Fall 2021 Clinical & Counseling PhD/PsyD

[Schy]

9 minutes ago, PhD1Day said:

I'm so sorry to hear this. I only applied to one program last year and also was rejected. I honestly had not clue that people applied to so many programs at once (it seems too expensive)  I did apply to 3 programs this round and I'm hoping at least one pays off. I wish you luck in your future endeavors- something will work out for you!!

 

Best of luck to you as well! I truly appreciate the kind words. Sometimes I have to remind myself that what is meant to be will be, but also, this is a huge world and we all have huge lives and we can find happiness, fulfillment, and our goals anywhere. 

 

9 minutes ago, NervousNelly12 said:

I feel this. I have never received feedback or tips for next time. I've heard that most credits from master don't transfer in PhD and you have to redo a thesis anyways, I'm not sure if anyone can speak to that. I know spending money on a masters is daunting to me, so I feel how disappointing that is to hear. While that PI recommended it, I know that other PIs would recommend differently so don't take that as the only solution. 

I am happy she gave me some feedback. I wish I could paste the whole email (I did in the discord lmaooooo). She has never been anything but genuine. I can say for sure this is a psychology PHD program with doctoral training in behavior analysis. I heard from others in the discord that clinical programs are more likely to accept people with 'only' BAs. I talked to my current PI who I've been doing post-bacc research with and she is so against me wasting money on a masters. So ultimately.........I am a little angry about the suggestion. Hopefully this anger can act as some fuel for my future. 

[clincpsych1010]

45 minutes ago, NervousNelly12 said:

I feel this. I have never received feedback or tips for next time. I've heard that most credits from master don't transfer in PhD and you have to redo a thesis anyways, I'm not sure if anyone can speak to that. I know spending money on a masters is daunting to me, so I feel how disappointing that is to hear. While that PI recommended it, I know that other PIs would recommend differently so don't take that as the only solution. 

I have a masters in neuroscience and I still only got three invites, out of the 11 schools I applied to. I spent so much time trying to find appropriate PIs as well, but I unfortunately am focused on a really specific field, which I'm assuming definitely contributed to my lack of invites. So unless you just do a broad psychology MS, honestly don't know if it is worth it! That being said, the schools I applied to, do actually have the option of using your MS thesis as long as it was empirically driven so it wouldn't necessarily have to be repeated. 

 

Also edit to add that I chose to do a MSc because I actually really wanted to study this specific topic- not just to get more research experience for applications. It is a lot of money to spend just to boost an application! Definitely think you can get publications, research experience etc without needing a MSc  that is a really hard thing to put on an applicant and I'm sorry that happened to you.

Edited January 26, 2021 by clincpsych1010

[justanotherbutterfly]

18 minutes ago, EyelandPychePhD said:

Question- 

I had a really great Prelim Zoom with a PI back in November (said I was "very competitive" and had "impressive ideas"), and after that call was in touch with the PI asking a few questions about the application. PI stated they were really excited to read my materials, etc. And the match with my research interests couldn't have been better.

Now it's about 10 days from interview day, and I'm gunna be honest- I'm getting antsy. Given that I've had several good instances of communication, including an hour long PreLim Zoom in November with this PI, would it be in the realm of normalcy to e-mail them and say something along the lines of "I noticed that the interview date is coming up. Wanted to check in." ??? [not exact wording obviously]. Does that come off as concerned/proactive rather than impatient? Or should I just wait patiently to see if I get an e-mail in the next 10 days?

An important caveat factoring into this question is that admissions has said they'll be sending out invites "really soon", and some people received an invite yesterday, but they weren't with my PI. 

Grateful for any advice! Thx

From what I gathered most places like to release interview invites at least 2 weeks (give or take a few days) in advance from the actual interview date. I personally don't think there's any harm in following up. Perhaps maybe wait another day or two so it's closer to 1 week before formal interviews? But I don't think reaching out is a bad thing given how positive your prelim went!

