rainydaychai

Y'all, after getting absolutely no calls or emails the last season I applied, it feels beyond amazing to be able to post in this thread. Am still on the verge of crying realizing that everything I've done over the past 2 years truly has made me a better candidate.
School: Texas Tech
Type: Clinical PhD
Date of invite: December 9
Type of invite: Email from POI for preliminary Zoom interview
Interview date(s): Friday or next week, TBD
DM for POI: Yes

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.

Are we counting preliminary Zoom chats here?
 
EDIT: Feels too soon to make an official post, but I literally just heard from a prof at one of my "safety" schools about setting up a Zoom meet (not the official one I think)! I guess I should amend my earlier statement about PI's likely not issuing invites yet. I think it's fair game for some POI's to reach out for an early feel.

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!

I feel incredibly blessed to be at York. It has a lot of benefits. Namely:
1) The faculty are amazing. They're incredibly supportive, and everything has a very collaborative approach and feel to it. For example, if I'm having difficulty with stats, there's not only a statistical consulting group that I can contact, but I would also feel completely comfortable emailing any of my past stats professors to meet and chat. The professors are really clearly teaching because they love teaching, and it truly shows in how they lay out their courses and interact with their students. Each prof I've had feels less like an instructor, and more like a mentor. I really truly feel like they care about us, and not only our learning experience, but also our well-being and personally as well.
2) For therapy, York takes on a client-centered approach. This means that when we start learning therapy, we do so from a more humanistic approach; learning how to respond empathically, make reflections to deepen the client's experiencing, etc. For our first client especially, this is really pushed hard onto us, and though it was sort of hard to see it at the time, this was really the best decision I think York could have made for us. After your first client (and even during your first client, but to a lesser extent), you're encouraged to use integrative approaches, depending on the needs of the client. Because of this, I actually think York students get a much more solid foundation, and much more rounded background- we get bits and pieces of EFT, CBT, and DBT, but all within a client-centered framework. Doing therapy now during practicum, I find, it's much easier to connect with clients even when doing more structured therapy like CBT, and I find that because of that foundation, I'm more able to notice alliance ruptures or therapy resistance, and have the skills to know how to fix those ruptures or address that resistance before they become an issue, in a way that the client will respond well to.
3) Related to your concern about making connections and friends- I've actually found the opposite. The cohorts are generally between 6-8 students, and so especially in the first 3 years, you're basically constantly around those people. Of course, now with covid, classes are online and so that may have an impact on how cohorts will bond- but personally, I've never had a better, or closer group of friends than the ones I've made in my cohort. I kind of feel like everyone knows everyone within the faculty- it's very, very easy to make friends. Some cohorts are not as close as others, and that's okay; but there are so many groups, so many ways to get involved, and also just so many opportunities to get together with your cohort or other students, it's really easy to make friends and connections.
In terms of living in Toronto, it really depends. I'm from a smaller town, and I'm definitely more of a small-town person. But even so, I enjoy Toronto. Rent is expensive, and that sucks. But there are definitely places available within everyone's budget (especially now, with rent decreases), and a lot of things to do. The one downside(?) to York is that because it's a commuter school, a lot of people in grad programs don't live on residency. In general, York's residences are just less abundant than other schools. Most grad students live mid-town as it has reasonable rent, is fairly walkable, and has direct access to the subway onto campus!
It sounds cheesy, but my friends and I constantly talk about how lucky we are to all be at York. I legitimately can't recommend it enough.

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.  

This year has been so crazy and I just need to vent for a minute. I went from having no interviews since April to three in about a week! All at good schools, too! I feel like things might finally be starting to head in the right direction for me (knock on wood...). Has anyone else been hearing back more from RA jobs recently?

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.

Hi everyone. I know many of you have probably heard things about how the admissions situation is likely to be harder this upcoming cycle. State budget cuts combined with a decrease in number of undergraduates is likely to decrease the number of funded slots for many universities. Some programs have already said that they are not going admit applicants for the coming cycle -- the number of these programs is still small, but the fact that it is happening at all is worrying. At the same time, there will probably be more applicants: Historically, more people apply to graduate school in times of economic hardship. Everything may look even more uncertain for international applicants. Basically, things are crazy, so I wanted to take the time to a) point out some of the potential bright spots in this mess, and b) suggest some things that applicants can do to increase their chances. If anyone else has any insights or observations, I hope you'll chime in. 
First, I want to say that even though there will probably be more applicants, you have been preparing for this application season for years. You have done more than anyone who decides to apply to grad school spur of the moment can possibly do, at the very least because you have had more time. In short, I think that if your application was competitive before it is likely still competitive. 
The second major stumbling block I can see is the uncertain number of slots universities will have to admit graduate students. I don't think anyone can say, yet, how big of a problem this will be. I have heard from professors I work with (at my undergraduate institution, my masters institution, and now at the university where I will do my Ph.D.) that they all expect to admit fewer students. However, they also say that they are just as confused about what will happen and what all of this will mean as we are. So here are some ideas that might help. 
Apply to an increased number of programs, but do it thoughtfully. To be clear, I am not saying that you should sacrifice fit (although you should also absolutely tailor fit to the professor you are applying to work with). However, if it is financially possible for you, I would suggest applying to more places. Think of it as a numbers game. Look for professors who have their own funding. While some funding agencies will likely re-negotiate the funding already being received in the coming months (e.g., probably NIH), a professor who has their own funding may be more free to decide to take a student than one who is dependent on the department. There are a few ways to tell if a professor has an active grant: First, look at their web page, in particular the grants portion of their CV. Second, look at where their current graduate students are receiving funding -- for instance, teaching assistants usually receive funding from the department while Research Assistants are often attached to a grant.  Email professors on whether they will be taking students after school has started. Right now, they don't know what is going to happen. This year, I would wait until the end of September or October. (Also, follow all the usual guidelines for sending these emails. I used an email template I found here last year to formulate my letters and it worked out very well for me). This will also help you focus your resources on places that are more likely to admit you.  Apply for funding from external sources. This one is more chancy given that the available external funding is likely to be a) more scarce than before and b) more competitive, but it is also true that if you can bring your own funding then you pose less of a problem for your department.  Those are all my ideas for now, but if anything else comes to me/I hear ideas from anyone else I will be sure to pass them along. It is true that most of this is out of everyone's control, so whatever happens don't be too hard on yourself.  A lot of the advice I've given above applies even without a pandemic -- however, I would argue that it is even more true now than it is during more normal times. 
A final random note -- I highly recommend meta-analyses as a way of keeping up your involvement in research if your lab has closed! 
You guys are awesome. You've got this!  

