New Career Path: Canadian Master/Ph'd Programs

[DoctorLion]

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Hello 🙂

So last June I obtained a masters degree in Library and Information Science from McGill university. I have previously gotten a bachelors degree from a US university in English literature. I always thought that I wanted to be a librarian until I went into library school and realized that it wasn't for me. I just couldn't do the course work because I was dreadfully bored of the material. In short, I lacked total motivation and pulled out of the program with a 3.2 gap 🙁

My bachelors GPA was around a 3.358 (however I did my B.A. in 2 years).

I have always been extremely interested in psychology. Even to the point that I would read empirical studies as a teenager for fun. I would watch dozens of documentaries a week about the development of the adolescent brain and how it effects their personalities, etc. And during my masters studies, I would write essays and do presentations that incorporated what I learned about psychology. For example, I did a presentation on how to mitigate cognitive overload when creating online tutorials. I even wrote a research paper on understanding the different learning styles of individuals and using this knowledge to improve learning outcomes during library instruction. However, it wasn't until my brother was diagnosed with psychosis that I truly understood that I was meant to be a clinical psychologist (I won't even go into the fact that all of my friends come to me for advice). Unfortunately, now I am in a predicament because I wasted 4 years of my life studying things that I was not interested in and now my GPA is so low 🙁.

Since I do not have a background in psychology, I am going to take some stats classes and psychology courses starting in september. It I get straight As, it will boost my undergrad GPA to about 3.417. I plan on getting a high score on the GRE. I am studying like a mad woman!

My goal it to get into McGill (first choice) or Concordia's Master's psychology program. Can anyone offer any advice to me about how to construct my personal statement? or anything else that might help? What are my odds of getting admitted into these programs?


Info about me:

I'm 24 years old.
I didn't do a thesis, but I took a research class and published a research paper on the history of library science.
I am an international student from the USA.


Thank you 😀

 

[thewesternsky]

Hi there! It does sound like you're passionate, which is a good first step-- And taking undergraduate psych courses is another great step! I'd suggest your next step be to read "The Insider's Guide to Graduate Programs in Counselling and Clinical Psychology"-- It's a really awesome resource for anyone thinking of applying to these programs. It sounds as though you're interested in graduate programs with a clinical (rather than a straight experimental/solely research) focus, so I'll talk about those here. Correct me if I'm wrong about that. 🙂

The main message you'll be hearing (on this forum, and in the book) is that these programs are exceptionally competitive. That doesn't mean it's impossible-- But it may take a little more time and work than you're expecting for you to be successful, and you will almost certainly need to axe your geographic restrictions. Most applicants to clinical psychology programs (with honours degrees in psych + good GRE scores) still apply to 6-14 programs, and many apply several times before getting in. Montreal is an awesome city, but the clinical psych programs at McGill and Concordia are very competitive... The process is so competitive already that I would suggest expanding your applications to most of Canada and maybe also the United States.

The second important message that you're missing so far is about research. Clinical and counseling psychology programs almost always have a research component. (McGill's program especially is heavily, heavily research focused; Concordia's is only slightly less so). You'll want to begin getting research experience as soon as possible. This is typically done through volunteer research positions in labs at universities. There may also be paid research assistant positions available to you once you have some volunteer research experience. When you apply to graduate programs, you won't just be applying to the programs-- You'll be applying to specific labs to work with specific professors. So it's important to start thinking over the next year or two about what kind of research (e.g., which topics or projects) you'll be interested in pursuing in graduate school.

Good luck! Let me know if you have other questions.

 

[heshmonster]

I second everything western sky said. I'm a first year PhD student at Concordia, and the program (much like McGill's) is incredible competitive to get into. On the bright side, Concordia accepts a slightly larger cohort than McGill every year, but they still receive 200 + applications for the 8 spots. Further, neither McGill nor Concordia care all that much about GRE scores, since Quebec residents/students aren't actually required to write it (because of French language equivalency problems). On the downside (darkside?), Concordia requires an honors psychology degree (or equivalent, like honors neuroscience but with the requisite psychology courses) to apply, and this bars many people from admissions. This is increasingly becoming the norm in Canadian programs, though, so you might consider doing an honours degree first.

Your best bet is to start retooling by taking all the necessary pre-req courses (look on Concordia's webpage, where they list the equivalency courses that make it "like" you have an honors degree). Take them all, and get As and A-s. Also, start RIGHT NOW to get research experience. The main thing that helped me get accepted at Concordia was having very tight research/theoretical interests with my POI, sustaining a 2 year + dialogue with him on the issues we would be researching, and ultimately meeting him several times in person. This was possible because I carried out 2+ years of research at the U of A during my undergrad honors, with one of his colleagues.

The research experience will not only help you clarify potential interests areas, and gain the needed experience to apply competitively, but will also provide you with the potential for publications, poster presentations, and letters of rec.

Are you planning on making up these courses at McGill, or at Concordia? Concordia's undergraduate psych program is supposed to be pretty great, so you might consider doing it there instead of at McGill (not that theirs sucks).

To sum up, here were my stats when I was accepted to Concordia, perhaps to give you a better idea of what might be required:

GPA: (overall) 3.85, (psych) 3.9
Degree: Honors psychology, first class honors.
Research experience: 2.5 years in one lab (honors thesis lab), and 1 year in another lab (independent studies, wrote a manuscript for publication).
- First author publication in an undergraduate journal
- Four poster presentations, all first author
- Oral presentation at Connecting Minds, on my thesis research.
Volunteer experience: 1.75 years at an acute, inpatient forensic psychiatric ward, 3 hours a week.
Letters: 3 very "glowing" letters. One from honors thesis supervisor, one from other lab supervisor, and one from another professor I came to know personally, and have since become very good friends with. He at one time chaired the CPA, so I think his letter carried more weight than the others.
GRE: ~1100 for general, can't remember exactly. Psych GRE: ~98th percentile, whatever that is in numbers (750?).


Hope that helps! If you want any more information about Concordia, or their application process, please feel free to PM me!

All the best in your busy, but rewarding, path ahead!