Fall 2021 Clinical & Counseling PhD/PsyD

[JPfall2021applicant]

Does anyone know if all invites were extended to applicants for HPCS at CUNY? :) 

[DGS0317]

Hi! Has anyone received an interview invite for University of Denver's Clinical Psychology PsyD program yet? I have seen a few people in the results page post about rejections and may have missed the invites. I am still waiting to hear back and my application portal says, "Your application file is currently complete. You will be notified of your admission decision by email." 

The application deadline was early Dec. so I am surprised to not hear anything yet and want to know if invites have already been extended.

Thank you and good luck to everyone! ?

[PhD1Day]

3 hours ago, JPfall2021applicant said:

Could someone tag the link for the results page? Thank you!  

Here you go! Just put in the school you are interested in, in the search bar!

 

https://www.thegradcafe.com/survey/index.php

 

 

[DrApple]

1 hour ago, Psy-aye-aye said:

Do you know if they sent out all interview invites?

I don't know for sure, but I think yes. The e-mail came from the director of the program.

[psychnerd5798]

3 hours ago, CoffeeErryday said:

Has anyone heard from George Mason University (GMU) yet?

I saw some people on the results page posted last week but I didn't see anything for POI: JS so i'm not sure if they are all out

[Chugwater2020]

8 hours ago, tan2016 said:

Does anyone know if U of Utah (Counseling Psych) has extended all of its invites? I know interview is on Feb 05. TY

I would also love to know!

[tryingtostaypositive]

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but yes – invitations for interview day have been extended. I know that is not the news that you want to hear. I know how extremely nerve-racking this application process can be. I remember your application quite well and rated it very well. I thought that you were very prepared for a PhD program. I am sure that others will see that too. I remember that our interests significantly overlapped and that you have a history of community interventions. I thought that was very neat. I ultimately extended invitations to three other candidates. I know this won’t be much of a consolation, but the competition this year was very tough. We had many stellar applicants. In fact, I had over 85 applicants (including yourself) apply to work with me. You were towards the top of the list. " 

 

U of South Carolina invites have been extended in case anyone was still wondering 

[PsychApplicant2]

1 minute ago, tryingtostaypositive said:

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but yes – invitations for interview day have been extended. I know that is not the news that you want to hear. I know how extremely nerve-racking this application process can be. I remember your application quite well and rated it very well. I thought that you were very prepared for a PhD program. I am sure that others will see that too. I remember that our interests significantly overlapped and that you have a history of community interventions. I thought that was very neat. I ultimately extended invitations to three other candidates. I know this won’t be much of a consolation, but the competition this year was very tough. We had many stellar applicants. In fact, I had over 85 applicants (including yourself) apply to work with me. You were towards the top of the list. " 

 

U of South Carolina invites have been extended in case anyone was still wondering 

That was a sweet email, at least! I’m sorry you didn’t get an interview  

[tryingtostaypositive]

11 minutes ago, PsychApplicant2 said:

That was a sweet email, at least! I’m sorry you didn’t get an interview  

Thank you, yeah I was expecting to get this one so I am kind of sad ?  I knew clin psych was hard and now I'm just going through an existential crisis that I know more about the clin psych application process than I do about the field itself and I'm starting to consider if this is the only path to achieve what I want. It just seems insanely taxing. 

[PsychApplicant2]

Just now, tryingtostaypositive said:

Thank you, yeah I was expecting to get this one so I am kind of sad ?  I knew clin psych was hard and now I'm just going through an existential crisis that I know more about the clin psych application process than I do about the field itself and I'm starting to consider if this is the only path to achieve what I want. It just seems insanely taxing. 

It’s quite literally the most competitive graduate program to get into. Full stop. Even more than medical school, unfortunately  I wish there were more accredited programs to keep up with the demand. 

[soobak]

19 minutes ago, tryingtostaypositive said:

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but yes – invitations for interview day have been extended. I know that is not the news that you want to hear. I know how extremely nerve-racking this application process can be. I remember your application quite well and rated it very well. I thought that you were very prepared for a PhD program. I am sure that others will see that too. I remember that our interests significantly overlapped and that you have a history of community interventions. I thought that was very neat. I ultimately extended invitations to three other candidates. I know this won’t be much of a consolation, but the competition this year was very tough. We had many stellar applicants. In fact, I had over 85 applicants (including yourself) apply to work with me. You were towards the top of the list. " 

 

U of South Carolina invites have been extended in case anyone was still wondering 

Sorry to hear this :(. I think I also applied to this PI and just want to say, and I know this gets repeated over and over, but that getting rejected doesn't say anything about us or our abilities. Sometimes its funding, sometimes it's match, sometimes it's because we don't have a specific skill they are looking for but we WILL find someone eventually who sees our potential!

