2020 Clinical Psychology Canadian Applicants

[psyc2020]

I am completing the CGS-M form and I was wondering in what context they are referring to when they ask for faculty within selecting the 3 school options? 

[SoundofSilence]

Hello all,

It's a little quiet around here, hope all your apps are going well

For those familiar with Ottawa's application - how long did it take you to get access to uoZone portal? I finished the first part (and paid the fee) last week and I still haven't received the email to access the uoZone where I'm supposed to upload the supporting documents.

Thanks!

[SweetPotato589]

Hey everyone! I'm applying to a little list of Canadian schools as an international candidate to clinical programs- I would love to know if anyone can identify their non-international friendly schools (for now, I've contacted P.I.s and been straightforward about my status- they've been open about their ability to accept or not international students).

On 11/11/2019 at 7:00 PM, SoundofSilence said:

Hello all,

It's a little quiet around here, hope all your apps are going well

For those familiar with Ottawa's application - how long did it take you to get access to uoZone portal? I finished the first part (and paid the fee) last week and I still haven't received the email to access the uoZone where I'm supposed to upload the supporting documents.

Thanks!

I'm applying to Ottawa and haven't quite gotten here yet because I'm still working on getting my personal statement into good shape. I will be going through this step tomorrow or this weekend, so I can let you know ASAP- maybe you can contact their grad admissions advisor (some of the programs have them?). I would love to know what answer you get.

So this question doesn't get lost: does anyone have a length for the personal statement at McGill? I've not found any designated length for it. If not, does anyone who already got in somewhere have some advice on a good length for a personal statement with no length guidelines?

Thanks and I hope everyone is surviving this stressful time! 

[SoundofSilence]

On 11/15/2019 at 12:58 AM, LJN said:

Hey everyone! I'm applying to a little list of Canadian schools as an international candidate to clinical programs- I would love to know if anyone can identify their non-international friendly schools (for now, I've contacted P.I.s and been straightforward about my status- they've been open about their ability to accept or not international students).

I'm applying to Ottawa and haven't quite gotten here yet because I'm still working on getting my personal statement into good shape. I will be going through this step tomorrow or this weekend, so I can let you know ASAP- maybe you can contact their grad admissions advisor (some of the programs have them?). I would love to know what answer you get.

So this question doesn't get lost: does anyone have a length for the personal statement at McGill? I've not found any designated length for it. If not, does anyone who already got in somewhere have some advice on a good length for a personal statement with no length guidelines?

Thanks and I hope everyone is surviving this stressful time! 

Hello,

I finally received access but it took over 10 days, maybe there were technical issues. 

Please note that you don't need to have your statement ready to apply to Ottawa - you first submit a general application with your information (name, education, etc.), pay the fee, and then you get access to the place where you upload the statement. Hope this helps! 

[UWOclinpsych]

New to these threads, so hey! 

Question for you folks...is it a deal breaker to not apply for CGS at all? As far as I know current applicants who haven't started grad school yet very rarely receive these awards and I'm not even sure what you'd be expected to write in a research proposal anyways given that you haven't started working in the research group you are applying to. Since if you're applying to more than 3 schools you than there'd be some schools who you'd have to answer "no" to the question of have you applied for external funding, I would assume you could get away with it? It just seems like an extraordinary amount of work in an already hectic process for something that is very unlikely to materialize. Is it more just about that it looks good to potential supervisors that you took the intitiative to apply for grants?

Edited November 16, 2019 by UWOclinpsych

[PsycUndergrad]

32 minutes ago, UWOclinpsych said:

New to these threads, so hey! 

Question for you folks...is it a deal breaker to not apply for CGS at all? As far as I know current applicants who haven't started grad school yet very rarely receive these awards and I'm not even sure what you'd be expected to write in a research proposal anyways given that you haven't started working in the research group you are applying to. Since if you're applying to more than 3 schools you than there'd be some schools who you'd have to answer "no" to the question of have you applied for external funding, I would assume you could get away with it? It just seems like an extraordinary amount of work in an already hectic process for something that is very unlikely to materialize. Is it more just about that it looks good to potential supervisors that you took the intitiative to apply for grants?

Apply!! Many incoming grad students get the award. You can write about whatever you want because there’s no expectation you’ll actually complete the project.

Most importantly, it makes you look much more attractive to programs since there’s a chance that you’ll be bringing your own funding and saving them money. It’s a good way to show your top choice programs that you’re a serious applicant. I’ve also seen situations in which the CGS-M was the deciding factor on who to admit, so it’s always good to do everything possible to improve your application.

