carlyhylton

Thanks Bianca! I think the name has been kicked around... but definitely good to know! Have to remember to take a look at it myself when it's time to apply... So many things to read and do to prepare for apps!!!!!!

Anyways, you should be applying broadly, so why don't you apply to schools in Ireland, the UK,and the states? If I remember correctly, upon my research, there were only a few programs max in Ireland that were suitable anyways (I'm going to apply to clinical neuropsych programs too, in a couple of years)

Thank god Ennue pointed out that Ireland is not in the UK! I assume, like most neuropsychologists, you would want to enter a clinical program, and then specialize in neuropsych? Assuming that do..... When you say 'UK' in your post are you mostly referring to the Trinity program? Because this is not at all the impression I got of 'postgraduate study' in clinical psychology upon my research. In the UK (not Ireland) clinical psych programs are all regulated and funded by the NHS. You have to apply through the 'clearing house'. Not going to explain everything. Review http://www.leeds.ac.uk/chpccp/ and http://www.cpto.co.uk/ Moreover, since programs are funded by the NHS, it is significantly harder for non-UK applicants to get in, and extremely rare that non-EU applicants get in (although your location is set to Cyprus, so it might be possible for you). See the Oxford Institute of Clinical training FAQs (second link) If you're only referring to Ireland then I suppose you could disregard the above

Hey Richard, You might want to check out post-bacc options. I think that Columbia offers one. I'd first google 'post-bacc psychology', see what comes up, and then do a more in depth search from there. Good luck!

I think the deciding factor here is what you want to do after your undergrad. What really EXCITES you? Clinical psych? or HR? You may not have a good idea as you haven't taken undergraduate courses in psych yet, believe me, you'll have quite a different perspective when you do! If you do the Psych/Business Co-op program at Waterloo and you want to do Clinical psych, I'd think that the program at Waterloo would hinder you to gain vital experiences required for applying to clinical psych programs. However, if you want to go into HR, you can certainly find opportunities to gain experience in either HR/Industrial-Organizational Psych/Business/Social Psych OR clinically oriented research while in a BA/BSc program. Moreover, I think the typical route to an HR career is to do postgrad studies or a masters in HR, so you would do that anyways (at least thats what the people who I know in HR are doing/did). Also, if you're not into York, check out Glendon : ) I go there because of the trilingual iBA/Cognitive Neuropsych specialization, which is allowing me to do a lot of clinical/neuropsych coursework, as well as a clinical practicuum (either research or practice/psychometrics etc). However, if you're not into the trilingual/bilingual/iBA option, I'd go to U of T! That's my two cents.

When applying to Canadian programs, having a Master's will not hold you back when applying to PhD programs. Canadian school's generally follow a bachelors-masters-doctorate system, or the Bologna Process (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bologna_process)- although not officially. Israel follows the Bologna Process unofficially as well (again see wikipedia article, it explains the politics behind this). If any other Canadians could corroborate the info above that would be great. I'd like this forum to know how Canadian schools work!!!

Just posted this on the GRE section of the grad cafe.... Posted Today, 10:54 PM I recently... ahem... obtained some electronic GRE prep books from some people who were... Sharing... If you know what I mean. However, no one would share their Manhattan prep books with me : ( I've heard that this is a really good prep set. Should I buy it? Is it that much better than the ETS, Kaplan, Barron sets, etc? Ps. If anyone would also like to obtain some materials from people who are sharing I might be able to direct you : ) -Carly Hylton

I recently... ahem... obtained some electronic GRE prep books from some people who were... Sharing... If you know what I mean. However, no one would share their Manhattan prep books with me : ( I've heard that this is a really good prep set. Should I buy it? Is it that much better than the ETS, Kaplan, Barron sets, etc? Ps. If anyone would also like to obtain some materials from people who are sharing I might be able to direct you : )

I think this is all going to vary a lot from prof/lab to institution etc. From what you've written it seems that it might be worth it to look at different opportunities outside of your institution, state. Possibly in another country. I'm not going to offer too much specific advice as I don't have experience looking outside of Canada and I know there are a bunch of resources in the states. There are a lot of threads that go over this in this forum so you might want to refer to them, and do your own research as well.

I don't think that the pay for RAships is necessarily that bad. Maybe my standards are low. At my institution RAships pay $15-20/hour plus honorariums, part time or full time. I'm personally fine with that. And I've seen multiple clinical RAship job postings (in Toronto- Rotman Insitute, CAMH etc) for 50-60k a year, which I dont think is bad at all.

God the NIH post bacc program @3point14 mentions sounds amazing. I've seen it before and it looks great. I wish Canadians could apply! If I were an American I would definitely apply to this!!!!!

@Bgajdor1 I think you could certainly still apply in the fall and see what happens! And if it doesn't work out and you don't get an offer you're satisfied with then get some research experience under your belt. You can definitely look at master's programs too but make sure they'll get you good research experience and they won't be too imposing financially. And you can call phd programs you'd be applying to to see how many credits would transfer over.

Again, impossible to tell, especially when you only have reported approximately one fourth of the credentials required for application to grad school. However, based on the information you've provided I do have a couple of comments... Your gpa is good so congrats on that. Hopefully it'll help you out. Nevertheless you still do not have research experience. You're potentially going to be going against candidates with years of research experience, masters degrees, publications etc (like @stereopticons). You definitely need to get some research experience under your belt. Apply next year, but consider taking a year off to RA or get a lab manager position. Try to do a poster presentation, co-author a paper, or author a paper. Get strong reference letters from profs you've done research with or co-authored a paper with. Study hard for your GREs, strong GREs will make you a more competitive candidate. Finally, like @lewin00 and @stereopticons have said, you need to apply to a wide range of programs based on how your research interests match up with POIs. Good luck

Thank you all for your input! I think we can reach the conclusion that it's good to diversify, however there are reasons why on would stay at the same institution from undergraduate to graduate studies.

