PsyDuck90

I personally have never heard of someone including research participation as a subject on their CV. I think you can just cut that and focus on your research assistant experience.

If they aren't at least listed as optional, I wouldn't include them. At best, they will ignore it. At worst, they'll get annoyed you didn't follow directions.

Your subject test score is OK (not great, but good enough probably). Your Quant score may pose a bigger barrier. The biggest thing that stands out to me is the vast array of programs you are planning to apply to. When applying for your PhD, you want have an established research/clinical focus. Obviously, things can change somewhat over time, but you are applying to some pretty different tracks across these schools. Just make sure you are able to speak to how your background and interests align with these specific programs and concentrations. Mostly, the forensic sticks out to me. I can see how sports psychology, health psychology, and even sleep medicine can fit together. Forensic seems a little out of left field.

Programs most likely won't look at your application until after the deadline. The answer really all depends on you. Personally, when I applied last year, I couldn't wait to submit everything and get that off my plate. Others may feel differently. As long as everything is submitted by the due date, it's all personal preference. Also, good luck you guys! As someone who was in your shoes last year, I completely understand the anxiety, especially because now I'm anxiously working on applications for practicum sites lol (the applications never end in clinical). You guys got this!

Plenty of people start off at regional schools or community colleges for financial purposes. The program honestly isn't going to focus on that, especially if you already have a MA. They will care more about your GPA and what classes you took at the graduate level.

You are defending a proposal before being in the program?

Presentations are good, but papers are typically better since they have gone through a much more thorough peer review process. You can always do both: present the paper at a conference and publish it. If you are interested in staying in academia, publishing is crucial, hence the saying "publish or perish."

I would strongly caution against an online clinical/counseling degree. There is a lot of learning that just can't be done online for this type of degree. The interpersonal skills you hone in collaborating with faculty and fellow students, as well as practicum training is pretty unequal when comparing brick & mortar vs online schools. Online schools are a great option for some disciplines, but mental health isn't really one of them.

Pretty much all clinical psych programs are competitive. Most at applications holistically, but some do have strict cut offs. Research fit is definitely a more important factor than GRE scores. That being said, APA requires programs to publish student outcome data, so programs should have a chart that has mean GPA and GRE scores for the most recent cohorts, so you can see how your stats stack against them.

It depends largely on the PsyD. I am in a more research intensive PsyD (people commit anywhere from 5-20 hours a week to a lab), and I contacted my POI during application season (I applied to a mix of balanced PhD and PsyD programs). PsyDs that don't emphasize research might be surprised at a student contacting them.

https://cudcp.wildapricot.org This is the website for the Council of University Directors of Clinical Psychology. They have a calendar with all the dates that clinical psych programs send out interview offers, the dates of the interviews, and acceptances. It hasn't been updated for this cycle yet, but the link to the 2017-2018 calendar is in the middle of the page.

Would you be interested in obtaining a PhD in something other than sociology? If so, then I don't see the harm. If you have absolutely no desire to accept a position in any other department, then no. Adcomms usually don't have trick questions in their applications.

This may be discipline specific, but I know in Psych it is quite normal. Most applications ask you to rank order POIs and like to see 2-3 faculty members.

They usually have it listed somewhere on the admissions page. Sometimes it will be something like "a combined score of 315" or something like that. Also, APA accredited programs usually have the data regarding recently admitted cohorts which show the average GRE scores as well as average GPA, so that can help you gauge your competitiveness.

You should probably speak to your advisor about this. One of the key tests of competency for a thesis/dissertation is to be able to think critically on your own. Pick a topic that seems the most interesting, do some reading on it, see where there are gaps in the literature, and try to formulate a specific question based on those gaps.

I'm not sure what upper secondary grades are, but it's usually not a great idea to submit things the application didn't ask for. The best thing to do, if you haven't submitted the applications yet, is to try and address the low GPA in your personal statement as well as see if your recommenders can also mention something about the low GPA not being a good indicator of your academic abilities. If you have already submitted your applications, I'm not sure what else can be done.

