rainydaychai

Accepted SFU Clinical yesterday!! Let me know if anyone else on here also did and would like to exchange contact info

Woww sooooooo officially received an offer of acceptance into York! I am very excited!!!
I have been applying over 7 years to clinical (in the meantime completed a masters in personality and measurement, and have been working as a research assistant over the past 3.5 years, with ample publication opportunities). 
Also... if any others are headed to Toronto and would like a roommate, or even someone else to shop housing with for moral support, please let me know. Toronto living on a student wage might be a ~*struggle*~. 
Hope all of you are holding up - this process is very stressful and it can be so difficult not to take rejections as a reflection of personal competence/worth. I was so close to giving up this dream, but I am honestly grateful for the time it took because I feel so much more prepared now. Best of luck to everybody ❤️

I think it's a safe bet to say that this post summarizes poignantly what all applicants are thinking. The application process is a combination of having the right resources (CV, LOI, experiences, etc.) and a crapshoot. A crapshoot is how I had the process described to me by almost a dozen clinical students (both MA and PhD). I know people that got in right after undergrad (almost never happens), and I also know of people that got rejected from the program having already completed a second PhD and had several publications. This is not to discourage you, but rather, to juxtapose the state of things as they are.

A typical application cycle at YorkU for ClinDev was ~250 applicants for 8-10 spots; this was when the GRE was still in place. This year, when I received a rejection from YorkU, it came so early (about first week of January), I was certain there was a system error. I contacted the school and they told me they had 1000 applicants for 7 spots... think about that. So many well-experienced students such as yourself in a pool of 500-600 (I halved it as a lot of applicants aren't eligible based on GPA, not having an Honor's Thesis, unrelated degree, etc.) and profs have to choose 7. That ratio is insane.

The point of this is for you to decide what you really want to do. If this is it, bear down, tie your shoes real tight, keep doing what you're doing (all your other experiences are great btw) and keep being involved in research. You might even consider doing a second Master's degree (your choice entirely; the YorkU and Windsor DCTs have told me that most incoming students already have another master's but don't treat this as the holy grail of getting in as it doesn't guarantee anything). If this is what you really want to do, keep at it; ALL THE WHILE not putting your career and academics on hold.

I realize this is a lot of info and I can't fit on here everything I want to say in which case happy to zoom to discuss further if you'd like.

Was just accepted at SFU! I got an email from the PI as well as from the Department Chair PI: SZ 
I am lucky in that this is my first cycle. However, I was applying with 4 years of research experience, 2 ongoing manuscripts, 1 submitted manuscript, and 3 poster presentations. I'm happy to chat with anyone who didn't get in as well if needing feedback on application materials and such

Received email from POI for admission to SFU!! So excited and this is my top choice!

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!

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!

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!

Just wanted to wish everyone who applied for CGS-M good luck tomorrow!!! ☺️

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 got the news today that I was accepted off the waitlist for UMSL! 
I am proof that determination and persistence pay off. If you are feeling discouraged after this cycle, I just want you to know that there is hope. It might not happen on the timeline you thought it would, but please don't give up. Take time to grieve and then kick your ass into overdrive prepping for the next cycle. It's a grind, but I promise it's worth it. 
I've been round these parts for three years now, and I really appreciate this supportive community. I'm excited to stick around and hopefully help others persevere and realize their dreams. I believe in all of you! I'm always here if you need to vent, have questions, or just want a buddy. 

If I might pitch in my $0.02 - this feels like an ever higher raising of an already obstructively high bar. Many hopeful applicants are exceedingly fortunate to even be able to work full-time in related research, get three amazing letters, and amass various pubs and posters, especially with COVID now. Plenty are stuck trying to work full time in an unrelated job while balancing a few extra RA volunteer hours, much less able to do an Extra Special CV Thing on top of the above. In my local area at least, human services type experiences have been reduced due to the pandemic. This cycle especially has highlighted for many how ridiculously excruciating this process is for even highly qualified candidates, and if this kind of faculty expectation becomes de rigueur, then we're just going to continue moseying down the path of gatekeeping. Don't get me wrong, volunteering is fantastic for many reasons, but it seems that some faculty expect applicants to be superhuman in the face of narrowing opportunities.

