Applying for the 2007-2008 Year?

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Salsybabe

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I didn't see a thread for this, and wanted to know who's applying to master's or PhD programs for the 2007-2008 school year, whether in clinical psychology, counseling, school, etc. (since I know not everyone on here [myself included] is not just applying to clinical psychology programs or even clinical psych programs at all). Have you come up with your final list? Are you doing anything over the summer to prepare? How far along in the process are you? Just want to get to know people in the same boat I'm in...

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Salsybabe said:
I didn't see a thread for this, and wanted to know who's applying to master's or PhD programs for the 2007-2008 school year, whether in clinical psychology, counseling, school, etc. (since I know not everyone on here [myself included] is not just applying to clinical psychology programs or even clinical psych programs at all). Have you come up with your final list? Are you doing anything over the summer to prepare? How far along in the process are you? Just want to get to know people in the same boat I'm in...

Yay, I am not the only one on here! I am applying to both clinical and counseling PhD programs but am really hoping to go clinical. As for what I am doing, I keep trying to get volunteer positions over the summer to gain clinical experience (I have none) but they are impossible to find in Denver right now, or at least I haven't found it. I just have been studying for several weeks for my general GRE and will take that on Thursday (fingers crossed everyone) and if that goes well then I will start turning my attention to the Psych GRE. I also have been doing some research for an honors thesis but haven't spent enough time on that yet.

As for programs, I have a good idea of the programs I like but I haven't determined a final list nor have I contacted the professors yet. I want to find out what my GRE scores are and then I will contact the professors and see if they are accepting given my research interest. Once I know who is accepting, I am going to see how many programs I have and then either try to find more in my research intererst or look into another research interest, because I do have a couple topics I like.

I hope that tells you about where I am, where are you in the process? It is nice to meet another person in the same boat! Good luck
 
I'll be applying for Clinical Psych PhD next fall. Will be getting some research experience for a year while I apply, though it'll not be directly related to what I plan to study. Giving general GRE in October, haven't got the dates for Subject as yet.
Good luck to all those applying!
 
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irish80122 said:
I hope that tells you about where I am, where are you in the process? It is nice to meet another person in the same boat! Good luck
Good luck to you, too! I'm applying primarily to counseling psych programs, a few school psych and 2 clinical programs. I did spend a very long time putting my list together. I think every school I have on there is a good match for me. This summer I've worked on my personal statement for all the schools (many have several little essays). I have my final list of 11 PhD programs (though that may turn into 12 programs), so I decided to get such a big part of the application out of the way ASAP. I've also contacted former professors from undergrad and my graduate school and a couple of former employers for LOR. I've taken the GRE (twice) already, and it's still the weakest part of my application, but I'm taking my chances anyway. I really can't afford to take it again and apply to all those schools. Plus I have to take the subject test this fall. I plan to contact professors in the fall to see if I need to eliminate any schools.

What I found really helpful was creating a database through MS Word to keep track of all the schools, the app fees, profs for research match, application deadlines, etc.
 
Salsybabe said:
Good luck to you, too! I'm applying primarily to counseling psych programs, a few school psych and 2 clinical programs. I did spend a very long time putting my list together. I think every school I have on there is a good match for me. This summer I've worked on my personal statement for all the schools (many have several little essays). I have my final list of 11 PhD programs (though that may turn into 12 programs), so I decided to get such a big part of the application out of the way ASAP. I've also contacted former professors from undergrad and my graduate school and a couple of former employers for LOR. I've taken the GRE (twice) already, and it's still the weakest part of my application, but I'm taking my chances anyway. I really can't afford to take it again and apply to all those schools. Plus I have to take the subject test this fall. I plan to contact professors in the fall to see if I need to eliminate any schools.

What I found really helpful was creating a database through MS Word to keep track of all the schools, the app fees, profs for research match, application deadlines, etc.

I agree with the database, I did that with Excel and it does help. The problem is that there are just so many programs out there! A good book that people should check out is the Insider's Guide to Graduate Programs in Clinical and Counseling Psychology : 2006/2007 Edition. It will show all of the clinical/counseling programs and their research interests, GRE's, GPA's, funding, and all that fun stuff. I worked from here and then went to the schools' websites to confirm the information and that has worked pretty well. Fingers crossed that those professors I really like are accepting!
 
sigh. i'll be applying again (clinical phd), and it will be my last time. fortunately my scores are high enough so i dont have retake either gre test. i'm going to spend my summer finding the best possible fits, actually taking enough time to make my statements as kickass as possible, and making sure that i get my applications in super early this time (the only things that i can think of that i have power to change). im not sure if im going to reapply to any of the schools i did this past year- if they didnt want me last year, would they want me this year?
 
