Rerun

Hey! Good to see this kind of question come up. For real, there's life outside of PhD/PsyD. It shouldn't be our entire life. That being said, yes I am talking from experience that I got pregnant right after I got admitted into my PhD. I didn't defer it because I can't, and I want to both be a mom and my PhD. My husband also has a good paying job and work remotely. So all I can say is though it's hard, it works out so far. For me, I started the program pregnant, so on the 2nd semester, I only did 1 credit of seminar and did nothing else. Then after summer break I came back full time and baby goes to daycare. I'm now only 1 semester behind to my cohort, but I don't feel that way. I'm done with classes, now working on my qualifying components. I don't have any other internship thing like that. I suggest looking up your school guideline about pregnant students. Maybe there's some regulation about class, leave of absence, etc. I'm sorry that you feel people will judge you. I guess grad school is just not a friendly environment for moms, but find your support and don't feel like a PSyD should hold your desire to have at least one child!

I would say you are slightly above average. Depends on what program you are applying, acceptance rate for doctoral is always low, mainly if they are funded. If you are going to a competitive program, that has like >100 applicants, your stats profile might contribute in cutting down number of applicants. What tells the most is your FIT. Is your research area fitting the deparment overall or some professor' study? Start contacting current students and professors to see your match. Most applications are holistic, meaning they will look at all components. Good luck!

As stated above, to apply for a PhD you need to check your area of research match with the department because that's where it really starts. But I understand your concern that funding can be an issue. Here are some programs that I know are funded or have fellowships, but there might be some conditions that apply: https://psych.uw.edu/graduate/areas/developmental https://psychology.umbc.edu/ph-d-in-applied-developmental-psychology/prospective/ Are you an international student? I am-myself. I'd be happy to answer more questions about finding PhD programs in the U.S and what to consider. Feel free to chat me via inbox.

Hi I am not familiar with these field, but I believe a degree towards licensure like school psychology might be the most competitive, followed by others. I've had experience applying to multiple fields.. and my piece of advice is to network. Learn the different nature of research in each of those field through the people, both faculty and students. Set up call appointments and pitch ideas about research area. That will give a better sense of which area would be most suitable. Then your partner can pick up the GRE question from there. Usually some programs publish their rate of acceptance, but not all. Education sometimes will go to a totally different department. Sorry I cannot answer the GRE part, but you might be able to weight the competitiveness once you reach out to the schools and people. Best of luck!!

Hi there, I can understand your concern because I have the issue too: moving to another state will be a lost of opportunity to my health insurance benefit, including a medical treatment that I am currently undergoing. In my case, I will accept my offer and make the most out of the benefit now while I can. I will need to adjust what they have for the school insurance, but my condition is not urgent. I still can treat my condition without going to a doctor. For your condition, is there a chance to defer? Probably your case might be considered by the school because you have some circumstances with health. If that's not an option, do you think you can do grad school without the surgery? A doctoral program is a lot of commitment. Doing PhD with a good physical and mental health on itself will already be a challenge, let alone doing with a health condition. Maybe that's a perspective you want to think of. For me, quality of life goes first and you need to start a PhD by knowing the consequences and maybe support that the school can provide for you. Listen to yourself, and I believe if you can get in now, you still can get in later.

I've applied multiple years to more than 20 university and scholarships, got some interviews and finally got 2 PhD offers. One with funding and the other without. The one with funding is one of the school that I've been wanting to go for many years. But I guess my interest has change. In the past year I volunteer in a lab to realize that I really like research and the idea of team work etc. But then when there's a lot of pressure with publication etc in the lab, I started to become unhappy. Previously I also had a teaching experience and felt unhappy too. Now I am at the point.. what's the whole point of doing a PhD if I don't see myself happy in academia? I know this sounds naive. The reason I am doing a Phd is because I am passionate about my topic.. but then I don't know if a Phd is the only answer to what I want to do. My other plan is to get another master (change my field), find a job to do what I want to do, and start from there to figure out later.. if probably I still want a PhD. I am not young, early 30s. But I still want to take the time to figure things out. I am not sure if this is probably because I am still dissapointed that I didn't get to my dream school and really see myself there. Also, being pressured by someone else is really what I am avoiding right now. Is it too dumb to reject a funded PhD offer? Should I just do it and not overthink it. I've spoken to students and the professor. They seem nice and the program seems doable. I can still see my goal being fulfilled by doing a PhD, definitely, but I don't know if I am up to the commitment. I've heard many horor stories in PhD. Maybe any of you have similar experience or thought. thanks for getting this far to read my post!!

