Keyz

DEAR LORD! I’m going crazy. The wait is killing me  
I’m waitlisted for both of my top two clinical psych programs (UNL and UNLV) and I’m so sad. 
That is all... just needed to get that off my chest. Thanks. 

I’m not very religious but I just pray everyday that someone will inevitably go to another school and that I’ll be accepted off of the waitlist. But it’s still driving me crazy because I want it so bad and have done so much up to this point if that makes sense. 

I second what Keyz said!  My experience has been the same where sometimes POIs reply, and other times not.  I've been waitlisted with a reply and with no reply.  Try not to worry about it (though I know it's hard not to over-analyze everything while waiting)!

Was about to say this. If you are really worried about "formality," black is a good default and would match your slacks. But just ask yourself, is it work the extra money? If so then don't get a super expensive pair. For example, my cheap shoes were literally $30 same with my cheap pad folio, which was $12, but people literally thought they were expensive.

In line with interviews being bizzare, I hated the fact that multiple professors said they absolutely “loved me” and hoped that I would “attend” because I feel like it just gave me too much false hope when I ultimately was waitlisted with no other information. And then like you said you have to play nice with people WHO YOU ARE COMPETING WITH like lol great. 

Exactly. It’s hard for me to not think “what didn’t I do right? Was I not good enough? Did I say something wrong?” I try my best not to get into that thought process but it’s hard when you did everything you could and were as genuine as possible. Plus the reality is you will never know because most programs will just say “large pool of highly qualified applicants/very competitive applicants this year!” I think the best part of these forums is that there are other people going through the exact same thing and can empathize and actually understand what the process is like. Hopefully everything works out for you and @yeahsouh though, I’ll be wishing you guys as much luck as I can!

Exactly. It’s hard for me to not think “what didn’t I do right? Was I not good enough? Did I say something wrong?” I try my best not to get into that thought process but it’s hard when you did everything you could and were as genuine as possible. Plus the reality is you will never know because most programs will just say “large pool of highly qualified applicants/very competitive applicants this year!” I think the best part of these forums is that there are other people going through the exact same thing and can empathize and actually understand what the process is like. Hopefully everything works out for you and @yeahsouh though, I’ll be wishing you guys as much luck as I can!

Exactly. It’s hard for me to not think “what didn’t I do right? Was I not good enough? Did I say something wrong?” I try my best not to get into that thought process but it’s hard when you did everything you could and were as genuine as possible. Plus the reality is you will never know because most programs will just say “large pool of highly qualified applicants/very competitive applicants this year!” I think the best part of these forums is that there are other people going through the exact same thing and can empathize and actually understand what the process is like. Hopefully everything works out for you and @yeahsouh though, I’ll be wishing you guys as much luck as I can!

Literally have my appointment today and get to express just how dead inside this process has made me and how I have become obsessive and anxious (even more than my diagnoses portray lol). I feel you so much right now.

I’m not very religious but I just pray everyday that someone will inevitably go to another school and that I’ll be accepted off of the waitlist. But it’s still driving me crazy because I want it so bad and have done so much up to this point if that makes sense. 

I’m not very religious but I just pray everyday that someone will inevitably go to another school and that I’ll be accepted off of the waitlist. But it’s still driving me crazy because I want it so bad and have done so much up to this point if that makes sense. 

That’s kind of what I’m trying to prep for mentally. Like focusing on odds against me so I’m not completely crushed. But oh my gosh this is insane. If I wake up at night, I’m like TODAY COULD BE THE DAY ? 
oof.

I drove myself crazy for weeks, and I'm at the point now where I've convinced myself I'm waitlisted at best and just am acting as if I need to move on. If I do get an acceptance, it will feel like a wonderful surprise.
It's... kinda working, kinda not? 

I am so stressed waiting to hear back from my interview at my top choice. I LOVED it and feel like it went really well, but also know there were multiple applicants from labs at the school. I keep playing everything out in my head and I don’t think I could refresh my email more frequently! 
How have you guys coped with the interim? What’s been helpful for you all? Or am I just doomed to full on anxiety until I hear back? 

I asked my psych to up my anxiolytics because this process is causing my hair to literally fall out. Ughhhh.

Everyone else has given you great advice so I don't have anything to add, but I just had to LOL at this. I've run into some bizarre interests of professors before but this takes the cake.

no - because POI is also very important and most of all fit. 

