rainydaychai

I am a current clinical graduate student at SFU and believe the interview invites will be going out very soon! I am interviewing applicants and have received word that they have finalized the list and have assigned graduate student interviewers. If anyone is applying for SFU this application cycle and has questions about the program (particularly the forensic track), feel free to shoot me a DM!

That is all normal! I received the notice last week too and in the past, the results are available the morning of April 1st. Definitely not getting much sleep for the next couple days. ?

I can weigh in on how this happens in my program, but please keep in mind that this is just my experience in my own clinical program and that this may not generalize. In my time here, I've known a couple students who have started in the experimental program and completed (or almost completed) the MA portion of the program when they then applied to the clinical side. They were almost unilaterally successful, because at this point they have established relationships with both experimental and clinical faculty and have even collaborated on research with clinical faculty (usually, the faculty member they apply to work with). However, they had to go through the formal clinical application process again just like all other applicants and while any overlapping program coursework transferred (as well as their MA thesis, if completed!), they still needed to take all the first and second year clinical coursework, so it undoubtedly stretched out their time in the program as a whole.

"Why didn't you get into grad school last year" [this was on my second app cycle, interviewing for the same program a second time] ?

Seconding this - I don’t think it’s just SCCP, I think this is becoming more common at all clinical programs. 3/8 of my cohort had MA degrees coming in to the program. I’m a graduate student interviewer for admissions to the program this cycle and most of the applicants my supervisor is considering this year have their MA.

No major red flags, per se, but what @chickenlover12said and a few other reasons were why I was accepted there (as my only acceptance) in my first application year and ended up declining it and applying again. Message me if you want more information!

Speaking as a current student, I applied straight out of undergrad, was waitlisted at a few places but ultimately did not gain acceptance, and then worked as a research coordinator for a lab very closely aligned with my research interests for a year. I applied again the following year and was successful! Looking back, I'm very grateful for my "gap year," as I figured out my research interests more, gained more research experience, and was actually able to go home and relax at 5pm sharp for a year, which was pretty darn nice (certainly not doing that anymore). This may not work for everyone, but I would advise you to reach out to your current contacts in the field (PI, any other professors you've worked with, etc.) and ask if they have any assistant/coordinator positions coming up. This worked very well for me!

Throwing my two cents in as a two-time applicant and first year clinical PhD graduate student: 1. Take a deep breath and remember it's at the most basic level a conversation between two people who are both excited and knowledgeable about research in a given area. Maybe I'm in the minority, but especially before my first interviews of the season, I became incredibly nervous my mind would go blank or I would forget the English language - spoiler, it never happened! My anxiety actually decreased throughout the interview as I realized I could form coherent sentences (haha). 2. To second @PsyDuck90, absolutely prepare a semi-specific potential MA project/PhD thesis. If you have 2+ interview days, someone WILL ask, and I've seen a fair number of posts on here throughout the years about people who were caught off guard and didn't match the specificity that their POI was looking for or who erroneously believed that saying "I'm flexible and open to any project" is a good idea. Nine times out of ten, it isn't. Now, I don't believe most POIs would expect specific methodology and analyses (but never say never!), but a few good research questions and a rough sketch of how you would carry it out is often expected when a POI asks this. Bonus points if you've read enough previous research of your POI's/know enough about their lab to know that the methodology you discuss is possible there! 3. Relatedly, do not compromise your research interests to fit "perfectly" with your POI's. This is a mistake I made in my first application cycle and it's something I believe hindered me from gaining acceptance. Within my general area of interest, I gave slightly different pairs of research interests depending on the POI I was interviewing with. In my second application cycle, I decided that there was one sub-area of my area (forensic psych) that I was truly passionate about and ran with it, even if it didn't fit *perfectly* with POI's interests. Now, one POI straight-up told me in interview that my ideas sounded great but he didn't have access to organizations that I would need to partner with to do the research I wanted. But I appreciated that! Now, if you truly are passionate about multiple areas and there's a logical way they mesh, this might not be applicable to you. But I found that my passion shone through much more the second time around, I felt more confident discussing the literature since I was more familiar with it, and I had stronger research ideas (see point #2). 4. Brainstorm answers to all the sample grad school interview questions you can find online (but don't prepare them word for word for risk of sounding stilted!) and be sure to prepare a quick little intro in response to "tell me about yourself." It will be the first thing asked in at least 50% of the interviews! It's up to personal preference, but I always like to throw in 1-2 non-academic tidbits at the end of my intro, a fun hobby etc., to humanize myself. 5. Try to gain all the information you can about the personality of the POI(s) you're interviewing with beforehand. Most are fairly normal in interview settings, but there are some that will ask you strange questions to catch you off guard - I had one of my POIs do this to me! But I knew what to expect when interviewing with him through colleagues and graduate students at my undergrad institution in my area that knew his personality. 6. You'll often get the question "Why do you want to come here? Why this program?" Be creative in your answer! Aside from the obvious research- and course-based answers, try to throw in one reason that's related to the program's location, a novel way in which it's committed to diversity, or potentially some little piece of information that you learned from a graduate student (I know this is much harder when you're not staying with one on-site). This shows something that is of interest or really important to you and it might get a conversation going, for example - you may say the location is perfect for skiing, which you love, and your POI might be an avid skier! Best of luck to everyone in their interviews - you've got this!