[Zoecc]

Peeped an interview invite for UH counseling on the results page. If the poster is on here, was it a mass email or an invite from your PI? And also, do you feel  comfortable sharing PI initials here or by DM? Thank you so much. Concerned about this program since it is my top choice. 

Edited January 26, 2021 by Zoecc

[natb96]

5 hours ago, Sikedout said:

Yes, the CSU invites were real. I received one last night, but unfortunately I do not know if all PIs have extended their invitations. Best of luck!

Huge congrats on the interview!! Would you be comfortable sharing your PI’s initials on the forum or by DM? Not sure if I should give up hope yet lol.

[Starlife]

Heyyy  Has anyone applied or heard back from Seton hall Counseling PhD program?

[MichaelGScarn]

4 minutes ago, natb96 said:

Huge congrats on the interview!! Would you be comfortable sharing your PI’s initials on the forum or by DM? Not sure if I should give up hope yet lol.

Oh oh I would love to know this too! ? 

[Kylar]

18 hours ago, kch16 said:

Agreed- I also didn't think you were being rude! I think the point we're making is that when to be competitive you need a background that requires years of planning, money, and time, "competition" = disproportionate lack of accessibility. No one necessarily wants the path to be "easier", though framing it that way to me feels slightly elitist, as if the only/best path to achieve one's goals is the current one (and that any alternatives would be less respected somehow).

I just think the mentor model is severely outdated given that the needs of the community and the number of people entering the field overwhelmingly outweigh the number of faculty.

I agree with what others have posted about clinical psychology not being the only option, or even the best option, if you want to become a clinician. I also wanted to push back against the mentor model being outdated (not specifically against this specific poster, but wanted to quote to continue the discussion). I know that medical school and occasional other grad programs, have rotations, but med school especially has the goal of becoming a practitioner. You can specialize in a particular area of practice after that, but there is an expectation for some base level of competency. I think this is an unreasonable expectation to put on grad students, to become clinical practitioners and simultaneously generalist researchers across all of clinical psychology before also becoming an expert in a specific area. To really push the boundaries of current knowledge - which is the goal of doctoral training IMO - we need to become so deeply knowledgeable in such a small area that I can’t imagine accomplishing that in a reasonable time without a mentor model.

This isn’t to say that other types of training aren’t valuable for our current society, but I do see a need for the type of training a phd in clinical psychology provides. I just think it’s also more narrow than many of us would sometimes like to believe.

[Biopsychosocialyzing]

Saw that someone got an invite from Fordham Counseling PhD program, anyone know if they are sending out invitations on a rolling basis? 

[Psychwannab]

If the PI I am interested in working with has already sent out their invites... should I assume rejection?

[justanotherbutterfly]

7 minutes ago, Psychwannab said:

If the PI I am interested in working with has already sent out their invites... should I assume rejection?

You can reach out to see if you're on some sort of wait list, or if they just released invites you can wait a day or two so see if there's still a chance

[denverems]

Hi All! Newb here. No one seems to respond when inquiries are made about news from DU PsyD. I have seen the rejections, but has anyone received an interview or at least emailed to get an "accurate" timeline? Thank you in advance and good luck to everyone!

[JoePianist]

6 hours ago, Schy said:

This is one of the reasons why I didn't apply to certain programs. If I can't tell from your lab website/social media that you're making an effort to be anti-racist than I know that I wouldn't have a good time spending 5+ years in that area/lab. 

The lab I'm HOPING AND MANIFESTING that I get to be apart of did a really good job of showing its interviewees that they care about social justice. While the PI is white and majority of her doctoral students are white (one latina in the group), everyone made me feel so welcome and we talked a lotttttttt about the disparities in healthcare. As an ethnically black women, but racially Asian these things felt important to me because I don't always feel 100% comfortable in completely white spaces. 

 

lol i have no idea why i worded it that way, but the point is im biracial but appear more asian than I do black. 

Yay! A fellow Blasian!