TakeruK, thank you so much for your last response, I hadn't thought that there would be a difference between Canadians and Americans but I guess there certainly is! There are certainly only a few schools and a handful of people doing the kind of research that I want to do in Canada, so it is certainly limiting. And there are probably tons of reasons one would want to stay in Canada. Aside from personal reasons, I've heard that it is economically way harder to do grad school in the states, for example (e.g. funding is harder to secure, I assume you'd have to pay international student tuition, etc).... I'm so glad that you've added the Canadian perspective! I will definitely apply to my current institution and compare my options if accepted! Thanks again

Holy shitballs. Shouldn't have started this thread. I'd just like to take this opportunity to say that staying in the lab I am in is NOT AT ALL MY INTENTION, especially because my research interests don't match up with my lab's research interests I'd like to furthermore defend accusations of my own academic inbreeding in saying that I am just an undergrad! Again, not intending to stay. However, I would like to chime in that grad students at the lab would probably echo what Lewin00 and TakeruK have commented. Not that I am defending them, but I'll give them some 'voice'. Moreover, they are certainly not guilty of any of the items on snowballschanceonhell's list. Finally, I'll admit that I am considering applying to my current institution for grad school (although not at the lab that I'm currently in and within a different area) because of location and post-doc research/clinical opportunities at excellent hospitals and mental health centres, which is why I started the forum. But given the responses I'll assume this isn't recommended! Thanks!

Alot of the grad students in the lab I have a RAship in have attended my university since their undergrad (5 out of 6 as well as a visiting fellowship student who has attended her home institution since her undergrad). Is there any way to compensate for 'academic inbreeding' during undergrad/grad studies (e.g. exchanges, visiting fellowships, post-docs etc), or is this simply frowned upon? Is this more of a concern when 'academic inbreeding' occurs from undergrad to grad studies, or when grad students get a tenure track position at the same uni they did their grad studies at?

Last time I checked you'll have to check with the licensing bodies in each state individually and manually. I know the Canadian psychological association has published a list of licensing requirements per province, but last time I checked (albeit ~2 years ago) there was nothing comparable for the States.

Sorry this is delayed.... Just wanted to thank everyone for their responses!

I'm still an undergrad, so I'm not going to try to advise. However, based on responses I've gotten in previous threads, having faculty with similar interests other than your supervisor. Are there any other faculty with similar interests at school A that you could collaborate with?

If I may, I'd like to add the following questions: how many publications do you/did you have as an undergrad (specify type)? How many publications did you have when you were admitted to your Master's program? How many publications did you have when you were admitted to your PhD program?

@svh thank you so much for mentioning the below, I hadn't taken this into consideration! What is a good number? 2? 3?

@Steropticons that is hilarious, but very thorough! Good for you. Wondering if there are any other ways that anyone has thought of- specifically just for narrowing down POIs I will look through all of the faculty profiles, but I'd prefer to be as lazy as possible

How did you all decide on POIs and universities to apply to? I've made a list of schools that I want to apply to in Canada (and a couple of other countries) and POIs by simply looking at all of the faculty profiles (in the area of psychology I'm interested in) at all Canadian universities However, it seems that there are so many more universities in the United States compared to Canada and other countries that this method would be extremely time consuming. How did you all decide on POIs and universities to apply to, especially in the US?

Wow! Thanks for the long and in depth response! I really appreciate it : ) Are you a fellow Canadian?! Yes, from the research I've done and from what I've heard the application process is excruciatingly long! I actually think I'll probably take a year after I graduate to apply, and hopefully find a full or part time RAship AND hopefully rack up some more pubs. AND hopefully it's paid! So I would hope that during that year I would have more time to work on apps... I'll try to prepare along the way.... although I haven't done my GREs When did you (all) squeeze in studying/taking your GREs? You're definitely right about regulation, that's definitely how it is at my institution! I will definitely give it a re-think... Having said that I had thought/think that my interests were in clinical neuropsychology so a lot of the courses would probably be good for that (psychobiology, human neuropsychology, psychological testing and measurement etc). Moreover the specialization includes an applied research practicum for credit in which you get to do basic neuropsychometry/intervention stuff with a neuropsychologist (in a clinical setting). Also, a lot of my friends who did the placement got hired after their placement! So all of that definitely draws me towards the doing the specialization! But then I wouldn't get a chance to do the 'social bases of behavior' or the 'individual behavior' courses (or atleast not six credits in both categories)... (And by the way, the list IS from York, who doesn't seem to list history of psychology for clinical applicants...) Will grad schools really care if I don't have six credits in 'social bases of behavior'? Maybe I should call some grad schools and find out? And I'll definitely look at more school's requirements! Thank you so much for your advice! I will definitely make an effort to read more articles and attend more conferences, and then hopefully I can narrow down which professors to look for However, asking myself "could I see myself doing this for the rest of my life?" really puts it in perspective! Maybe I was confusing my general interest in psychology and psychological research with specific interest for a subject. I think I have a better idea of what I'd like to do already. I just hate being undecided and uncertainty.. Thanks again for your response! Really helpful! Really appreciate it.