2020 Clinical Psychology Canadian Applicants

[chopper.wife]

6 hours ago, LJN said:

Hi all,

I hope you're holding out in the craziness of the times. For those of you in or near programs- are there any *real* whispers of the 2020 school year being delayed actually going around? Can you give us an update on this forum if yes?

As an international student (sitting in quarantine here in France....), it's pretty impossible to plan your future, like getting plane tickets, selling furniture, getting rid of your apartment, etc. for the moment....  Happy Wednesday everyone, in any case!

I can't speak for all schools but I would imagine most will not delay the school year and just move everything online. That is what my university has done for almost all graduate courses.

I can totally see how it would be stressful as an international student. If possible, I would reach out to your supervisor who you will be working with and ask if they have any information about plans for September. They should have a better idea and should (assuming they are decent supervisors!) be able to help ease your concerns by keeping you up-to-date. Good luck and stay positive!

[AnnaSonia27]

Hi folks,

I recently discovered that I am an alternate for Dalhousie and Lakehead CIHR CGS-M funding. I was not accepted to either of these schools unfortunately. I'm just a bit confused about the process and I'm wondering if someone would enlighten me. I'm wondering how I can be placed as an alternate for funding to schools that I was not even accepted to? Hypothetically, if I were to receive funding, would I even be eligible to receive it? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

[sparrow123]

8 minutes ago, AnnaSonia27 said:

Hi folks,

I recently discovered that I am an alternate for Dalhousie and Lakehead CIHR CGS-M funding. I was not accepted to either of these schools unfortunately. I'm just a bit confused about the process and I'm wondering if someone would enlighten me. I'm wondering how I can be placed as an alternate for funding to schools that I was not even accepted to? Hypothetically, if I were to receive funding, would I even be eligible to receive it? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

So I believe this means that you are an alternate for the CGS scholarship only. It is a completely separate process from the admissions process. You can receive a CGS without being admitted to a program. I think if you received it, you wouldn't be able to accept it since you were not admitted to those schools. You could possibly inform them if you did receive it, but I have no idea if it would change anything on their end. From my knowledge, it's pretty common to be listed as an alternate for this competition. My husband was listed as an alternate both years he applied and he did not end up receiving it. But this is just anecdotal, maybe someone else has better information than that!

[AnnaSonia27]

Just now, sparrow123 said:

So I believe this means that you are an alternate for the CGS scholarship only. It is a completely separate process from the admissions process. You can receive a CGS without being admitted to a program. I think if you received it, you wouldn't be able to accept it since you were not admitted to those schools. You could possibly inform them if you did receive it, but I have no idea if it would change anything on their end. From my knowledge, it's pretty common to be listed as an alternate for this competition. My husband was listed as an alternate both years he applied and he did not end up receiving it. But this is just anecdotal, maybe someone else has better information than that!

Okay, good to know. Thank you so much for the clarification! ?

[psych_kid]

I'm wondering how people are wording follow up emails to professors they were not accepted to work with - I want to get their feedback on what to improve for the next round of applications and have an email drafted but just wanted to see what other people have said! Thanks. 

[Mickey26]

8 hours ago, sparrow123 said:

So I believe this means that you are an alternate for the CGS scholarship only. It is a completely separate process from the admissions process. You can receive a CGS without being admitted to a program. I think if you received it, you wouldn't be able to accept it since you were not admitted to those schools. You could possibly inform them if you did receive it, but I have no idea if it would change anything on their end. From my knowledge, it's pretty common to be listed as an alternate for this competition. My husband was listed as an alternate both years he applied and he did not end up receiving it. But this is just anecdotal, maybe someone else has better information than that!

This is correct. The CGS decisions are completed separate from the admissions decisions (which is department based). These two do not communicate with each other, so you can be offered a CGS-M without being offered a spot in the program. That being said, I do know of students who received a CGS-M award, and notified their departments of their acceptance, and were subsequently admitted to the program. It is entirely possible!

[AnnaSonia27]

12 hours ago, Mickey26 said:

This is correct. The CGS decisions are completed separate from the admissions decisions (which is department based). These two do not communicate with each other, so you can be offered a CGS-M without being offered a spot in the program. That being said, I do know of students who received a CGS-M award, and notified their departments of their acceptance, and were subsequently admitted to the program. It is entirely possible!