[justacigar]

2 hours ago, EyelandPychePhD said:

Question- 

I had a really great Prelim Zoom with a PI back in November (said I was "very competitive" and had "impressive ideas"), and after that call was in touch with the PI asking a few questions about the application. PI stated they were really excited to read my materials, etc. And the match with my research interests couldn't have been better.

Now it's about 10 days from interview day, and I'm gunna be honest- I'm getting antsy. Given that I've had several good instances of communication, including an hour long PreLim Zoom in November with this PI, would it be in the realm of normalcy to e-mail them and say something along the lines of "I noticed that the interview date is coming up. Wanted to check in." ??? [not exact wording obviously]. Does that come off as concerned/proactive rather than impatient? Or should I just wait patiently to see if I get an e-mail in the next 10 days?

An important caveat factoring into this question is that admissions has said they'll be sending out invites "really soon", and some people received an invite yesterday, but they weren't with my PI. 

Grateful for any advice! Thx

While I think you would be within the bounds of normalcy to reach out, I also just want to note that MOST of the time calls before apps are submitted are not preliminary interviews. This is an informational call. So it's totally possible that even though they were impressed with you during that call, you didn't move forward once apps were submitted for various reasons. 

If you do reach out, I would be appreciative of the chance to talk in Nov, reiterate your interest in their lab, and ask for an update. If they tell you they weren't able to invite you for an interview, it would be a good chance to ask what you could improve! 

[Slider46]

Hi All,

This post is a little blunt, but I hope that it is helpful.

I hope to offer a little bit of a unique perspective to the grad school admissions process. We've had a courageous professor that has stepped up and offered some insight, but I have yet to see any comments from current graduate student from an R1 university. To give you a little bit of a background of where I came from, I came from a disadvantaged background, and almost didn't make it through high school - I flunked out of calculus. Right now is a super anxiety provoking time of your lives during the admissions process even without COVID-19. Throughout this post, I am going to focus on what you may not all be considering and what is out of your control.

The first thing that is not getting enough attention is the virus. This caused a huge increase in the number of applications and a decrease in available funds. This means that a) the already small number of graduate student lines at my university decreased by a lot, and b) there were more competitive applicants than ever before. This application cycle is incredibly unusual and should not be considered to be normative. You all were extraordinarily unlucky applying this year.

Second, although there are structural limitations (e.g., GRE) that can prevent quality minority applicants from receiving interviews at top-tier R1 universities, I come from a university with grad students and faculty that are diverse and that have ongoing diversity initiatives to recruit diverse grad students and faculty. Because we have these initiatives, we recruit top quality diverse candidates. These students come from a different universities including R1 and even R3 universities. Regardless of their sexual orientation, race, or socioeconomic background, these applicants come in with several (sometimes first authored) publications, presented at several peer reviewed conferences, won several research grants, AND are excellent clinically.  Indeed, the most diverse graduate students in my department are often the ones with the best credentials. Further, a PI is not going to work with you unless you have those research "chops" that we like to talk about so much.

Third, if the numbers alone don't convince you, this is a competitive field. Many individuals want to be clinical psychologist, and let me tell you - it really is some of the most gratifying work I've done. This includes the research, grant writing, computer coding, course load, assessments, and therapy hours. But a lot of people want to do the work. This means you have to establish yourself as a competitive applicant, and I will tell you from several conversations that I have had with several who aspire to be clinical psychologist, many are not.

So here is my unsolicited advice for getting into graduate school and becoming what I believe is a competitive applicant in two pretty difficult steps. This first one is the most important: find a competent clinical psychological scientist that takes an interest in you as a person - this needs to happen. If it happens correctly, this person will advocate on your behalf that you are indeed a good person to work with to the potential PI of your dreams. Second, to be a really competitive applicant, you need to have observable skills, if I may be blunt: many faculty don't care about your GPA as much as this forum suggests. This means you need to publish (maybe even a few times), go to a number of conferences (to meet the PI of your dreams), and maybe even learn how to code and conduct some basic statistical analyses (time to start learning R). For some, this may mean getting a masters degree (many in my program have), for others, this will mean getting a post-bac position conducting good research with a quality PI. Many graduate students have to apply multiple cycles to get into graduate school because they do not know these things.