PsychoEm said:
sigh. i'll be applying again (clinical phd), and it will be my last time. fortunately my scores are high enough so i dont have retake either gre test. i'm going to spend my summer finding the best possible fits, actually taking enough time to make my statements as kickass as possible, and making sure that i get my applications in super early this time (the only things that i can think of that i have power to change). im not sure if im going to reapply to any of the schools i did this past year- if they didnt want me last year, would they want me this year?

I wouldn't say that. First of all, were all of them accepting last year? It is possible that they didn't take kids for your area last year but will this year. Secondly, you are going up against a completely different candidate pool this year and you will come in as a stronger candidate because of the things you can do during the year, you know? I wouldn't write-off any of those schools that you may not have gotten into last year, you never know (especially with how crazy grad school admissions is)!
 
Remember kids, e-mail the professors to find out if they are accepting. If not you are just wasiting your times.......and money.....
 
Good luck to all of you applying in the fall. PsychoEm, definitely don't write off a school you previously applied to, I know of several people who applied to the same school 2 years in a row and got in the second time. If its a school you really want, as long as you have been getting more experience since the last time, it will show them you really want to be in their program.
And yes as Psyclops said, the first step before anything else is to see if your profs are going to be accepting students for that year, otherwise writing a personal statement, or anything else done towards that prof at the program is a waste of time. And with so much to do for the whole process, you don't want to waste any time. And the more contact you have with potential professors, the better when they get to your application.
 
How early is to early to contact professors? How are they going to know if they are accepting a student 15 months from now? Any advice on what that letter should say is much obliged.
 
I plan to contact professors in August/September because it seems that most of them aren't around for the summer and probably won't get to the email until the fall anyway. I did contact a couple prior to the summer though. As for the personal statements, I did all mine this summer. If it turns out to be a waste of time when I contact profs, then oh well. I'd rather have them done early just in case. Most of them are slight variations of one statement anyway.
 
Although I don't think there is any specific time to contact them by, it is important to remember that many professors might not know whether they are taking anyone yet. They haven't even started working wiht any new grad students yet, and won't unitl early sept most likely.

A contact e-mail should introduce yourself, saying a little about your experiences, that you are very interested in their work, where do they see it going, are they accepeting anyone for next year, and always be very polite and offer to anser any questions tehy might have. You can attach a CV, I think it is a good idea to include some of your stats for their perusal if they are interested.
 
You shouldn't contact them in September because that's when the school year starts and things are BUSY.
 
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Psyclops said:
Although I don't think there is any specific time to contact them by, it is important to remember that many professors might not know whether they are taking anyone yet. They haven't even started working wiht any new grad students yet, and won't unitl early sept most likely.

A contact e-mail should introduce yourself, saying a little about your experiences, that you are very interested in their work, where do they see it going, are they accepeting anyone for next year, and always be very polite and offer to anser any questions tehy might have. You can attach a CV, I think it is a good idea to include some of your stats for their perusal if they are interested.
Thanks for the info. It's very helpful.
 
Hi all
I can't find any recent editions of the Insider's guide to Graduate Prog in Cl and Couns Psych on the net. The most recent editions I found were 2003-2004. Could anyone help me find the latest edition of the book? Thanks in advance!
 
For the best resource, in my opinion, go to APA.org. Go under the student section, then getting into graduate school, then the listing of all the programs. It costs $19.99 for 3 months but it is totally worth it. It lists every program, masters PhD, PsyD, and has links to each department, in addition to information like admissison stats, tuition, stipend, housing, etc. It's much better than the guide.
 
Hey Psyclops
Thanks! That was very helpful
 
Psyclops said:
For the best resource, in my opinion, go to APA.org. Go under the student section, then getting into graduate school, then the listing of all the programs. It costs $19.99 for 3 months but it is totally worth it. It lists every program, masters PhD, PsyD, and has links to each department, in addition to information like admissison stats, tuition, stipend, housing, etc. It's much better than the guide.

