Fun story about a school

[bookwormpsych]

Hello all.

I've recently had the most odd experience with a PsyD program (I won't name the school out right - unless you ask me LOL).

So, I applied to this PsyD program because they had an awesome Military Psych track (my end goal). However, AFTER applying, I found out their basically a money-grabbing bunch of people, with debt climbing over $150,000... bad match rates... bad reputation... not worth it. So, I'm out $50 ish on the app and sending my GRE scores, whatever. Anyway, fast forward a couple of weeks, I get invited for an interview. However, at this point, I decided not to attend the school, to focus this next year on research, etc. etc. etc. But, I decide I'll do the interview, for practice, and for a vacation away from Texas. Fast forward again, COVID-19 hits the area of the interview, they move the interview to like an online Skype version, etc. The city I was going to visit (which was the exciting part) practically closed down. So, I cancel my flight and said screw the interview. They asked me to reschedule, I was like nahhh because the vacation I wanted isn't going to happen.

Fast forward again.... I get an e-mail from admissions today for my ACCEPTANCE to this school.... You read that right. What??? I didn't even do the interview??? They also offered me a scholarship??? I checked the application portal and it also indicates an acceptance there, too. That's so... odd. Really attests to what exactly they're after.

Anyway, I'm not going to accept their acceptance, lol. But, thought I would share a fun story amidst all of this mess in life. Share if you have something similar, or something just fun!

Thank you

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[Sanman]

Basic google-fu says William James college, but I may be wrong.

Acceptance and money, sometimes all you can do in person is screw it up, lol.

 

[psychlife19]

Man you mean you can get into grad school without interviewing??

you must be a famous person, and so they heard of you and wanted you regardless of your skills you one of them tik tokkers?

 

[bookwormpsych]

Basic google-fu says William James college, but I may be wrong.

Acceptance and money, sometimes all you can do in person is screw it up, lol.

LOL, Close. Located in Chicago, IL, if that narrows it (not the CSPP, though).

Man you mean you can get into grad school without interviewing??

you must be a famous person, and so they heard of you and wanted you regardless of your skills you one of them tik tokkers?

Pft, if I was that famous, I sure wouldn't be in this field LOL

 

[Temperance]

Fast forward again.... I get an e-mail from admissions today for my ACCEPTANCE to this school.... You read that right. What??? I didn't even do the interview??? They also offered me a scholarship??? I checked the application portal and it also indicates an acceptance there, too. That's so... odd. Really attests to what exactly they're after.

The email did not, by any chance, start with "Greetings for the day", did it?

 

[Sanman]

LOL, Close. Located in Chicago, IL, if that narrows it (not the CSPP, though).



Pft, if I was that famous, I sure wouldn't be in this field LOL

Adler in Chicago was result number 2. I'm just more partial to visiting the Boston area, so a little bias on my part.

 

[Temperance]

Adler in Chicago was result number 2. I'm just more partial to visiting the Boston area, so a little bias on my part.

Isn't Adler University one of the schools that used to admit 100+ students per year into their Psy.D. program?

 

[psychlife19]

Isn't Adler University one of the schools that used to admit 100+ students per year into their Psy.D. program?

They did try to go for their APA accreditation a few years back and then inexplicably pulled out of the process.

 

[DynamicDidactic]

They did try to go for their APA accreditation a few years back and then inexplicably pulled out of the process.

Adler has been accredited by the APA for a while. This is one of the reasons many people have been unhappy with the APA CoA.

 

[DynamicDidactic]

Hello all.

I've recently had the most odd experience with a PsyD program (I won't name the school out right - unless you ask me LOL).

So, I applied to this PsyD program because they had an awesome Military Psych track (my end goal). However, AFTER applying, I found out their basically a money-grabbing bunch of people, with debt climbing over $150,000... bad match rates... bad reputation... not worth it. So, I'm out $50 ish on the app and sending my GRE scores, whatever. Anyway, fast forward a couple of weeks, I get invited for an interview. However, at this point, I decided not to attend the school, to focus this next year on research, etc. etc. etc. But, I decide I'll do the interview, for practice, and for a vacation away from Texas. Fast forward again, COVID-19 hits the area of the interview, they move the interview to like an online Skype version, etc. The city I was going to visit (which was the exciting part) practically closed down. So, I cancel my flight and said screw the interview. They asked me to reschedule, I was like nahhh because the vacation I wanted isn't going to happen.

