[University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Fall 2020 students]

Hi! I will be joining in the fall for Psychology :) 

[Fall 2020 Clinical & Counseling PhD/PsyD]

For everyone who is hearing back from UIUC, is it a mass email or coming from your POI? Thank you!

[Fall 2020 Clinical/Counseling Interview Invites]

3 hours ago, Jgiannone1 said:

I saw some people on the results page have invites to the psyd program at LIU Post. Does anyone know if these were mass emails? 

I think so, I just got a generic email telling me which interview date they assigned me. It seems other people received different days, so they seemed to be randomly assigned.

[Fall 2020 Clinical/Counseling Interview Invites]

13 hours ago, laniekid said:

I'm pretty sure UIUC doesn't do an in person interview day, so faculty are kind of reaching out at their own pace. No, I didn't get anything specific. Here's the full email:

"Thank you for your inquiry. I can tell you that the admissions faculty are currently reviewing all of the applications. Typically, they will begin interviews in February and we will send letters of notification as early as mid-February and as late as mid-March. Due to the fact that we have many faculty who need to review many applications and each have various obligations to their current students, research, and course offerings, I am not able to narrow it down much further than that. Furthermore, you should note that even if you are not contacted for an interview by the end of February, it does not mean that you won’t be asked to interview. The process involves many steps including various review and interview times. I wish that I could be more specific, but we must beg your patience during this arduous process.

Please rest assured that each of our faculty are committed to reviewing the applications carefully and that we will contact every applicant with a decision response."

I'm not sure what the case is, but they are having an in-person interview day, at least for some people? The weekend is from 2/14-2/16 and that is when they conduct in-person interviews. This information came from my POI though, so I of course do not know everyone's individual situations.

[Interview Tips!]

4 hours ago, justacigar said:

Hmm those are worded a bit weird. 

To me, "How do you think about research?" would mean what do I hope research accomplishes. What does research mean to me? Who are you hoping to serve? Buuut that one is very strangely worded and I could be interpreting it way wrong. 

"How do you work within a system" seems to assess your understanding of academic and research systems. For instance, working within the government sector system will have it's own set of rules and bureaucracy. It could also be asking about your ability to be a team player, to work within a lab, and to function in the larger context of the program and university. But yeah, those are tough. Hope this is helpful, they are very open to interpretation!  

Thank you so much! This is super helpful. I also thought they were so vaguely worded, and I felt like this is definitely something I could answer several different ways.

2 hours ago, psychologygeek said:

For "How do you think about research?" I hav told people that I view it as a process. It is not a straight line, and we as researchers have to be okay with changing out ideas here and there. They may be assessing how you are able to work and clarify your ideas under pressure. 

 

For how you work within a system, keeping is positive is always great. Bonus if you really are a team player! They're looking for people who are pleasant and easy to work with

Thank you! It's great to hear other people's fresh perspective on things.

[Interview Tips!]

I've found various lists of questions that could be asked, and I find most I can come up with answers based on my past experiences. However, there are a few I find confusing and I'm not really sure what the question is getting am, I'm wondering if anyone understands how to best answer these?

How do you think about research?

How do you work within a system?

[Fall 2020 Clinical/Counseling Interview Invites]

On 1/17/2020 at 7:39 PM, sjpsy2020 said:

Has anyone here reached out to see whether all interview invites have been extended for the counseling psych programs at Boston College or University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign? Saw that a Boston College POI recently contacted someone so feeling hopeful but could the person who posted clarify whether the BL was Liang or Lai? Thank you!! 

I didn't ask if they were done, but my POI at UIUC told me that all faculty had to agree, and once they did they would all be sending out invites (on 1/10)