Fall 2021 Clinical & Counseling PhD/PsyD

[SigmeundFraud]

Can someone post the link for the interviews forum? I'm having trouble finding it

[Maybe2021]

Just now, YONO (You only need one) said:

It definitely does not hurt to reach back out. I would follow up and just ask if they have an update and tell them you're really excited about the prospect. You deserve to hear back in a timely manner!

 

Yeah, I might email her just to reiterate my interest in the program etc. 

[justacigar]

4 minutes ago, plantgirl96 said:

Can someone post the link for the interviews forum? I'm having trouble finding it

It's pinned at the top of the psychology Forum, should be the first thread you see

[SigmeundFraud]

If my POI at UC Irvine was doing prelim interviews and has already sent out an interview invite... should i assume she's not interested in me?

[shutupsigmundfreud]

I received an email from a POI with a link to schedule a preliminary interview, however there is a message that the calendar the POI sent is unavailable. Should I wait, or is it fine for me to send an email thanking her, say I'm really excited but that the link to schedule isn't working? I feel like I'm overthinking it and it's fine but it feels strange to say that haha

[PsychApplicant2]

12 minutes ago, shutupsigmundfreud said:

I received an email from a POI with a link to schedule a preliminary interview, however there is a message that the calendar the POI sent is unavailable. Should I wait, or is it fine for me to send an email thanking her, say I'm really excited but that the link to schedule isn't working? I feel like I'm overthinking it and it's fine but it feels strange to say that haha

Absolutely email her back. How else would you schedule? Definitely not weird, it's an error on her end. It happens!

Edited December 22, 2020 by PsychApplicant2

[shutupsigmundfreud]

1 minute ago, PsychApplicant2 said:

Absolutely email her back. How else would you schedule? Definitely not weird, it's an error on her end. It happens!

Thanks haha that's what I thought! It just feels weird requesting something from her I guess? But yeah I sent her an email just letting her know the day I was planning on scheduling and that I can check the calendar again later.

[Mel29]

What do you folks usually say for the typical "Tell me about yourself." question?

[ANXIOUS_APPLICANT]

Coffee_and_Psychology96

Where did you find the CUDCP information? Also - which PI did you apply to? Any idea if they are still notifying anyone of interviews or should I cross it off the list?

[ClinPsych21]

CUDCP: https://teamup.com/ks952632ef38687f3e

[justanotherbutterfly]

Sorry if this has already been answered but does anyone have an advice on how to approach/ prepare for a preliminary interview. My POI said this interview will be done to help them decide if they want to give me an official interview invitation and that they want to talk about my interests and goals. I can talk about these two things easily (I think) but I don't know if I can talk a whole 20-30 minutes about it. Should I read more of the POIs papers? Talk about the specifics of the program? Am I over thinking this? Thanks in advance for the help!

[NotYourMothersGrad]

57 minutes ago, justanotherbutterfly said:

Sorry if this has already been answered but does anyone have an advice on how to approach/ prepare for a preliminary interview. My POI said this interview will be done to help them decide if they want to give me an official interview invitation and that they want to talk about my interests and goals. I can talk about these two things easily (I think) but I don't know if I can talk a whole 20-30 minutes about it. Should I read more of the POIs papers? Talk about the specifics of the program? Am I over thinking this? Thanks in advance for the help!

@justanotherbutterfly

I've tried to link in this reply a reddit post that I found very helpful for my first phone call interview (which went kind of rough - she asked for my research interest at the school and I said I didn't have anything specific in mind yet and would like to tailor my interests to the needs of the population in the school's state. I had 15 minutes notice for mine so the interests I gave might have been too general!). I think familiarizing yourself with the recent lab projects and publications can also help more than just reading the professor's papers. I would also look on the lab page and check on the goals of the lab students for your PI - you don't want to have a career goal that deviates significantly from what the school can provide (I didn't get a chance to do this before mine and I kind of regret it. My career goals are malleable but I think faculty like to see students who have something set in mind - usually academia is what I answer). A lot of the 30 minutes will be spread between answering questions, general banter, etc. And just be sure you have at least one question to ask them if you can, I think it shows more initiative. Good luck!

[Neuropsych2021]

1 hour ago, justanotherbutterfly said:

Sorry if this has already been answered but does anyone have an advice on how to approach/ prepare for a preliminary interview. My POI said this interview will be done to help them decide if they want to give me an official interview invitation and that they want to talk about my interests and goals. I can talk about these two things easily (I think) but I don't know if I can talk a whole 20-30 minutes about it. Should I read more of the POIs papers? Talk about the specifics of the program? Am I over thinking this? Thanks in advance for the help!

I am not a talkative person at all and was able to talk to my POI in a preliminary interview for an hour! It will be ok! Think about what you might answer to questions like "tell me about yourself," "tell me about your research experience/interests."

