2021 Clinical Psychology Applicants CANADA

[Mickey26]

12 minutes ago, xtrahotlatte said:

hey everyone! I just got offered a SSHRC award from a school that I unfortunately didn't even interview at and already got rejected from. I remember reading in the forum a few weeks ago that sometimes in rare circumstances, people reach out to the school and let them know that they received an offer to see if they can offer a spot to you. I know this is very unlikely to happen, but should I give it a shot? If I do, would I e-mail the grad program director or the POIs I applied to work with? 

I would email for sure. Email the grad prog director and/or admin and CC your POIs. good luck!

[xtrahotlatte]

Hey guys! I have a question about SSHRC (CGS-M)...

So I received an offer for an award to be held at a school that I'm not attending. Is it possible to transfer the award to the university that I will be attending this fall? 

[higaisha]

1 hour ago, xtrahotlatte said:

Hey guys! I have a question about SSHRC (CGS-M)...

So I received an offer for an award to be held at a school that I'm not attending. Is it possible to transfer the award to the university that I will be attending this fall? 

It's not transferable, as far as I know  unfortunately

[xtrahotlatte]

1 hour ago, higaisha said:

It's not transferable, as far as I know  unfortunately

thanks! that's what i thought  

[admissionsrhard]

Hi everyone,

I'm kind of panicking at the moment as I just recieved a D in orgo chem 2 during my final semester. What do I do?? I feel as if everything is ruined. I have all A's in my last 2 years except this and its looking so bad. Do I even bother applying to clinical psych again this december?

 

[CateFace]

4 hours ago, admissionsrhard said:

Hi everyone,

I'm kind of panicking at the moment as I just recieved a D in orgo chem 2 during my final semester. What do I do?? I feel as if everything is ruined. I have all A's in my last 2 years except this and its looking so bad. Do I even bother applying to clinical psych again this december?

 

I'm not sure how this works, but I know some people retake a class to get a higher grade - is that a thing where it would replace the D with the new grade? In which case, I'd retake it over the summer/fall and re-apply! 

[PrettyFlyForACogSci]

On 4/30/2021 at 11:11 AM, admissionsrhard said:

Hi everyone,

I'm kind of panicking at the moment as I just recieved a D in orgo chem 2 during my final semester. What do I do?? I feel as if everything is ruined. I have all A's in my last 2 years except this and its looking so bad. Do I even bother applying to clinical psych again this december?

 

I wouldn't let one bad grade stop you from applying! It's really not the end of the world, especially since its organic chemistry which isn't a psychology course. I got a D in a required philosophy/cognition course in my third year and I was accepted to a competitive clinical program this year. That grade didn't come up in any of my interviews so honestly I don't think anyone cared or noticed. Maybe if you had a pattern of less than stellar grades then that would be something you should address in your LOI but I wouldn't even bring this up if its a one off grade in an irrelevant class. GPA is just one component of admission requirements. You can also chose to take the GRE (it looks like many schools are dropping it for next cycle though?) and strong scores may help offset a "weaker" GPA- although again one bad grade isn't going to determine whether you get in or not.

I found that many POIs were generally more lax about having a strict GPA cutoff, preferring to focus holistically on research experience, life background, applied skills, scientific literacy, personality fit, etc. when choosing potential candidates. If you're still concerned about this grade you can work towards buffing up other components on your application ahead of the next cycle to lessen the impact of this grade.

TLDR: I don't think it's a big deal, you should definitely apply if you want to go into clinical!

 

[MikeA]

Hey everyone, 

Not sure if people are still checking the posts on here but thought I would try anyway. I am planning on applying to clinical psychology programs this winter. I am wondering what the average research experience of those accepted to programs this year was? I currently am a volunteer RA in one social psych lab and also recently accepted a second volunteer position in another social psych lab. Right after accepting the second volunteer position, I was offered a paid summer research assistant position with a borderline personality disorder clinic at CAMH - a U of T affiliated mental health facility. It is such an amazing opportunity and very happy to be working there this summer.