Fast forward again.... I get an e-mail from admissions today for my ACCEPTANCE to this school.... You read that right. What??? I didn't even do the interview??? They also offered me a scholarship??? I checked the application portal and it also indicates an acceptance there, too. That's so... odd. Really attests to what exactly they're after.

Anyway, I'm not going to accept their acceptance, lol. But, thought I would share a fun story amidst all of this mess in life. Share if you have something similar, or something just fun!

Thank you

Unfortunately, not too surprising but very telling.

 

[AbnormalPsych]

Yikes, good thing you escaped.

 

[YungPsy]

Still come visit after this is all over

 

[cara susanna]

I knew someone who went to Adler and was SUPER unhappy there. Ended up leaving.

 

[bookwormpsych]

Still come visit chicago after this is all over, as lupe says, "best city in the whole wide world" (as long as you come in the summer)

I do still want to do that, at least. Once this pandemic is over. I even bought the City Pass to see all the cool stuff (specifically wanted to go to the aquarium lol). That was the only thing that was upsetting me to, the loss of my vacation

 

[bookwormpsych]

Isn't Adler University one of the schools that used to admit 100+ students per year into their Psy.D. program?

Yes I didn't realize that until after the fact. But, I got lucky. Although I won't be attending a program this year, it gives me more time to prepare myself/my CV for schools that are... not garbage LOL

Yikes, good thing you escaped.

RIGHT. I panic-researched after applying in Feb and the more I read, the worse it got. I'm glad this played out the way it did, but upset because I didn't get to leave TX for a little bit lol. You win some, you lose some, oh well!

Unfortunately, not too surprising but very telling.

Exactly my thoughts. So weird... so desperate. Not to say that I don't have good grades and clinical experience, etc etc., but even having the BEST everything... accepting without interviewing is desperate. Tells me they needed to fill their admissions slots.

 

[Mama Bear]

Isn't Adler University one of the schools that used to admit 100+ students per year into their Psy.D. program?

Yes, crazy cohort sizes, tuition, attrition, and abysmal APA match rate.

Many years ago (and before I knew better), I interviewed there for a masters program. All they did was talk up their fancy new building. Hey, how about not charging super gross tuition rates instead? Thankfully found a funded program with lame but functional buildings.

 

[DynamicDidactic]

All they did was talk up their fancy new building. Hey, how about not charging super gross tuition rates instead? Thankfully found a funded program with lame but functional buildings.

I think these professional school need to create an aura of respectability. Since they aren't known brand name universities and don't have the historic grounds/buildings they do so by renting space in expensive parts of town. This seemed to be the case in Chicago PsyD programs. Not sure if that is true for other parts of the country.

 

[deleted343839]

The email did not, by any chance, start with "Greetings for the day", did it?

You can only trust those emails if they're written in Comic Sans font.

 

[WisNeuro]

I think these professional school need to create an aura of respectability. Since they aren't known brand name universities and don't have the historic grounds/buildings they do so by renting space in expensive parts of town. This seemed to be the case in Chicago PsyD programs. Not sure if that is true for other parts of the country.

Hmm, the local shut down diploma mill here (Argosy) was in a fairly drab office building. Nothing aesthetically pleasing about it.

 

[ClinicalABA]

Hmm, the local shut down diploma mill here (Argosy) was in a fairly drab office building. Nothing aesthetically pleasing about it.

William James "University" has a beautiful new building. My training, on the other hand, largely took place in the brutalist monstrosity pictured below- perfectly designed to look bad from any angle, turn a runny brown color in the rain, and minimize the amount of natural light reaching the inside spaces. If you were lucky, a piece of it might actually fall off of it and hit you in the head as you walked by. There were awesome, crumbling concrete benches scattered along that "veranda."

 

[cara susanna]

The two main buildings where I received my training were both condemned a few years after I graduated!

