justacigar

Just wanted to chime in on this for those thinking about next year already.
Treating mental health disorders and practicing within the realm of applied clinical or health psychology isn't just limited to Clinical Psychology PhDs. 
There are so many tracks depending on your interests and while a Clinical Psychology PhD may in fact be the right option for you based on fit, career interests or flexibility it isn't for everyone. 
There are shortages in each mental health profession and if individuals switched paths to something more suited to them (if they weren't interested in research for example) it might cut down on the applicants to clinical psych PhD programs. 
I would check out this article Mitch’s Uncensored Advice for Applying to Graduate School in Clinical Psychology for more information on backup plans and alternative career paths that are not clinical psych. 
My fiancé wanted to work as a mental health therapist for children and realized through a soul search that he did not need to get a clinical PhD and could get a masters in school social work to practice with kids. 
Best of luck to everyone! I can't imagine how my life would look if I were applying to clinical programs.
Sending love from School Psychology and hope everyone finds a home!
 

I'm sorry if my comment came off as me saying the program I attend is superior. That was not my intention. I know people who have gone to Alliant (and Argosy) that have been burned. Heck, several former Argosy students now attend my program after those schools shut down. I even know some great clinicians who have graduated from Alliants/Argosys, and they typically attribute their success to their own tenacity rather than the standard training they received at the program. Granted these are just a few examples, but these people have often reported they did not feel supported by their program and are successful despite the program rather than in part due to the program. The reason I brought up the cohort size is because in a program that large, it's hard to get the individualized attention that is necessary at the graduate level to guide professional development. The faculty are only able to give x number of hours to student because there are only 24 hours in a day. The greater number of students, the less time the faculty have to give each student..
Also, those metrics are quantitative data (match rates, EPPP pass rates, and licensure rates). APA requires the reporting of many of these metrics so that people can quantitatively evaluate programs on equal data points. At the end of the day, Alliant has a very strong financial reason to get students through the door. It is in their best interest as a for profit institution, so yes, they pour a lot of money into marketing and coming up with good sounding reasons to address the poor outcome measures. However, if there is a consistent pattern of under-performance compared to the vast majority of other programs, then that is indicative of a programmatic issue and not just just the occasional outlier. Outliers don't account for approximately 40% of people not passing the EPPP and therefore being ineligible for licensure at that time.
At the end of the day, do what is best for you. I have no skin in the game. I just wanted to point out the concerning metrics that have left a significant number of people in hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt for a career that doesn't financially justify that kind of debt load. 

Thankfully I refrained from e-mailing. Just got the CSU interview invite I was hoping for! ?

School: SUNY Binghamton
Type: PhD Clinical Psych
Date of invite: 1/25/2021
Type of invite: Email from POI regarding official interview
Interview date(s): 2/5
DM for POI: Yes

School: University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign (UIUC)
Type: Counseling Psychology PhD
Date of invite: 1/25/2021
Type of invite: Email from POI
Interview date(s): 2/15
DM for POI: Yes

School: Purdue University
Type: Clinical Psychology Ph.D.
Date of invite: 1/26/2021
Type of invite: Email from POI
Interview date(s): 2/15/2021
DM for POI: Yes

While I think you would be within the bounds of normalcy to reach out, I also just want to note that MOST of the time calls before apps are submitted are not preliminary interviews. This is an informational call. So it's totally possible that even though they were impressed with you during that call, you didn't move forward once apps were submitted for various reasons. 
If you do reach out, I would be appreciative of the chance to talk in Nov, reiterate your interest in their lab, and ask for an update. If they tell you they weren't able to invite you for an interview, it would be a good chance to ask what you could improve! 

Hello, no i'm not a troll. I received the rejection this morning. PI: RC. 
Good luck to you! 

PSA to all program websites: make it easier to find faculty research interests and streamline your content! I am tired of having to scour sites for information about research interests, having to open a million tabs to sort through faculty, and finding faculty webpages with minimal to no information about their current research. It seems like it would be super easy to have one central webpage that has a brief research bio for each faculty member, right? Right?? Ugh. Anyways, end rant lol. 

