American doing PhD in Canada?

[funky_buddha]

Hi all,

I'm building my list of grad schools and found some folks in Canada that seem like ideal mentors for my interests. I was told by a clinical doctoral student I know that there are substantial challenges to studying in Canada as an American, mainly surrounding visas. She said that a number of American students who were due to go on internship at Canadian sites last year were denied visas due to political tensions between the US and Canada. Firstly, do any of you know if is this true? Secondly, are there any other considerable limitations of doing a clinical PhD in Canada as an American? For example, would it be more difficult to find work/get licensed in the US?

Thanks!

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[Temperance]

As far as I am aware, there should not be issues with licensure stateside with a Canadian degree. After the APA stopped accrediting Canadian programs, the APA and CPA created the First Street Accord recognizing one another's accreditation standards as equivalent. You may need to show this to the state's board when you apply for licensure.

A major limitation into which you may run, if you are not already aware, is funding. As an international student, you will most likely be depending on funding from your department or institution, as you will not qualify for most of the funding from the Tri-Council Agencies (Canada Institutes of Health Research, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council); the one exception is the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship, which is one of the most competitive and lucrative fellowship programs in Canada. The application process involves being nominated by the institution. Furthermore, as an American citizen abroad, you will not be able to take many of the major predoctoral fellowship awards (Ford Foundation, NDSEG, NSF GRFP) to a Canadian institution. I have heard that one can use NRSA funding abroad if one can justify why one is seeking training outside of the United States, but I haven't yet run into someone who has done so successfully.

Something else regarding Canadian internships that I had heard is that, due to preferential hiring for Canadian citizens and permanent residents, you may run into difficulty matching with sites in Canada. Most of the students with whom I've spoken (caveat: very small sample size) have gone back to the states for internship, and the U.S. has a wider range of sites anyway.

Best of luck!

Edit to add: You might find this post helpful, as well.

 

[deleted343839]

I've known several Canadians who've worked in the US and vice versa. Some US states even have licensure reciprocity with some Canadian provinces. I think the issue is not so much one of accreditation/licensure eligibility but rather some of the more practical issues that @Temperance mentioned.

 

[temppsych123]

American who did my PhD in Canada here - you're not eligible for all the same funding sources, but you won't have any problem coming back to the US for internship and licensure, the APA recognizes CPA-accredited programs as equivalent. Look for my prior posts on this topic to see some more details, and message me if you have more specific questions as you go along, but as a rule, you shouldn't rule out Canadian schools at the application stage as an American, just will need to weigh some of the pros/cons when it comes to decision-making around offers.

 

[AbnormalPsych]

How does this affect eligibility for VA internship, postdoc, and work?

 

[temppsych123]

How does this affect eligibility for VA internship, postdoc, and work?

It doesn't, as long as you're a US citizen. VA internships, postdocs etc now recognize APA-accredited, CPA-accredited, and PCSAS-accredited programs.

VA.gov | Veterans Affairs

Apply for and manage the VA benefits and services you’ve earned as a Veteran, Servicemember, or family member—like health care, disability, education, and more.

www.psychologytraining.va.gov

 

[funky_buddha]

Thanks all for the replies. Unfortunate that funding through fellowships may be an issue as an American. I also just found out that the school I’m interested states on their website that they are not taking international applicants this cycle.... this is likely insurmountable, but I may have a networking opportunity with the mentors I am interested in there. I’ll keep plugging away.

American who did my PhD in Canada here - you're not eligible for all the same funding sources, but you won't have any problem coming back to the US for internship and licensure, the APA recognizes CPA-accredited programs as equivalent. Look for my prior posts on this topic to see some more details, and message me if you have more specific questions as you go along, but as a rule, you shouldn't rule out Canadian schools at the application stage as an American, just will need to weigh some of the pros/cons when it comes to decision-making around offers.

I’ll take a look at your stuff and let you know if I have any questions! Thank you for your help!