Current SFU clinical (forensic) grad student here! I would definitely not expect invites to go out until January, us graduate students were given the heads-up that the applicant shortlist will be determined in early January.

I would second this. I applied straight out of undergrad on my first go and while I did get interviews, I was up against applicants who had their MAs and/or had 3+ years of clinical research coordinator experience at prestigious labs... there's just no comparison. I will add, though, that I was accepted with pubs under review and a book chapter in press but nothing in print! I just published my first article in my first semester of grad school, but it was a project from 2018 that I had been working on consistently until now. So it is doable to get accepted with no pubs, as long as you can demonstrate significant research experience and productivity (e.g., pubs under review, multiple conference presentations).

Speaking from my perception of the process, I think the distinction between a "formal" and "informal" interview is larger in the United States, and pre-COVID. Since USA clinical psych admissions overwhelmingly host applicants on campus during one specific weekend for a big to-do, informal interviews are anything before the big on-campus weekend (e.g., phone calls, Zoom interviews). Now, with most things being remote, I figure this stark distinction will blur. Even pre-COVID, though, many Canadian universities may host on-campus interview days but they aren't so much of a "big thing" and they often still gave you the option of interviewing virtually instead with no penalty. The program where I am a first year student at is in Canada and approached things this way pre-COVID, and never did informal preliminary interviews (to my knowledge). Not saying that no Canadian clinical psych program ever did informal preliminary interviews but the distinction, especially now, would be a Zoom call and then... another Zoom call.

Speaking from my experience interviewing at one Canadian school, I was not required to go through any preliminary phone interviews, etc. The first year I applied, I attended the in-person interview day which consisted of two interviews with faculty (the two I listed on my statement of intent) and one graduate student in one of their labs. The second time I interviewed, I had a conflict, so I did those same three interviews (two with faculty, one with a grad student) remotely via Zoom or a phone call! These interviews were on different days, at the interviewer's and my own convenience. I'm assuming the school will default entirely to the second option this year. I may be able to report specifics at a later date, though, as I'm now a current graduate student at this school.

Hi there! I'm a current first year clinical psych student, in a program with a formal forensic emphasis, so I thought I'd reach out. You look like you have great experience, particularly in regards to research! I would check out Simon Fraser University if you would consider moving to Canada, as there is very strong forensic representation there. Off the top of my head, I can also recommend Fordham, Sam Houston State, and Texas A&M. Feel free to send me a message if you want to chat more about clinical-forensic psych programs!

I was accepted after my second round of applications and was accepted by a prof I had applied to before! I did not write a completely new personal statement. I solicited some advice on this topic from a few mentors and they generally agreed that 1) professors receive so many applications each year that they will not remember if your statement sounds similar and 2) as long as you are adding your new experiences from the past year, your statement will look sufficiently different. Personally, my personal statement's opening paragraph in my second application year was almost identical to my first's, as it briefly detailed how clinical psychology first piqued my interest and that didn't change, but I had to combine two paragraphs of my first year's statement into one for my second application round because I had worked at a new research coordinator position for the past year and needed to expand on that sufficiently. My research interests had also changed slightly so that was new, and I was more specific in my interests in my second year (which, I believe, ultimately helped me secure more interviews the second time around). I hope this helps!

