Schoolzy

Hi everyone. Sorry, I am so late. I really needed to take a break from this entire experience. I just wanted to let you guys know that I chose Syracuse and let go of the University of Cincinnati. I really liked both schools and whoever is going to Cincinnati good luck! It is a fantastic program with fantastic people.
Everyone good luck in starting your new journey. For those who are planning to apply again next year or not, everyone has their own journey and it starts at their own pace. So, don't give up, you guys got this and I wish you all the luck! I am also open to helping anyone next year because this journey was extremely hard, so don't be afraid to reach out. (Its important that you don't go through this alone)? 
Also, for those of you who I spoke to personally and remember from interviews I hope we can stay in touch.?

Hi everyone. Sorry, I am so late. I really needed to take a break from this entire experience. I just wanted to let you guys know that I chose Syracuse and let go of the University of Cincinnati. I really liked both schools and whoever is going to Cincinnati good luck! It is a fantastic program with fantastic people.
Everyone good luck in starting your new journey. For those who are planning to apply again next year or not, everyone has their own journey and it starts at their own pace. So, don't give up, you guys got this and I wish you all the luck! I am also open to helping anyone next year because this journey was extremely hard, so don't be afraid to reach out. (Its important that you don't go through this alone)? 
Also, for those of you who I spoke to personally and remember from interviews I hope we can stay in touch.?

Hi everyone. Sorry, I am so late. I really needed to take a break from this entire experience. I just wanted to let you guys know that I chose Syracuse and let go of the University of Cincinnati. I really liked both schools and whoever is going to Cincinnati good luck! It is a fantastic program with fantastic people.
Everyone good luck in starting your new journey. For those who are planning to apply again next year or not, everyone has their own journey and it starts at their own pace. So, don't give up, you guys got this and I wish you all the luck! I am also open to helping anyone next year because this journey was extremely hard, so don't be afraid to reach out. (Its important that you don't go through this alone)? 
Also, for those of you who I spoke to personally and remember from interviews I hope we can stay in touch.?

I finally was able to accept an offer! I'll be attending Indiana University!
I found out yesterday afternoon that I was awarded an Adolescent Mental Health Fellowship from the Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology. 
Along with an hourly position I was offered working at the Indiana Institute on Disability and Community I now have full funding for next year!
It feels late in the process but I am so glad things worked out and I am able to attend my top choice. 
I wish everyone here the best of luck in securing funding, receiving acceptances off of the waitlist and enjoying the remaining time they have before we start in the Fall!
Thank you so much to everyone that has given me advice on the forums here or via chat. This community has been so helpful in navigating through this cycle. This cycle may have been the most competitive one in history but I know so many of us have made it through to the other side!
If anyone else has accepted an offer from Indiana University either for their PhD program like me or their EdS program I'd love to connect!
 

Hello everyone! 
 
First I want to thank everyone for all the amazing advice the last time I posted about making my final decision! After reading everyone’s replies (and talking to my PI and grad students) I realized that if I went to Tulane, I would be stuck doing research that I wasn’t 100% passionate about which is really important to me. 
 
So just as an update, I recently accepted my offer to attend UF!!! I wanted to make the decision earlier but some things happened so I postponed my decision making. I’m really looking forward to join the program and my whole family is on board too! 
 
I saw some people on the forum have already accepted their offers to UF and it would be awesome if we could connect or something :))
And again, thanks for being such an awesome group of people!! 

Thank you so much Schoolzy! I appreciate all the positive vibes and support you have given me on here! I don't think I will choose not to go somewhere. I am not sure waiting a year would be the best for me since I am confident IU is the best fit for me program wise. Plus, we have great loan forgiveness options and with the hourly position I wouldn't have to take out a backbreaking amount of loans to attend. 
This forum has been so helpful for me and helped me vent about the whole application process. Thank you to everyone on the forum for being so helpful and engaging regarding this year's application cycle. 

Better than no funding! I’m happy that there is some type of funding for you. I hope you get a different position or something else works out for the position you have. Sending all the positive vibes your way and support. I still support IU 100% for you and would be so bummed if you chose not to go just because of the circumstances that the RONA (for everyone) has caused. 

I am so excited you are accepting IU! ? 

Hi, I have declined my offer to Louisiana State University, hope this helps someone! Good luck! I think I have made my final decision. This was super hard and stressful! I'll let you guys know as soon as I make things official between the last two schools. Hopefully, really soon (like in the next two days)!
 

Hi, I have declined my offer to Louisiana State University, hope this helps someone! Good luck! I think I have made my final decision. This was super hard and stressful! I'll let you guys know as soon as I make things official between the last two schools. Hopefully, really soon (like in the next two days)!
 

Hi, I have declined my offer to Louisiana State University, hope this helps someone! Good luck! I think I have made my final decision. This was super hard and stressful! I'll let you guys know as soon as I make things official between the last two schools. Hopefully, really soon (like in the next two days)!
 