Thank you so much for the info! That is great to hear, I know it would be a long shot but it's nice to have some hope during this very stressful process. ?

[PsychGirl2]

I was wondering whether anyone would recommend still writing that you were offered CGSM on your CV but declined the offer (because I was not admitted to the actual school/program)? Is there a certain way to word this? Thanks!

[Yeye]

On 4/19/2020 at 4:59 PM, PsychGirl2 said:

I was wondering whether anyone would recommend still writing that you were offered CGSM on your CV but declined the offer (because I was not admitted to the actual school/program)? Is there a certain way to word this? Thanks!

Absolutely! It shows that your application is deserving of funding. You just list it like you would any award, but put "(declined)" at the end.

[Mickey26]

On 4/8/2020 at 4:29 AM, LJN said:

Hi all,

I hope you're holding out in the craziness of the times. For those of you in or near programs- are there any *real* whispers of the 2020 school year being delayed actually going around? Can you give us an update on this forum if yes?

As an international student (sitting in quarantine here in France....), it's pretty impossible to plan your future, like getting plane tickets, selling furniture, getting rid of your apartment, etc. for the moment....  Happy Wednesday everyone, in any case!

"We do not expect a return to face-to-face teaching for at least the fall term; winter term may see resumption only of smaller classes. (Note this does not mean campus will not reopen for Fall; we hope to see a return to work and reopening of labs in ways that allow safety and physical distancing, while avoiding packing large numbers of students tightly into classrooms.) This means that individually, and as a department, we need to start thinking about how to offer our curriculum in an online format for at least this fall."

Dalhousie Uni Email from the Chair of the Psych and Neuro Department

[springxsummer]

On 4/23/2020 at 7:59 AM, Yeye said:

Absolutely! It shows that your application is deserving of funding. You just list it like you would any award, but put "(declined)" at the end.

What about if you were offered for a couple schools and declined the one you were not attending? Is there any benefit to adding the declined offer there or would it just be redundant?

[LJN]

On 4/25/2020 at 12:26 AM, Mickey26 said:

"We do not expect a return to face-to-face teaching for at least the fall term; winter term may see resumption only of smaller classes. (Note this does not mean campus will not reopen for Fall; we hope to see a return to work and reopening of labs in ways that allow safety and physical distancing, while avoiding packing large numbers of students tightly into classrooms.) This means that individually, and as a department, we need to start thinking about how to offer our curriculum in an online format for at least this fall."

Dalhousie Uni Email from the Chair of the Psych and Neuro Department

Wow! Okay. This is (good) news? I'm at least happy that you're getting some responses on your end, and I think Dalhousie is making a responsible decision. It seems like if we all start classes in real life, there's a huge chance we'll find ourselves back in quarantines within one or two months, so we'll be doing the same thing in, say, November..... except this time, we'll have to say we saw it coming and chose not to change our behavior.... 

I know that discussions are underway on our end and we'll have news at some point, at least....

[Mickey26]

8 hours ago, LJN said:

Wow! Okay. This is (good) news? I'm at least happy that you're getting some responses on your end, and I think Dalhousie is making a responsible decision. It seems like if we all start classes in real life, there's a huge chance we'll find ourselves back in quarantines within one or two months, so we'll be doing the same thing in, say, November..... except this time, we'll have to say we saw it coming and chose not to change our behavior.... 

I know that discussions are underway on our end and we'll have news at some point, at least....

Yes I 100% agree its a good call and I think it's great their letting us know this in advance. I personally haven't heard any news from other unis so hopefully soon! Fingers crossed

[sparrow123]

Just adding some info, York said that they are expecting September to be online and will hopefully transition to in person classes in October. 

Edited May 4, 2020 by sparrow123

[YasminAR]

Hi there!

I am hoping to get into a Clinical Psychology PhD Program in Canada. With regard to GPA, does anyone know how strict admissions is with whether or not you had a full course load? I would like to take a couple (1-2) courses this summer to boost my GPA but am wondering if it will help since that'd only be considered part time?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Thank you,

Yasmin

 

[Mickey26]

5 hours ago, YasminAR said:

Hi there!

