PhD/PsyD Application for Fall 2017

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EmelyM23

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Hi All,

I thought I'd start a forum for the Next application cycle and see what programs people are planning on applying to. I'm interested in Clinical Psychology PhD programs and have a long list of schools I will be applying to.

UG GPA- 3.5
UG Research was 3rd Author - 2 yrs of Experience
Masters GPA- 3.7 (I'm in my 2nd semester)
Masters Thesis (Will take the Thesis Track and will be done by Application Cycle)
I'm Currently in 2 Research labs- 2 Poster Presentations, 1 lit review, and submitting Research paper for review
During the Summer- I will take the GREs, also joining another Research lab for non-profit
Clinical Experience- special needs camp counselor, After-school tutor, Case manager, Trauma call center volunteer

Schools I'm applying to in No Particular Order-

John Jay College
Fairleigh Dickinson University
U Conn
UMass Amherst
Adelphi U
Rutgers University
St. Johns University
Fordham University
University of Michigan
Temple University
Arizona State
Clark University
University of Maine
Stony Brook University

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Hi Emely,

I'm glad to finally find a thread about this. We have very similar stats. My undergrad GPA was 3.6 and my grad GPA is at 3.7 as well. Unfortunately I've decided to not return for the 2nd year of my MPH program. Public health just isn't for me and the financial stress of OOS tuition is more than I can handle. I've spent 2 years in a neuroimaging lab and was published as a co-author for one of our papers. What type of faculty member are you looking for? I've always had an interest in the legal niche of psychology (hence why I thought an MPH might suit) but also want to focus on working with the child & adolescent population. I'm really interested in Loyola right now, but I have quite a few others on my list as well.

I don't have any friends in this field so I'm hoping to get some insight and advice from this forum. I've just started working on a general applicant's statement which I will modify based on each school I'm applying to. I'm definitely looking to meet a lot of new people since this could be a 5-6 year commitment, so I'd love to find a good match in a larger city. Do you have any application tips so far? Any great comments (or criticisms) about the schools you're applying to?
 
Hi Emely,

I'm glad to finally find a thread about this. We have very similar stats. My undergrad GPA was 3.6 and my grad GPA is at 3.7 as well. Unfortunately I've decided to not return for the 2nd year of my MPH program. Public health just isn't for me and the financial stress of OOS tuition is more than I can handle. I've spent 2 years in a neuroimaging lab and was published as a co-author for one of our papers. What type of faculty member are you looking for? I've always had an interest in the legal niche of psychology (hence why I thought an MPH might suit) but also want to focus on working with the child & adolescent population. I'm really interested in Loyola right now, but I have quite a few others on my list as well.

I don't have any friends in this field so I'm hoping to get some insight and advice from this forum. I've just started working on a general applicant's statement which I will modify based on each school I'm applying to. I'm definitely looking to meet a lot of new people since this could be a 5-6 year commitment, so I'd love to find a good match in a larger city. Do you have any application tips so far? Any great comments (or criticisms) about the schools you're applying to?


Hey @adonisball1 that sounds awesome! I haven't applied yet since most of my school application cycle don't open up till september. After reading application threads for the past year I found many discrepancies because every application is so unique. This means some people have perfect GREs GPA stats, & don't get in and vise versa for students with low grade stats. So it'll boil down to what I found TWO things; POI and research experience. Many of the schools I plan on applying to really focus on posters, publications, they want to see you took part in a research lab. I'm in a masters program now simply because I wanted to boost my UG gpa which wasn't bad but also I wanted to prove I could handle grad work. I highly recommend also focusing on only applying to schools where a faculty or professor shares the same research interest as you. What this means is nearly all the schools I'm applying to, their is a professor who focuses on forensic psychology specifically adolescent risk taking behaviors, juvenile delinquency,etc. I think the school list might go down because I still have to email these professors and see if they are accepting students for 2017-2018 year. I will even try meeting with the professor and formally introduce myself. I also suggest looking if possible at the student profiles of the school; look at their research interest, their research work (pubs, posters, etc). By the time I apply I will actually have 3 posters as 1st author and 3 other posters as 2nd author. So I conducted 6 studies in just one lab and that shows through the presentations and will help when I go in for interviews. Pm me if you have any questions, Im not an expert by any means and have yet to be accepted or anything but it can be a long tedious process so if you need help just let me know.
 
Applicant from last cycle here! The process was incredibly stressful for me but exciting at the same time. Make your lists now and trim later (as the POI's update their websites/by contacting). Don't be scared by mean GPA/GRE stats, but know where you stand realistically.

Good luck you guys! It is worth it!
 
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