Hi thanks for starting this thread. Congratulations on being accepted! I haven't accept my offer, so I am still a bit in limbo. Nevertheless, I've prepared myself, a bit more to the academic side, in re-learning some basic stats through a study group and coursera. I am not very confident with my stats skills, so that's why. Another thing that I want to prep is my lit review skill ( I want to increase my pace in getting to know my research literature and paraphrase), prepare a system for my bibliography/ lit reviews, get to know how I can read more (both non and academic), and possibly put some hours in learning academic writing (I have some publications, but as an international student, I am not very confident that my writing skills will be good enough for PhD expectation). I've also learn some new recipe and coping mechanism (I guess that's more like a pandemic survival) for my PhD survival kit. I need to complete some publication manuscripts that are due for my lab too. But yes I love the tips on indulging to hobbies and spend more times to fun places.

Hey, are you applying there? My review might be false but this is just my observation and input from talking with my supervisor. UIUC used to be a great school if you are looking to study clinical community psychology. So many outstanding and prominent community psychologist from back then (and even now) graduated from there. But my supervisor said it's no longer THE school for community psychologist since the direction and faculty kinda change. I know some assistant professors who graduated from there, but never really ask about their experience. So if being trained as a clinical community psychologist is what you are looking for, then probably think twice. But other than that, probably someone else can speak more. Again, those are just rumors and don't quote me on it. I have zero direct exposure/ never contact the school. Good luck!

Good luck!! I was thinking to apply there and did some research on it but didn't apply because I prefer not moving from the east coast. It's a great program and school. I hope you get in!

The GRE score is 170 max, so your score is great. Now you can focus on trying to get good LORs (you can be specific to the professor and say other qualities about you-your grade, and other things and attach your cv), and you should also focus to research your match/ FIT with each schools/ professor research. Good luck on preparing other parts of the application.

Hey! It's a stressful time for anyone who is applying this year, totally understand, hang in there! My friend graduated from UMass Amherst and did exactly children and media studies. She went to the School of Communication though. Her undergrad and master's was both in psychology. Now she's a media psychology professor in Indonesia. I don't know who did she work with. You can look up for publication by Laras Sekarasih. Try to find her email and reach out to her if you'd like. I believe she will be happy to hear from you.

I think one way to decide is to read articles that you like and find the people who are working on those issues. You still have time to browse any psych programs across those themes to decide. I know that sounds manual but that's the hard yet rewarding way because you can make an informed decision to choose one over another. Other than that, choosing a PhD is also about choosing the location and resources you would want to have. I would say Chicago, Florida, San Diego, and sometimes Boston would have professors working on those studies, geographically speaking.

Sure. That is definitely the reason to apply, knowing that someone might be interested to take you, or that you fit with the overall department research area. Speaking to your supervisor will certainly help

Hey, if you want to give a try and apply to 1-2 schools (if you have the money and time), just try out. You are in a good school and have research experience. You can choose schools that waive GRE if you think it would be a problem (I am a bad test taker so I know what you mean). Trauma and cross cultural, what are the literature that you read? Look up at the authors name, and find the idea of what school do they teach. Counseling is commonly a practitioner-science based, social and development are both science, and educational-depends on the university. Are you looking to study refugee and immigrants? Yeah I am international too. the situation and upcoming election is concerning. But if you really want to try, you can and have time for at least 1 application or 2. Good luck.