I don't know about PIs involved in that work but when I was looking for schools to apply to, I went on the NASP website and looked at the schools that offered school psych PhD programs. I went on every website and read about every professor until I found the professors that had similar interests as me. I wrote the programs down so I could remember and then compared all the programs so that I could decide which ones I wanted to apply to. Maybe doing it that way would be helpful to find a PI that you could work with!

Wow! This is the most interesting case on this forum! Honestly, this is tricky! I would hate for you to have to spend more time at a university since you’ve already completed your master’s. Another 5 to 6 years is crazy, unless you really like the school and you are willing to be in school longer. If not then in this case I would recommend applying the next year as a possibility and looking into schools, who will take more credits, which they do exist but the problem is that we can’t really give you that answer in knowing how schools will transfer credits. Maybe you should contact the schools about your degree and transferring credits beforehand to get a sense of how this will look next year if you decide to do that. Not every school will do this but it’s a start. Unfortunately, this is a decision that you have to make, so spend the extra time at a school you are interested in or go to another school that will take more credits and you spend less time (once again which we can’t guarantee for you). Or you can also wait for the schools you have been waitlisted at. Also, no debt and spending more time is better than debt lol unless you think spending more time is worse than debt. This is a hard decision but for me. I would be okay with taking the debt out because I was just telling someone else in a different situation if you are going into research there are ways to get grants  for research that you do that will also pay your student loans off. If that’s an option and chance you are willing to take. Also, the addition to the student loan forgiveness in terms of maybe working in underrepresented and in low income communities. Also, speaking realistically most of us will be in debt in some way for the rest of our lives and I would hate for you to waste extra time in your life because of debt too. I really wish you the best and hope I responded to what you wrote, correctly. If not you can definitely respond like no this is not what I meant. ?

I agree so much with Schoolzy. 
One of the programs I got accepted to (Indiana University) I added to my list at the last minute because a program I had previously had announced they likely were only accepting a few students (half of what they normally do) and I did not want to take a risk.
Indiana was like #6-7 on my list after 2 safety/in-state schools (Kent and UC). The more about the program I read and then my experiences on interview day were just so welcoming and helpful. I feel like I truly belong there and am glad I added them to my list. 
Two of the three other schools (Buffalo and Ohio State) I got accepted or waitlisted at were my initial #2-3 spots.
One of them (OSU) I had a really awkward interview and student social experience with (I just felt the faculty were super distant and so busy) students even said they had to work hard to get faculty to meet with them to work on things. Not to mention my POI has not been very good about communicating with me this entire cycle and seems way to busy to give me solid information. 
The other one (Buffalo) I realized was much less of a fit than I had previously thought and since it is only APA and not NASP accredited I was worried about the experiences with schools that I would be provided in the program (I want to work in School Mental Health)
I don't think last October I would have been able to tell you that I would be this excited about Indiana since I initially was not sold on going there. I intially was worried about living there as a member of the LGBTQ community.  But honestly it really has changed that much. Don't base your decision on what you felt a month or even 3-4 months ago because the more information we get about a program, a POI, funding, etc.  the more things change. 
Best of luck on making your decision. 
 

No, I’m sure many of us have done the same and have had programs ranked before actually really getting to know the programs. Even after interviewing for my top program and then meeting the lab after I was accepted. I didn’t feel like it was the best school for me. Don’t feel guilty because you need to go to the school that you think represents you the best. 

No, I’m sure many of us have done the same and have had programs ranked before actually really getting to know the programs. Even after interviewing for my top program and then meeting the lab after I was accepted. I didn’t feel like it was the best school for me. Don’t feel guilty because you need to go to the school that you think represents you the best. 

Hi, most schools won’t let you defer. If this is a school you’d like to attend. I would advise not to wait for the next year because if you have to reapply and they don’t let you defer, then you will not know if you’ll be accepted again next year to that school. 

Hi guys, I have declined my offer at Lehigh and Tulane, so good luck to those who are waiting to hear back on the waitlist! I'm still trying to make my decision with three other schools but that is because funding is still being decided. I just wanted to say if you guys are on the waitlist some schools are just trying to figure out their funding for students, which is why people aren't declining offers as soon as they can. Hang tight guys.

Ugh. It had been two weeks since I applied to an Indiana university wide graduate associateship that my POI felt was right up my alley.
Just heard back from the director after I followed up that I was not selected to interview during the first round but that they sometimes circle back and invite people to interview if a candidate was not chosen. (They have multiple positions but still limited)
I still have 2 School of Education associateships I applied to that I am waiting to hear back but it still sucks. 
I don't know if it makes financial sense to go to my dream school without funding the first year since it is out of state. Is anyone dealing with this too?

