Fall 2020 Clinical & Counseling PhD/PsyD

[Jkid]

2 minutes ago, Schy said:

You're right! I think I'm being pessimistic LOL. This tells me that I should be more worried about my horrible budgeting skills than requesting money from FAFSA HAHAHA

I haven't applied for FAFSA because all they can really give are loans for graduate school. I'll probably apply for it if I get interviews. 

[Aghhhhh]

Just an aside--but it's so strange when applications require you to put more than one faculty member you'd be interested in working with. Especially when no other faculty is conducting similar research ?

[psy2020]

2 hours ago, Schy said:

Last year my GRE scores were V: 148 Q: 142 and AW: 4 and I got one interview where they later on wait-listed me. And it was the only school I applied to. I also had less than a year of research experience. However my research matched the POI really well. This year only my V score is better and my AW score is literally a 2.5. I chose to send both scores to all the schools I'm applying. I've also gotten in touch with graduate coordinators and most of them have told me they look at applications holistically and GRE's are only one, less important piece of the app. 

What school was this if you don't mind me asking? My GRE scores are very low. 

[MuRhythms]

9 hours ago, bri j. said:

Just an aside--but it's so strange when applications require you to put more than one faculty member you'd be interested in working with. Especially when no other faculty is conducting similar research ?

Yes, I've seen this too, and what I did was to look at publications by my POI, and find collaborators from the same department.

I think that may be your best bet. Alternatively, you might list other faculty with similar research but who are not accepting this cycle.

[seeyounextyear]

Hello! I'm wondering if someone can give me an idea on if I have ANY chance at all. Here are my credentials/stats:

• I'm applying to go straight out of undergraduate
• Undergraduate School: Umass Amherst
• GPA: 3.795
• GRE: Verbal 164 (94 percentile) / Quant 159 (70 percentile) / Writing 5.0 (92 percentile)
• 1.5 years in Neurocognition and Perception Laboratory at UMass - worked extensively as RA on one project that was published but did not get authorship
• 1 additional year doing research for honors thesis that will hopefully be published with myself as first author
• 2 years as paraprofessional for kids with autism
• 4 strong letters of recommendation - 1 from thesis director, 1 from professor that I TA'd for, 2 from supervisors as a Paraprofessional (some only allow 3 letters though)
• Strong (I think) personal statements with very strong interest in specific professors research (but no DIRECT experience in those fields - my research was in auditory and language perception while I want to work with emotion regulation as it relates to psychopathology and autism)

Schools I'm applying to in order of preference based on specific PI's research:

• Yale with J.J. as PI
• UMass Boston with A.E. as PI
• UMass Amherst with A.G. as PI
• Boston University with S.H. as PI
• University of Connecticut with M.B. as PI
• Harvard with K.M. as PI
• Clark University with W.G. as PI

I'm almost done with all my applications but should I have EXTREMELY low expectations in terms of interview and offers based on my credentials? 

Thanks!

Edited November 23, 2019 by ekilgallon

[2ndTimeHopeful]

5 of my apps are still waiting on a Rec. All due on 12/1,12/3 or 12/15.  They all have 3 recs in already.  If the extra Rec isn’t submitted in time will these apps be considered complete or will I have to remove the recommender before the due date? One of the apps registered the missing Rec as waived so I’m not even sure if it can be submitted. Just want to make sure that everything is complete & can be considered by admissions but of course it’s my strongest Rec that’s missing. 

[Mel29]

22 hours ago, Schy said:

Last year my GRE scores were V: 148 Q: 142 and AW: 4 and I got one interview where they later on wait-listed me. And it was the only school I applied to. I also had less than a year of research experience. However my research matched the POI really well. This year only my V score is better and my AW score is literally a 2.5. I chose to send both scores to all the schools I'm applying. I've also gotten in touch with graduate coordinators and most of them have told me they look at applications holistically and GRE's are only one, less important piece of the app. 

Thank you Schy for bringing in hope!?my research and clinical experience does match my selected mentor’s interests highly so it is good to hear that. 

