School Psychology PhD 2021

[Southwestteacher]

1 hour ago, JakiraJakira said:

First rejection! University of Maryland. 
I’m just lucky it was #7 in my ranking and not higher. Rejection before interviews is pretty scary for my other apps but makes sense since my research match wasn’t perfect there. 

I actually got my first rejection this week too! It was certainly a let down. But it was not my top choice and I had a bad feeling about this one component of my application for that school...so I have to say I was not too surprised. However, I am a little concerned that it may be hard to get an acceptance somewhere! Also, worried that some of my schools that I haven't heard anything from could be rejections, too! We will see. 

Just curious do most of you have strong Psychology backgrounds? I lean way more heavily towards education experience since I have my MA in Education and have been teaching for the past 5 years. Hopefully it turns out okay even without much of a psych background. 

[schoolpsych95]

1 hour ago, JakiraJakira said:

First rejection! University of Maryland. 
I’m just lucky it was #7 in my ranking and not higher. Rejection before interviews is pretty scary for my other apps but makes sense since my research match wasn’t perfect there. 

Were you notified via email or the application portal? 

[The_Garnet_Comet]

Lol, whose heart just dropped when a faculty from UNC mentioned they go through completed applications each week and have already sent out invites to people whom they liked. That's brutal.

[Schoolpsych921]

6 minutes ago, Southwestteacher said:

I actually got my first rejection this week too! It was certainly a let down. But it was not my top choice and I had a bad feeling about this one component of my application for that school...so I have to say I was not too surprised. However, I am a little concerned that it may be hard to get an acceptance somewhere! Also, worried that some of my schools that I haven't heard anything from could be rejections, too! We will see. 

Just curious do most of you have strong Psychology backgrounds? I lean way more heavily towards education experience since I have my MA in Education and have been teaching for the past 5 years. Hopefully it turns out okay even without much of a psych background. 

I’m nervous about schools I haven’t heard back from, too! Eek!!

I’m currently a school psych and have an EdS. It makes me nervous because I’m not coming straight out of undergrad! I think your experience as a teacher will only help you and make you an even stronger applicant. Teachers have an understanding of children and education that is so valuable! I know people who have went on to school psychology PhD programs successfully with so many different types of degrees. Don’t worry! (Easier said than done haha)

[JakiraJakira]

30 minutes ago, Southwestteacher said:

I actually got my first rejection this week too! It was certainly a let down. But it was not my top choice and I had a bad feeling about this one component of my application for that school...so I have to say I was not too surprised. However, I am a little concerned that it may be hard to get an acceptance somewhere! Also, worried that some of my schools that I haven't heard anything from could be rejections, too! We will see. 

Just curious do most of you have strong Psychology backgrounds? I lean way more heavily towards education experience since I have my MA in Education and have been teaching for the past 5 years. Hopefully it turns out okay even without much of a psych background. 

I have the equivalent of a minor in Psychology for the most part.  Maryland heavily emphasizes undergrad psych experience which may have led to the rejection. 
 

My major is in Special Education (Mild/Moderate and Moderate/Intensive) 

I’ve gotten an interview at each school I’ve heard back from except for Maryland. I’ve heard back from 7/9 schools. 
I’ve only heard good things about my education experience as most psych students don’t have any experience working in schools (if you have both it’ll look good too!)  

 

Edited January 15, 2021 by JakiraJakira

[JakiraJakira]

23 minutes ago, schoolpsych95 said:

Were you notified via email or the application portal? 

Email. I asked the coordinator if they had sent out invites and got this response 

“Thank you for your application and for reaching out with your question. At this time, initial decisions about inviting prospective students for interviews have been made. This year, the program received a record number of applications and the faculty are not able to interview everyone. Unfortunately, at this point, it is unlikely that you will be accepted, however you will receive a formal letter once final decisions have been made. Please let me know if you have any questions and best of luck in your graduate studies process!”

[jd876]

52 minutes ago, The_Garnet_Comet said:

Lol, whose heart just dropped when a faculty from UNC mentioned they go through completed applications each week and have already sent out invites to people whom they liked. That's brutal.

Same! I am so confused why we were invited to the tour if we weren’t being considered for interviews. 

[The_Garnet_Comet]

Eh

Edited January 15, 2021 by The_Garnet_Comet
Whoops, made in error

[Louisey]

1 hour ago, Southwestteacher said:

I actually got my first rejection this week too! It was certainly a let down. But it was not my top choice and I had a bad feeling about this one component of my application for that school...so I have to say I was not too surprised. However, I am a little concerned that it may be hard to get an acceptance somewhere! Also, worried that some of my schools that I haven't heard anything from could be rejections, too! We will see. 

