2022-2023 Clinical Psychology Applications - Canada

[emsmith]

I got an email from one of the funding admins at a program saying that my application is incomplete and won't be considered - they're saying my transcripts are missing, but I checked the portal and they're complete.

I'm need to email back and say there's a mistake, but I'm not sure how to phrase this without panicking? / Do you think emailing them will make a difference or do you think that's that since they must have so many applications to go through anyway?

[SoundofSilence]

17 minutes ago, emsmith said:

I got an email from one of the funding admins at a program saying that my application is incomplete and won't be considered - they're saying my transcripts are missing, but I checked the portal and they're complete.

I'm need to email back and say there's a mistake, but I'm not sure how to phrase this without panicking? / Do you think emailing them will make a difference or do you think that's that since they must have so many applications to go through anyway?

If it shows as complete on the portal or you have other proof that they got the transcripts, you should email them. As long as you're polite it should be fine - try to include screenshots or anything that could help the admin person solve this issue. Try not to panic, sometimes technical glitches happen, sorry it happened to you.

[forpsych]

Interested in the USask POI who sent out interview invites if the poster doesn't mind sharing!

[T.O.hopeful]

20 hours ago, Gradschool2022 said:

Have all the formal interview invites for UTSC been sent out? I’m just wondering if I should lose hope of getting contacted by them at this point…they’re one of my top three schools. 

Also wondering this. If the graduate administrator has already sent at least one applicant a formal invite, I'm guessing they sent the others as well. I hope people not extended a formal invite will be notified sooner rather than later ...

[peachpits]

Just received interview invite from UWindsor! Can DM for POI

[Gradschool2022]

8 minutes ago, T.O.hopeful said:

Also wondering this. If the graduate administrator has already sent at least one applicant a formal invite, I'm guessing they sent the others as well. I hope people not extended a formal invite will be notified sooner rather than later ...

I’ve heard that formal invites went out on Friday, and that they were planning on sending more early this week. So maybe we’ll hear back by today or tomorrow at the latest? Fingers crossed! 

[T.O.hopeful]

1 minute ago, Gradschool2022 said:

I’ve heard that formal invites went out on Friday, and that they were planning on sending more early this week. So maybe we’ll hear back by today or tomorrow at the latest? Fingers crossed! 

Ugh okay thanks for letting me know! Not the most hopeful but guess I'll wait to see. 

[Cdn_Psych_Today]

2 hours ago, emsmith said:

I got an email from one of the funding admins at a program saying that my application is incomplete and won't be considered - they're saying my transcripts are missing, but I checked the portal and they're complete.

I'm need to email back and say there's a mistake, but I'm not sure how to phrase this without panicking? / Do you think emailing them will make a difference or do you think that's that since they must have so many applications to go through anyway?

Replying isn't going to go back to any POIs this is likely a program administrator, so don't be worried about your reply influencing impressions right now. Just reply factually, that you have checked and confirmed that the transcripts were received, can the individual please investigate the error on their end and let you know what the problem is and next steps? 

[lemonsqueezy]

37 minutes ago, Gradschool2022 said:

I’ve heard that formal invites went out on Friday, and that they were planning on sending more early this week. So maybe we’ll hear back by today or tomorrow at the latest? Fingers crossed! 

My formal invite required that we accept the interview by Wednesday at 5pm EST. So if they do plan on sending out more, it could be the case that they'll wait until people say yes or no to the ones sent on Friday

[applypsych]

1 hour ago, forpsych said:

Interested in the USask POI who sent out interview invites if the poster doesn't mind sharing!

My POI for USask has the initials CB. I have not heard anything from the psych department though so I don't think the formal interview requests have been sent out yet. 

[Gradschool2022]

6 minutes ago, lemonsqueezy said:

My formal invite required that we accept the interview by Wednesday at 5pm EST. So if they do plan on sending out more, it could be the case that they'll wait until people say yes or no to the ones sent on Friday

Thanks for the info! It might certainly be the case, although I doubt anyone would reject an interview with UTSC, especially this early in the game but who knows! 