Hi all! First year clinical psychology graduate student here who remembers all the craziness that is this time of the application season from last year. I'll echo the offer of a few others before me - feel free to message with any questions about the application process, and specifically if you have questions about Simon Fraser University's clinical program! Wishing everyone a successful application cycle.

That's totally fine! My own area of interest is in forensics and I was lucky enough to get a very forensic-oriented lab coordinator position, I would have been happy working in any lab that studied major mental illness of any kind. I think that your plan of doing independent projects more related to your area of interest is great, as it allows you to gain experience in that area while simultaneously demonstrating your passion for the topic! I did something very similar within the broader field of forensic psychology - I still had a niche area I was interested in that my supervisor didn't research at all, so I led independent research in it and spoke to it in interviews; interviewers seemed impressed!

Hi there! I was in the exact same position as you are a year ago (minus the added challenges of the pandemic, of course!). I apologize that I can't speak to the new difficulties being virtual brings but I can share my experience as a newly-graduated full-time research coordinator for the past year. Let me just say that I'm certain my coordinator position was the factor that most contributed to receiving more interview invites and eventually my offer at a CPA accredited and funded clinical psych MA/PhD program! I applied in my last year of undergrad and didn't make the cut but applied again during my year as a coordinator with much better results. When I brought up that I was currently working full time in a lab (and with a PI) with a research focus very complimentary to what I hoped to study, interviewers were always happy. It showed that I was passionate enough about research and my topic of interest to work with it full-time after undergrad! I truly do not know if I would have made it this round if I had just been volunteering with labs part-time still. I would first reach out and see if there is anything they can suggest for prep work if you haven't already! If they say no, I think you're fine to relax until you begin. Overall, I think the best advice is to speak up and be the squeaky wheel, within reason. When I began my position, I gave myself 2-3 weeks to settle in, learn the ropes and the personalities of others, and get a good handle on the tasks required of me. Then, I did some sleuthing on the typical conferences the lab presents at and how publishing works and learned, in my case, that my PI always wants students to come to her with fully-formed research ideas that she can then build upon with them - if they want to be first author. Since a major conference in my field had a submission deadline at the end of summer, I quickly formed an idea for an independent research question using old lab data, brought it to her, and got the go-ahead to submit! I ended up getting two conference presentations, a paper almost submitted for publication, and third authorship on a book chapter in this way during my year there. In terms of being the squeaky wheel, I found that in my lab, opportunities weren't just "given" to undergraduates, even the coordinator - you had to speak up to get them. Don't take it too far, of course, but don't be afraid to let your PI know once or twice if you're interested in working on something with them! That's how I was included on the book chapter. I would also advise you to take any mentorship opportunities you can. My lab had some undergraduates working part-time on data collection and although it never came to full fruition, I offered to get them involved in their own research projects under my "junior" supervision. It's a win for everyone: they get a line on their CV, you get one on yours, and your PI can speak to your mentorship capabilities in their eventual letter of reference! Feel free to DM me if you have any questions and congrats on the new job!

Adding to what @Mickey26 said, Simon Fraser University in Canada (where I'm starting my clinical PhD program this fall) is also superb for clinical forensics and especially psychopathy. We have a formal forensic track and my undergraduate honours supervisor there was supervised himself by Dr. Robert Hare, worked on the creation of the original PCL, and created the PCL:SV for his dissertation! Feel free to message me if you'd like more info on that, or Canadian programs in general. As for the study coordinator question, it's a tricky one. It would be fabulous if you got the position and it turned out to be all you hoped for! Fingers crossed for you. However, what @justacigar said about being able to take on similar duties without the formal title is also true, and conversely, in my own experience, I was promised a "study coordinator" role in my last position but was only given the simplest coordination tasks no matter how hard I fought for them. I believe it's very supervisor-dependent!

