international applicants

[Reem16]

Hi, I am a foreign citizen and will be applying next fall to clinical psych PhDs in the US and Canada. I have heard contradictory things about how my citizenship may affect my chances and I was wondering if anyone here was a successful international applicant willing to share their experience. By international applicant, I mean someone who is not a legal permanent resident (green card holder), and who is therefore in the US with a student visa.

Some people have told me that my chances of getting in are lower because international applicants are put in a different "pool" of applicants, especially because funding is supposed to go in priority to American students. Others have told me that your country of origin does not matter at all. This is confusing!

I have taken all my pre-requisite classes in the US, and have also gained substantial research experience (also in the US), so my application would be similar to that of an American student.

Thanks for your help…

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[JockNerd]

I've never heard of any troubles for international students-- on the contrary, it's been my experience that schools are happy to take nondomestic grad students, and pride themselves on having a diverse student population.

Can I ask where you picked up that info? Was it a current grad student or an undergrad?

You might occasionally see something happen like what went on at York in Toronto this year-- accepting only internal applicants (what a waste of several hours and about 45 bucks appling there was for me...).

 

[Reem16]

Thanks for your answers!

The person who told me this was an undergraduate applying for regular (non clinical) psych programs. I was afraid that the situation could be worse in clinical programs, since they can be even more competitive. But it seems not to be the case, so that's a big relief.

I am also glad to hear that it can sometimes also be an advantage... although I am not going to capitalize on that too much for now and keep working hard!

Thanks again !

 

[nononora]

I'm an international student myself and was accepted into a clinical psych program starting this fall (yay). Maintaining diversity is something that APA encourages so being an international student defnitely seems like an advantage. I was told by various professors that my chances were significantly higher!