I believe in all of us here and we'll get there even if it's not on the timeline we had originally imagined.

[tryingtostaypositive]

Thank you for that, it's nice to not feel alone. 

 

Unfortunately, a lot of things are complicating my situations. Visa issues, long distance relationships and personal finances so this was probably my first and last try to apply for Clinical Psych. Prepped my whole undergrad for it (like everyone else here I am sure), today just feels dim...as if I let a lot of people down. I know I won't feel this in the morning but it seems almost cruel, commuted for hours to work at a lab where I did grunt work before I could get to write a paper, gave up many many many outings and opportunities to make good memories with friends all with the goal of getting into a clinical psych program. I am so appreciative of the sweet reply this prof gave me but it just makes me feel a little mad at the world cause it feels like I literally couldn't have done any more than I did hahah ok sorry. emo rant over. 

[reidallen]

I hope this isn’t a stupid question, but are programs required to inform you of rejections or should we just assume we got rejected as we near interview weeks? I’m too anxious to reach out to programs or wait this long to hear back :( 

[forensicpsychstu]

Just now, reidallen said:

I hope this isn’t a stupid question, but are programs required to inform you of rejections or should we just assume we got rejected as we near interview weeks? I’m too anxious to reach out to programs or wait this long to hear back

Are you asking this question regarding programs that people have already posted about, or ones that no one has said anything at all about yet? Not all programs are done extending interviews, so don't worry yet. Some programs don't extend them until the very end of January. I'm still waiting to hear back from 4 schools

[PsychMamaof2]

I was so hoping to hear from Rowan today, but kind of glad I didn't see anyone on the results page post about them, I'm trying to hold on to any glimmer of hope ?

[clinpsych2021]

I similarly got rejected from Fordham, and I'm feeling so discouraged because I feel like this is an indicator that the rest of my applications that I'm waiting to hear back about will go in a similar direction. I did think I would get some interviews (I have 3 years research and clinical experience, 3 pubs (one first author), good GPA and LORs) but I haven't heard back from anyone so far re: interviews. I really don't mean to brag, I'm just feeling so confused and am wondering if these stats are simply not good enough, because I don't think there's a ton more than I can improve on. 

[copsych]

9 hours ago, tan2016 said:

Does anyone know if U of Utah (Counseling Psych) has extended all of its invites? I know interview is on Feb 05. TY

I believe so because last week on Monday I received a mass email interview invitation from the department coordinator who said our PIs would be contacting us soon to extend a more personal invite, but wanted to know if we could attend ASAP.

[forensicpsychstu]

4 minutes ago, clinpsych2021 said:

I similarly got rejected from Fordham, and I'm feeling so discouraged because I feel like this is an indicator that the rest of my applications that I'm waiting to hear back about will go in a similar direction. I did think I would get some interviews (I have 3 years research and clinical experience, 3 pubs (one first author), good GPA and LORs) but I haven't heard back from anyone so far re: interviews. I really don't mean to brag, I'm just feeling so confused and am wondering if these stats are simply not good enough, because I don't think there's a ton more than I can improve on. 

Fordham is a very difficult program to get into even in "normal" years. They typically have 600+ applicants. Not receiving an interview means nothing against you personally. You are definitely qualified, but there may be other outstanding things such as other applicants having research interests that overlap better with faculty interests. PhD programs are about a mutual fit not just the potential of the applicant. 

[clinpsych2021]

17 minutes ago, forensicpsychstu said:

Fordham is a very difficult program to get into even in "normal" years. They typically have 600+ applicants. Not receiving an interview means nothing against you personally. You are definitely qualified, but there may be other outstanding things such as other applicants having research interests that overlap better with faculty interests. PhD programs are about a mutual fit not just the potential of the applicant. 

Ugh thank you so much for saying this, you're absolutely right.

[Biopsychosocialyzing]

26 minutes ago, clinpsych2021 said:

I similarly got rejected from Fordham, and I'm feeling so discouraged because I feel like this is an indicator that the rest of my applications that I'm waiting to hear back about will go in a similar direction. I did think I would get some interviews (I have 3 years research and clinical experience, 3 pubs (one first author), good GPA and LORs) but I haven't heard back from anyone so far re: interviews. I really don't mean to brag, I'm just feeling so confused and am wondering if these stats are simply not good enough, because I don't think there's a ton more than I can improve on. 