Hi guys, I have declined my offer at Lehigh and Tulane, so good luck to those who are waiting to hear back on the waitlist! I'm still trying to make my decision with three other schools but that is because funding is still being decided. I just wanted to say if you guys are on the waitlist some schools are just trying to figure out their funding for students, which is why people aren't declining offers as soon as they can. Hang tight guys.

And to add onto this, you can imagine how I limited myself in terms of how many schools I could apply to. My experiences is different from yours so self-reflect and make those connections to make you stand out. Also, any of you who are reading your faculty’s papers, I hope that you are trying to connect your interest in what you want to do to their papers instead of trying to remember what their study or paper was about because I did that and that’s how I started genuine conversations to the point where my interviews didn’t even feel like an interview anymore. Take the information that interest you and elaborate off of it. CONNECT YOUR ENTIRE SELF TO IT LOL and don’t forget your application because I’m sure you wrote some amazing things in your resume and SOP. I really do hope I am helping you guys ?.

And to add onto this, you can imagine how I limited myself in terms of how many schools I could apply to. My experiences is different from yours so self-reflect and make those connections to make you stand out. Also, any of you who are reading your faculty’s papers, I hope that you are trying to connect your interest in what you want to do to their papers instead of trying to remember what their study or paper was about because I did that and that’s how I started genuine conversations to the point where my interviews didn’t even feel like an interview anymore. Take the information that interest you and elaborate off of it. CONNECT YOUR ENTIRE SELF TO IT LOL and don’t forget your application because I’m sure you wrote some amazing things in your resume and SOP. I really do hope I am helping you guys ?.

And to add onto this, you can imagine how I limited myself in terms of how many schools I could apply to. My experiences is different from yours so self-reflect and make those connections to make you stand out. Also, any of you who are reading your faculty’s papers, I hope that you are trying to connect your interest in what you want to do to their papers instead of trying to remember what their study or paper was about because I did that and that’s how I started genuine conversations to the point where my interviews didn’t even feel like an interview anymore. Take the information that interest you and elaborate off of it. CONNECT YOUR ENTIRE SELF TO IT LOL and don’t forget your application because I’m sure you wrote some amazing things in your resume and SOP. I really do hope I am helping you guys ?.

First off, I’d like to say that we all stick out differently, so if you are trying to look at your chances, that’s really hard to say. You got the interview, so you stuck out A LOT. For me, there were a few things that made me stick out to the schools that I was accepted to.  First, were my research experiences. I have been working in research for over three years now since I graduated and have been able to do a lot of task that school psychologist perform, for years now. I know this gave me an edge because majority of people can’t get that experience without an Ed.S or higher and it was brought up in all my interviews. Also, I would definitely say how passionate I am about my research interest and goals. I am not sure how you chose your schools because many people do it differently but I really focused on schools who had similar research interest as me and I mean close lol not 100% but a good match and not where it seemed too broad to match. I chose schools that could honestly prepare me for my long term goals as well and who’s entire faculty could teach me something to take away that fit my interest and goals. Also, my research interest and my passion for school psychology also related to some of my experiences in life and why I came into this field because of that. I was able to explain to all the schools that I chose how I saw them being a great fit for me. I didn’t pick schools because of their rank or famous faculty. I chose where I could see myself thrive and explained that to them with the examples of why I chose their school. I know others will say something different or similar but that is what I think made me stand out. I hope this helps. I hope this wasn’t too much. Good luck!
Also, if you don’t have research experience, it’s okay. If the school matches your goals and interest you should be fine as well but PLEASE EXPLAIN THAT TO THEM!

First off, I’d like to say that we all stick out differently, so if you are trying to look at your chances, that’s really hard to say. You got the interview, so you stuck out A LOT. For me, there were a few things that made me stick out to the schools that I was accepted to.  First, were my research experiences. I have been working in research for over three years now since I graduated and have been able to do a lot of task that school psychologist perform, for years now. I know this gave me an edge because majority of people can’t get that experience without an Ed.S or higher and it was brought up in all my interviews. Also, I would definitely say how passionate I am about my research interest and goals. I am not sure how you chose your schools because many people do it differently but I really focused on schools who had similar research interest as me and I mean close lol not 100% but a good match and not where it seemed too broad to match. I chose schools that could honestly prepare me for my long term goals as well and who’s entire faculty could teach me something to take away that fit my interest and goals. Also, my research interest and my passion for school psychology also related to some of my experiences in life and why I came into this field because of that. I was able to explain to all the schools that I chose how I saw them being a great fit for me. I didn’t pick schools because of their rank or famous faculty. I chose where I could see myself thrive and explained that to them with the examples of why I chose their school. I know others will say something different or similar but that is what I think made me stand out. I hope this helps. I hope this wasn’t too much. Good luck!
Also, if you don’t have research experience, it’s okay. If the school matches your goals and interest you should be fine as well but PLEASE EXPLAIN THAT TO THEM!