[Nazb]

So I did email UTSC re: formal interviews and here is the response. It doesn't sound hopeful to me. Here it goes:

"Thank you for your email and interest in the Clinical Psychology program at the University of Toronto Scarborough.

Successful applicants will be contacted directly by the email and/or telephone number on your application if you are selected for an interview. Please note that we had over 600 applicants for the 2022-23 admissions cycle for only 5 spots in our program. The first round of our prospective student interviews are being held virtually from February 14 – 16, 2022. Only successful candidates will be contacted prior to interviews.

Final admission decisions will be circulated by end of March/ early April 2022."

[cancerbrain111]

Has anyone heard from UTSC regarding interviewing with KZ? 

[T.O.hopeful]

18 minutes ago, lemonsqueezy said:

My formal invite required that we accept the interview by Wednesday at 5pm EST. So if they do plan on sending out more, it could be the case that they'll wait until people say yes or no to the ones sent on Friday

Okay, thanks for this info, helpful to know! And congrats on the formal invite!! 

[Gradschool2022]

3 minutes ago, cancerbrain111 said:

Has anyone heard from UTSC regarding interviewing with KZ? 

I would be interested in knowing this too! Haven’t heard anyone mention him.

[cancerbrain111]

Is there any chance that these formal invites are being sent out on the PI's schedule? Pretty sure everyone that has posted about interviews has had the same one.

[Nazb]

8 minutes ago, cancerbrain111 said:

Is there any chance that these formal invites are being sent out on the PI's schedule? Pretty sure everyone that has posted about interviews has had the same one.

Maybe. I'm not ruling it out until the end of Jan, early Feb. I think there's still a lot of time.

[Kats9]

Hi, to everyone discussing UTSC invites, could you please clarify if these are for Masters, PhD or both? TIA!

[carlrogersfan98]

40 minutes ago, Nazb said:

So I did email UTSC re: formal interviews and here is the response. It doesn't sound hopeful to me. Here it goes:

"Thank you for your email and interest in the Clinical Psychology program at the University of Toronto Scarborough.

Successful applicants will be contacted directly by the email and/or telephone number on your application if you are selected for an interview. Please note that we had over 600 applicants for the 2022-23 admissions cycle for only 5 spots in our program. The first round of our prospective student interviews are being held virtually from February 14 – 16, 2022. Only successful candidates will be contacted prior to interviews.

Final admission decisions will be circulated by end of March/ early April 2022."

Ooooof, I cringed so hard reading that statistic. Thoughts and prayers to UTSC applicants for sure. How do you even systematically pick out of so many applicants?!

[numnum]

has anyone heard back from UTSC regarding interviewing with MB?

[emsmith]

4 hours ago, SoundofSilence said:

If it shows as complete on the portal or you have other proof that they got the transcripts, you should email them. As long as you're polite it should be fine - try to include screenshots or anything that could help the admin person solve this issue. Try not to panic, sometimes technical glitches happen, sorry it happened to you.

 

1 hour ago, Cdn_Psych_Today said:

Replying isn't going to go back to any POIs this is likely a program administrator, so don't be worried about your reply influencing impressions right now. Just reply factually, that you have checked and confirmed that the transcripts were received, can the individual please investigate the error on their end and let you know what the problem is and next steps? 

Thank you both! I looked for a phone number but unfortunately they didn't have one, so I emailed back like you both suggest and just said thanks for notifying me about my application, and I have confirmed on the portal that everything is complete, then I asked them to clarify what the specific issue was. I also listed all of the transcripts and dates to confirm what they should have... It is kind of annoying since I have a lot of transcripts from exchange programs and my MSc so hopefully someone just made a mistake reading it and they can put it back into the "maybe" pile instead of the garbage pile ? None of the other schools sent anything like this, so I actually do appreciate it because it lets me (hopefully) fix it if it was an error.

[emsmith]

1 hour ago, Nazb said:

Please note that we had over 600 applicants for the 2022-23 admissions cycle for only 5 spots in our program. 

omg this is ridiculous. Does anyone else feel like it's completely pointless to even apply??