Hi there! It looks to me like you have a decent GPA and strong GRE scores. You're on the right track with the research experience you have thus far! Are you currently at any of the RA positions you mentioned? I would hesitate to tell you that you that you should apply this year or wait another, as this is a decision only you can make, but I think your top priority no matter what path you choose should be to work at gaining more research experience, especially in a "leading" capacity (e.g., an independent project that you conceptualize with help from a mentor, first author conference presentations and potentially publications). Would you feel comfortable asking for a meeting at the full time paid RA position and asking if you could take on more duties in additional to standardized assessments? Specifically, you could ask your supervisor if they have any already-collected data around that you could analyze in a unique way, under their mentorship. One option is to apply this year to throw your hat in the ring, per se, and understand that no matter the outcome, it is valuable practice for potential future cycles. However, this does involve a significant output of money for application fees, sending GRE scores, etc. and not everyone has the financial means to do so. One last note - I see you're interested in psychopathy! I'm starting a clinical forensic PhD program this September and have focused some of my past research on psychopathy and other forensic topics. If you're interested in a clinical PhD with a forensic concentration, shoot me a message! I'm very familiar with the forensic programs in North America and may be able to recommend some good research fits.

This might be a school-specific issue. Similarly to other people who have answered this, I applied to 8 clinical PhD programs last year and 11 this year - six of the same as last year and five new ones. Two of the programs I interviewed at last year actually did invite me for another interview this year, and I got accepted to one (it was my undergrad institution where I had a lot of prior connections, though). However, at another program I interviewed at last year, the PI expressed the strong desire to admit me as a second student but he couldn't secure the funding for two, so I was ultimately rejected. I had high hopes of being selected for an interview again this year, but no dice. In sum, my experience has been that often schools with very selective applicant pools (e.g., they only invite 3 students/PI for interviews) may not invite you for another interview no matter how your stats improved, but having connections with your PI might override this!

Simon Fraser University - Clinical Psychology PhD! Just formally accepted my offer this morning.

Hey there, I was actually in an extremely similar situation last year. I came close to admission into a few fully funded Clinical PhD programs but ultimately only received an admission offer from a partially funded Clinical PhD program in the US. As I'm Canadian, the out-of-state tuition would have been just under $20k each year after the "partial funding" was applied. Personally, after some thought I released the offer as I did not want to go into debt for my graduate studies. Instead of applying to Masters programs (Canada doesn't have many - or any? - so it would have been a similar situation, paying out-of-state tuition for an American program), I secured a research coordinator position within my subfield of psych (forensic) and was actually able to make money while gaining experience the past year! I tried again this application cycle and was offered admission to one of my top program picks - it's not funded, but as it's a Canadian university, tuition is much much cheaper and the TA/RA ships offered more than cover it. Many of the faculty I interviewed with this year cited my current position as one of the stronger aspects of my application. As for factors I considered, the financial aspect was a huge one - it would have totaled roughly $100k USD of debt after I graduated the program I was accepted to last year and I wasn't willing to do that to myself or my partner. It was also one of my last picks, so if I had interviewed and loved it, it may have been a different story. I might have been much more willing to shell out $$ for a top pick program. Keeping in mind that this is my own experience and there may be many other aspects to your situation that I don't know about, have you considered research or lab coordinator jobs over a Masters? You can often earn the same amount of publications/conference presentations/other experiences, especially if you work for 2+ years (same duration as a Masters). The only situation that I have generally heard a Masters is better in is if you have scant research experience, as it may be harder to secure a coordinator position with very little past research experience. Feel free to DM me if you have any questions or want to talk more!

I am honestly just feeling so grateful that I can even post on this thread. A huge congrats to everyone, we all know what a huge accomplishment this is! I am currently working full time as a lab coordinator so will have to stay in the position until the end of July, but I intend to savor the feeling of free evenings and weekends until the fall. As the university I am 99% attending doesn't start until September, I am planning on taking all of August off to spend time with family, find and set up a new apartment, potentially get a pet, and take a few little vacations. While it is a trip for a conference, I am going to Poland in June and am excited to explore that new area of the world. Oh yeah, and I am getting married spring of 2021 (at the end of my first year of grad school - yes, I'm insane) so after the year mark passes, I intend to get as much of that planning out of the way as possible before school starts!

Has anyone who was accepted to SFU received their official letter of acceptance (or even had their application go from the green circle to the checkmark in the app portal)? I would love to accept my offer soon but feel like it won't be "official" until the letter comes. Can you formally accept an offer if the official letter hasn't come yet? (Note: I am very well acquainted with the program so I don't need to wait for letter to know funding details, etc.).

So much yes. As you said, I know they are trying to be cordial, but receiving these same sentiments multiple times last application cycle while getting no offers was pretty crushing. I have already promised to myself to never say this to an applicant if I'm ever a prof. ?