emsmith

Hey all, on my CGS-M portal, Waterloo said I was ineligible because I wasn't registered in the program... that doesn't make sense does it?? You are allowed to apply for funding when you are applying to admission in the program, right?? I haven't been accepted to the program so it doesn't matter, but I find it really weird that they said I wasn't eligible? When the website and application recommend you apply for CGS-M? Anyone have any insight on this?

FYI, anyone waiting to hear from McGill, interviews are this week/next so if you haven't heard about an interview already (like me) then that's probably it (I reached out to my POI as I hadn't heard anything)

@SoundofSilenceYes yes yes!! you bring up so many important points. This year has really shifted my thinking about what to expect from my future career. Still my number 1 goal is to become a clinical academic, but considering not only the difficulties getting in to a program, but the time it takes to complete, the abysmal work-life balance, the awful "pay" as a graduate student for 5-7 years, and the very real possibility that your supervisor could suck and you have zero support - it's going to suck it a lot of ways. Whereas a "regular" old non-clinical PhD will be done in 3 years, still have awful pay and potentially poor work-life balance, but fewer demands since there won't be clinical classes and placements etc. then you graduate sooner, get a real job sooner, and you can also work in industry and get paid significantly more than an academic or a clinician. Will you make the same impact with your work? No, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad route or you won't be able to help the population you're interested in working with. I've been trying to reframe a lot of things and accept that who knows, my career might not be what I want it to be now, but it could still be really good and exciting, once I figure out what that will be. Yes - so many real options. Especially the availability of primarily clinical training degrees. I know a lot of people who are not at all interested in conducting their own research. Sure they need to understand research and how to assess evidence based treatments, but do not need to have a PhD. Even increasing the number of terminal master's programs and where people can be licensed would be a huge step for people who are solely interested in careers as clinicians.

it is! a total lottery! I feel like the chances of winning the lottery are actually higher! You sound like an amazing applicant!! Yeah, there are other paths that are rewarding and challenging and that we can be successful in. I think I will apply one more year since I'm finishing a few courses to improve my transcripts and it feels like a waste if I don't apply again, but next year I think I will at the same time apply for non-clinical programs as well. Thanks so much everyone for agreeing - it makes me feel a lot better to know that other people think this is super F-ed up. I totally agree about some supervisors taking student for the "wrong" reasons - I had a conversation with someone as well about people taking younger and more naive students in order to basically mould them into research minions who will be less willing to set boundaries and prioritize their own projects (and mental health) in order to get ahead on other grants projects etc. I had one friend whose supervisor told her she should be writing up her PhD in her "spare" time, and doing unpaid research work full time instead. I have no idea what the solution is. I mean, I guess an increase in funding for more training spots, but seriously, if UTSC is getting $75,000+ from application fees alone, they can afford to pay a few more students their measly PhD stipend. I think the whole system needs to be destroyed and start again. We desperately need more mental health professionals, and there is a desperate need for psych research funding too, but where either of these things will come from I have no idea.

omg this is ridiculous. Does anyone else feel like it's completely pointless to even apply?? I didn't apply to UTSC but I know a lot of programs will have similar numbers. I feel so discouraged by the stats. I know that I am a really good applicant and would do really well in clinical psych. I know it's hard, but I know I have the skills and background to do a good job. I've been working in research for years. I have more publications than many PhD students have when they finish their PhD. I have plenty of conference abstracts, and I've won awards for presentations. I know if I applied to a non-clinical PhD I would have very few problems getting in. And I'm not listing this to brag but my point is I know I am a capable researcher (as are all of you!) and it is absolutely insane that the odds are THIS small. I don't know how they even decide who gets interviewed. Nobody with a GPA less than 4? No less than 10 publications? I don't get it. Sorry for angry ranting, I don't mean to bring anyone down but holy moly these stats are discouraging.

Thank you both! I looked for a phone number but unfortunately they didn't have one, so I emailed back like you both suggest and just said thanks for notifying me about my application, and I have confirmed on the portal that everything is complete, then I asked them to clarify what the specific issue was. I also listed all of the transcripts and dates to confirm what they should have... It is kind of annoying since I have a lot of transcripts from exchange programs and my MSc so hopefully someone just made a mistake reading it and they can put it back into the "maybe" pile instead of the garbage pile ? None of the other schools sent anything like this, so I actually do appreciate it because it lets me (hopefully) fix it if it was an error.

I got an email from one of the funding admins at a program saying that my application is incomplete and won't be considered - they're saying my transcripts are missing, but I checked the portal and they're complete. I'm need to email back and say there's a mistake, but I'm not sure how to phrase this without panicking? / Do you think emailing them will make a difference or do you think that's that since they must have so many applications to go through anyway?

No you're completely right, it's something I didn't really consider since my co-authors did very little writing on what I submitted but of course this would vary a lot within other teams and even other papers. Now I'm very nervous about my decision, despite being really proud of my work because I guess they have no idea how much of it I wrote ??‍♀️ It's tricky though because I've been out of university for quite a long time and so any assignments, my thesis, etc are all quite old and I'm a much better academic writer now, so my publications are the only thing that I have really to show this. Oh well, it's too late to change now but definitely something to think about for future applications!