Just want to say that I totally feel you, was in this exact position last year (10 apps, 7 interviews, and nothing in the end but a few waitlists and a semi-offer from a PI I had nothing in common with) and it looks like the same might happen this year (applied to 5 this year, 3 interviews, 1 rejection post-interview and still waiting on the other 2 but it feels bleak lol). I also have a really niche research area of interest and it has been a huge hindrance for me (a lot of the feedback I've gotten post-interviews has been related to that), but I'm still determined to do it. But I do feel very hopeless, discouraged, and lost most of the time. If you ever want to vent, feel free to DM

Just a little bit late on here but ..

School: University of Toronto Scarborough
Type: Clinical Psychology MA
Acceptance/Waitlist/Rejection: Acceptance
Type of Notification: Official Email
Date Notified: 2/5/21
** very excited?  will be accepting**

I'm a big fan of Academic Twitter, less so LinkedIn. LinkedIn is much less active, and often seems to only be useful for head hunters. I use Twitter to interact directly with PIs, early career academics and fellow grad students, not just in my field but also in those that are adjacent to my focus; I study sexual violence and LGBT issues, so I follow a lot of Sociology academics, for example. This has enabled me to keep up on research at all stages, from initial data collection through to paper or conference submission. Essentially, you can see what the most recent research is, as it is happening, which is priceless considering how far behind the publishing process really is.  Twitter has also allowed me to interact with scholars in other countries - for some this may be less relevant I suppose, but if there is cool work happening in Europe or Asia in your field, Twitter makes it easy to connect and keep up. This has opened up opportunities to talk not just about international research, but also potential post-doc or job openings in places other than the U.S. Given the sorry state of the U.S. academic job market I think this is super important. It's been my pleasure to get to know academics all over, and while we are not what I would call friends, it's been a blast to sit in a conference or committee meeting and have the speaker say "hey, I know you, what do you think?" I have met several early career or grad student folks who are in their current position because they "met" someone on Twitter, and through that person were able to make the connections to get an interview, write that grant or land that post-doc spot. 
Let's face it - academia is as much about who you know as what you know. If you have already interacted with a fellow scholar via Twitter, it makes it infinitely easier to reach out and chat IRL. You can create your own opportunities for joint projects, make plans to meet at conferences, ask for more details about a study or instrument they created; it's all about relationship building. Academic Twitter is an excellent tool for building a network outside of your home institution. Yes, you have to put some work into curating your Twitter. Some people keep a separate personal Twitter; it's a choice about how much you want to share with others. Obviously your frat party photos probably shouldn't be included, for example. And you have to invest some time into it. Not to say you need to spend hours a day on the app   but you do have to be willing to actually read some links, share posts for study recruitment or post-doc/job opportunities, leave comments or questions when you read something interesting, and yes, do the social stuff like say congratulations when someone is celebrating an achievement.  It's no good if you are strictly a passive follower. 

Ahhhhh super excited!! 
School: University of Victoria 
Concentration: Clinical Neuropsychology
Type: MSc/PhD
Date of acceptance: informal acceptance - Jan 29, 2020
Notified by: Personal e-mail from POI, said official offer should be received this week! 