I didn't apply to UTSC but I know a lot of programs will have similar numbers. I feel so discouraged by the stats. I know that I am a really good applicant and would do really well in clinical psych. I know it's hard, but I know I have the skills and background to do a good job. I've been working in research for years. I have more publications than many PhD students have when they finish their PhD. I have plenty of conference abstracts, and I've won awards for presentations. I know if I applied to a non-clinical PhD I would have very few problems getting in. And I'm not listing this to brag but my point is I know I am a capable researcher (as are all of you!) and it is absolutely insane that the odds are THIS small. I don't know how they even decide who gets interviewed. Nobody with a GPA less than 4? No less than 10 publications? I don't get it. 

Sorry for angry ranting, I don't mean to bring anyone down but holy moly these stats are discouraging. 

[PeanutButterBread]

6 minutes ago, emsmith said:

omg this is ridiculous. Does anyone else feel like it's completely pointless to even apply??

I didn't apply to UTSC but I know a lot of programs will have similar numbers. I feel so discouraged by the stats. I know that I am a really good applicant and would do really well in clinical psych. I know it's hard, but I know I have the skills and background to do a good job. I've been working in research for years. I have more publications than many PhD students have when they finish their PhD. I have plenty of conference abstracts, and I've won awards for presentations. I know if I applied to a non-clinical PhD I would have very few problems getting in. And I'm not listing this to brag but my point is I know I am a capable researcher (as are all of you!) and it is absolutely insane that the odds are THIS small. I don't know how they even decide who gets interviewed. Nobody with a GPA less than 4? No less than 10 publications? I don't get it. 

Sorry for angry ranting, I don't mean to bring anyone down but holy moly these stats are discouraging. 

I feel EXACTLY the same way- honestly it feels like a lottery system sometimes! The stats are definitely discouraging, it really sucks

[forpsych]

7 minutes ago, emsmith said:

omg this is ridiculous. Does anyone else feel like it's completely pointless to even apply??

I completely understand how you are feeling. 4.00 GPA, 5 conference presentations, 2 publications, and I have been working in clinical research for 2 years and I haven't even received an interview invite this cycle despite research interests aligning closely.

This truly is the most frustrating experience. As others have shown on this thread, consistency does pay off, but I think this is my last time applying if I am unsuccessful.

[SoundofSilence]

5 minutes ago, emsmith said:

omg this is ridiculous. Does anyone else feel like it's completely pointless to even apply??

I didn't apply to UTSC but I know a lot of programs will have similar numbers. I feel so discouraged by the stats. I know that I am a really good applicant and would do really well in clinical psych. I know it's hard, but I know I have the skills and background to do a good job. I've been working in research for years. I have more publications than many PhD students have when they finish their PhD. I have plenty of conference abstracts, and I've won awards for presentations. I know if I applied to a non-clinical PhD I would have very few problems getting in. And I'm not listing this to brag but my point is I know I am a capable researcher (as are all of you!) and it is absolutely insane that the odds are THIS small. I don't know how they even decide who gets interviewed. Nobody with a GPA less than 4? No less than 10 publications? I don't get it. 

Sorry for angry ranting, I don't mean to bring anyone down but holy moly these stats are discouraging. 

It IS ridiculous and your "rant" is totally justified. As it stands right now, there are many MANY applicants that already have the skills and experience to hit the ground running in grad school and so very few places. I am aware that there are a few that just apply to give it a try, but my own personal experience tells me there are few and far between, because the reputation of competitiveness has reached most psych students. 

It doesn't help that in many cases it's up to the very specific whims of faculty members who may have other priorities when picking students. I realize that there are many great POIs there, I am not talking about them. But I've met quite a few who prioritize taking only students that want to follow their specific niche academic path, or who bring specific skills in their lab because they are chasing some grants, or some other self-serving goal. And in turn, our profession loses out on many qualified candidates that could have done the research and clinical work much needed by under-served communities and improved the mental health for so many people in the country...

I've been thinking what could be done to change this and to be honest I haven't come up with anything. But something has to change. I am committed to giving my feedback and putting effort into changing the admissions process but I have yet to come up with other more specific ways to help. What do you think?