Counselling Psychology Applicants 2022 CANADA

[optimisticfutureinpsyc]

I JUST RECEIVED AN ACCEPTANCE FROM UOFC SCHOOL AND APPLIED CHILD PSYC PROGRAM!!!!

[ghostbunny]

So for U of Alberta, I had sent a message to check if my application was okay since my status still shows "pre-screening" and they replied back saying there's nothing for me to do on my end and decisions will be made soon. I'm not sure how soon, but it sounds like UA will be sending out acceptances and rejections soon!

[carlrogersfan98]

I posted this in the clinical thread already, but for those who applied to OISE CCP here - I emailed my POI for an update and he said things are "approaching the recommendation stage" and apparently there has been a delay because they are changing administrative systems. Sorta vague but it's nice to know they're working on it!

[AM22]

I had finished writing my Statement of Intent and had a friend in a Clinical Psych masters program read it over for me. In my statement I had written about how I was inspired to pursue this line of work from a childhood experience with anxiety and the previous misunderstanding of how mental health could affect children etc. I touched on how CBT helped me and so forth. In short, I was building on the fact that my own experience inspired me to create a positive and lasting impact on children (the area I hope to specialize in). This was just a small section of the statement and I connected it to how I have gone on to work with children with special needs etc. When my friend read it, she said that in clinical psychology it is not okay to disclose a mental health issue in a SOI. I looked into it and it seemed this was more in relation to using mental illness as a "justification" for grades, showing that you are currently "unstable" or not dealing with illness appropriately, or coming across as if you are pursuing this education in order to support yourself or loved ones. I was wondering if anyone had any experience with this subject matter and could steer me in the right direction. Thanks in advance

[wannabetherapist]

4 minutes ago, AM22 said:

I had finished writing my Statement of Intent and had a friend in a Clinical Psych masters program read it over for me. In my statement I had written about how I was inspired to pursue this line of work from a childhood experience with anxiety and the previous misunderstanding of how mental health could affect children etc. I touched on how CBT helped me and so forth. In short, I was building on the fact that my own experience inspired me to create a positive and lasting impact on children (the area I hope to specialize in). This was just a small section of the statement and I connected it to how I have gone on to work with children with special needs etc. When my friend read it, she said that in clinical psychology it is not okay to disclose a mental health issue in a SOI. I looked into it and it seemed this was more in relation to using mental illness as a "justification" for grades, showing that you are currently "unstable" or not dealing with illness appropriately, or coming across as if you are pursuing this education in order to support yourself or loved ones. I was wondering if anyone had any experience with this subject matter and could steer me in the right direction. Thanks in advance

Hi there - I'm a fellow applicant to grad programs, but I've worked in undergraduate admissions and have read a *lot* of essays for undergrad admission, so I feel I may have some helpful tips to share here.

Frankly, I wouldn't be concerned. Maybe it's different at the grad level, but what you found from your research seems right to me -- using a mental health challenge as an excuse for poor grades is never a great angle, but I think it's okay to disclose, and especially in this context! Let's be honest... most people wanting to become therapists have either had struggles themselves, or have been close to those who have, so you're hardly alone in this. I would venture that the majority of statements have some sort of personal experience, and I include myself in this - I'm recovered from anorexia and wrote about that in my statement. With my experience reading essays for admission, it seemed exactly right. At the end of the day, they want the right people for their programs, and folks who have "been through it" often care the most. 

And despite it all, if you've already submitted, it's done, and I would encourage you to accept that it's out of your hands now

[AM22]

25 minutes ago, wannabetherapist said:

Hi there - I'm a fellow applicant to grad programs, but I've worked in undergraduate admissions and have read a *lot* of essays for undergrad admission, so I feel I may have some helpful tips to share here.

Frankly, I wouldn't be concerned. Maybe it's different at the grad level, but what you found from your research seems right to me -- using a mental health challenge as an excuse for poor grades is never a great angle, but I think it's okay to disclose, and especially in this context! Let's be honest... most people wanting to become therapists have either had struggles themselves, or have been close to those who have, so you're hardly alone in this. I would venture that the majority of statements have some sort of personal experience, and I include myself in this - I'm recovered from anorexia and wrote about that in my statement. With my experience reading essays for admission, it seemed exactly right. At the end of the day, they want the right people for their programs, and folks who have "been through it" often care the most. 

And despite it all, if you've already submitted, it's done, and I would encourage you to accept that it's out of your hands now

Thank you for your response. I would agree with your thinking. A few schools also have asked for personal experience (among academic and work experience) in relation to the decision to pursue graduate studies in this field and I feel as though that would be my answer in that regard as well. Probably just overthinking it!

[wannabetherapist]

 the waiting game is really hard! But time is moving. Best we can do is take care of ourselves while we wait!

[carlrogersfan98]

On 2/26/2022 at 4:53 PM, wannabetherapist said:

Hi there - I'm a fellow applicant to grad programs, but I've worked in undergraduate admissions and have read a *lot* of essays for undergrad admission, so I feel I may have some helpful tips to share here.

Frankly, I wouldn't be concerned. Maybe it's different at the grad level, but what you found from your research seems right to me -- using a mental health challenge as an excuse for poor grades is never a great angle, but I think it's okay to disclose, and especially in this context! Let's be honest... most people wanting to become therapists have either had struggles themselves, or have been close to those who have, so you're hardly alone in this. I would venture that the majority of statements have some sort of personal experience, and I include myself in this - I'm recovered from anorexia and wrote about that in my statement. With my experience reading essays for admission, it seemed exactly right. At the end of the day, they want the right people for their programs, and folks who have "been through it" often care the most. 