Yes, more research experience is always a good thing when it comes to PhD applications. If you take a gap year, schools want to see that you have been productive in that time. And overall a PhD is a research degree so you should have a significant amount on your CV to make you competitive.

Going to a doctoral program is definitely a huge commitment, and there are sacrifices that every individual in any of these programs has to make in order to attain this goal. The question you need to ask yourself is if the sacrifices you need to make are worth it. I completely understand how you feel. I am a female and nearing 30, and I just started a clinical psych program (biological clock is ticking like woah). My fiance and I talked at length about my quitting my full time job to go back to school and what that would look like in terms of finances and the day to day. For us, it was ultimately something we felt was worth it due to this being the only way for me to have the career I really want. We are sacrificing starting a family, as that is put on hold while I am still in the program, and our financial situation is more strained than it was when I was working full time. However, we are making it work. You have to look at your short-term and long-term goals. The sooner you finish a program, the sooner you can start your career and make money. Your financial situation will be (most likely) crappy for awhile because, lets face it, no stipends allow students to live in the lap of luxury, but it will increase as you get licensed and jump even more so once you are no longer an early-career psychologist. So, what is the time-cost benefit for you? Would you rather try to steady yourself now or make more money on the back-end? Statistics show that for every 2 years of higher education completed, people tend to earn 18% more. Also, if you do decide to delay, will you have the motivation to actually go back? Only you have the answers to these questions. I would just caution that you do not set aside your personal aspirations for his. Relationships in grad school are tough. My fiance and I live together, but our schedules are conflicting. I often get home when he is already asleep, and he leaves before I get up. We make time for each other on weekends. We were honest with each other about the potential realities of the situation and how much it may suck for the next 5 years. However, for us, the right decision was for me to pursue the degree. Having doubts is normal, but you need to think deeply about why you are having these thoughts. Is it the fear of change? Is it you not being invested in this career path anymore? These are all really hard questions you need to answer for yourself.

Yes, those are generic replies. Unless you ask a specific question, PIs are less likely to really give you a thorough response or even reply at all. They get hundreds of these emails on top of their regular workloads, so they cannot possibly chat with every prospective applicant. If you have a specific question you want to ask them, then do so. If not, I would just thank them and submit the application if interested in the program. Do NOT ask them tips about your SOP. They are not your current advisor/mentor. That is more of a question for someone who already knows you well.

I would suggest you seek out counseling regarding your feelings of burn out (try your university's counseling center). If you withdraw from this program and apply to another, the problem may very well carry over, especially since it seems, based on your post, that you are happy with the overall program. AdComms will definitely want to know why you left a master's program prior to completion and then are applying to a similar program elsewhere. If you truly don't think you can do next semester, speak to your advisor or a program admin about a possible leave of absence rather than outright withdrawal from the program.

You could also look into The City University of New York (CUNY). Baruch is the main business school.

From my experience, a doctoral program has been very different from both my BA and MA experiences. You don't really spend a lot of time studying per say, as there aren't too many formal exams. There is an exceptional amount of reading (1 class may assign about 100 pages of reading for a week, multiplied by however many classes), and most classes have papers/presentations rather than formal exams. Classes are structured more as strict discussion rather than lecture, as the faculty assume you learned the basics going in. Also, there is clearly a lot more emphasis on research. You can expect to spend a lot of time also working on research (either projects that are already ongoing in the lab or starting on something you come up with). Again, this is all based on my experience as a 1st year. Other people may absolutely vary.

That is highly likely. Faculty are getting swarmed with emails from prospective students right now. Not to mention, they're all in the middle of the semester and all the work associated with that. There's always the chance of a PI responding, but that possibility increases when there is a specific question and purpose to the email (they'll see your CV and application once it's submitted). Look at it from their prospective. What are they supposed to say when they read your email?

You also have to examine what it is you wrote. If you have a specific, pointed question regarding their research and current projects, you are more likely to elicit a response. If you're asking a basic question with an answer that is already on the website or just stating your interest in applying to work with them, they are less likely to respond.

Education is a means to an end. What is the actual job you want? Is this 2nd masters required for entering that field?