Fall 2020 Clinical & Counseling PhD/PsyD

[2ndTimeHopeful]

2 hours ago, clincal_j said:

Is there anyone who is applying for the second/third time? What was the biggest reason you think you didn't get it, and what are you doing differently this year?

This is my 3rd try. First time was right out of college. No luck no interviews. 2nd try was right out of MS program & I got 2 interviews but no offers. This time I have been working in a top research lab, have amazing recommendations, have the masters degree & a BCBA license. I don’t know what more I can do if it doesn’t work out this time. 

[rainydaychai]

2 hours ago, clincal_j said:

Is there anyone who is applying for the second/third time? What was the biggest reason you think you didn't get it, and what are you doing differently this year?

Me, for the second time!

I applied to eight schools while completing my undergraduate degree last year. I did get one acceptance but similar to others' stories, it was partially funded and I don't want to go into debt. I did receive interviews for 4/8 programs so I don't necessary think it was a specific aspect holding me back - there were just so many qualified applicants and it was hard to complete with individuals who had 1 or more years of post-bacc work while still an undergrad. I secured a post-bacc research coordinator position myself in June in exactly the same area I want to go into (clinical forensic) and have definitely beefed up my CV with a few more conference presentations and many new skills. Good luck to everyone!

[optimisticapplicant]

Has anyone else come across the following question in a lot of their apps? "If we are unable to offer you admission with clinical training, would you be interested in being admitted to the program for research training only?".

I'm worried about what I should say, I REALLY want to get into a clinical program but I'd rather get into something than nothing. If I say yes will that negatively effect my chances of getting into a clinical program? (meaning they think I'm not as serious about clinical)

Edited November 9, 2019 by optimisticapplicant

[Clinapp2017]

5 minutes ago, optimisticapplicant said:

Has anyone else come across the following question in a lot of their apps? "If we are unable to offer you admission with clinical training, would you be interested in being admitted to the program for research training only?".

I'm worried about what I should say, I REALLY want to get into a clinical program but I'd rather get into something than nothing. If I say yes will that negatively effect my chances of getting into a clinical program? (meaning they think I'm not as serious about clinical)

That's just a way for programs to grow their cash-cow masters' degree programs from the applicants who are ultimately not admitted. I would not think too much of marking that response one way or the other (it's not a test). 

[2ndTimeHopeful]

Dilemma of the day. One of my apps is due on Friday & is missing a recommendation. It only allows 3 requests. I have 4 recommenders. Do I delete the one that’s missing & add my 4th reference to the app? Do I send the reminder & wait & if so how long do I wait? The recommender has done more than half of them & the rest aren’t due till 12/1 so I’m not worried about those yet. 

[PsychWannabee]

On 11/10/2019 at 9:07 AM, 2ndTimeHopeful said:

Dilemma of the day. One of my apps is due on Friday & is missing a recommendation. It only allows 3 requests. I have 4 recommenders. Do I delete the one that’s missing & add my 4th reference to the app? Do I send the reminder & wait & if so how long do I wait? The recommender has done more than half of them & the rest aren’t due till 12/1 so I’m not worried about those yet. 

I would suggest you wait. When I applied, I had one recommender submit most of their letters on the due date. Stressful? Yes, but the recommendations got in. I think a reminder email a couple days before should suffice. Good luck with the admission cycle!

[CowpokeMT]

On 11/10/2019 at 10:07 AM, 2ndTimeHopeful said:

Dilemma of the day. One of my apps is due on Friday & is missing a recommendation. It only allows 3 requests. I have 4 recommenders. Do I delete the one that’s missing & add my 4th reference to the app? Do I send the reminder & wait & if so how long do I wait? The recommender has done more than half of them & the rest aren’t due till 12/1 so I’m not worried about those yet. 

 

10 hours ago, PsychWannabee said:

I would suggest you wait. When I applied, I had one recommender submit most of their letters on the due date. Stressful? Yes, but the recommendations got in. I think a reminder email a couple days before should suffice. Good luck with the admission cycle!

I second that. Professor could have very different work styles and schedules, and some just prefer to wait until deadlines are getting close. I saw in your earlier posts that this professor was aware of your requests for recommendation, so I would suggest you to trust this person. But sending in another email reminder or making a phone call should give you some more assurance. No matter how severely someone procrastinates, they must have learned to strictly follow deadlines to get their PhD in the first place. 

[applicant17]

Anyone else having problems with the George Washington University letter of rec system? It isn't working for any of my recommenders. 