Does it show faculty research interests though? For stats I bet it is better than the guide but I use the guide more for finding matches. I think after that point, when I have my list, it will be helpful but if it doesn't show research interests it may make it hard for someone to narrow down their list. Anyways, I don't know how that became a speech, lol, but does it show faculty research interests?
 
Look, just like dieting, there is no substitute for hard work here. It provides a link to every program's website. When I looked at faculty, I looked at every faculty member's interests as they stated them on the web, if someone seemed close I would look up their work on psychINFO. The guide only offers a general interests list. It doesn't tell you which faculty are interested in what, and it doesn't tell you where their programs are going or how they are evolving. Nor is it very specific. So if it says depression, is it CBT? Is it Bio basis? Now one doesn't have to be as hard-core as I was. I looked at every faculty member from non professional school PhD programs acredited by the APA. That was my only criterion: interest match. That was a lot to go over, so it is good that you're starting early. I don't think there is a substitute for this. It worked for me....
 
Psyclops said:
Look, just like dieting, there is no substitute for hard work here. It provides a link to every program's website. When I looked at faculty, I looked at every faculty member's interests as they stated them on the web, if someone seemed close I would look up their work on psychINFO. The guide only offers a general interests list. It doesn't tell you which faculty are interested in what, and it doesn't tell you where their programs are going or how they are evolving. Nor is it very specific. So if it says depression, is it CBT? Is it Bio basis? Now one doesn't have to be as hard-core as I was. I looked at every faculty member from non professional school PhD programs acredited by the APA. That was my only criterion: interest match. That was a lot to go over, so it is good that you're starting early. I don't think there is a substitute for this. It worked for me....

This is a rare case where I disagree with you. If someone has compiled a list for a certain research interest, I think that it is at least good to look at those schools. I tried going to the websites and reading research interests but what I found was that what they said didn't always correlate with the research they were doing now. Because of that, what I then did was to do psychinfo searches for the research that interested me and I saw who was doing research now. I also got in touch with a professor who does that research (who now I work with) and asked him who all was doing it along with joining the organization for that interest to find more people. Due to this, I think I have found a pretty good number of schools, though I am sure I am missing a few. I just don't think it is necessary, unless you really don't want to miss a program, to go through all of them because you can still get a good list of programs playing off of the work others have done for you like I did. Just my $.02

BTW, I do think you have to read up on those professors once you have their name, and I am going through all of their PsychInfo stuff now :(. It still is a lot of work no matter how you cut it.
 
I think that is all great advice too, Irish. I just found the guide to be a little lacking. It does give some good advice for interviews, but then again it is mostly common sense. Yeah I would read up on the professors to make sure you are intersted in them, but don't break your neck. You will want to read up alot once you get invited to interviews.
 
Yes you are right, no matter what you do, its hard work. Another approach (maybe no better than any of the others) that I took was I used that Insiders Guide to Clinical and Counseling programs book as a starting point for schools. As far as I know they were supposed to come out with a 2006 2007 edition, but I'm not sure if they published it yet or not. I used the 04 05 version. And I looked through the schools, and looked at the breakdown of research type and how many faculty were involved. And for those schools that had several profs in the field I was interested in, I went online to the school website ad looked at each prof and their interests. And from there I looked at their citations for papers and read those that way. I found that to be effective for me because I knew the general area I wanted, but the more profs I looked at, the better the idea I got at what was currently being done, which you may not get from psychinfo, since that is what was done already.

So just another suggestion for those of you at this stage. I'm sure you could also use the APA website in the same way vand that would cut down some of the research I did online.
 
I will be applying again for 2007-8.

Another piece of advice: if you are currently working with someone in the same or a similar area of interest as you want in grad school, just ask that person for advice. They'll know who the people are in that area. And, once you start reading, you'll keep seeing the same few names pop up.
 
Joetro? Reapplying? I thought you got into a bunch of good programs, was I wrong?
 
On the topic of writing to profs, this is one of those questions that inspires all sorts of conflicting advice from people on this board, as well as faculty in the field. For some people, it's essential; for some, annoying. Some people appreciate a message that indicates your background and why you are interested in them; some prefer only to be asked whether or not they are taking students; some will ignore you all together (but still invite you for an interview after reading your application). It's very much an individual differences thing. My approach during application was to write a very brief message (around September/October) stating my interest, asking if they were taking students, and asking if I could contact one of their grad students to inquire about current research in the lab. I received responses to about half of these messages.