[379337933793]

Wow. I sent my official GRE reports out almost a month ago and never bothered to QC the scores received (I only took the GRE once; figured there was no room for error). 
It turns out that my schools received a reported quant percentile 2 points lower than when I log into the ETS website. Why on earth would this happen? How annoying! Obviously it won’t matter (2 point difference), but what if they had made a bigger mistake? Everyone go QC your score reports!

[Modulus]

3 hours ago, 2ndTimeHopeful said:

5 of my apps are still waiting on a Rec. All due on 12/1,12/3 or 12/15.  They all have 3 recs in already.  If the extra Rec isn’t submitted in time will these apps be considered complete or will I have to remove the recommender before the due date? One of the apps registered the missing Rec as waived so I’m not even sure if it can be submitted. Just want to make sure that everything is complete & can be considered by admissions but of course it’s my strongest Rec that’s missing. 

I would reach out to the admissions office. I had a similar situation at a school where I reported my LSAT score (from my old backup life plan but the score was stellar and the app had a box for it so why not) and they added it to the app checklist as waiting for an official report. I sent an email to check that my app was going to go through anyway (im not paying to send an unrelated bonus score). They sent me a form response but it clarified that applications would be sent on to the department as long as everything marked mandatory was in.

[Schy]

On 11/22/2019 at 5:54 PM, psy2020 said:

What school was this if you don't mind me asking? My GRE scores are very low. 

Rowan university! 

[justacigar]

1 week until the majority of clinical psychology applications are due! Ahh!

How is everyone holding up? Are you submitting early to enjoy Thanksgiving or continuing work on your materials all week? 

Last cycle, someone started a "I'm stressed out and need to vent" thread. I'll start one if people want that! Though TGC is considerably more quiet this round. 

 

[Jkid]

Just now, justacigar said:

1 week until the majority of clinical psychology applications are due! Ahh!

How is everyone holding up? Are you submitting early to enjoy Thanksgiving or continuing work on your materials all week? 

Last cycle, someone started a "I'm stressed out and need to vent" thread. I'll start one if people want that! Though TGC is considerably more quiet this round. 

 

I'm planning to submit them all before Wednesday night so I can "relax" even though that won't be the case. Almost half are submitted this far!

[Ppkitty]

On 11/23/2019 at 11:34 AM, ekilgallon said:

Hello! I'm wondering if someone can give me an idea on if I have ANY chance at all. Here are my credentials/stats:

• I'm applying to go straight out of undergraduate
• Undergraduate School: Umass Amherst
• GPA: 3.795
• GRE: Verbal 164 (94 percentile) / Quant 159 (70 percentile) / Writing 5.0 (92 percentile)
• 1.5 years in Neurocognition and Perception Laboratory at UMass - worked extensively as RA on one project that was published but did not get authorship
• 1 additional year doing research for honors thesis that will hopefully be published with myself as first author
• 2 years as paraprofessional for kids with autism
• 4 strong letters of recommendation - 1 from thesis director, 1 from professor that I TA'd for, 2 from supervisors as a Paraprofessional (some only allow 3 letters though)
• Strong (I think) personal statements with very strong interest in specific professors research (but no DIRECT experience in those fields - my research was in auditory and language perception while I want to work with emotion regulation as it relates to psychopathology and autism)

Schools I'm applying to in order of preference based on specific PI's research:

• Yale with J.J. as PI
• UMass Boston with A.E. as PI
• UMass Amherst with A.G. as PI
• Boston University with S.H. as PI
• University of Connecticut with M.B. as PI
• Harvard with K.M. as PI
• Clark University with W.G. as PI

I'm almost done with all my applications but should I have EXTREMELY low expectations in terms of interview and offers based on my credentials? 

Thanks!

These stats, particularly quant, are below average for the ivy schools you have mentioned. FIT with program can often make up for this, but since you don’t have direct experiencein the field into which you are applying/labs you want to work in, or pubs in your original study of interest, I would say the chances at programs if such a caliber are vanishingly small I’m afraid. UMass May be a better bet since you are already affiliated. My general recommendation would be to do a postbacc or paid lab manager position in your field of interest and then apply with pubs/good fit, if you’re aiming for top 10 programs.