Lol I get so jealous of you guys that are told what position you are at on the waitlist. My schools didn't tell any of us what position we were at. 

Honestly, whether you get a degree in clinical/counseling is less important than if you become a licensed psychologist. Now, that being said, there will be differences that @sassyyetclassyhas mentioned, but that's not to say that you can't work with the clinical population in the future. Practicum sites and internships for clinical also tend to be at community mental health clinics and hospitals, as well as places like VAs, and counseling centers at other universities.
Edit: I should mention that you can usually find these internship sites and whatnot on the Student Admissions, Outcomes, and Other Data PDFs of different programs (for example, UNL has their clinical psych internship sites baked into it from 2010-2018.)

Honestly, whether you get a degree in clinical/counseling is less important than if you become a licensed psychologist. Now, that being said, there will be differences that @sassyyetclassyhas mentioned, but that's not to say that you can't work with the clinical population in the future. Practicum sites and internships for clinical also tend to be at community mental health clinics and hospitals, as well as places like VAs, and counseling centers at other universities.
Edit: I should mention that you can usually find these internship sites and whatnot on the Student Admissions, Outcomes, and Other Data PDFs of different programs (for example, UNL has their clinical psych internship sites baked into it from 2010-2018.)

It's really a program by program difference. I can think of a few VERY highly regarded counseling programs that have practicum sites at community facilities and hospitals. Moreover, YOU have the choice of what practicum sites you apply to. So if you're in a counseling program but want to work with (for example) severe mental health... you can do that! Just apply to more acute sites. Most respectable programs have connections with most of the same sites as clinical programs in the same geographic area.
A few posters above mentioned that Clinical tends to be at hospitals and Counseling at UCCs, but this DEFINITELY varies by geographic location. In the cities I'm looking at (mainly Boston, NYC, and Philly), this is not the case at all. Counseling programs compete for the same sites as Clinical programs and are on equal footing.
THAT SAID. Some post-doc and post-grad opportunities may have a bias for one or the other. The one that quickly comes to mind is that UCCs tend to prefer hiring LCSWs or Counseling Psych grads, but this is not a hard-and-fast rule.

from my experience, the main difference between clinical and counseling is that clinical programs focus more on concerns related to psychopathology and direct treatment of DSM disorders. counseling is more related to vocational concerns, university counseling, or brief counseling sessions related to things such as identity concerns, interpersonal relationships, or overall psychosocial health. however, the main thing to recognize is that there are individual differences between programs. you could very well still find a clinical program that is more concerned with social justice and identity and you can very well find a counseling program that is more geared towards assessment and treatment of psychopathology. however, both are scientist-practitioner based which means you will get training in both research and practice and you will do an internship and complete a masters thesis and dissertation as well as publications/presentations for both. 
clinical programs also tend to be more CBT oriented (though not all) and you are typically working with clients in various age ranges (adults, children, seniors, and some programs even offer specialized tracks for each). counseling program practicums are usually at university counseling or career centers so you are likely working with college students. however, there are also external practicum opportunities in counseling programs where you can work with a wide range of clients, it just varies via program. counseling programs also usually ingrain social justice and multiculturalism throughout the curriculum, whereas you may only have one course on such in a clinical program. 
ultimately, acceptance is more related to individual fit with faculty member research interests as well as fit with the program training, rather than a question of which one is "easier" than the other because that is subjective and in my opinion not the right question you should be asking to determine your potential career path. 
i don't know much about school psychology unfortunately. 
i would say the main questions you should ask yourself are:
what type of populations do i want to work with and research?
what type of training am i looking for in terms of theoretical orientation with regards to treatment and assessments?
what type of research do i want to conduct?
 
remember, grad school is a long commitment, so it is good that you are doing your research now to figure out the differences between each! i wish i could be more helpful, but hopefully this helps a little
 

I just turned down a school that I was waitlisted at...so, ya, it for sure happens!!!

That’s so odd, I don’t know how I would feel about that personally lol, but I am hoping it works out for you guys!

School: University of Utah
Concentration: School Psychology
Type: PhD
Date of acceptance: 02/22/19
Notified by: Email from program director
So very excited!! One of my top choices and my very first acceptance. I'm going to grad school! ?