If you do write a longer message, you should do so after reading at least a couple of the person's articles and formulating some sort of intelligent question about their research, a more challenging task than it sounds. You don't want to annoy them with some obvious ploy to get their attention, but on the other hand, they will respect an informed question. If you decide to take this track, treat it almost like a personal statement and request feedback on the message content from a trusted advisor.

All that being said, I'm sure quite a few people have had experiences with this that directly contradict everything I just wrote.

Good luck.
 
That is good advice. That article is a little bit scarier that I think the process really is. But generally those are good things to keep in mind.
 
soaringheights said:
Hi all
I can't find any recent editions of the Insider's guide to Graduate Prog in Cl and Couns Psych on the net. The most recent editions I found were 2003-2004. Could anyone help me find the latest edition of the book? Thanks in advance!


I found the newest edition at Barnes&Noble, but only online, not in the store.
 
kestrelcry said:
I found the newest edition at Barnes&Noble, but only online, not in the store.

Could you post me a link?
 
soaringheights said:
Could you post me a link?


I can't seem to be able to do so, but seriously, you just go to barnesandnoble.com and search for the title. It's the first result up every time when I do it.
 
Psychman23 said:
How early is to early to contact professors? How are they going to know if they are accepting a student 15 months from now? Any advice on what that letter should say is much obliged.

Everyone has a different opinion on this. Some professors have told me that contact via email or phone about them taking students is pointless. The sentiment being "I may or may not take a student depending on who applies". There are also funding issues that may not be resolved until closer to the application deadline.

I think some basic contact asking about their future research direction and a followup closer to the deadline can't hurt. Anything beyond that may be annoying to some professors considering all the email they get.

As always, take this with a grain of salt. This coming from a guy who is reapplying.
 
Graduate Programs I am considering (IN ORDER of preference as of now, PhD for clinical psych unless noted otherwise):

1. VANDERBILT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2. UCLA!!!!!!!! (there's 3 or 4 profs there I would LOOVE to work with) thank god they don't require us to pick one prof, because I wouldn't be able to

3. University of Minnesota - Twin Cities (Counseling Psych)

4. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaigne

5. University of Texas - Austin

I need to do more research because my interest area is on cross-cultural differences, however, Vandy is my best fit because the professor there is working with the group I want to work with (my own country, Vietnam). However, my grades are so-so, although my research experience and clinical experience are pretty good. Just hope I do well on the GRE because the professor at Vandy said they are very big on that. Also, my significant other is going to Vandy for his PhD, so....I hope I get into Vandy!! :luck:
 
The question for our panel is....should she mention the significant other in the application?
 
Psyclops said:
The question for our panel is....should she mention the significant other in the application?

I don't have any background on this as obviously I am applying for the first time as well but my gut feeling says no. You want them to know that you are serious about their research and are not just applying there to get close to your significant other. I am not saying the poster is doing this, far from it, I just know it could be seen that way if she mentions the significant other.
 
lol, I initially researched Vandy because of my SO, but I contacted the professor because the research he is doing is a perfect fit for me--being that I'm a Vietnamese Refugee and he's working with VR and other Vietnamese children. Do you think then mentioning that my SO goes to Vandy would show them that if I'm accepted, I've a much better chance of attending?
 
Quynh2007 said:
lol, I initially researched Vandy because of my SO, but I contacted the professor because the research he is doing is a perfect fit for me--being that I'm a Vietnamese Refugee and he's working with VR and other Vietnamese children. Do you think then mentioning that my SO goes to Vandy would show them that if I'm accepted, I've a much better chance of attending?

I see what you are saying, I just think the risk is greater than the benefit. However, I will bump this up because that is just my opinion but others may disagree! Good luck!
 
Hi Quynh, I am a rising first-year Phd student in a clinical psych program. When I applied, I had the same issue as you and very much wanted to attend the school that was a perfect match for me that my significant other also happened to attend. I decided not to mention him AT ALL on the my interview. My feeling on it was since we are not married- mentioning him may have hurt my chances more than help them.

On interviews, I think your enthusiam will speak for itself. If you want your potential mentor to know how likely you are to attend, simply tell them at interviews that they are your first choice school.