I am hoping to get into a Clinical Psychology PhD Program in Canada. With regard to GPA, does anyone know how strict admissions is with whether or not you had a full course load? I would like to take a couple (1-2) courses this summer to boost my GPA but am wondering if it will help since that'd only be considered part time?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Thank you,

Yasmin

 

Hi Yasmin, I'm not aware of Clin Psych Programs in Canada that care about whether you took full-time or part time (I think thats really only medical school). They just look at your last 20 courses to calculate your GPA for admissions. Good luck!  

[YasminAR]

20 hours ago, Mickey26 said:

Hi Yasmin, I'm not aware of Clin Psych Programs in Canada that care about whether you took full-time or part time (I think thats really only medical school). They just look at your last 20 courses to calculate your GPA for admissions. Good luck!  

Thank you so much do you know anywhere on the CPA guidelines that could confirm this? I just haven't seen that yet and I'd just like to be extra sure. If not, no worries

[Mickey26]

25 minutes ago, YasminAR said:

Thank you so much do you know anywhere on the CPA guidelines that could confirm this? I just haven't seen that yet and I'd just like to be extra sure. If not, no worries

Given its related to admissions (and not related to say, accreditation of programs), I don't think it would be a CPA guideline, but rather, a university level thing. So I would double check with each program you're applying to. Again, I'm not aware theres a clin psych program in Canada with those requirements. Additionally, when I was doing my research on clin psych programs (some programs more thoroughly), I did not come across that. But it doesn't hurt to check!

[leon37]

Hi All! If there's anyone from the incoming UCalgary Clinical cohort that wants to connect PM me! It would be nice to get to know each other before classes start in the fall ?

[Chebben]

On 5/5/2020 at 3:53 PM, YasminAR said:

Hi there!

I am hoping to get into a Clinical Psychology PhD Program in Canada. With regard to GPA, does anyone know how strict admissions is with whether or not you had a full course load? I would like to take a couple (1-2) courses this summer to boost my GPA but am wondering if it will help since that'd only be considered part time?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Thank you,

Yasmin

 

Just to add on, I got accepted to clinical psychology in Canada and the majority of my last two year credits were not in a standard full courseload (5 courses per semester).It's possible they may consider why you took fewer courses, but it helped in my case that I had experience in  8 labs by the time I graduated so I was able to speak about that in my interviews when speaking about my undergraduate experience. Of course you don't need to have worked in 8 labs to get into clin psych but I think it's helpful to say you focused on research and academic work, as that will be very similar to your schedule in an actual grad program. Essentially, even if you don't have a full course schedule it's helpful to say you had a full schedule anyway. 

[gradlady]

Has anyone heard about the results for OGS from York University or know when the results will be released?

[Quicksilver25]

Have any incoming students to UCalgary (clinical OR experimental) heard any concrete news about course delivery in the fall, or funding or TA-ships?

Edited May 27, 2020 by Quicksilver25

[sparrow123]

On 5/21/2020 at 2:58 PM, gradlady said:

Has anyone heard about the results for OGS from York University or know when the results will be released?

I just heard back this morning that I received one.

On 5/27/2020 at 3:12 PM, Quicksilver25 said:

Have any incoming students to UCalgary (clinical OR experimental) heard any concrete news about course delivery in the fall, or funding or TA-ships?

I'm a former grad student there and I still get the emails meant for grad students. The department head sent an email a few weeks ago saying that all graduate classes will be held online in the fall, with the "only potential exception involves labs in our first-year assessment classes in the clinical psychology program". Haven't gotten any emails about TA-ships, but in the past we weren't emailed about that until June/July.

[Now What]

My supervisor is expecting me to move to the city where I'm accepted into the program although all classes will be online for the first semester. Is ayone else expected to move? I thought I would be staying put and relocating for next seemester, if thing with Covid have settled down.

[Mickey26]

15 hours ago, Now What said:

My supervisor is expecting me to move to the city where I'm accepted into the program although all classes will be online for the first semester. Is ayone else expected to move? I thought I would be staying put and relocating for next seemester, if thing with Covid have settled down.

I'd check with your department re: if classes are 100% online. Given clin psyh cohorts are usually small, I've aware that at least 2 unis are trying to make those classes in-person (but in a large lecture hall to meet social distancing measures). 

I'm heading into my 2nd year and I will be relocating across Canada to be at my institution. 3 hr timezone diff is a bit too much in terms of 830am/530am classes as well as scheduling meetings.