schpsy92

Yeah, my school does the same thing, in that it will include the classes I'm currently taking. I just wanted to double check with other applicants. Thanks!

On the topic of transcripts, does anyone know if it is fine to send transcripts that do not have my senior year fall grades on them? I would have to wait until January and I don't want to cut my applications too close to the due date [1/15]. But, I'm not sure if there is a general policy about that.

I think that it's unnecessary to do the double major because adding on 2 extra years onto undergrad is a lot of both time and money spent. I think either of the majors would set you up as a competitive applicant for master's level I/O psychology programs, as long as your test scores and GPA were good.

Hey KStarr! Welcome to the forums. I'm planning on applying for (mostly) specialist level school psychology programs, so I thought I'd give you my insight based on what I have heard. It's great that you are open and willing to move across the country for a solid program. The most important thing to remember in my opinion is that you should apply to programs that are located where you want to eventually work and settle down. For example, let's say you are from Arizona and want to eventually work in New Jersey, you should attend a program in New Jersey (or at least New York). I have heard this because you can make connections at local school districts while in your program that you wouldn't make if you were at a program farther than your ideal end destination. This differs from doctoral level school psychology programs because they may attend a program in a random location based on funding or something else; plus, they are more flexible because they might not work in a school district, while specialist level school psychologists are basically stuck in the schools (not a bad thing in my opinion!) I'd also recommend attending an in-state public school (if you wish to remain in your area) because it will keep your costs down. As long as a program is NASP accredited, that's basically all that matters. But, there are some good programs that aren't NASP accredited, but I feel like it is safe to just go to one that is because it is an almost sure-fire indicator of a good program. If you want to go out of state, look into funding opportunities at specific programs you are interested in. Funding for specialist level programs is not too common, but it is out there. I have even heard of one specialist program that is (or at least was) fully funded at a point. This link on the NASP website can give you admissions / financial information on pretty much every school psychology program out there: http://www.nasponline.org/graduate-education/grad-edu.aspx

Just wanted to note that Fordham does NOT offer full-funding, and I'm pretty sure that Columbia TC does not either. In terms of finding programs that suit your interest, I've been told that it's best to find research articles that fit your interest, look up the authors and then see what institutions they work at. Good luck!

I'm only planning to apply to between 4 - 6 schools. School psychology graduate programs (especially specialist level) are generally less competitive than others like clinical and social psychology, so I feel that I don't need to apply to 10+ programs. Also, it is much easier to complete school psychology programs within your state residence, so there is no difficulty in transferring the school psychology credential between states. I'm still undecided if I want to do a specialist or doctoral degree right now... hopefully the upcoming months will give me an "Aha" moment!

Started: June 2013 Goal scores: V160 Q160 A5.0 Practice test scores: V156 Q164 (PowerPrep Test) Previous GRE scores: none GRE test date: End of July Materials: Princeton Review (Cracking GRE) & Manhattan Vocabulary Terms I was honestly shocked at how high I scored on Maths seeing as I haven't done anything related since high school! I definitely need to work on verbal, but I'm happy at where I'm starting. I know for a fact that my vocabulary needs the most improvement (hence my purchase of vocab flash cards)

Hey everyone! I'm applying to a mix of doctoral and specialist (masters) programs in school psychology. In the process of prepping for the GRE, took the GRE Psych in April.

You said that you want to do family therapy, so why don't you just get an MFT [marriage and family therapy] degree? If your goal is to practice, I think that degree is all you need [and I guess you could go back and get a Ph.D later]

Hey angel! I'm also considering Columbia, NYU, Brown, UPenn & Fordham -- although I'm only a sophomore in undergrad, I've just started looking around. Stanford just seemed interesting because of the small number of students and it has a really good rep. The program just seems like it prepares really good teachers and I'd consider going "coast to coast" for it!

Hey, I'm considering STEP-Elementary. It seems like a very unique & strong program, but it's kind of far away from where I live, so it's not my top choice right now, but I like it. Feel free to message me [although I don't know too much about the program].

Thanks again emilyrobot, you definitely gave me some things to think about! I'm probably going to go talk to a couple of principals in my area soon and I'm definitely going to ask them if they have some programs that they recommend. You make a great point about the pros of completing a program in the state in which you plan on teaching in eventually, and that's why I'm going to gear most of my applications to NY schools. All of the programs I'm looking at give initial certification for grades 1 - 6. Technically, this would allow me to work in the middle schools, since middle school is grades 6 - 8 in my area. I don't plan on doing dual certification though because I'm not really interested in working in special education and/or middle school. And if anyone knows admissions stats on any of the above schools, post them here. Thanks!

Thanks for responding emilyrobot! Your response was really helpful, I'll definitely look into classroom exposure. In response to the questions you asked: 1) I want to end up teaching Elementary Ed [preferably 4th or 5th grade] in New York. 2) My undergrad degree is in Psychology, concentrating in Developmental. Minor in education. Also, I have inquired about transferring teaching certification across the programs and they have assured me that everything transfers over. But, I am mostly planning on applying to NY programs [e.g. Colubmia NYU URoch etc] just because it's easier to transfer and make contacts; but some programs like Stanford's seem really interesting, so I'm not going to disregard them just because I'm out of state. In addition, I'm willing to take out a decent amount of graduate loans because I'll be graduating with basically no undergrad debt and I have numerous contacts in my old school district [principals & teachers] who want to hire me right after graduation.

Hey everyone, I'm interested in applying to M.A.T programs in Elementary Education in the future and I was just wondering how difficult these programs are to get into. None of the programs I am interested in seem to publish admissions rates, specifically for that program at least. I'm interested in: (1) Columbia TC - Inclusive (2) Stanford STEP (3) Brown (4) Penn GSE (5) NYU Steinhardt Brief Stats: GRE Score -- not taken yet GPA -- 3.95 [4.0 in major] Work Experience -- camp counselor, volunteer coordinator at elementary school etc. Undergrad Institution -- Ivy League school Research Experience -- work in early childhood cognition laboratory as research assistant. So any feedback you have on any of these schools would be much appreciated and if you have any advice on applying to these schools [or M.A.T. programs in general], it would be much appreciated. Thanks!

I'm bumping this thread, because I'm really curious about Brown's MAT program as well!

I'm a current undergrad at Cornell and the Education School is not closed, but administrators did decide to not accept applications for the M.S. program. They're still taking people for the M.A.T. programs in Agriculture & Science and undergraduates can still do the Education minor.