Edited November 16, 2019 by PsycUndergrad

[foood]

A few of the POIs I am applying to indicated in their email that applicants are expected to apply for CGS-M. All of the Canadian application portals that I have an application in asks me if I applied to external funding and a few specifically asks about the CGSM. Although it doesn't ask if I listed them down, I assume that that is also what they are asking? Since CGSM changed it to let us put down only 3 schools rather than 5, is everyone indicating that they did not apply for CGSM on the application portals of the schools that they did not list down on the CGSM?

x.x
 

Edited November 19, 2019 by foood
clarity

[springxsummer]

On 11/18/2019 at 5:28 PM, foood said:

A few of the POIs I am applying to indicated in their email that applicants are expected to apply for CGS-M. All of the Canadian application portals that I have an application in asks me if I applied to external funding and a few specifically asks about the CGSM. Although it doesn't ask if I listed them down, I assume that that is also what they are asking? Since CGSM changed it to let us put down only 3 schools rather than 5, is everyone indicating that they did not apply for CGSM on the application portals of the schools that they did not list down on the CGSM?

x.x
 

It's a shame we can only list 3. I am unfortunately indicating no for the schools that I did not select, since I have not applied for funding for those schools and would not receive it were I admitted.

 

[SoundofSilence]

13 hours ago, springxsummer said:

It's a shame we can only list 3. I am unfortunately indicating no for the schools that I did not select, since I have not applied for funding for those schools and would not receive it were I admitted.

 

To how many places are people applying (in Canada)? I had 4 programs last year, all rejections, and somehow I feel this year I need to apply to at least 6+ to increase chances for an interview. What do you guys&gals think?

[foood]

2 hours ago, SoundofSilence said:

To how many places are people applying (in Canada)? I had 4 programs last year, all rejections, and somehow I feel this year I need to apply to at least 6+ to increase chances for an interview. What do you guys&gals think?

This year, I am applying to 6 schools--all of which are to specific supervisors that I really want to work with. Last cycle, I applied to roughly the same number of schools but included some back up schools--ended up declining the one offer I got (which was from a back up school). So I guess it depends on whether you just want to get into a clinical program or if you have a specific area of research/training you want. Sometimes you might find that your interests match better with a back up school, so it might be worth the extra money 

[springxsummer]

6 hours ago, SoundofSilence said:

To how many places are people applying (in Canada)? I had 4 programs last year, all rejections, and somehow I feel this year I need to apply to at least 6+ to increase chances for an interview. What do you guys&gals think?

I applied to the same number last year. This year I'm applying to 6 total. I wanted to do more, but felt that my applications would suffer if I spread myself to thin— that may not be true of everyone.

Edited November 21, 2019 by springxsummer

[SoundofSilence]

Thank you both for your input!

So it seems around 6 is a good mean, that's good to know. Applications do take a lot out of you so it makes sense not to apply to too many. Also it's been sort of difficult finding many more matches for research. I have 6 schools on my list that I am really interested in, and a couple of maybe-matches, from which I will pick one or two. Hopefully it will be enough. Fingers crossed

[a display name]

Hey everyone! For those of you that applied to Ryerson, how long did it take for you to receive the email with instructions on how to upload documents after submitting your application through OUAC? Thanks guys!

[springxsummer]

On 11/11/2019 at 9:23 AM, psyc2020 said:

I am completing the CGS-M form and I was wondering in what context they are referring to when they ask for faculty within selecting the 3 school options? 

Question: what do you mean? I don't recall having to select any faculty when I chose my three schools. I applied for SHHRC, so perhaps it varies depending on the funding agency (?)

Edited November 25, 2019 by springxsummer

[psyc2020]

On 11/24/2019 at 11:36 PM, springxsummer said:

Question: what do you mean? I don't recall having to select any faculty when I chose my three schools. I applied for SHHRC, so perhaps it varies depending on the funding agency (?)

For the CGS-M application through the NSERC Portal, under the identification section you are to choose 3 proposed host organizations. To identify these, you have to choose the organization (drop down menu), faculty (text box), and the Department/Division (drop down menu). So I am wondering in what context they are referring to for "faculty." 

Example

Organization: The University of Toronto

Faculty: (?)

Department/Division: Applied Psychology and Human Development

[BobbyB]

21 minutes ago, psyc2020 said:

For the CGS-M application through the NSERC Portal, under the identification section you are to choose 3 proposed host organizations. To identify these, you have to choose the organization (drop down menu), faculty (text box), and the Department/Division (drop down menu). So I am wondering in what context they are referring to for "faculty." 

Example

Organization: The University of Toronto

Faculty: (?)

Department/Division: Applied Psychology and Human Development

I and other students in my current lab interpreted "Faculty" to be like "Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences" or "Faculty of Education", because most applications require you to apply to 2 or 3 faculty members (staff) but to one faculty (group of departments that the department you are specifically applying to falls under). Particularly because the funding is specific to you and the institution, and not to your supervisor of interest.

For example, applying to the Clinical Psychology program at UBC, you would be under the Faculty of Arts. For the SCCP program at the University of Alberta, it would be the Faculty of Education. This is how my supervisor and other students interpreted it, and several of us were awarded it last year. 

