MA in Clinical/Counselling Psychology Fall 2013 Applicants

[psych.77]

Hello everyone,

I thought I would start a thread to "home" questions/advice/comments pertaining to applications to MA programs in Clinical and Counselling Psychology for Fall 2013.

Specifically, I am wondering if anyone else is struggling with their Statement of Interest for Ryerson University. I am finding the word limit (500 - 1000 words maximum, including references) to be very restrictive. Specifically, the university recommends that you describe your reasons for pursuing graduate study, research interests, how previous studies and experience have prepared you for the program and career objectives and how the graduate degree will advance them. Additionally, it is recommended that you list 4-5 POIs. There are many points to hit and not a lot of alloted space to do so.

Does anyone have any advice/thoughts/comments about listing POIs like this? Should you focus on why you're interested in working with specific faculty member and/or propose an actual research project with them?

I am also wondering if there is an ideal ratio of academic/research experience : future ambitions : specific research to strive for in a Statement of Intent with a smaller word limit.

Thanks! Best of luck to everyone this application season.

[Quant_Liz_Lemon]

I think the easiest way to add some flexibility to the word limit is to nix the reference list.

[LaurenM22]

I'm applying to masters programs as well, but not to the one you mentioned. I'm curious--what are the references in your statement of interest for? I don't think I've come across that with other schools.

[Quant_Liz_Lemon]

What I interpreted references as were the citations at the end, which typically accompany any written work. I referred to a few studies in mine, but I did not include the citation.

[psych.77]

Thanks for the great advice, Quant_Liz_Lemon! I decided to nix the reference list to save space and just included the in-text citations.