NeuroLim3

While no-one has replied to me from Ryerson or from UT (Counselling and Clinical at OISE), everyone has replied to me from McMaster. But I am a current McMaster student so maybe this makes a difference? 

I have at York and UTSC

Good luck to everyone applying to year ☺️ I went through this process three times and got in on my third try. I'm currently at OISE in the Counselling & Clinical Psychology program - if anyone has any questions about the program or about clinical grad applications in general, feel free to PM me, I'd love to chat! 
 

Following replies to this too b/c that last line = relatable

I'm back with more questions lol.
For those currently in the program: how do you afford things? Are the stipends offered enough to cover rent and living expenses without support from family, taking loans, or dipping into savings? If not, how easy is it to get funding from internal/external scholarships, TA-ing, etc. I know a lot of times, this source of funding is not guaranteed and many people don't get OGS, NSERC, etc. Do you have a part-time job outside of uni?
For those (like me) applying this fall: can you share what you know about the funding packages at your schools of interest? Also, how will you plan your expenses?
This is a big concern to me, as I have to be financially independent throughout my Master's-PhD. 

While the last two comments suggested not requesting a meeting,  I've heard the opposite. Most profs would tell you if they don't have time to meet or if they just don't meet with students. I don't think it hurts to ask to set up a meeting, if they're willing to take time out of their day to speak with you I'd argue that's a good sign even though it may not translate to an interview or offer later on.
 
I've always heard from my PhD mentors and faculty supervisors that it doesn't hurt to ask.

I'm applying to quant, but I just wanted to throw in how valuable I find these pre-application meetings. I get to talk to top researchers about subjects that they're experts on. I'm super into the research I do and it's just fun to talk to someone else who shares that passion about it. In addition they're telling me what the program is like and what they look for in applicants. So, maybe you don't have to do the zoom calls, but they're really interesting and helpful to me.

Chatting about potential research projects/dissertation topics. Although these convos can be done during the interview phases.
If THEY request the zoom meeting, I would jump at the chance for sure. B/c it shows they're inherently interested in you. If they don't request a meeting, I personally would not request a meeting (they might be busy/not doing any meetings at all so want to keep a fair playing field, etc). Again, I did not have meetings prior to submitting my application and I don't think it hindered me, personally. 
I'm happy to discuss my experience via private mssg  But to be clear I had 0 clin experience but relatively extensive research exp for my level of training.

Not the person you asked, but I’m also already in a clinical program. I would personally not request a zoom meeting unless they bring it up first. It’s not that common. I was kind of clueless about this when applying and actually only emailed about half of my POIs, and had a pre-interview meeting with one. I still got 3 (out of 6) interviews, mostly at schools where I’d had no prior contact. The one thing all faculty commented on was the strength of my statement of interest and strong research match with their labs. I think this time is probably better spent on research and refining your application materials. Those will get you to the interview stage, which is when the connection and personality fit come into play.

It’s totally fine to do that. Those questions can be asked in the actual interview. Speaking as a current clinical student, pre-interview contact with POIs is not as big of a deal as it seems. It’s actually not that common to have early meetings like that and I know a lot of faculty who avoid it. 

Do you guys think (thought I should ask with all this talk going on) that it's not a good idea to send an email asking oh are you taking students for next fall and leave it at that? Kinda wanna focus all my energy on applications and not on talking to POI who might not even see my application if there are a lot of other competitive applicants if that makes sense. What do you guys think of this approach?/What benefits are there to talking to POI (outside of the obvious - i.e. learning abt their more current research & figuring out research fit)?

My question for you is: are you interested in doing research as a career/getting into academia and/or getting into a PhD after a masters program? In that case, looking for a PI who is active in research could be a top priority. Mentorship style, healthy lab environment, match, etc. can be just as if not even more important. I would consider all these factors holistically. If you have 3-5 labs/school then you have more freedom to judge and select between PIs. I think in a Masters program these factors might be less important than in a PhD as the time commitments are different. But I think they're still important as a masters PI could help you build further connections, or give you research and publishing opportunities that will make you competitive for a PhD or other career options.
Reach out to as many profs you want at each school. You're trying to explore your options and profs know this. A lot of PIs don't update their websites, pub lists, CVs, etc. ?  You'll need to do an interview with them and/or talk to their current/past grad students to get a sense of what they're like as a mentor, what kind of research they're doing now, and ask other questions. So at this point I would cast a wide net, meaning that I would consider profs who don't necessarily meet all of my criteria because that could change + websites (esp Ratemyprof) don't tell you everything. I would also read their publications to see if their research is interesting to you. 

I'm thinking second week of November!

I'm planning to submit early, between mid-October and early-November and then spend early November until December submitting funding applications. The idea of writing a research proposal for funding when I have no idea who my PI will be is a little ridiculous but I guess we really don't have a choice!

I was actually just logging on to ask about this - so with this whole grad school application process I've always heard people talk about funding funding funding. But where do we even look for funding, and what would we even say in these research proposals, etc.? I'm completely clueless to the applying for funding process so anyone who reads this post feel free to go ham on your explanation the more info the better lol

Preparing early is a good idea, but schools don't review apps until they're all submitted, so submitting early doesn't really help (though 2 years ago some folks got interviews before apps were due, but thats rare). 

Thanks for the replies @higaisha and @Clinpsyc01, it makes more sense now.

@NeuroLim3, I have no concrete knowledge but I feel like programs waiving GRE for this cycle will understand that those who entered their Masters in the waived-GRE-era will also understand that these students may have not taken the GRE at all and it'll be like a special-case thing where we won't need to. Ideal scenario is just deleting the GRE from existence for good but that's not happening anytime soon I don't think lol

To my knowledge, most schools haven't required the psych GRE or have made it optional for awhile now. With GRE being optional then psych GRE would also become optional, so I'm assuming its importance may decrease even more. Are you applying to schools that require it?
If you were a psych major then you should be ok for psych course requirements cause I think most psych majors across Canada/US have standardized curriculums. You would defs want to check your province's psychologist licensure requirements as I know Ontario at least requires 1 undergrad/grad course in each of biological bases of behavior, cognitive, and a few more areas. These are your 3rd/4th year level Cognitive Psych, Abnormal Psych, etc. courses. 

I contacted YorkU about what they meant by 'encouraging' but not requiring scores (and if 2 applicants are about equal but one has GRE), and they said that GRE will not factor into admissions this cycle... Still not sure why they said 'encouraged'. I'll be reaching out to a few more schools. If anyone else wants to contact individual schools and clarify their requirements, that would be awesome! 

Thank you! I don't in a clinical setting but through my labs I've been trained on therapy process behavioural coding, I've conducted suicide risk assessments and have interacted with clinical participants