 

[WisNeuro]

William James "University" has a beautiful new building. My training, on the other hand, largely took place in the brutalist monstrosity pictured below- perfectly designed to look bad from any angle, turn a runny brown color in the rain, and minimize the amount of natural light reaching the inside spaces. If you were lucky, a piece of it might actually fall off of it and hit you in the head as you walked by. There were awesome, crumbling concrete benches scattered along that "veranda."

My grad program was actually housed in some early 1900's beautiful red brick buildings with a kind of gothic architecture. Some of the better looking buildings on campus, as all of the newer buildings looked a lot like what you posted above. Of course, that also meant we had our fair share of heating and cooling issues that comes with very old buildings, no matter how renovated they are.

 

[Sanman]

Depending on what building you are referring to, the places I trained spanned from meh to nice. The med school library was quite nice.

 

[cara susanna]

We had a gorgeous new building but no one was allowed to use it because you had to have a grant to be in there. Haha.

 

[R. Matey]

So, the dumpier the building, the better the training exp? I feel like someone should study this.

Also, same as @ClinicalABA, brutalist prison building ftw.

 

[PsyDr]

The worst part of grad school was the dementors.

 

[Sanman]

The worst part of grad school was the dementors.

What are you talking about? Dementors are great! Create your own demand, it is a goldmine!

 

[psych.meout]

The worst part of grad school was the dementors.

Speaking of that:

‘The Office’ Crew Blames NBC for Forcing Steve Carell’s Exit: ‘It Was Absolutely Asinine’

Steve Carell left "The Office" after its seventh season, but a new book on the NBC comedy reveals that wasn't what he wanted.

www.indiewire.com

 

[forcefive17]

Hello all.

I've recently had the most odd experience with a PsyD program (I won't name the school out right - unless you ask me LOL).

So, I applied to this PsyD program because they had an awesome Military Psych track (my end goal). However, AFTER applying, I found out their basically a money-grabbing bunch of people, with debt climbing over $150,000... bad match rates... bad reputation... not worth it. So, I'm out $50 ish on the app and sending my GRE scores, whatever. Anyway, fast forward a couple of weeks, I get invited for an interview. However, at this point, I decided not to attend the school, to focus this next year on research, etc. etc. etc. But, I decide I'll do the interview, for practice, and for a vacation away from Texas. Fast forward again, COVID-19 hits the area of the interview, they move the interview to like an online Skype version, etc. The city I was going to visit (which was the exciting part) practically closed down. So, I cancel my flight and said screw the interview. They asked me to reschedule, I was like nahhh because the vacation I wanted isn't going to happen.

Fast forward again.... I get an e-mail from admissions today for my ACCEPTANCE to this school.... You read that right. What??? I didn't even do the interview??? They also offered me a scholarship??? I checked the application portal and it also indicates an acceptance there, too. That's so... odd. Really attests to what exactly they're after.

Anyway, I'm not going to accept their acceptance, lol. But, thought I would share a fun story amidst all of this mess in life. Share if you have something similar, or something just fun!

Thank you

I guessed Adler almost immediately. Some unsolicited advice from a military psychologist:
These tracks are bogus and exist for the sole purpose of marketing/tuition hiking. They won't give you a competitive leg up for internship, nor will they prepare you well for a career in military psychology. That's what specialized training on internship/post-doc are for. Do Adler grads match with the military? Sure. However, it's been my experience that students from these "tracks" struggle with basic interpersonal/psychotherapy skills (probably due to a cohort size of +130). As a result, they tend to severely under perform relative to "non-military track" interns/post-docs. The military wants strong generalists. It's much easier to teach military officership than it is clinical/counsling psychology foundational skills.

TL;DR: Don't go to Adler.

 

[PsyDr]

...a cohort size of +130).

A COHORT SIZE OF WHAT?!

 

[WisNeuro]

A COHORT SIZE OF WHAT?!

The F do these places go bankrupt when they bilk that many students/suckers out of gobs of money every year?

 

[PsyDr]

@WisNeuro

I really didn't know that programs had cohorts that size. I thought 30 was big, but I know some PhDs have numbers around that, so I always thought the degree mill thing based on "big class sizes" was snobbery.