I would say you should just have an idea of their research focus, types of methods they use, and ask them what studies are in progress or coming up, but definitely don't need to thoroughly read all their papers - they won't quiz you on their papers but you should just be able to express that you have similar interests. Have a list of questions ready in case there is time to fill  

[justanotherbutterfly]

@Neuropsych2021 @Gavindorf Thank you both for your very insightful advice. This has eased a bit of anxiety, although I don't think I'll achieve full relaxedness until after the process is over haha. Wishing you both the best of luck this cycle and thanks again

[SigmeundFraud]

I am being asked what clinical modalities i am interested in learning... what exactly are clinical modalities? are these just evidence based treatments such as DBT?

[Mel29]

Just now, plantgirl96 said:

I am being asked what clinical modalities i am interested in learning... what exactly are clinical modalities? are these just evidence based treatments such as DBT?

“Treatment modalities, or methods of treatment, are the ways that a doctor or administrative health professional treat a patient with mental, emotional, personality disorders or dual diagnosis”.

I would say yes according to the term itself. Which university was this?

[SigmeundFraud]

3 minutes ago, Mel29 said:

“Treatment modalities, or methods of treatment, are the ways that a doctor or administrative health professional treat a patient with mental, emotional, personality disorders or dual diagnosis”.

I would say yes according to the term itself. Which university was this?

Thank you for your help! : )

I was asked to fill out a supplemental survey for Rutgers!

[PsychApplicant2]

Hey everyone! I just saw a post on SDN regarding apps this year from a faculty member. I’m going to copy and paste it here, but Here’s the link to the thread in case anyone’s interested.

“Happy holidays everyone! I’m back with some stats now that I have done a first pass on all my 2021 apps. I would say these are semi-final data as I am going to go back over things before I make interview decisions, but I wanted to at least lay eyes on all these apps before taking a break and I thought I'd share this info before the holidays in case anyone was lurking on SDN and looking for something to think about  .

Some background (hopefully sufficiently de-identified): I am junior faculty in a clinical psych PhD program at an R1 public university. The program has been APA accredited for longer than I have been alive and I think/hope it has a general reputation as being solid. Small cohorts, full funding, and no one hasn’t matched to an APA site in recent memory. We had 1 fewer person accepting apps this year vs last year and given the career stages/academic famousness () of who was and wasn’t accepting apps this year I would have expected a decrease in apps.

Overall apps were up around 50% over last year. I keep personal records on apps to my lab, so the stats below are only using those (i.e. not the full program), though I do get a disproportionate percentage of program apps (about twice what you'd expect just given # of apps/n of faculty accepting apps) so this is probably at least somewhat reflective of the pool in general. Comparisons between 2020 and 2021 assume that I am consistent in my ratings across years (which may not be correct given general 2020-ness and the big increase in volume, plus I refine my process each year I do this). Also, I should note a few people are represented in both samples because they applied to me both last year and this year, though may not have been rated the same because of changes on their end (e.g., more experience).

We use a rubric to score apps. The range for app rubric scores in typical years is roughly -20 to +30. We included points for GRE scores last year but did not accept GREs this year so I tried to correct for that by adding mean 2020 GRE points to the total 2021 rubric numbers. This is imperfect, but seems better than nothing re: comparing samples and I can’t get into a major deep dive on this right now ?. Providing a few stats that were easy to compile and seemed meaningful, plus an overall indication of the competitiveness of each pool (total rubric scores).

2020
29% with masters
33% with postbac/master’s paid research experience
13% other than non-Hispanic white
Undergrad GPA M = 3.7
Rubric points for research experience M = 2.4
Total scores on rubric M = 12.3 (for reference, the M for people I interviewed was 22.3)

2021
30% with masters
18% with postbac/master’s paid research experience
39% other than non-Hispanic white
Undergrad GPA M = 3.7
Rubric points for research experience M = 1.9
Total (adjusted with 2020 GRE M) scores on rubric M = 7.9

My takeaways, both from my app review experience and these data, indicate a higher proportion of applicants who identify as something other than non-Hispanic/Latinx white (seems good!) and also those with less research experience (less good!) this year. In fairness, I think I was harder on rating letters than I was last year in an effort to try to separate the rock stars from the generally good apps. This may have depressed total scores a little, but the research experience points and % with post-degree research employment are objective data points that point to a legitimate shift. I did not get a single app that I would classify as "I was a psych major and am now unemployed so I'll try to go to grad school" as we had hypothesized. Rather, I saw more people who were current undergrads and/or master's level clinicians who maybe had some research experience but not enough to be competitive for my lab. I get applicants like this every year, but I think there was more growth in apps from this segment than others. I did also see growth in solid applicants with great research experience, so just more of everything.

Not sure if this helps applicants feel any better- I would say that the pool is not saturated entirely with more super qualified apps, but also that it doesn't seem to be all noise either. Interested to hear what people think, and I'm happy to answer questions (within the bounds of maintaining my anonymity and not being too detailed about specific applicants or internal program processes).”

[impicklerick]

How do I find research assistant positions? I tried looking on indeed but couldn't find anything.

[EileanDonan]

19 minutes ago, impicklerick said:

How do I find research assistant positions? I tried looking on indeed but couldn't find anything.

Universities and associated medical centers are the best places to look. 