[PsycUndergrad]

7 minutes ago, BobbyB said:

I and other students in my current lab interpreted "Faculty" to be like "Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences" or "Faculty of Education", because most applications require you to apply to 2 or 3 faculty members (staff) but to one faculty (group of departments that the department you are specifically applying to falls under). Particularly because the funding is specific to you and the institution, and not to your supervisor of interest.

For example, applying to the Clinical Psychology program at UBC, you would be under the Faculty of Arts. For the SCCP program at the University of Alberta, it would be the Faculty of Education. This is how my supervisor and other students interpreted it, and several of us were awarded it last year. 

Same here. The faculty is the intermediate level between institution and department. 

[Cascadia]

Can anyone shed some light on how much it can potentially hurt an application to put, "not applying for funding" ?

I'm applying to 8 programs, that means for 5 of them I've had to indicate that I'm not applying for funding. 

I feel like this makes it glaringly obvious that (a) you don't care enough to apply for funding, or (b) that the school is not one of your top picks.

How is everyone else approaching this?

 

Edited November 27, 2019 by Cascadia

[springxsummer]

4 hours ago, Cascadia said:

Can anyone shed some light on how much it can potentially hurt an application to put, "not applying for funding" ?

I'm applying to 8 programs, that means for 5 of them I've had to indicate that I'm not applying for funding. 

I feel like this makes it glaringly obvious that (a) you don't care enough to apply for funding, or (b) that the school is not one of your top picks.

How is everyone else approaching this?

 

I feel you. I can't speak for clinical, but for counselling most students will not have applied.

[springxsummer]

On 11/26/2019 at 9:49 AM, psyc2020 said:

For the CGS-M application through the NSERC Portal, under the identification section you are to choose 3 proposed host organizations. To identify these, you have to choose the organization (drop down menu), faculty (text box), and the Department/Division (drop down menu). So I am wondering in what context they are referring to for "faculty." 

Example

Organization: The University of Toronto

Faculty: (?)

Department/Division: Applied Psychology and Human Development

I also interpretted this as the other posters did.

[PsycUndergrad]

13 hours ago, Cascadia said:

Can anyone shed some light on how much it can potentially hurt an application to put, "not applying for funding" ?

I'm applying to 8 programs, that means for 5 of them I've had to indicate that I'm not applying for funding. 

I feel like this makes it glaringly obvious that (a) you don't care enough to apply for funding, or (b) that the school is not one of your top picks.

How is everyone else approaching this?

 

You could apply to OGS for Ontario schools and save CGS-M for non-Ontario schools? Unless you only apply within Ontario. 
 

Its crazy that they only let you list 3 schools (was 5 until last year). As schools get used to this change, I would expect that the importance of applying for funding will decrease since most people apply to more than 3 schools.

[Cascadia]

13 hours ago, springxsummer said:

I feel you. I can't speak for clinical, but for counselling most students will not have applied.

Hi springxsummer! are you applying to counselling programs as well? 

What schools are you applying to this year?

[springxsummer]

2 hours ago, Cascadia said:

Hi springxsummer! are you applying to counselling programs as well? 

What schools are you applying to this year?

Hello  I'm mostly applying to counselling programs and one clinical program.  I'm applying to the University of Calgary, the University of Alberta (course and thesis-based programs), The University of New Brunswick, and Trinity Western University. I also applied to Simon Fraser's Clinical MA... while I have fairly strong research experience and decent GRE scores, I don't have an honors thesis or publications, so I expect that one to be a no! 

What schools are you applying to?

Edited November 28, 2019 by springxsummer

[Cascadia]

On 11/28/2019 at 11:48 AM, springxsummer said:

Hello  I'm mostly applying to counselling programs and one clinical program.  I'm applying to the University of Calgary, the University of Alberta (course and thesis-based programs), The University of New Brunswick, and Trinity Western University. I also applied to Simon Fraser's Clinical MA... while I have fairly strong research experience and decent GRE scores, I don't have an honors thesis or publications, so I expect that one to be a no! 

What schools are you applying to?

Oh nice! You never know, depending on your research experience it could be just as competitive as an honours thesis!

I am only applying to clinical psychology programs at UBCO, UBCV, UVIC, SFU UofC, Waterloo, McGill, Dalhousie. I thought about counselling programs as well, but I don't have the prerequisite courses to apply for most programs. 

Best of luck to you! 

I surprised it is so quiet on here... the 2019 thread  was quite active. Where is everyone applying?

[Dylia]

On 12/2/2019 at 10:12 AM, Cascadia said:

Oh nice! You never know, depending on your research experience it could be just as competitive as an honours thesis!

I am only applying to clinical psychology programs at UBCO, UBCV, UVIC, SFU UofC, Waterloo, McGill, Dalhousie. I thought about counselling programs as well, but I don't have the prerequisite courses to apply for most programs. 

Best of luck to you! 

I surprised it is so quiet on here... the 2019 thread  was quite active. Where is everyone applying?

I am surprised by that too! It used to be really active last time I applied. I am applying to clinical programs at UVic, SFU, UofC, Waterloo, York, and Queen's!