PsyDuck90

You can send a digital thank you card if you would like, but a thank you email is usually sufficient as well.

Is the degree relevant to your career goals in the military? If yes, sure. If no, then I wouldn't. The purpose of the SOP is to explain why you want this degree/why you want to attend that program, what you offer the program, and what your future goals are and how this degree will help you achieve those goals.

I would strongly advise against any of these. The fact that you want to do private practice means it is even more important that you get good training, since there will be 0 oversight in your clinical practice. Graduate training in therapy, in terms of importance, is about 5% reading, 75% doing, and 20% class discussions, so an asynchronous online course will not really teach you much. The most I have learned in my courses is in the students and faculty discussing different cases and how we could have approached things differently and what we think we did well, etc. Also, going to an online program means it will be far more difficult for you to get clinical placements since the school will not have pre-established partnerships with sites in your area. You can not learn how to effectively do therapy behind a computer and graduate school is not at all like undergrad. If it, that's a problem. If you want to be a good clinician, I would strongly advise against online study. If you truly don't care, I'd go with whichever one is cheapest because you want to minimize your debt-load. But honestly, poor training can result in harm to clients, not for any malice, but because people don't know what they don't know.

As the previous poster said, PsyD programs typically have less funding than PhD programs. However, several programs that are housed within traditional universities such as Rutgers and Baylor provide some form of funding. Is there a reason you are strictly looking at PsyDs and not PhD programs as well? The notion that PsyDs are for clinicians and PhDs are for researchers is a misconception and reputable PsyD programs require about the same amount of research as balanced PhD programs. When looking at programs, advisor fit is definitely one of the biggest factors. Other things to look at are funding, practicum opportunities (is there access to populations or settings you may be interested in), and program resources (in-house clinic, testing materials, etc.). You also want to look at APA-accreddited internship match rates and EPPP pass rates (lower numbers are a sign of poor outcomes, which is a red flag). Also, you'd want to get a feel for the program culture, but that is something more evident during interview days/weekends.

I think it would make sense to list several so that they can see you have at least some interest in working with a few people in that first year.

.....so it's alright for them to pursue graduate studies in a far away place but not for you? I'm only basing this off of what you wrote. You have to think of what is most important to you and what you wish for in your future. Unfortunately, that isn't really something people on here can tell you. If you don't think your SO's school provides a good fit for you, I wouldn't apply. PhD programs are usually very reliant on fit, so if there isn't a fit, you are most likely just wasting money on application fees.

I have never actually seen anyone list a change in major in a CV. Many people start college undecided and then declare a major later. I would just list your time at that university as 2015-2020 and leave it at that. My CV doesn't even list the start year for any degrees, just the graduated month and year.

That's really not that bad. Also, APA-accreddited programs are required to report outcome data. You should be able to find admissions data that shows how many applications the program gets, how many they admitted, and averge GRE scores and GPA for the incoming cohort for each of the last few years.

If you don't believe your scores are competitive, I don't think you should submit them.

Only do the required amount. Most applications from what I can recall will only have slots for 3 recommenders. Having a gap shouldn't make much of a difference. Go with the 3 strongest letters.

I think whether you put work or research first depends on relevance. If your work experience is more relevant, then put that first.

Ugh, and this is why everyone needs to vote!

You may get more people to answer your question at the StudentDoctorNetwork's Psychology forum. Grad Cafe has mostly applicants with some current students. SDN has a lot of students, especially those applying for or on internship/postdoc and psychologists, many of whom work at VAs.

A PhD in clinical psychology is not something that can be done part time, and PhD training in psychology is not really something that can be done entirely online, especially for neuropsych. While testing administration has somewhat moved online due to COVID, there are very few assessments that have validity data for online administration. You will not find a reputable, APA-accredited program that will allow you to do part time and/or online that will actually set you up for a neuropsych internship. Neuropsych is one of the most competitive subfields of clinical psychology, so even if you find a program, you will be starting with way more barriers than someone in a traditional university. Also, most clinical psychology PhD programs provide full funding and a stipend.

I think programs assume you will be using standard formatting when submitting your writing sample, and I would instead focus on maybe using only a portion of your thesis if you cannot whittle the whole thing down enough.

It depends on the school. Some, like Rutgers, expressly state that you have to choose 1 on their website.

Who was the 3rd writer last time? And honestly, that happens more often than you would think.

I agree with @justacigar. I think it's a bit of a stretch to have the person you nanny for write a LOR. Is there anyone else who can possible write you a good letter?

Research skills are transferable. Even though it may not be exactly what you want to do, are the research methods and tasks things that are used in your particular field of interest? Most of the time, it is pretty easy to draw a path between the research you have done to the research you want to do, even if it is in the form of skills such as knowing R or having hands-on experience with grant submission and the like. It sounds like the RA position will most likely be the better option.

I wouldn't recommend an online-only degree for this field. Clinical skills are very hard to learn in an online environment, and you will also have a harder time finding clinical placements, as the program is unlikely to have agreements with local clinical settings. While certain, more didactic courses are fine online, the clinical component, such as in-class role plays and feedback is very difficult to mimic online. I'm in a clinical psych program right now, and with COVID we are online, and luckily I am several years in, but I can see a distinct difference between my in-person and online experiences, with the in-person being far more enriching. You are trying to enter a field where human connection and communication is everything, and online instruction creates a lot of barriers that full-fledged clinicians are struggling with during this pandemic. The idea that a student entering the field can effectively grasp it in a short time is highly unlikely.

I second this. Servers can become overloaded and have difficulties. I know last year PSYCAS went down for a little bit around app deadline time.

The limited research experience may be an issue. Was she able to present any posters or anything? Usually applicants have around 2 years of research experience.

As @justacigar said, this is program specific. I completed a separate Master's and I was able to transfer my thesis to meet that milestone. My program also allows up to a certain number of credits. You have to submit your syllabi for all the classes you wish to have counted and then the faculty make a decision on whether or not it was sufficient. I opted to not transfer any classes since I had several years between the 2 programs (I still learned the DSM-IV in Psychopathology in my MA lol). Another classmate was able to transfer in like 4 courses over the course of our program. When I was applying, some programs don't have it allowed at all. Look at the program handbooks of the programs you are interested in. They should mention something about the policy in there.

The MSW is a more flexible and portable degree. Counseling license requirements vary by state, but LCSW licenses are pretty standard across the board. Also, LCSWs can bill Medicare while counselors cannot. At the end of the day, you can become a licensed therapist with either degree, but the MSW offers other opportunities on top of that.

The jury's split on this one. Some people think it gets their name out there, so when the PI is reviewing applications, your name stands out. Others also hope that it's a good way to make a good 1st impression. It really depends on the PI. Some try to maintain as neutral as possible and will either not respond or email back a standard "I look forward to reviewing your application." Others may actually start a dialogue and possibly have an informal Zoom call or something, although the latter is more rare I believe, especially in clinical/counseling psych. People get in who have emailed faculty and others have gotten in without emailing faculty. I don't think it necessarily increases chances. However, if you do, it's best to make sure you have a specific question (that cannot be answered by reading their website) and not just say "hi, I'm applying" because they'll see that when they start reviewing applications.