Hi everybody
I hope that wherever you are in the world that you are safe and doing okay. This is a stressful time for the world, and to sound very self-focused, it's been also hard to juggle thinking about next steps in our academic careers. March/April time is really when things either come together or fall apart for us trying to get into PhD programs. In the midst of COVID and the world, society, families, friends all preoccupied with it, it does kind of seem to hampers our current academic success or struggles. I guess I am hoping that this message reaches those people who have either figured out where they will be going and to commend you on how far you've come, because it has not been an easy journey. But at the same time, I want to tell those people who are still figuring it out or just, honestly, so frustrated with the system and looking for something to keep you going.
PhD is just one of those things that is very hard to explain to other people why you are working so hard to get into these programs, why you love what you do that you essentially give up a normal life, what it really means to get into a (or many) program(s) that you are really happy to attend, among other things. It's so hard not to give up. It's so hard during undergrad to stay up one more night preparing for an exam or paper, it's so hard caring about the GRE even though there is no place in academia for it, it's so hard not to be named a co-author on a paper even though you did most of the work, the list could go on and on. I hope this message gives you some piece of motivation to keep going, because we all have been there. We all have asked ourselves these questions and felt down, sad, self-depreciating, depressed, anxious, and sometimes all you can do is cry. But I hope that you keep going and don't give up on your dream to do PhD! It's your dream, keep working hard for your dream
Congrats to everybody who has gotten into the program they wanted to get in! And I hope people still pursuing PhD that you don't give up, you can do this!

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

Teachers College, Columbia University- Counseling Psychology PhD! ???
 

On a related note, I am so glad our interviews (at least for most folks) were earlier this year. Not being able to visit the schools and meet people face to face would have been a bummer!

This is so hard. This was my second time round and even though I felt like my interview was perfect, I got on the waitlist at EMU. After really getting down, I ended up going the "hope for the best, plan for the worst" route. I applied for 6 jobs, 2 masters programs, and set up 1 skype interview in the two weeks between being told I was on the waitlist and being told that I was officially accepted. I can't explain my relief but I can say that prepping for the possibility of not getting in helped to distract me and also feel better prepared for whatever future came.
 
Good luck!!!!!

Received my official letter of acceptance today from Mcgill Counselling Psych (Project). I accepted shortly after and am happy this waiting game is over!
if anyone else is going to Mcgill, please feel free to contact me to connect.

@Jeffster--

My conclusion is based upon using the search function for less than a minute and finding several threads that answer the questions asked in the OP. That is, in less time than it took the OP to type up the questions, the member could have found previously offered guidance.

I understand that many newer members of this BB would like to think that the challenges they face are new, that their questions are unique, and that their insights are novel. This attitude undermines the effectiveness of the BB because it encourages newer members to start new threads rather than to build upon existing ones.

In regards to your characterization of my "hijacking" the thread, you have again demonstrated an inability to read carefully. The OP specifically asked for "age related' advice which my reply offered.

In the first option you said you'd have to apply for PhD programs before the end of your first semester but that's not true. You could do the program and then work for a year or two as an RA in one of the many labs you mentioned that are doing interesting work. There is no rule stating you must apply immediately.
 
Also, it would be worth looking into just doing RA positions for a few years and getting some first author posters/presentations/papers. That would be way cheaper then a master's (in fact you'd be paid) and it means SOOO much on grad school applications, assuming you're productive during that time. I have heard numerous stories of people having lots of success using this strategy, especially since many PhD programs make you "redo" your Masters in their program.
I'd reach out to your mentors and see what they think. You could also reach out to people you think you'd be interesting in working with and see what they value. I had alot of success doing that and was steered toward a one year post-bacc RA position instead of a master's and I'm SOO grateful I went that route. Way cheaper then a master's and I got into my top choice PhD program (top 5 program).
Whatever you do, just do it well! Good luck!!

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!

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

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

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

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

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