However, I am starting to wonder if I can handle the second volunteer lab job. I might be putting too much on my plate for the summer with classes, one of which is in calculus because I need it for my psych requirement at U of T. I know the calculus course is going to take a lot of my attention. Additionally, I am working on a theoretical independent summer project (similar to a thesis) which I hope may lead to an empirical project in the fall. The new volunteer job requires at least 10 hours a week, on top of my part-time job at the lab, the calculus course through July and August, and my independent project. Not to mention trying to find some time to actually enjoy the summer. I feel if I couldn't make it work the volunteer position would understand, and they would also have over a month to find someone to replace me as the project doesnt start until July. 

So my question is, am I just shooting myself in the foot giving up research experience? Should I just grin and bare it this summer so my application looks better this fall? I am also hoping to find another paid position this fall, or at least another volunteer position to pad my application. Grades are good, 3.9 GPA this past year. Just worried about research experience. How much did people have? Is two or three positions far below the average? 

Thank you if you read all of my rant!

[clinical_psyc_hopeful]

1 hour ago, MikeA said:

Hey everyone, 

Not sure if people are still checking the posts on here but thought I would try anyway. I am planning on applying to clinical psychology programs this winter. I am wondering what the average research experience of those accepted to programs this year was? I currently am a volunteer RA in one social psych lab and also recently accepted a second volunteer position in another social psych lab. Right after accepting the second volunteer position, I was offered a paid summer research assistant position with a borderline personality disorder clinic at CAMH - a U of T affiliated mental health facility. It is such an amazing opportunity and very happy to be working there this summer.

However, I am starting to wonder if I can handle the second volunteer lab job. I might be putting too much on my plate for the summer with classes, one of which is in calculus because I need it for my psych requirement at U of T. I know the calculus course is going to take a lot of my attention. Additionally, I am working on a theoretical independent summer project (similar to a thesis) which I hope may lead to an empirical project in the fall. The new volunteer job requires at least 10 hours a week, on top of my part-time job at the lab, the calculus course through July and August, and my independent project. Not to mention trying to find some time to actually enjoy the summer. I feel if I couldn't make it work the volunteer position would understand, and they would also have over a month to find someone to replace me as the project doesnt start until July. 

So my question is, am I just shooting myself in the foot giving up research experience? Should I just grin and bare it this summer so my application looks better this fall? I am also hoping to find another paid position this fall, or at least another volunteer position to pad my application. Grades are good, 3.9 GPA this past year. Just worried about research experience. How much did people have? Is two or three positions far below the average? 

Thank you if you read all of my rant!

I think have research assistant roles helps, but I think what you do in those roles/what experience you gain matters more. Do you have conferences, publications, did you do data analysis or just conduct studies with partcipants, were you involved in the REB process etc. I think I would work on gaining these experiences more than the sheer number of labs you work in. Hope this helps

[MikeA]

17 hours ago, clinical_psyc_hopeful said:

I think have research assistant roles helps, but I think what you do in those roles/what experience you gain matters more. Do you have conferences, publications, did you do data analysis or just conduct studies with partcipants, were you involved in the REB process etc. I think I would work on gaining these experiences more than the sheer number of labs you work in. Hope this helps

That does help. This current lab has more opportunity for things like REB work etc. So I think I will concentrate on the two labs rather than taking on another that is simply more data coding. I have an undergraduate conference presentation but not publications yet. So far no data analysis experience but hoping to get that while doing an independent research project next year, plus hopefully getting the opportunity to analyze data in a lab during next school year, which will be my last year.  This comment did help! thank you very much. 

[PrettyFlyForACogSci]

If there's anyone in the Toronto area who is studying for the general or psychology subject GRE tests feel free to hit me up! I basically have every GRE book ever written and would love for them to go to someone who needs them (for free). Biggest joke is that I didn't even submit my GRE scores ?? DM me if you want any books!