Hi All,
This post is a little blunt, but I hope that it is helpful.
I hope to offer a little bit of a unique perspective to the grad school admissions process. We've had a courageous professor that has stepped up and offered some insight, but I have yet to see any comments from current graduate student from an R1 university. To give you a little bit of a background of where I came from, I came from a disadvantaged background, and almost didn't make it through high school - I flunked out of calculus. Right now is a super anxiety provoking time of your lives during the admissions process even without COVID-19. Throughout this post, I am going to focus on what you may not all be considering and what is out of your control.
The first thing that is not getting enough attention is the virus. This caused a huge increase in the number of applications and a decrease in available funds. This means that a) the already small number of graduate student lines at my university decreased by a lot, and b) there were more competitive applicants than ever before. This application cycle is incredibly unusual and should not be considered to be normative. You all were extraordinarily unlucky applying this year.
Second, although there are structural limitations (e.g., GRE) that can prevent quality minority applicants from receiving interviews at top-tier R1 universities, I come from a university with grad students and faculty that are diverse and that have ongoing diversity initiatives to recruit diverse grad students and faculty. Because we have these initiatives, we recruit top quality diverse candidates. These students come from a different universities including R1 and even R3 universities. Regardless of their sexual orientation, race, or socioeconomic background, these applicants come in with several (sometimes first authored) publications, presented at several peer reviewed conferences, won several research grants, AND are excellent clinically.  Indeed, the most diverse graduate students in my department are often the ones with the best credentials. Further, a PI is not going to work with you unless you have those research "chops" that we like to talk about so much.
Third, if the numbers alone don't convince you, this is a competitive field. Many individuals want to be clinical psychologist, and let me tell you - it really is some of the most gratifying work I've done. This includes the research, grant writing, computer coding, course load, assessments, and therapy hours. But a lot of people want to do the work. This means you have to establish yourself as a competitive applicant, and I will tell you from several conversations that I have had with several who aspire to be clinical psychologist, many are not.
So here is my unsolicited advice for getting into graduate school and becoming what I believe is a competitive applicant in two pretty difficult steps. This first one is the most important: find a competent clinical psychological scientist that takes an interest in you as a person - this needs to happen. If it happens correctly, this person will advocate on your behalf that you are indeed a good person to work with to the potential PI of your dreams. Second, to be a really competitive applicant, you need to have observable skills, if I may be blunt: many faculty don't care about your GPA as much as this forum suggests. This means you need to publish (maybe even a few times), go to a number of conferences (to meet the PI of your dreams), and maybe even learn how to code and conduct some basic statistical analyses (time to start learning R). For some, this may mean getting a masters degree (many in my program have), for others, this will mean getting a post-bac position conducting good research with a quality PI. Many graduate students have to apply multiple cycles to get into graduate school because they do not know these things.
Finally, I do want to mention that there is always room for improvement and change in the system - we want and need more diverse representation in academia. As has already been stated, advocate for more funding to higher education and bug your state legislatures. Right now though, finding a high quality mentor and developing some observable skills as well as respecting some of the things that may be outside of your control may be the best option forward. Nevertheless, I wish you all the best of luck moving forward and hope you get in to the school of your dreams.
 

I'm an international student applying to the US (I have 3 interviews so far). Honestly the process is not any different in terms of the application. The only thing that is different is you need an F1 visa. Also some PIs/programs may not fund international students but pretty much all of the ones I came across in the US do.

My very first invite, freaking out
School: LIU Brooklyn
Type: Clinical Psychology PhD
Date of invite: Jan 13th
Type of invite: Call from admissions
Interview date(s): Feb 13th virtual
DM for POI:  They mentioned to not apply to a specific POI 

Hey there! I don't have too much consolation to offer- but I just wanted to throw it out there that it seems like we have pretty comparable experience and I really empathize with you (3 years post-grad research experience, 2 pubs with more in the works I've been working nights and weekends to achieve, yadda yadda, and yet no interview offers as of now). Academia can be so insulated, especially during COVID when we can't go out to distract ourselves, so I just wanted to throw it out there that you are not alone and the world is bigger than this! I've had tunnel vision working my ass off to an unhealthy degree for this and it totally sucks when it feels like the our labor isn't being recognized. It blows. Crying in bed with ice cream blows. But I hope you can recognize that it doesn't change that you are a great applicant who made a massive effort by putting yourself out there for the most competitive form of graduate school there is- and that drive + resilience will get you somewhere!
There are a few more schools I'm waiting on (1 of which I'm sort of hopeful about), but I'm going to try to spend the next few weeks reminding myself that academia is a very small portion of what is otherwise a meaningful life, and I hope you know that you have a friend out there in cyberspace who understands your struggle  

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!

I guess I did great during my preliminary interview because my POI just invited me to an official one next week and told me she was preparing an email to introduce me to her lab if I was still interested AND OF COURSE I AM. I am so shocked. On Monday when we had the preliminary interview, she told me to expect to hear from her in a few weeks..............its been THREE DAYS. I am so happy. 

Hi lovely people! 
A few more interviews to share, feel free to message me for the POI if you're interested.
 
School: Simon Fraser University
Type: Clinical Psychology - General (MA/PhD) 
Date of invite: 1/11/2020
Type of invite: Email from Department for formal interviews (3) 
Interview date(s): All will be completed prior to Feb 3rd
 
School: Queen's University
Type: Clinical Psychology (MSc)
Date of invite: 1/10/2021
Type of invite: Email from POI inviting me to interview 
Interview date(s): Mid-Jan
 
Also has anyone else heard from Dal re: admissions (I haven't yet)? Would be amazing if you could DM me if so. Thanks so much.
 

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!

School: John Jay CUNY
Type: Clinical Psychology PhD
Date of invite: Jan 13th
Type of invite: Mass email from the director of clinical program
Interview date(s): Jan 29th via Zoom
DM for POI: No
 
My first invite Yay!!