[2ndTimeHopeful]

7 hours ago, CowpokeMT said:

 

I second that. Professor could have very different work styles and schedules, and some just prefer to wait until deadlines are getting close. I saw in your earlier posts that this professor was aware of your requests for recommendation, so I would suggest you to trust this person. But sending in another email reminder or making a phone call should give you some more assurance. No matter how severely someone procrastinates, they must have learned to strictly follow deadlines to get their PhD in the first place. 

The one that’s due friday is done!! The rest aren’t due for 2 weeks & all of them already have 3 recs on file so I’m in good shape for all my apps to be complete on time. 

[CowpokeMT]

1 hour ago, 2ndTimeHopeful said:

The one that’s due friday is done!! The rest aren’t due for 2 weeks & all of them already have 3 recs on file so I’m in good shape for all my apps to be complete on time. 

Woot woot what a relief!

[379337933793]

Does anyone know if Rutgers and Stony Brook require official transcripts for Clinical PhD admissions? 
 

edit for clarity

Edited November 13, 2019 by tomatotomahto

[justacigar]

32 minutes ago, tomatotomahto said:

Does anyone know if Rutgers and Stony Brook require official transcripts for Clinical PhD admissions? 
 

edit for clarity

SUNY Stony Brook I'm assuming? I have it listed as unofficial but I remember it being difficult to find that information. Not sure where I saw that ?

[379337933793]

9 minutes ago, justacigar said:

SUNY Stony Brook I'm assuming? I have it listed as unofficial but I remember it being difficult to find that information. Not sure where I saw that ?

Yes, SUNY Stony Brook. I have it in my program tracker with “transcript needed: yes?” 

I went ahead and sent Rutgers my official transcript; what’s another $20 for my piece of mind? 

 

[foood]

3 hours ago, tomatotomahto said:

Does anyone know if Rutgers and Stony Brook require official transcripts for Clinical PhD admissions? 
 

edit for clarity

I emailed the grad admin in the psyc department at Rutgers and she said they will count my uploaded transcript as completed. I would send her an email for your peace of mind, she seems really nice

Note: I uploaded my official rather than sending a hard copy. They will likely require a hard copy of you accept an offer, though

Edited November 13, 2019 by foood
Clarity

[Mel29]

Hello everyone!

I am just completing the application process. As of now, I’m just waiting for recommenders to upload their letters. I’m only applying to two school for now (I don’t want to leave my city): UMiami and Florida International University. Both have good solid clinical psych programs, however, I have low GRE scores... like very low. My GPA is 3.91 and I have extensive clinical and research experience, but I’m worried about not passing the cutoff because of the GRE.

[Romedy]

55 minutes ago, Mel29 said:

Hello everyone!

I am just completing the application process. As of now, I’m just waiting for recommenders to upload their letters. I’m only applying to two school for now (I don’t want to leave my city): UMiami and Florida International University. Both have good solid clinical psych programs, however, I have low GRE scores... like very low. My GPA is 3.91 and I have extensive clinical and research experience, but I’m worried about not passing the cutoff because of the GRE.

GRE scores are only a part of the process, but an important one. In my experience, name recognition is a good way to combat low GRE scores. By name recognition, I mean getting in contact with potential mentors and their labs so they know the name on the application and, further, want to interview you. You can also address low GRE scores in your personal statement. Make sure that your provide an explanation and not an excuse if you do this. It may be too late to retake the GRE for this cycle, so (for now) avoid talking about retaking the exam.

Ultimately, you want a potential POI to want to interview you. Sending an email (Just wanted to make sure you are accepting a student for the Fall of 2020) and briefly explaining your interest in their lab (specifically how your ideas extend their research) seems like a good bet. Ideally, you'll start an email chain and pique your POIs interest.

Hope this helps, and best of luck!

[Mel29]

1 hour ago, Romedy said:

GRE scores are only a part of the process, but an important one. In my experience, name recognition is a good way to combat low GRE scores. By name recognition, I mean getting in contact with potential mentors and their labs so they know the name on the application and, further, want to interview you. You can also address low GRE scores in your personal statement. Make sure that your provide an explanation and not an excuse if you do this. It may be too late to retake the GRE for this cycle, so (for now) avoid talking about retaking the exam.

Ultimately, you want a potential POI to want to interview you. Sending an email (Just wanted to make sure you are accepting a student for the Fall of 2020) and briefly explaining your interest in their lab (specifically how your ideas extend their research) seems like a good bet. Ideally, you'll start an email chain and pique your POIs interest.

Hope this helps, and best of luck!

I have emailed all my POI’s. The ones in UM did not reply to the emails (but at least I did a brief yet informative email about my research interests) and my research and experience really aligns with theirs, so I’m hoping they do review my application besides of my GRE. I have strong letters of recommendation and for the FIU program I know personally the POI’s and am working under their lab currently.