Have hope- these things do have a way of working themselves out. They did for me, and I will be attending my program of choice this fall:)
 
Good luck, Quynh2007! I do hope you get into Vanderbilt. Do you feel that applying to just five schools will be risky? What do others think? If finances allow, my list will be at 12 schools.
 
The more the better, it improves the chances that someone will match your research interests, or that you will match thiers. Also, it improves the chances that someone you apply to will be taking patients.
 
I applied to 10, but I have heard of people applying to as many as 15.
 
Salsybabe said:
Good luck, Quynh2007! I do hope you get into Vanderbilt. Do you feel that applying to just five schools will be risky? What do others think? If finances allow, my list will be at 12 schools.

I do think that only applying to five schools is risky and I hope to have 12 or more when my list finalizes. That being said, I am not sure if I will have 12 good matches, so I will just have to see. Ideally I think you would want more but sometimes you can't add more schools that you would want to go to, you know? I for one will probably pick up a second research interest in order to get to about that number of schools.
 
Psyclops said:
The more the better, it improves the chances that someone will match your research interests, or that you will match thiers. Also, it improves the chances that someone you apply to will be taking patients.

Taking patients huh? Either that was a Freudian slip or an ominous foretelling of what is to come :(.
 
HAHA, Sorry I'm at work, I was talking on the phone when I wrote that. HA
 
those are the 5 schools thus far that I have found to have a professor that 1. matches my interest in cross-cultural differences and 2. have told me that they are accepting (all but UCLA because they said on their website who wasn't accepting). I am still researching some more schools. Vandy is my first choice because the professor there works with people I understand and am familiar with, and I can speak the language. I'm not sure how many people who can speak Vietnamese will be applying to be his graduate student next year, but hopefully there will be very little and I can have a much easier chance of getting in. however, in case that I don't, I wouldn't mind doing research on cross-cultural differences in other minorities like black (my SO is African-American) and latinos (my sorority is a latin-based sorority). I do find that minority professors tend to do research on their own minority, so hopefully, despite being asian, I can show that I would like to do research with black/latinos as well.
 
Psyclops said:
The question for our panel is....should she mention the significant other in the application?

I would say def not, at least not in the personal statement. I think it greatly discredits your intentions for studying at the school. I wrote something vague about being near family and friends in my statement (one quick sentence near the end), even that I debated taking out.

I never mentioned anything about my SO to the prof with whom I'll be working with in the fall. I think it hurt me a little to mention my SO at one of my other interviews (this is based on conversations with that prof later on). Also, at the school I will be attending in the fall, I mentioend my SO after I was accepted and the prof said it was probably for the better that I didn't mention him before.
 
Thanks for the suggestion!

I am adding USC, University of Washington, and SDSU/UCSD to my list.
 
Please bare with me while I bring up this point about Vandy. I was wondering if Vandy is the only school that takes undergraduate institute seriously? I got this from the FAQ section:

What factors determine whether I will be admitted?
Several factors weigh heavily into admissions decisions: (1) undergraduate GPA, (2) GRE scores, (3) the undergraduate institution, (4) letters of recommendation, (5) prior relevant research experience, (5) match between interests of the student and members of the faculty, and (6) whether those faculty are currently admitting new students into their laboratories.

does this mean going to Podunk University may be a weak point in someone's application, or that perhaps (3) might explain why (1) is not as high as it should be? I wonder what other schools take undergraduate institute into considering?
 
Of course they do, but I don't think it's worth freaking out about. I'll use this example: A 3.8 at Harvard is different from a 3.8 at the Community College of Allagheney County, presumably. Essentialy the programs are going to want to take that in to account to some degree. If you are attending Podunk U. with a 3.02 it might be wise to do a really good job on the Psych GRE. The psych GRE is often used by programs to gauge how good of an education the student got at Podunk U. It is less important for those who attended large state schools or brand name universities where they might be familiar with the level of academic rigor. This is just what I have heard.
 
The people I interviewed with (against?) last year all had significant post-undergrad research experience and graduated from well known public or private colleges (one was an internal from Vandy). Where you went to college is one of the many factors that is taken into account, probably at all or most grad schools.
 
They better take undergrad institute into consideration, dammit. If I've mortaged my soul and several pounds of flesh to Sallie Mae for the next couple of centuries for nothing, there will be a reckoning! I'm not sure on whom, but heads will roll! And I'll bite their ears off first.
 
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