Hey. That's an interesting overview and I am commenting because I've been dedicated to psychology for more than 10 years and now thinking if I can do law instead. I watched too much RBG and BLM movies lately. But I hope you know that the grass on the other side always look greener. We can always contribute to the world with our own way. If you want to give a try, I suggest looking out for forensic psychology programs or psychology and law. At least you will have both worlds. Is relocating an issue for you? I know John Jay College at New York is one of the complete and good school for that. With their variety of masters, doctoral and certificate, that might cater your need. Many programs are waiving GRE this year, but the main thing is always a match. You need to back up your story with a reason for transition. Finding a match really matters. It all depends on what psychology you are looking for, what school, what degree. If you're looking into doctoral, there's a LOT of commitment there, so I don't think changing right away is wise, unless you want to give a try to 1-2 schools and see what is the experience like. If you really want to do a psych program, I suggest starting from masters and see if you like it. Doing a PhD requires interest, some research experience (a thesis counts), and commitment to the field. If you can tie together your story, it might work! We never know. It's always a good thing to find out, but make it as a calculated decision. That's my two cents!

That sounds frustrating. My suggestion is try to contact your uni/ department and ask about her whether she is still active/have some sort of condition that makes her cannot reply emails. Sometimes people change email address, can't check emails, computer system at home not working like at office. You can also ask about her to students you may know or anyone you think can provide that kind of info, like other faculty. Meanwhile, stay positive and start thinking of other people or how the remaining reference can be as strong as you expected. I hope it will work one way or another.

If you don't have financial constraint, try out and have an application experience. It's not bad to just try out and see what the odd is like. I suggest to try 1-3 programs that you can really see a fit, those that have professors in your area of research interest, or the schools that accept people with an overall department match. Find that research fit and write your story well. I think your research experience as a fresh undergrad looks solid and prepared for a PhD. I've asked some professors whether they actually ask for clinical experience or publication, and most of them said not necessarily. You can ask the school admission about that to have a better view. I haven't been accepted so this is probably not valid, this is just a general suggestion from my experience applying two years in a row. I think being competitive with a solid experience is one thing, but knowing what you want and write that story well is another thing. The great point is you know what you want to do. Not everyone has that. I hope that helps.

Thank you for posting this. I can only say that my situation is the same and I have even a lower grade. My Undergrad is international too and did my masters in the U.S. This my 3rd round and not sure how else I can improve my GRE test. Have you decide something or receive feedback from your circle? I don't want to take the test anymore tbh

I want to put this out and say it loud. I believe many did and I am not the first. Here it goes. I know many schools waived the GRE "due to COVID19", but English Requirement-which is in the same test center- is not waived. If you really want to apply, I suggest to ask the admissions people about your circumstances. I believe the really "internationally sensitive" and kind ones can accommodate that, like accepting your old scores or taking a test on a later date, or replacing it with other test. But it's just crazy to see some schools just say "Please take the test". Aren't we all affected equally? Right now there's IELTS indicator and TOEFL at home, and there's a growing list of schools taking this scores. Honestly I find the schools that only take TOEFL and not IELTS as insensitive, not to mention those who are not taking any of the at home test- at all- or only considering it as temporary. International students are just facing extra hurdle. For GRE, I am not sure with your country. In my country, there's only very few "word of mouth" resources and group of people to even learn it, not to mention taking the test and affording it. The courses are so expensive. As international, I am talking about LMIC countries. Those country where 1 USD can feed you for a one day meal. It's such a privilege to even think about applying to these schools, and this is speaking of- non scholarship path. You know how competitive is even to get one. I hope admission offices and more university hear this. If they really want to have international students in their campus, then give out the resources, preparations, or mentoring to give prospective students the access to actually be an international student at your campus. You can't say that your school holds to social justice if you ignore this. For GRE people, I just hope they can release more free sources to study apart from the one you get from the website, giving more study discounts to at least make it accessible to learn. I am aware GRE is giving a test fee waiver, but I guess the learning resources need to be more affordable. I know they are making money out of it, but I believe change can happen. I just hope someday most schools break this cycle. If they can waive GRE due to COVID19, why can't they do it all together in the future? Either the school or the GRE people need to find a way to change the system. I am here to say that it's hard as an international student to afford applying to US schools and meeting all this expensive eligibility to study in the States. To the least I want to say, it's unfair. I've been applying to schools multiple times for Master and PhD. I'll do it anyway because I want to study in the States. I just want to highlight that the testing system is inequitable for international students, especially those who are originally coming all the way from LMIC countries, with limited resources to even get the access to learn and spend money for all these things. My international student fellows, I just want to acknowledge my stress and your stress with all these extra requirements apart from the already expensive application fee: TOEFL/IELTS prep, test and sending the scores, transcript credentials, sending transcripts from abroad, and other things like the courses that is not equivalent to the standard, the frustration when you realize your English is not very good, or your research experience is limited because your country just don't have all these fancy access, or the course in your undergrad is not good enough to meet the requirement, and the list goes on. I am just talking about the process of getting in. We need more accessible preparation resources and funding support for it. My friend, your stress- if you're like me, is not invisible. It's real.