And despite it all, if you've already submitted, it's done, and I would encourage you to accept that it's out of your hands now

I agree with this, while also stressing that there definitely is a right way to disclose certain things. I disclosed a challenge in one of my SOI's that landed me an interview, so obviously it wasn't seen as a red flag, but that said it absolutely can be considered as such if written about inappropriately. 

I think it's seen as a red flag if you use your struggles as THE reason why you would make a great candidate for the program. While it will definitely be an asset during clinical work, there's a whole slew of intellectual and academic demands that grad school brings, and they want to make sure the students they admit are capable of handling it. So if you limit it to one sentence when discussing your motivation, that's fine. But if you write a whole narrative in the opening paragraph about it with some victory arc as the reason you will succeed in the future... not convincing. Definitely use your stats and achievements as hard facts that you'll crush it in their program!

[MHTherapy]

Anybody hear from western today? It was the last day of Feb so not sure what’s happening now 

[2020vision]

Hi all! With respect to what has happened with the University of Guelph CFT program, I reached out to the UoG newspaper and they're interested in pursuing this story. They've asked me to reach out to other applicants who may be interested in chatting with them about what happened. If you are, please let me know via DM so I can put you in touch!

[wannabetherapist]

14 hours ago, 2020vision said:

Hi all! With respect to what has happened with the University of Guelph CFT program, I reached out to the UoG newspaper and they're interested in pursuing this story. They've asked me to reach out to other applicants who may be interested in chatting with them about what happened. If you are, please let me know via DM so I can put you in touch!

BRILLIANT idea. So happy to hear this.

[MHTherapy]

Sent an email to uwo inquiring about interviews - will let you guys know when/if I get a response 

[firefly500]

Has anyone received an acceptance for the MA(Ed) or MEd major project stream at uOttawa? My application is still sitting at ‘Under Evaluation’ and the wait is driving me crazy! 

[PsycTherapy]

1 hour ago, MHTherapy said:

Sent an email to uwo inquiring about interviews - will let you guys know when/if I get a response 

If you don't mind me asking, what did you ask in your email? If they would be releasing a shortlist? If they are sending rejection emails soon? etc? Feel free to dm me if you would prefer to speak there

[MHTherapy]

4 minutes ago, PsycTherapy said:

If you don't mind me asking, what did you ask in your email? If they would be releasing a shortlist? If they are sending rejection emails soon? etc? Feel free to dm me if you would prefer to speak there

hey I just asked whether al interview invites have been sent out, and if not then can they provide an estimated timeline for when interview invites will go out so that we can prepare accordingly with other universities as well

[PsycTherapy]

1 hour ago, MHTherapy said:

hey I just asked whether al interview invites have been sent out, and if not then can they provide an estimated timeline for when interview invites will go out so that we can prepare accordingly with other universities as well

Awesome! Thank you very much

[ghostbunny]

U of Alberta sent out some decisions today just fyi! I unfortunately was rejected (course based program) but good luck to everyone else who applied! 

[carlrogersfan98]

1 hour ago, ghostbunny said:

U of Alberta sent out some decisions today just fyi! I unfortunately was rejected (course based program) but good luck to everyone else who applied! 

Was it also you who posted in the results page? I haven't heard anything yet so I don't know what to make of it!

[ghostbunny]

Just now, carlrogersfan98 said:

Was it also you who posted in the results page? I haven't heard anything yet so I don't know what to make of it!

It was me yes! If you haven't heard anything, hopefully that means good news is coming to you!  I haven't seen anyone else posting their results so I'm unsure if both rejections and acceptances went out today, or if it was just rejections

[carlrogersfan98]

1 minute ago, ghostbunny said:

It was me yes! If you haven't heard anything, hopefully that means good news is coming to you!  I haven't seen anyone else posting their results so I'm unsure if both rejections and acceptances went out today, or if it was just rejections

I've already been waitlisted for the course based but have not heard anything about the thesis based - I have heard some thesis based rejections went out today as well, so I also am wondering if all the rejections went out at once or if they're staggering them out or something

[ghostbunny]

Just now, carlrogersfan98 said:

I've already been waitlisted for the course based but have not heard anything about the thesis based - I have heard some thesis based rejections went out today as well, so I also am wondering if all the rejections went out at once or if they're staggering them out or something

Oh I see! I hope for your sake all rejections went out today and you'll get an acceptance soon  I've talked with some friends who are in other programs at UA and from my understanding, they're pretty consistent with sending out all of the same decisions together (meaning all rejections on the same day, all acceptances, etc.). Hopefully that's the case here too!

[alexastudent]

22 minutes ago, ghostbunny said:

Oh I see! I hope for your sake all rejections went out today and you'll get an acceptance soon  I've talked with some friends who are in other programs at UA and from my understanding, they're pretty consistent with sending out all of the same decisions together (meaning all rejections on the same day, all acceptances, etc.). Hopefully that's the case here too!

I have not heard anything either regarding course-based or thesis-based (rejection or waitlist) hoping this is a good sign but don't know !!

[eagerpsychgrad]

Has anyone here applied to UofA SCCP and heard any news? My portal still says Under-review and the wait is driving me crazy!

[imfeeling2022]

4 hours ago, carlrogersfan98 said:

Was it also you who posted in the results page? I haven't heard anything yet so I don't know what to make of it!

Could someone send the link to the results page? Thanks

[ghostbunny]

4 hours ago, imfeeling2022 said:

Could someone send the link to the results page? Thanks

Here you go!