But....130... I had no idea. Holy hell. How many people are in a single class?

 

[forcefive17]

@WisNeuro

I really didn't know that programs had cohorts that size. I thought 30 was big, but I know some PhDs have numbers around that, so I always thought the degree mill thing based on "big class sizes" was snobbery.

But....130... I had no idea. Holy hell. How many people are in a single class?

I've had a few (mostly negative) interactions with Adler's graduates. From what they've stated, the number of people in their classes is comparable to the number of people in an undergraduate algebra 101 course at a state university. Website admissions stats haven't been updated since 2017-2018. In 2010, when I applied for graduate school, 105 students were admitted. This number doesn't reflect those who pause during their studies and loop back with other cohorts.

Another incredible number: from 2008-2018 close to 600 people graduated.

 

[WisNeuro]

How many proofs of purchase from a Lucky Charms box does an applicant need to send along with their application fees to gain admittance?

 

[Sanman]

@WisNeuro

I really didn't know that programs had cohorts that size. I thought 30 was big, but I know some PhDs have numbers around that, so I always thought the degree mill thing based on "big class sizes" was snobbery.

But....130... I had no idea. Holy hell. How many people are in a single class?

It is not just them. William James has a cohort size of about 100 and Argosy used to have similar cohort sizes as well. Hard to win advocacy fights when these schools are pumping out more grads than all the traditional programs combined who all vote for changes in their favor. Welcome to the scale of the problem.

 

[forcefive17]

It is not just them. William James has a cohort size of about 100 and Argosy used to have similar cohort sizes as well. Hard to win advocacy fights when these schools are pumping out more grads than all the traditional programs combined who all vote for changes in their favor. Welcome to the scale of the problem.

Formerly known as Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology (can't fool us, professional school). Last I heard, recruiters are starting to catch on to the lack of quality students from these schools and decreased the number of scholarship/internship apps that they'll push through each year.

For folks who want to go the military route: This school also has a "track." Similarly to Adler, it's going to do nothing for career development. Students interested in applications of psych to the military would be better prepared for this niche by reading Military Psychology, Clinical and Operational Applications by Kennedy and Zillmer.

 

[bookwormpsych]

How many proofs of purchase from a Lucky Charms box does an applicant need to send along with their application fees to gain admittance?

Maybe that's why I got accepted without interview... I did send in quite a few box tops with my app. They were just so impressed with the amount, that it was an automatic "get in free" pass... except replace "free" with "$200,000 worth of crippling debt."

@WisNeuro specifically, I do want to thank you. Reading your direct, no-bullsh*t comments on this forum, is in large part the reason I reevaluated my interest in this school. Perusing the threads of "x school or y school?" and your opinions and inputs (as well as other people's) really put my impulsive, on-the-fly decisions into perspective. So, I researched heavily, decided this is a bunch of garbage, and dodged a bullet. So, thank you, and thank you to everyone else on this forum!

 

[WisNeuro]

Maybe that's why I got accepted without interview... I did send in quite a few box tops with my app. They were just so impressed with the amount, that it was an automatic "get in free" pass... except replace "free" with "$200,000 worth of crippling debt."

@WisNeuro specifically, I do want to thank you. Reading your direct, no-bullsh*t comments on this forum, is in large part the reason I reevaluated my interest in this school. Perusing the threads of "x school or y school?" and your opinions and inputs (as well as other people's) really put my impulsive, on-the-fly decisions into perspective. So, I researched heavily, decided this is a bunch of garbage, and dodged a bullet. So, thank you, and thank you to everyone else on this forum!

Hey, just glad to be of service. I know way too many people with 200k+ in student loans, living on the margins. Honestly love to hear when people re-evaluate that decision as that fiscal albatross will weigh you down for decades. It's moreso in the limelight now as many healthcare systems are reducing hours/pay to 50% to deal with the current crisis and drop-offs in non-emergency care. Keep on trucking, and we're always here for advice when it comes to the field. We love to see people succeed, especially when they can succeed and prosper, both in career fulfillment, as well as financially.