Questions about applying to US Clinical Psychology PhD programs as a Canadian student

[sashie]

Hi everyone!

I am a Canadian student interested in applying to Clinical Psychology graduate schools in the States and have a few questions about the process and schools. Any help would be greatly appreciated

1. I read that each school provides different levels of funding for their students. Is this funding generally for U.S. citizens? Or does it vary by school? Does anyone know any schools that provide good funding for international students?

2. Is there a big difference between PhD programs in private universities vs. non-private? Is one better than the other or are they generally the same?

3. There are so many APA-accredited schools, any advice on how to narrow the selection down? Other than location and faculty accepting students.

4. How much weight do schools put on the GRE? I have a really strong background in research with a few publications in the works as well as a strong GPA. However, my GRE scores are not that great (155V, 155Q, 5W) - will this significantly lower my chances?

Any other advice would be great!

Thanks,

S.

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[deleted343839]

Hi everyone!

I am a Canadian student interested in applying to Clinical Psychology graduate schools in the States and have a few questions about the process and schools. Any help would be greatly appreciated

1. I read that each school provides different levels of funding for their students. Is this funding generally for U.S. citizens? Or does it vary by school? Does anyone know any schools that provide good funding for international students?

2. Is there a big difference between PhD programs in private universities vs. non-private? Is one better than the other or are they generally the same?

3. There are so many APA-accredited schools, any advice on how to narrow the selection down? Other than location and faculty accepting students.

4. How much weight do schools put on the GRE? I have a really strong background in research with a few publications in the works as well as a strong GPA. However, my GRE scores are not that great (155V, 155Q, 5W) - will this significantly lower my chances?

Any other advice would be great!

Thanks,

S.

Funding packages vary from school to school, but I'm not familiar with any programs that restrict tuition remission and stipends to US citizens. One hurdle is ensuring that you are authorized to work in the US (so that you can work as a teaching assistant or graduate research assistant), but universities typically have an international student office to help with student visas and so forth.

I think most of your other questions can be answered in the sticky threads or by doing a board search.

 

[NeuropsychAJ]

Hi,
Most funded PhD programs that I'm aware of provide the same level of institutional funding to US/international students. If you enter on an F1/J1 visa, you will be authorized to work as a TA/GRA for 20 hours/week. If you didn't have an appointment for a semester, you would have to pay out of state tuition and international student insurance costs. You wouldn't be eligible for federal research grants (NRSA, NSF) and for VA/government practica/internships. As a Canadian, you could probably get a TN visa if you wanted to stay on for postdoc as well, although that's pretty far in the future. Good luck!

 

[MCParent]

Hi everyone!

I am a Canadian student interested in applying to Clinical Psychology graduate schools in the States and have a few questions about the process and schools. Any help would be greatly appreciated

1. I read that each school provides different levels of funding for their students. Is this funding generally for U.S. citizens? Or does it vary by school? Does anyone know any schools that provide good funding for international students?

2. Is there a big difference between PhD programs in private universities vs. non-private? Is one better than the other or are they generally the same?

3. There are so many APA-accredited schools, any advice on how to narrow the selection down? Other than location and faculty accepting students.

4. How much weight do schools put on the GRE? I have a really strong background in research with a few publications in the works as well as a strong GPA. However, my GRE scores are not that great (155V, 155Q, 5W) - will this significantly lower my chances?

Any other advice would be great!

Thanks,

S.

I am a Canadian and did grad school in the US.

1. The funding varies by school from nothing to substantial. When people say "funded programs" they generally mean at least tuition remission, which means the $35k/year or whatever you are seeing on the grad school pages just goes away. You do typically have to pay fees, which are typically more than domestic students will pay, and how much this is varies from a few hundred to a few grand a semester depending on the school and how you are classified.

2. The best program is the one with the best person in the area you want to get into. Public/private isn't a major distinction in psych.

3. Your first criteria needs to be "who studies something like what I want to study?" But, yeah, there are SO MANY MORE programs than when you just look in Canada. It's nuts.

4. Varies. Personally, I'd take the GREs again if I were you. That's a changeable low point in the application.

 

[MCParent]

You wouldn't be eligible for federal research grants (NRSA, NSF)

You are still eligible for SSHRC/CIHR fellowships though!

 

[sashie]

Thanks everyone for the valuable input

... If you enter on an F1/J1 visa, you will be authorized to work as a TA/GRA for 20 hours/week. If you didn't have an appointment for a semester, you would have to pay out of state tuition and international student insurance costs.

Just to clarify, would you say that working as a TA/GRA basically covers tuition and international student insurance costs? Or does it depend on the school?

I am a Canadian and did grad school in the US...

Hello fellow Canadian!
It's crazy how many more accredited schools the states have. What made you choose to do grad school in the states? Would you say it's worth branching out and applying to schools there? Did you face any challenges as an international student?

 

[MCParent]

Thanks everyone for the valuable input



Just to clarify, would you say that working as a TA/GRA basically covers tuition and international student insurance costs? Or does it depend on the school?



Hello fellow Canadian!
It's crazy how many more accredited schools the states have. What made you choose to do grad school in the states? Would you say it's worth branching out and applying to schools there? Did you face any challenges as an international student?

Working as a TA/GRA, if you get a tuition waiver with it, would take out the tuition costs, ya. You will be required to have insurance. I'm not aware of anyone having to get their own, but it might happen. Every international person I know had insurance covered in their financial package but I don't know that that's universal. It will also get weird on internship if your doc program and internship site require different coverages. But that can be worked out. And who knows what the laws will be in five years anyway.

The best matches for me were in the US. I am happy I applied to US programs. I didn't face anything weird in the application process except that I had to pay two fees at most schools (one to the dept and one to the grad school). That was 10 years ago but I assume it is still the case. I did have some weird interactions when I got there (being told I am "basically American," having to remind people that I need my visa paperwork each year while my friend from Kansas who was of Asian descent got asked yearly for her nonexistent visa paperwork, etc etc) but it was by far mostly positive.

 

[psych.meout]

Can one do externships at VA sites if they are not a US citizen? I know that internships, post-docs, and employment are restricted, but I didn't know if externship training during graduate school also applied.

 

[MCParent]

Can one do externships at VA sites if they are not a US citizen? I know that internships, post-docs, and employment are restricted, but I didn't know if externship training during graduate school also applied.

Yes. I did.

 

[NeuropsychAJ]

Yes. I did.

Huh... I was told I couldn't do an externship at the VA due to citizenship... maybe it varies from VA to VA or my program wasn't sure...oh well!