[absolutelynott]

On 11/8/2019 at 12:38 PM, rainydaychai said:

Me, for the second time!

I applied to eight schools while completing my undergraduate degree last year. I did get one acceptance but similar to others' stories, it was partially funded and I don't want to go into debt. I did receive interviews for 4/8 programs so I don't necessary think it was a specific aspect holding me back - there were just so many qualified applicants and it was hard to complete with individuals who had 1 or more years of post-bacc work while still an undergrad. I secured a post-bacc research coordinator position myself in June in exactly the same area I want to go into (clinical forensic) and have definitely beefed up my CV with a few more conference presentations and many new skills. Good luck to everyone!

Hi! I'm also applying to clinical forensic programs! Just out of curiosity, what schools are you applying to? I've had some trouble finding many POI's with forensic interests.

[justacigar]

On 11/13/2019 at 2:46 PM, tomatotomahto said:

Yes, SUNY Stony Brook. I have it in my program tracker with “transcript needed: yes?” 

I went ahead and sent Rutgers my official transcript; what’s another $20 for my piece of mind? 

 

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful! I'm sure they require official if accepted. You're right, better safe than sorry!! I send out my GRE scores and transcripts and still feel like something is going to go wrong ?

[NeuroPsychHopeful]

On 11/2/2019 at 6:33 PM, Pizzaiscool said:

Hi, I am new to this post. I'm curious if there are any other PsyD applicants on this thread? I just skimmed through all the posts and it seems like everyone is shooting for the PhD route. Should we start a different thread for PsyD applicants?

Here are my choices, I would love any feedback/beta on what you know and what you have heard. I am applying to MFT programs as my fall back. Thanks in advance for your 2 cents!

1. Antioch University - PsyD

2. Pacific University - PysD

3. University of Denver - PsyD

4. Wright Institute - PsyD

5. Lewis and Clark - MCFT

6. Pacific Lutheran - MFT

I am also interested in George Fox's PsyD program mostly because I would love to live in Oregon, (would also be financially helpful for me to stay in OR) but I worry that it will be too religiously focused in curriculum. 

I'm a PsyD applicant as well and was thinking the same thing about starting a different thread...

Here are the schools I'm interested in applying to (but have no idea where to start!):

1. Yeshiva University - PsyD

2. Palo Alto/Stanford Consortium - PsyD

3. Rutgers - PsyD

4. Mercer University - PsyD

I feel extremely behind in the application process, as I'm still trying to nail down recommenders and see if I can increase my GRE Quant score by retaking the test.

[2ndTimeHopeful]

People keep talking about cutoffs. I only had a 3.4 GPA undergrad but did graduate with honors in psych & an honors thesis. My graduate (masters) GPA was 3.9 & GRE’s are 161/161/4. Do you think I’ll make it through initial screening? I have impressive research experience but only 2 publications & one poster presentation. 

[rainydaychai]

8 hours ago, teenygreeny said:

Hi! I'm also applying to clinical forensic programs! Just out of curiosity, what schools are you applying to? I've had some trouble finding many POI's with forensic interests.

Hi, fellow forensic applicant! I've listed the programs I'm applying to in my signature below (it's a long list this year). Only about half of the schools have a forensic program, but I am applying to explicitly forensic-oriented supervisors. My research interests are very concentrated around the assessment of violence, particularly targeted violence, so that might change some things. Which schools are you thinking of applying to?

[MuRhythms]

On 11/12/2019 at 8:05 PM, CowpokeMT said:

 

I second that. Professor could have very different work styles and schedules, and some just prefer to wait until deadlines are getting close. I saw in your earlier posts that this professor was aware of your requests for recommendation, so I would suggest you to trust this person. But sending in another email reminder or making a phone call should give you some more assurance. No matter how severely someone procrastinates, they must have learned to strictly follow deadlines to get their PhD in the first place. 

Was going through this myself, I had a deadline due today. I sent my ref a personal e-mail a couple days ago, and sent a reminder through the portal yesterday, and the did the trick!

 

I would say don't feel shy to send reminders after 2-3 days have passed if your deadline is due that week. It could be that the person

is quite overwhelmed at the moment, and having these reminders land at a time when they could get to it may be just what you needed.

 

Best of luck to all in a similar position, I feel you

[psycstudent2018]

Anyone started interviewing? I applied to six clinical and two developmental. I've done a phone interview with one of the developmentals and have an interview with the other next week. 

[2ndTimeHopeful]

The first Clinical Deadlines I have seen are today. Which schools have already started interviewing?