Just curious do most of you have strong Psychology backgrounds? I lean way more heavily towards education experience since I have my MA in Education and have been teaching for the past 5 years. Hopefully it turns out okay even without much of a psych background. 

I also have a teaching background- I have a BA & MA in Special Education. I was also feeling a little nervous without a psych background so I did do a post bac psych program intended for non-psych majors trying for clinical PhD programs so I figured that was close enough to be able to fill in some of my coursework gaps. Hopefully they think the same lol 

[JakiraJakira]

44 minutes ago, jd876 said:

Same! I am so confused why we were invited to the tour if we weren’t being considered for interviews. 

Wait they invited you to an info session and you weren’t invited to interview? That’s cruel. 

[mjk20]

1 hour ago, The_Garnet_Comet said:

Lol, whose heart just dropped when a faculty from UNC mentioned they go through completed applications each week and have already sent out invites to people whom they liked. That's brutal.

same!  honestly I found it a little inconsiderate/decreased my interest in the program!  I know that sounds harsh-- but from reading the results section from previous years and the lack of responsiveness from the faculty when I reached out with questions-- I got this feeling that they kind of cherry pick exactly who they want, then go backwards later in the game... which I feel is just inconsiderate to us when we are working from a timeline and have put forth effort

maybe I'm being too harsh ❤️ it's a great program, I just don't like that energy.  also ~ I reached out to the program coordinator months ago and she said that they have full funding for at-least 5 students {so was a little surprised when funding became a discussion-- I mean it seems doable though after listening to the panel!!} 

I would love to hear other's thoughts!

[JakiraJakira]

4 minutes ago, mjk20 said:

same!  honestly I found it a little inconsiderate/decreased my interest in the program!  I know that sounds harsh-- but from reading the results section from previous years and the lack of responsiveness from the faculty when I reached out with questions-- I got this feeling that they kind of cherry pick exactly who they want, then go backwards later in the game... which I feel is just inconsiderate to us when we are working from a timeline and have put forth effort

maybe I'm being too harsh ❤️ it's a great program, I just don't like that energy.  also ~ I reached out to the program coordinator months ago and she said that they have full funding for at-least 5 students {so was a little surprised when funding became a discussion-- I mean it seems doable though after listening to the panel!!} 

I would love to hear other's thoughts!

People on the school psychology subreddit have discussed previously that they often don’t fund students after their first year. 
I steered clear of it because I can’t afford to take out 3-4 more years of loans. 
 

sounds like I dodged a bullet if they are being this inconsiderate. 

[mjk20]

2 hours ago, Southwestteacher said:

I actually got my first rejection this week too! It was certainly a let down. But it was not my top choice and I had a bad feeling about this one component of my application for that school...so I have to say I was not too surprised. However, I am a little concerned that it may be hard to get an acceptance somewhere! Also, worried that some of my schools that I haven't heard anything from could be rejections, too! We will see. 

Just curious do most of you have strong Psychology backgrounds? I lean way more heavily towards education experience since I have my MA in Education and have been teaching for the past 5 years. Hopefully it turns out okay even without much of a psych background. 

you have exceptional experience and background!! mine is the opposite -- I have just a little bit of education experience {shadowed in some schools, delivered therapy in school settings, took ed psych and special ed undergrad classes}, but my experience is strongly psychology.  I have my bs in psych and 3 yrs of clinical research experience.  I originally intended to apply to clinical programs, but wanted to do more applied work. 

I wouldn't worry a bit about the psych component.  although experience is important, I think our communication of how these have shaped our research intentions and our role as psychologists carries much more weight.  you'll get all of your psych experience in the program ? {hopefully I'll get my ed experience there!}

Edited January 15, 2021 by mjk20
incomplete sentence! sorry lol

[Sunkay123]

21 minutes ago, mjk20 said:

same!  honestly I found it a little inconsiderate/decreased my interest in the program!  I know that sounds harsh-- but from reading the results section from previous years and the lack of responsiveness from the faculty when I reached out with questions-- I got this feeling that they kind of cherry pick exactly who they want, then go backwards later in the game... which I feel is just inconsiderate to us when we are working from a timeline and have put forth effort

maybe I'm being too harsh ❤️ it's a great program, I just don't like that energy.  also ~ I reached out to the program coordinator months ago and she said that they have full funding for at-least 5 students {so was a little surprised when funding became a discussion-- I mean it seems doable though after listening to the panel!!} 

I would love to hear other's thoughts!

I loved the program when I applied but I'm feeling the same way now. I'm coming straight from undergrad and it seemed like they very rarely take students straight out. I also don't like the way their scholarship system and two different deadlines work. The general consensus I got from the grad school panel was that it's up to you to find funding/not vert straight forward, and that it's really common for them to need lot of loans. 

