initial on contingency accreditation and full accreditation, so I got to see some of the information and process (it's a lot lol), so it may just be something they misunderstood. There was a lot to know.

That is not correct. If they are accredited when you graduate, then you graduate from an accredited institution. If you they are not accredited at the time you are graduating, then you are not graduating from an accredited institution. The status when you enter doesn't matter. It's the status when you finish.

I don't know anything about the specific program. However, accredited on contingency is the status given to new programs who meet all APA accreditation requirements aside from outcome data. In order for a program to be fully accredited, there needs to be a graduating class so that the university can provide those outcome statistics. On contingency status is a relatively new status APA created to allow new programs accreditation prior to graduating their 1st class (since the vast majority of accredited internships require the student come from an accredited program). The programs have to submit