Finally, I do want to mention that there is always room for improvement and change in the system - we want and need more diverse representation in academia. As has already been stated, advocate for more funding to higher education and bug your state legislatures. Right now though, finding a high quality mentor and developing some observable skills as well as respecting some of the things that may be outside of your control may be the best option forward. Nevertheless, I wish you all the best of luck moving forward and hope you get in to the school of your dreams.

 

[expensiveswimmer]

Question for the masses:

I’ve been working with the same PI for two years now. In order to make my application more competitive, should I apply for more RA/Coordinator positions outside of the lab I currently work at? This PI is well respected in OCD research and is very well known. However, I haven’t had many opportunities for manuscript authorship.

[nhgoecke]

To any other friends who have applied to University of Hartford's Clinical PsyD program, I got this email today. To preface this, I had not reached out at all regarding my status though I had been thinking about it, haha. I was happy to hear from them as I have seen a few people have been given interview invites, but I assume this means I am on a wait list while they see how many interview spots get filled? 

Dear Nikolaus,

Thank you for your interest in our Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) in Clinical Psychology program. Interest in the program is greater than usual this year and the PsyD faculty are working diligently on reviewing your application. We will be in touch within the next three weeks with more information regarding your application.

[Slider46]

Expensiveswimmer, I’d recommend asking the PI that you’re working with if there are writing opportunities that you could get involved in. I find most PIs to be fairly flattered when a student they know fairly well does this. Many start out doing grunt work and can move past that if they ask. Maybe the assistant professor that commented earlier might have more specific advice. 

[JPfall2021applicant]

I'm sorry to ask again, has anyone heard anything from the University of Massachusetts, Boston?

[EyelandPychePhD]

42 minutes ago, justacigar said:

While I think you would be within the bounds of normalcy to reach out, I also just want to note that MOST of the time calls before apps are submitted are not preliminary interviews. This is an informational call. So it's totally possible that even though they were impressed with you during that call, you didn't move forward once apps were submitted for various reasons. 

If you do reach out, I would be appreciative of the chance to talk in Nov, reiterate your interest in their lab, and ask for an update. If they tell you they weren't able to invite you for an interview, it would be a good chance to ask what you could improve! 

Thank you for your input! And no, it was not a "preliminary interview", I just called it a PreLim Zoom (Preliminary to the application itself I suppose!)- but yes, an informational discussion.

The interview date is 2/5 (10.5 days from now). Would it be wise to wait until Friday to reach out, or do you feel it's advisable to get in touch today?

I really appreciate your input and the time you spent considering my question!

[tan2016]

2 hours ago, Starlife said:

Heyyy  Has anyone applied or heard back from Seton hall Counseling PhD program?

Hey, I received an invitation from SHU on 1/20 with interview on 03/12/2020. I applied to work with PI: ML.

[displaynamed]

I would love to touch base with someone who has interviewed with Duquesne before to hear what their interview process was like! Please DM me if you're comfortable sharing!

[Starlife]

4 minutes ago, tan2016 said:

Hey, I received an invitation from SHU on 1/20 with interview on 03/12/2020. I applied to work with PI: ML.

Heyy I did too! I haven't seen anyone mention about Seton Hall so I was wondering lol. I applied to work with PI: BA

I hope everything goes well for our interviews!!

[djJazzyJeff]

Has anyone been formally rejected from Drexel? I know a few people have received official interview invites. I didn’t and have assumed rejection, but when I check the portal, it still says my application is being reviewed. Does this just mean an incoming formal rejection?

[Amir23]

Has anyone heard a direct rejection from UCCS? I know they hold onto a couple applications. Just don't know if I should give up all hope on them yet