[MaybeMaybe2020]

6 minutes ago, Ppkitty said:

These stats, particularly quant, are below average for the ivy schools you have mentioned. FIT with program can often make up for this, but since you don’t have direct experiencein the field into which you are applying/labs you want to work in, or pubs in your original study of interest, I would say the chances at programs if such a caliber are vanishingly small I’m afraid. UMass May be a better bet since you are already affiliated. My general recommendation would be to do a postbacc or paid lab manager position in your field of interest and then apply with pubs/good fit, if you’re aiming for top 10 programs.

Pretty sure Yale did away with their GRE requirement. https://gsas.yale.edu/admissions/phdmasters-application-process/standardized-testing-requirements

[EileanDonan]

1 hour ago, MaybeMaybe2020 said:

Pretty sure Yale did away with their GRE requirement. https://gsas.yale.edu/admissions/phdmasters-application-process/standardized-testing-requirements

Looks like the psych program specifically considers the GRE "optional." The question remains, is there still an unstated expectation that applicants will include theirs regardless, and will there be bias against those applicants who don't?

[Ppkitty]

8 minutes ago, EileanDonan said:

Looks like the psych program specifically considers the GRE "optional." The question remains, is there still an unstated expectation that applicants will include theirs regardless, and will there be bias against those applicants who don't?

I imagine if you had several pubs that demonstrated your quantitative skill it would be ok.

[2ndTimeHopeful]

2 hours ago, justacigar said:

1 week until the majority of clinical psychology applications are due! Ahh!

How is everyone holding up? Are you submitting early to enjoy Thanksgiving or continuing work on your materials all week? 

Last cycle, someone started a "I'm stressed out and need to vent" thread. I'll start one if people want that! Though TGC is considerably more quiet this round. 

 

Mine have all been submitted for about a month but still waiting on recs. I’d actually submit a few more but I don’t want to bother my recs any more in case I need them again for another round. 

[PsychedAboutPsych121]

Does anyone know if the SOP needs to be single or double spaced? Some of my programs state "2 to 3 pages" but do not specify double or single spaced.

 

Thanks!

[Jkid]

12 minutes ago, PsychedAboutPsych121 said:

Does anyone know if the SOP needs to be single or double spaced? Some of my programs state "2 to 3 pages" but do not specify double or single spaced.

 

Thanks!

All of my mentors have said double spaced. 

[PsychedAboutPsych121]

19 minutes ago, Macykid said:

All of my mentors have said double spaced. 

Makes sense! Just wanted to double check. 

[Clinapp2017]

44 minutes ago, Macykid said:

All of my mentors have said double spaced. 

Mine was two single-spaced and it worked out fine for me (7/10 interviews); I just cut back for the 1-2 schools that had explicitly shorter requirements. Anything beyond 2 pages single is too much. I personally find single-space easier to read for personal statements than double-space.

 

 

[PsychedAboutPsych121]

1 minute ago, Clinapp2017 said:

Mine was two single-spaced and it worked out fine for me (7/10 interviews); I just cut back for the 1-2 schools that had explicitly shorter requirements. Anything beyond 2 pages single is too much. I personally find single-space easier to read for personal statements than double-space.

 

 

May I PM you and ask what programs you applied to? 

[Clinapp2017]

1 minute ago, PsychedAboutPsych121 said:

May I PM you and ask what programs you applied to? 

I'm happy to chat over PM but I personally don't think it's relevant what programs they are because I feel globally the policy is 1-2 single or 2-3 double for most programs, unless they state explicitly otherwise. 

[PsychedAboutPsych121]

Gotcha! No worries. Sorry, I am from a really small liberal arts school and this knowledge is not as accessible to me. I really appreciate your help! Thank you!

[Aghhhhh]

Anyone else still waiting on an LOR? Most of my deadlines are Dec 1st, which is exactly a week from now, and I'm waiting on my 3rd letter writer to submit hers (she's probably gonna be my strongest, too). I'm just super worried because Thanksgiving is on Thursday and the deadline is on Sunday, so she might end up forgetting in the midst of holiday stuff. And if she does end up forgetting, it's on a Sunday and I have absolutely no opportunity to frantically remind her in person...

I'm just gonna keep my fingers crossed, and hope that she submits them on time! It's so unfortunate that the deadline had to be on a weekend!