This is my 3rd round. I listed more than 15, go down to 10, 7, sometimes 6 and now 4. My plan is to look for a really good fit in terms of research and value, craft my story and work test and make sure to get a really good letter. I don't have much money too, so that's my plan.

Your question reminds me to this recent article https://elemental.medium.com/astrology-tarot-and-the-struggle-to-make-sense-of-a-pandemic-8d4f9ccbf165 I can only say, in psychology, we don't predict someone's future. We predict things coming through many variables, but that's all through statistics, and it's not even answering the whole thing, only parts of it. It's a totally different approach in nature. However, I am not aware how Astrology works either. I guess the pandemic is really making people uncomfortable about the uncertainty. I myself begin to accept that the certainty is going to be uncertain

Hey! How did the interview go? To add on spouse issue- I am now out of school and out of work (I cannot work due to visa restriction). So I am only volunteering my hours for a research work in a lab, and preparing for PhD-besides of course doing house chores and living life. My spouse is doing his second master. He was also in this -only wants to be in this program- that he is enrolled now (Happy for him and here to support him, he only got in after the 2nd application). I am kinda trapped here because we want to be together. But next year he will graduate and we'll move with my doctoral plan, where ever that is. So family and partners, it's a lot of negotiation, all the trade off of time here and there, sacrifices, etc.Everyone has their own struggle, on top of the application requirement and fit per se Keep going and find what works for you. Good luck!!

You can tweak it, say that you make the initiative to join the lab, what did you learn. So I guess highlight the engagement and exposure that prepare you for a PhD level research routine. I know some labs take time to divide task and actually work as a team. Good luck!

Hi there, I am only aware of the one in UNC Charlotte https://healthpsych.uncc.edu/concentration-areas/clinical Good luck!

Shout out to the third rounders! We have the exact same story. I applied in 2018 (rejected all 4 schools) and 2019 (1 rejected 1 wait listed), battled with some impostor syndrome, GRE stress, shameless emails to my supervisors asking advice, etc. I am 31 now, but I've been taking a lot of pills of no self comparing, because it makes me really stress in a bad way. Talking about family, I've been trying to get pregnant in the past 2 years too, lol, so I am just crazy to do it all at once. The different thing about this year is I got some new and kind mentors, a longer prep time to think through my goal (I am not sure I want to be in academia. Been working as a lecturer for 2 years and not so happy about it). But then I love research, so even re-applying again is a self reflection journey for me in the past months. I have an M.A. and been thinking if I can just make a career turn out of it. I believe good things come in good timing and the past 2 years is a chance to prepare for myself better and think through my goal in life. Do I really want and need to do this? Sending good vibes!