Hmm, that's a really interesting point, I didn't think of that! How would anyone at our stage in their career have a sole-author publication though? Surely to get published in a peer-reviewed journal you would have to have at the very least your supervisor as a co-author. Unless perhaps it's a letter to the editor or something?

I submitted a publication I was first author on (not a good idea if you're co-author since it's not your writing), but if I didn't have a journal article I would have submitted an assignment I did well on in a relevant course /on a relevant topic, like maybe you wrote a paper in a drugs and behaviour class and you're applying to a POI who studies addiction for example. I think submitting your thesis is too long, you can't expect the admissions committee/POI to read a 50 page document. Although maybe you could submit just your intro and literature review since it is a "sample". This is the first year I applied to a school that allows you to submit writing samples so I haven't thought about this much. I would be interested in hearing from others too

I've never heard of this podcast! Thanks for sharing, I'll check it out!

I would love for this to be true, but I think the number of applicants will be the same as previous years (hopefully less than last year in the case that a few schools had 2-3X the applicants). I think there does tend to be fluctuation in terms of how busy these forums are, so I don't really think it can be an indication of the number of applicants. Maybe there are just more lurkers or people are using older topics to look at previous year's advice, etc?

Thank you both for the advice! These are good suggestions!

Good luck to everyone who is getting interviews! Does anyone have any good interview prep/resources they would be willing to share? There's a lot online for general PhD programs, but not a lot for clinical psych. No results posted yet for any of the programs I applied to but the nerves are getting high ? trying not to freak out thinking 'are people getting interviews for these programs but nobody is posting about it?' I know it's still early but it's so easy to obsess over it.

Thank you! This was a good idea, not all of the schools I applied to had anything helpful, but a couple had orientation dates from this past September so I can use that as a guide! Thank you so much for your insight! It's nice to know it's not the end of the world if you miss orientation, but would probably be useful. I didn't even consider virtual orientation - that would be helpful too, I wonder if they'll continue offering virtual options into next year.

Hi all! Does anyone know generally when you're expected to be in the city/University when you start your program? I'm assuming courses start first week of September kind of thing, but would there be orientation (with the university or program) or lab responsibilities/settling in with your supervisor etc that would be expected in August? I haven't been accepted/interviewed yet, this is all hypothetical for now. I'm just trying to give my availability for a family event that's happening in August where my mom lives, but I'm currently living far away, and all of the universities I applied to are also in a different place - so between the family event, and potentially moving and starting a program I'm nervous about everything conflicting, and I don't want to take too much time/money flying back and forth unnecessarily.

Thank you! It's really helpful to hear from current students. Is there anything you wish you had known or prepared for before starting the clinical training?

Hi all! I'm wondering if any current clinical psych PhD students (PsyD students also welcome to answer!) would mind sharing what their clinical skills classes are like? I have a masters in a different psych subject so I'm familiar with research methods courses, but I'm wondering practically what it's like to attend the clinical classes and what types of skills you learn, what the lectures/classes practically look like, what assignments are like, etc? I know most programs have adult / child psychopathology and assessment courses, and some practicums, etc. What does it look like like when you attend these classes/practicums? E.g. how many times/week do you attend these courses, do you attend lectures/read textbooks only, or are there other aspects to the in-class learning like roleplays etc? In what classes do you learn specific therapies (e.g. CBT or DBT etc) and which symptoms/disorders each therapy is best for? Do you feel that your classes prepared you for your placements etc? It's hard to get an idea of what this aspect of the course looks like from the website/course listing alone, so I would appreciate any feedback of what your program looks like and how you feel about it (I'm applying in Canada, but I think a lot of the PhD programs are structured similarly, so I'm interested in hearing from people in US programs as well!) Thanks all!

Do you think most programs will be doing interviews etc all virtually this year? (/has anyone spoken to any of the programs about this by any chance?) I'm really hoping we won't be required to do any in-person interviews or program days at this stage. I haven't been invited to interview before so I don't know what the process was like last year. I'm living outside of Canada for work at the moment, and with travel restrictions/testing requirements it's a real pain and unrealistic for me to travel at the moment for just a day or two...

Today's the day (mostly)! Good luck everyone!

This is a really great suggestion, thank you so much for sharing! Do you have any platforms you would recommend for a web CV?

I assumed the faculty of the department, I don't think they care who your supervisor is because the awards are independent from the admissions process... If I'm wrong then I've definitely submitted it wrong two years in a row ??

Hi all, anyone applying to Waterloo? I have another weird question about applications portals ? I want to submit my application form but when I review it on the 2nd page under citizenship it says "foreign national" and then it says my primary citizenship is Canadian... Anyone else's application say they were a foreign national? ? I'm not sure why that's coming up, because my address etc that I entered is all in Canada! I don't want to submit it if it's wrong, and the program admin aren't replying to emails...

Anyone applying to Waterloo? What is the difference in their portal between 'Thesis' and 'Master's research paper' when you select the type of program? Does this matter? I don't want to select the wrong thing!

I was thinking about this as well. Half of me thinks, if you were shortlisted for a conference award or something, I would put that on my CV even if I didn't win. The other half of me thinks if I was waitlisted into a PhD program but ultimately didn't make it, I wouldn't put that on my cv... So I'm not sure! I guess if you're early in your research career and don't have a long CV it would probably be helpful, but if you have more impressive things on your CV (have won other scholarships, have publications etc) it might look weak in comparison.