I would love to join, I'll bring the tequila ?
But real talk, I'm sorry you are feeling dejected and I totally understand. This process is soul-sucking. 

Fourth time clinical psych PhD program applicant here and I ended up with 6 interviews this cycle! The only real difference I could identify this time around is 1 first author publication and a couple years of neuropsych testing experience. I just wanted to say keep on trying if this isn’t your year. Keep seeking out research and clinical opportunities and know that it’s absolutely a numbers game. Best of luck to everyone!

I would love to join, I'll bring the tequila ?
But real talk, I'm sorry you are feeling dejected and I totally understand. This process is soul-sucking. 

I would love to join, I'll bring the tequila ?
But real talk, I'm sorry you are feeling dejected and I totally understand. This process is soul-sucking. 

I would love to join, I'll bring the tequila ?
But real talk, I'm sorry you are feeling dejected and I totally understand. This process is soul-sucking. 

I would love to join, I'll bring the tequila ?
But real talk, I'm sorry you are feeling dejected and I totally understand. This process is soul-sucking. 

I didn't apply there but it sounds like you were waitlisted for an interview. That happened to me last cycle and again this cycle - basically if someone declines an interview you may have a spot

I didn't apply there but it sounds like you were waitlisted for an interview. That happened to me last cycle and again this cycle - basically if someone declines an interview you may have a spot

I would love to join, I'll bring the tequila ?
But real talk, I'm sorry you are feeling dejected and I totally understand. This process is soul-sucking. 

I would love to join, I'll bring the tequila ?
But real talk, I'm sorry you are feeling dejected and I totally understand. This process is soul-sucking. 

Ugh I just updated most of my schools to rejected / presumed rejected because 1) I'm being a pessimistic lil biotch, and 2) they probably are rejections at this point! 
I applied 2 years ago and got interviews at 2 top-30 programs and now I can't get any interviews and my CV is way better??? 
I guess I will just never be a psychologist and will have to start a commune somewhere in the caribbean where we subside off the land just get drunk on the beach every day. Let me know if you want to join!

Just wanted to hop on here and say that I really appreciate this forum. Most people seem really supportive (and aren't trolls). I know this year is especially difficult. I actually applied about 5 years ago, received 2 interviews, but no offers. I am once again applying because I've had some time to explore and realize this is likely my path, but this year has been absolutely insane - so kudos to us for trying, even if it doesn't work out. There's a great deal of luck involved it seems, so we might as well throw all the anxiety to the curb (easier said than done) and let the chips fall where they may. I hope you find peace and relaxation this weekend. 

100000% completely agree. I’m nervous to apply next year because I feel like there are people applying with 5+ pubs, 10+poster presentations, 4.0 GPA, etc etc. Do programs not know that not everyone has a pipeline to do research equally at their universities? And that finding a CRC/RA job is almost impossible without the right connections? It absolutely disadvantages diverse applicants. For a field that praises itself to be inclusive, programs have a long way to go in terms of actual inclusiveness. It’s insane how competitive it is. People shouldn’t have to apply 3+ times to get into a program. It also really sucks to know that the people most passionate about being psychologists or doing research in a specific area get denied spots in labs. Aggggh sorry rant over. 

I think academia needs more people like all of us. I sincerely hope each and every one of us reach our goals. I think those of us that stick with academia are going to have to help pick up the pieces.  

It's tough to see so many of us dealing with rejection, but I also just want to normalize that the grief is okay, too. I think after each rejection (or assumed rejection) I let myself feel the grief fully, otherwise it would just take over down the road. We are grieving a future we thought we could have, at that particular school with that particular PI. It's okay to not be okay ❤️ 

Ugh I hate that GradCafe has a limit on reactions!! I'm trying to heart and upvote everyone but I ran out of reactions ? thats a true sign that I've been glued to my computer all day 
Anyways this is me telling you all that I heart and upvote all of you ❤️