[rileyjj]

17 minutes ago, impicklerick said:

How do I find research assistant positions? I tried looking on indeed but couldn't find anything.

I found mine by looking at a university's "Career/Jobs Website." Just google desired university with "career/jobs," and you should find a webpage with a list of open RA positions that you can apply for.  

[JMJt]

Hi

How does one post their intended university, results and date for the interview etc ? 

What are the full forms of various terms posted on the below link like PI, POI etc?

To the poster who posted about Loyola University, Maryland was it a mass email?

Clinical Psychology • thegradcafe.com

Thank you!

[Neuropsych2021]

1 hour ago, impicklerick said:

How do I find research assistant positions? I tried looking on indeed but couldn't find anything.

I think I used this site a lot when I was looking for jobs a couple years ago. https://www.hercjobs.org/  You might also want to check out open positions at specific universities (though this can be a pain if you're looking all over). 

[psychapplicant21]

4 hours ago, PsychApplicant2 said:

Hey everyone! I just saw a post on SDN regarding apps this year from a faculty member. I’m going to copy and paste it here, but Here’s the link to the thread in case anyone’s interested.

“Happy holidays everyone! I’m back with some stats now that I have done a first pass on all my 2021 apps. I would say these are semi-final data as I am going to go back over things before I make interview decisions, but I wanted to at least lay eyes on all these apps before taking a break and I thought I'd share this info before the holidays in case anyone was lurking on SDN and looking for something to think about  .

Some background (hopefully sufficiently de-identified): I am junior faculty in a clinical psych PhD program at an R1 public university. The program has been APA accredited for longer than I have been alive and I think/hope it has a general reputation as being solid. Small cohorts, full funding, and no one hasn’t matched to an APA site in recent memory. We had 1 fewer person accepting apps this year vs last year and given the career stages/academic famousness () of who was and wasn’t accepting apps this year I would have expected a decrease in apps.

Overall apps were up around 50% over last year. I keep personal records on apps to my lab, so the stats below are only using those (i.e. not the full program), though I do get a disproportionate percentage of program apps (about twice what you'd expect just given # of apps/n of faculty accepting apps) so this is probably at least somewhat reflective of the pool in general. Comparisons between 2020 and 2021 assume that I am consistent in my ratings across years (which may not be correct given general 2020-ness and the big increase in volume, plus I refine my process each year I do this). Also, I should note a few people are represented in both samples because they applied to me both last year and this year, though may not have been rated the same because of changes on their end (e.g., more experience).

We use a rubric to score apps. The range for app rubric scores in typical years is roughly -20 to +30. We included points for GRE scores last year but did not accept GREs this year so I tried to correct for that by adding mean 2020 GRE points to the total 2021 rubric numbers. This is imperfect, but seems better than nothing re: comparing samples and I can’t get into a major deep dive on this right now ?. Providing a few stats that were easy to compile and seemed meaningful, plus an overall indication of the competitiveness of each pool (total rubric scores).

2020
29% with masters
33% with postbac/master’s paid research experience
13% other than non-Hispanic white
Undergrad GPA M = 3.7
Rubric points for research experience M = 2.4
Total scores on rubric M = 12.3 (for reference, the M for people I interviewed was 22.3)

2021
30% with masters
18% with postbac/master’s paid research experience
39% other than non-Hispanic white
Undergrad GPA M = 3.7
Rubric points for research experience M = 1.9
Total (adjusted with 2020 GRE M) scores on rubric M = 7.9

My takeaways, both from my app review experience and these data, indicate a higher proportion of applicants who identify as something other than non-Hispanic/Latinx white (seems good!) and also those with less research experience (less good!) this year. In fairness, I think I was harder on rating letters than I was last year in an effort to try to separate the rock stars from the generally good apps. This may have depressed total scores a little, but the research experience points and % with post-degree research employment are objective data points that point to a legitimate shift. I did not get a single app that I would classify as "I was a psych major and am now unemployed so I'll try to go to grad school" as we had hypothesized. Rather, I saw more people who were current undergrads and/or master's level clinicians who maybe had some research experience but not enough to be competitive for my lab. I get applicants like this every year, but I think there was more growth in apps from this segment than others. I did also see growth in solid applicants with great research experience, so just more of everything.

Not sure if this helps applicants feel any better- I would say that the pool is not saturated entirely with more super qualified apps, but also that it doesn't seem to be all noise either. Interested to hear what people think, and I'm happy to answer questions (within the bounds of maintaining my anonymity and not being too detailed about specific applicants or internal program processes).”

Thanks for sharing!! Is anyone else surprised by these stats? I would have thought paid research experience would have been more than 18%?

[PsychApplicant2]

5 minutes ago, psychapplicant21 said:

Thanks for sharing!! Is anyone else surprised by these stats? I would have thought paid research experience would have been more than 18%?

I honestly figured that people with less research experience would apply... I don’t think a lot of people realize how competitive these programs are and I have a feeling that a lot of them applied just to apply! I am curious about how many applications this faculty member received for his lab. 

Edited December 23, 2020 by PsychApplicant2