[jd876]

32 minutes ago, JakiraJakira said:

Wait they invited you to an info session and you weren’t invited to interview? That’s cruel. 

Yeah I thought it was pretty rude. I appreciate your understanding!! 

[ConfusedMastersStudent]

Does anyone know if interviews are essential to getting accepted into Boston College's Applied Developmental and Educational Psychology Ph.D.? I’ve seen people posting about getting interviews from this department, but I have not heard anything myself. I have previously corresponded with one professor in the department. I'm currently working on a second Master's at UPenn. I have a 4.0 GPA with three A+'s on my transcript (five courses total in the Fall semester and the other two grades were A's). Additionally, I have two publications, am working as a research assistant at Penn, and gave a virtual conference presentation in October. I received my first Master's degree from my undergrad institution that I began working on my senior year in undergrad. I received this degree with a 3.92 GPA one year after graduating with my BA.  Three very strong letters of rec. One from a top, highly regarded professor at my current institution; one from the Dean of my college in undergrad and another from an internship. 

With this record, I'm quite saddened that I have not even received an interview. However, I'm generally very unfamiliar with the Ph.D. admissions process. Does anyone know if it's possible to get into Boston's program without an interview? 

Thanks! 

[JakiraJakira]

13 minutes ago, ConfusedMastersStudent said:

Does anyone know if interviews are essential to getting accepted into Boston College's Applied Developmental and Educational Psychology Ph.D.? I’ve seen people posting about getting interviews from this department, but I have not heard anything myself. I have previously corresponded with one professor in the department. I'm currently working on a second Master's at UPenn. I have a 4.0 GPA with three A+'s on my transcript (five courses total in the Fall semester and the other two grades were A's). Additionally, I have two publications, am working as a research assistant at Penn, and gave a virtual conference presentation in October. I received my first Master's degree from my undergrad institution that I began working on my senior year in undergrad. I received this degree with a 3.92 GPA one year after graduating with my BA.  Three very strong letters of rec. One from a top, highly regarded professor at my current institution; one from the Dean of my college in undergrad and another from an internship. 

With this record, I'm quite saddened that I have not even received an interview. However, I'm generally very unfamiliar with the Ph.D. admissions process. Does anyone know if it's possible to get into Boston's program without an interview? 

Thanks! 

You might want to try another thread! This is for school psychology applications. I’ll be honest and say I don’t know anything about admissions for other branches of psychology but for almost every field interviews are required to get into a PhD program. The reason why most require interviews is to guarantee fit. 

[ConfusedMastersStudent]

Just now, JakiraJakira said:

You might want to try another thread! This is for school psychology applications. I’ll be honest and say I don’t know anything about admissions for other branches of psychology but for almost every field interviews are required to get into a PhD program. The reason why most require interviews is to guarantee fit. 

Ok, thanks! I appreciate the insight. 

[JakiraJakira]

Has anyone else had trouble communicating with Ohio State? 

When I got an interview invite on January 4th, I emailed back that I needed an alternative date since it was at the samee time as Wisconsin's. They told me that other students needed an alternative date and that I shouldn't worry. They said that I would be hearing back soon.

I haven't heard back since and the original interview was set for next Friday... 

I updated them about my availability as it changed. Two days ago, and on the 8th. Hopefully they get back soon and don't go silent. 

[psychlife1]

anyone heard from UMass yet?

[mjk20]

52 minutes ago, psychlife1 said:

anyone heard from UMass yet?

sorry umass what? 

I have an interview for umass boston on feb 5th-- the invite was sent on dec 17th. I don't know if that's helpful to you!

[schoolpsych95]

20 hours ago, JakiraJakira said:

First rejection! University of Maryland. 
I’m just lucky it was #7 in my ranking and not higher. Rejection before interviews is pretty scary for my other apps but makes sense since my research match wasn’t perfect there. 

Just curious, who you emailed at UMD to receive a reply? Considering inquiring myself and just want to ensure I contact the correct person! Thank you 

[JakiraJakira]

4 minutes ago, schoolpsych95 said:

Just curious, who you emailed at UMD to receive a reply? Considering inquiring myself and just want to ensure I contact the correct person! Thank you 

I contacted them at this email. schlpsy@umd.edu

it’s the general admissions email for the program I believe. 

[ctrsca]

Is anyone else interviewing with CU Denver in February? I'm so excited (and a little bit nervous!)

[psychlife1]

1 hour ago, mjk20 said:

sorry umass what? 

I have an interview for umass boston on feb 5th-- the invite was sent on dec 17th. I don't know if that's helpful to you!

sorry i meant umass amherst. Thanks though!