I hear you. I also have 3 years of clinical and research experience, pubs and good LOR's and have also not heard back from any school. I applied to the counseling program at Fordham though. I heard clinical is very very hard to get into at Fordham so don't take it personally. I feel your frustration though, I am also not quite sure in what areas to improve... feeling discouraged since I also haven't heard back from any of the schools I applied to and one I am assuming is a a rejection (Columbia). Just wanted to let you know that I get it... this is hard for sure and it seems this year is even more competitive than usual.

[Biopsychosocialyzing]

Is it a big no go to reach out to programs to get a better idea of timeline if we haven't heard back yet by next week?

[clinical_sike]

4 hours ago, EileanDonan said:

Thanks for the comments, guys! Sounds like it's still just a debatable topic as ever. I think I will be more thoughtful about it next cycle though...

Hey! Here is what I did. I made sure to say that my primary interest laid in research unless the program was equal emphasis or near equal emphasis (I found this information in “Insider’s Guide to Graduate Programs in Clinical Psychology”, which ranked schools on a scale of 1-7 where 1 = practice oriented, 4 = equal emphasis, and 7 = research oriented). Then at the very end of my statement, I said that, ultimately, my goal is to unite research with teaching and part-time clinical practice. However, if the program was closer to practice-oriented or equal emphasis, I didn’t feel such a need to overstate my interest in research. 

[clinpsych2021]

2 minutes ago, PyschMama said:

I hear you. I also have 3 years of clinical and research experience, pubs and good LOR's and have also not heard back from any school. I applied to the counseling program at Fordham though. I heard clinical is very very hard to get into at Fordham so don't take it personally. I feel your frustration though, I am also not quite sure in what areas to improve... feeling discouraged since I also haven't heard back from any of the schools I applied to and one I am assuming is a a rejection (Columbia). Just wanted to let you know that I get it... this is hard for sure and it seems this year is even more competitive than usual.

Ah it's good to hear from you and I'm sorry you haven't heard back either. Btw, I also applied to Teachers College Columbia (clinical PhD) but I wouldn't assume it's a rejection! Their website says they will send out invites in Feb for their interviews in March. I really hope you get in somewhere!!! 

[JoePianist]

4 hours ago, PsychBear92 said:

I spoke with Clinical Psych grad students at my alma mater about this, when I was deciding between PhD and PsyD. They gave me the recommendation that I shouldn't mention interest in clinical practice in my statement if applying to PhD. Personally, the impression I received was either don't mention it or tread lightly. FWIW, my undergrad institution is an R01 research-focused university, so it might be different at a scientist-practitioner program. 

@EileanDonan I agree with PsychBear92’s suggestion. Unless you’re applying to a PsyD program, your personal statement should focus heavily on your interest in research. If you do touch on your interest in clinical work, make sure you follow it up by connecting it back to research (e.g., saying how clinical work informs better research). 

Ironically, when applying for your internship year as a fourth- or fifth-year doctoral Clinical/Counseling Psychology student, all internships prefer applicants to focus on their interest in CLINICAL work on the personal statement, rather than research ? The reason is that internship year is primarily a clinical year – at most, an internship may provide an intern with 4-8 hours/week to engage in research work while the remaining 36+ hours/week is reserved for clinicals, lectures, and receiving mentorship.

[PavlovsFavorite_dog]

54 minutes ago, clinpsych2021 said:

I similarly got rejected from Fordham, and I'm feeling so discouraged because I feel like this is an indicator that the rest of my applications that I'm waiting to hear back about will go in a similar direction. I did think I would get some interviews (I have 3 years research and clinical experience, 3 pubs (one first author), good GPA and LORs) but I haven't heard back from anyone so far re: interviews. I really don't mean to brag, I'm just feeling so confused and am wondering if these stats are simply not good enough, because I don't think there's a ton more than I can improve on. 

Along these lines, I had thought that the components of my application were pretty well-balanced and fairly strong, which has led me to wonder a lot lately (after receiving no invites at all this far), which part of my application sunk me? It’s been driving me nuts the past few days and I’d like to know what specifically prevented me from getting in (for my next round of apps). Naturally, I just assumed there was some part of my application that turned off the admissions committee. Now that I’m reading others’ posts though, I’m wondering if there is a possibility that nothing was actually wrong, but it is really just that competitive. Anyone have thoughts about this? Or how we can receive closure about why we were ultimately rejected?

Edited January 20, 2021 by seahorse_671