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I'm so sorry to hear that you're in this situation ? Personally, I think I'd wait. I'm actually doing that now (not applying to masters because I don't want the debt!). The great thing about PhDs is that they SHOULD be funded. You are providing a service to the school and in turn they are shaping you and helping you set and reach goals that you wouldn't be able to do otherwise. I'm not sure how things would work in the future if you decided to apply to palo altos program, if there's any chance that it will impede on your progress as a post-doc/PhD I say DEFINITELY don't do it. But if people don't bat an eye at it....than maybe its just a matter of if you want more school debt. These are hard decisions to make and no one can make them for you. I'm a firm believer that we make the best out of any situation we're in and I believe you can do that as long as Palo Altos program doesn't look bad in the future.

That’s what I did last time. Honestly I only applied to the one because someone brought it to my attention! The program was looking to *expand* and include more disadvantaged people. Like I mentioned before my area of research is super specific. So I took whatever advantage I could and ran with it. When it came down to it she told me verbatim is was between me and someone with a masters. And she wanted to let me know ASAP in case I wanted to apply to MA/MS ABA programs that still had open deadlines. It was actually my first year not applying to a clinical program and I got soooo far.

Best of luck to you as well! I truly appreciate the kind words. Sometimes I have to remind myself that what is meant to be will be, but also, this is a huge world and we all have huge lives and we can find happiness, fulfillment, and our goals anywhere. I am happy she gave me some feedback. I wish I could paste the whole email (I did in the discord lmaooooo). She has never been anything but genuine. I can say for sure this is a psychology PHD program with doctoral training in behavior analysis. I heard from others in the discord that clinical programs are more likely to accept people with 'only' BAs. I talked to my current PI who I've been doing post-bacc research with and she is so against me wasting money on a masters. So ultimately.........I am a little angry about the suggestion. Hopefully this anger can act as some fuel for my future.

So I got rejected from the one program I applied to. I feel like I could write a book about why I decided to do that (lol). My research interests are pretty specific/behavior analysis programs seemed to fit/there aren't many people that research what I want to research/whatever. But I did it and I felt good about it. But ultimately I got rejected and the PI suggested I pursue a masters first (in the end she chose a someone with a masters over me IT MAKES SENSE). This is my third cycle and honestly at this point I guess getting a masters is my only choice if I really want to pursue this/a phd and I have to be honest I'm really not happy about that. I understand all of it but I am so not happy.

This is one of the reasons why I didn't apply to certain programs. If I can't tell from your lab website/social media that you're making an effort to be anti-racist than I know that I wouldn't have a good time spending 5+ years in that area/lab. The lab I'm HOPING AND MANIFESTING that I get to be apart of did a really good job of showing its interviewees that they care about social justice. While the PI is white and majority of her doctoral students are white (one latina in the group), everyone made me feel so welcome and we talked a lotttttttt about the disparities in healthcare. As an ethnically black women, but racially Asian these things felt important to me because I don't always feel 100% comfortable in completely white spaces. lol i have no idea why i worded it that way, but the point is im biracial but appear more asian than I do black.

This is my third time applying and I can confidently say that the field just handles admissions this way. It's truly abysmal. However, I have noticed that a lot of programs are becoming more self-aware? For example, programs that are deciding get rid of the GRE completely. I do wonder how much the university itself has a say in how a program runs things....

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.

Hi! I'm actually a research assistant for one of the faculty at Rowan. My alma mater! We just talked (literally yesterday) about all the applications that the department received. Invites definitely haven't gone out, but they will soon! If you have any questions I can try and help!

Just followed! ❤️

Seeing as I recently made an academic twitter...... does anyone want to become mutuals? Dm me for my @

the GRE not being needed this round of applications was definitely my saving grace lmao I don't think I scored higher than 151 in either area. apart from that I had good GPA however only ONE OF my LOR was from someone in academia

thank you!! University of florida! But it wasn't for a clinical/counseling program. I think one thing that definitely helped was that I had contact with my POI before the interviews. I emailed her about my interest in the fall and she offered to meet with me so we talked then. I also attended a virtual conference she was speaking at and emailed her some thoughts/questions a day later. I did everything I could PRE interview time to make sure my name was on the forefront of her mind. When it came time for the preliminary interview I was panicky and didn't know how to prepare so I prepared for questions all those questions that you can find online. However the interview was so different from what I imagined. She may have asked four questions max and because we had spoken with each other before she said to me "I'm asking these because I had to ask everyone else, but I have a pretty good idea of what your answers will be" so for me it was like a refresher. However the 'official' interview will be a lot more intense. She told me to be prepared to speak with her for an hour and also requested that I send her two research ideas before our meeting so that we can talk about them during the interview as well. She also sent out an email to the current doctoral students introducing me and told me to expect to interview with the members. I think to prepare for these interviews, I'll continue reading the labs research, as well as my own. and I'm lucky that I have this one expertise that the POI is interested in utilizing it in her studies so I'm gonna make sure I can communicate what I want to communicate in an easily digestible and effective manner.

So I also haven’t taken on a masters because the financial stress isn’t something I can feasibly do. I won’t say it’s been easy but it’s been doable. I already had a job throughout undergrad that was able to accommodate my schedule and when I got a volunteer position at a research lab my paying job continued to be flexible with me. While doing this won’t increase your GPA it will increase your experience and I think you can get into programs even with your GPA. I think the trick is to sell yourself in the right light. Sucky things happen!!! Sometimes it’s our GPA. sometimes it’s lack of a masters.

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.

I wanted to add that this is my third time applying to phd programs. The first time around I only had 6 mos experience and my Alma mater actually interviewed me! It was exciting! But I only had a bachelors and again 6 mos. research experience. It was a blessing in disguise being rejected. My second time I was still stuck on applying to clinical psych programs. My general research interest is pretty unique? I learned after my second round it would be best for me to apply to more behavior focused programs. Before the third round and before Covid I decided I was going to stick with what I knew. I had a paying research job. A lab I love! A fantastic research mentor who has been my guiding light in all of this! But a former friend and lab member reached out and recommended I apply to this one program that she was attending. I ended up applying, recently had an interview, and now I'm playing the waiting game. The possibility of being rejected might be high for more (I suck at interviewing) But I know what I love to do. So if an outcome occurs that I don't particularly like I know i'll be in a position to ask for some feedback and make the adjustments for my phd hopeful future. I guess what I'm trying to say is don't give up. You KNOW you're going to become a phd. There's no doubt about that. ?