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Ugh.. Once again I didn't get any interviews for PhD programs (which is kind of understandable because the programs I applied to are highly competitive + with COVID there have been funding cuts and more applicants than past years) but after two rounds of applying, coming into my applications strong and 0 interviews both times, I'm feeling pretty defeated. I have a strong cv with 2 pubs, several posters and 4 of them are first author, and 5 years of research experience. My undergrad GPA was a 3.5 and I did a masters and got about the same (3.6-I had some mental health issues which took a dig at my academic performance), and a strong statement that 3 of my mentors and two former colleagues who are now PhD students all gave the green light to. Because of the amount of debt I got into with my masters, a fully funded program is preferable to me but seems almost impossible at this point. Alternatively, I could wait next year, get a few more pubs out, and hope an R01 will interview and take me, or apply to PhD programs in less competitive disciplines like social work, but the career options I want (research, teaching and mentoring, supervising trainees) are what a clinical psychologist has. Yesterday, I found out that Palo Alto University's PhD program is still taking apps on a rolling basis for the next month. The program isn't funded, but I have colleagues that go there and all have said the research and clinical training are great because of the universities close affiliation with stanford. Since I am coming in with a masters I am also eligible for paid teaching assistantships. If I choose to go to a program like this, I would want to excel, because I know the reputations of non funded programs can be suspicious, so I could get a strong internship and postdoc (which I also know these things are super competitive as well) to hopefully one day get a research/teaching position. I'd just like some opinions on applying to this program vs waiting for another year to *potentially* get into an r01. Also what concerns me about non-funded programs is reputation of the program... professionally do you see this as an issue for future career options (internship/post doc placements since I want to be in academia)? Thanks in advance!!

Is anyone else applying to UCSB's clinical/counseling psychology program? if so, how many pages is your statement of purpose? the overall grad programs website said it should be longer than 2 pages, but when i emailed the department admissions they said 1-2 pages double spaced... my current SOP for them is about 2.5 pages. i'm struggling with the ambiguity!!

Hi everyone!! Just posting because I'm getting nervous about my application stats.. I'm applying to a PhD in clinical psychology, and I'm only applying to schools that I feel are a direct match to my research interests (which have SIGNIFICANTLY reduced the amount of schools i'm applying to.. which is also making me nervous lol). At this point i'm mostly concerned about my GPA. in undergrad I had a 3.45 overall, but a 3.7 psych GPA. I recently completed a Masters but due to some ~mental health issues~ and taking very difficult research/stats heavy classes I didn't do as well as I would have liked (I finished with a 3.58, and most of the research/stats heavy classes I took had a B average anyways). I feel like my Masters GPA might screw me over... because grades in some programs can be inflated. I do not want to address my 'challenges' during my masters in my statement, because I know that's a red flag for schools/advisors. I do, however, have a very strong cv with posters and two pubs so i'm hoping this will be my saving grace. I guess I just want to know if anyone else is feeling the same way? If I'm over thinking or if this is something I do legitimately need to be concerned about? Thanks :')

Hi everyone! I'm applying to clinical psychology programs this fall and I'm getting my list of PI's together in order to narrow down my list of schools and I have a question.. I was wondering if anyone has any advice about applying to a program and indicating two mentors? Some of my schools have two PI's that are taking students that i'm interested in working with. Does that look bad to indicate two different PI's on my application/statement of purpose? Thanks everyone and good luck!!!!

Hi everyone! I'm getting my list of PI's together in order to narrow down my list of schools and I have a question.. I was wondering if anyone has any advice about applying to a program and indicating two mentors? Some of my schools have two PI's that are taking students that i'm interested in working with. Does that look bad to indicate two different PI's on my application/statement of purpose? Thanks everyone and good luck!!!!

Hi! I'm planning on applying to clinical psychology phd programs in the fall, and I was wondering if anyone has heard if PhD programs have waived the GRE due to COVID (like many schools are waiving the SAT/ACT for undergrad)? I emailed ETS about their testing centers being open but I haven't heard back... To be completely honest I don't even feel comfortable going into a testing center with the current covid pandemic ?