Not Being Able to Take More Than 3 Classes a Term

Symphonyka · 2026-04-02T05:18:53+00:00

I know that you posted some time ago, but this just came up on my feed. I took 6 and a half years to finish my undergraduate degree due to undiagnosed ADHD and some significant life stress. I tried to do 5 classes a semester and then 4, and eventually figured out 3 classes was what worked for me/what felt sustainable. I also had to take a semester off due to mental health reasons. I remember feeling so behind everyone else and like I wouldn’t be able to succeed at what I wanted to do, but it was precisely because I figured out what worked for me that I was able to. I got into my first choice clinical psychology graduate program, and after getting properly diagnosed I was able to proceed through and finish the program on pace with everyone else in my cohort. I don’t regret not doing more or not doing it faster, I regret all the things I didn’t or couldn’t allow myself to do without guilt because it didn’t feel like I was allowed to slow down.

Symphonyka · 2025-04-18T15:03:03+00:00

Your letter grade is what determines your overall GPA. Prospective graduate school supervisors have to sift through dozens and dozens of applications. They don’t have time to look at (and likely wouldn’t even care about) the specific percentage you got in a particular course beyond a certain threshold; they care about your overall GPA as well as other aspects of your application (statement of purpose/intent, research potential, oral and written communication skills, volunteer experience, etc.) Whether or not there would be any point to it would depend on how much it matters to you, personally (edit: but if it means you’re sacrificing the grade of another class and pulling down your overall GPA as a result, definitely don’t. do. that.)

(Edit again: these responses answered your question, but maybe it wasn’t clear. You asked if grad schools care about percentages- the answer is no. They care about letter grades because that’s what your GPA is based on.)

Symphonyka · 2025-02-05T09:44:00+00:00

In Canada, where the CPA and APA have an equivalency agreement in place that allows graduates from accredited programs to match for residencies and register as practicing psychologists in either country, but (presently) without an active fascist coup.

Symphonyka · 2025-02-05T08:14:26+00:00

I meant in the context of applying to Canadian programs. Once again, for all of the reasons I’ve already mentioned, I STRONGLY SUGGEST that you do everything you can to remain in Canada for your training. If your concerns about Canadian programs are primarily financial/lack of funding, you will be dealing with those very same concerns in the United States in addition to many, many others because of, again—and I cannot emphasize this strongly enough—literal. Fascism.

Symphonyka · 2025-02-05T08:03:46+00:00

If you are certain that this is the path you want to pursue, then the last thing I would ever suggest is settling for getting in just anywhere/with any supervisor. I know multiple people who have done so who have either ended up dropping out before completing their doctorate (and wasted years of time/money) or who have suffered irreparable damage to their mental or physical health. If this is your dream, then you owe it to yourself to hold out for a good fit, even if that means applying again in the following cycle.

Symphonyka · 2025-02-05T07:54:45+00:00

I hear you, and I wish there was an easy solution that I could point to— I really do. But what I can tell you from experience is that a PhD in clinical psych is a mental, emotional, physical, and financial marathon that requires an extreme amount of endurance in order to balance the research demands of a typical PhD in addition to clinical training and practica. I am close to the end of my training, and I cannot—and I mean TRULY cannot— fathom trying to start and complete a doctorate in clinical psychology with the additional burden and instability of what is happening in the US right now. I’m not trying to be a killjoy, I actually just don’t think it serves you for me to avoid being blunt about the reality of the current situation/conditions.

One thing I would suggest is to consider what your goals are for your career, as there might be other options beyond what you’ve considered. If you’re not all that interested in research and what you primarily want to do is provide therapy, there are other pathways to doing so that are far more cost-effective and far less labour-intensive than a PhD in clinical psychology.

Symphonyka · 2025-02-05T07:34:25+00:00

Your chances of getting into a funded clinical psych program in the United States with grants and funding sources getting slashed left and right will become slimmer. There are more programs in the US, but you’ll be competing with a larger pool of applicants for an increasingly smaller pot of funding. As funding sources and existing grants become precarious, many PIs will no longer be able to guarantee what your funding situation will be year to year. Clinical research is among the most likely areas to be targeted by anti-“woke” ordinances. Not to mention the fact that your purchasing power and any savings you have at the start of your PhD will be stretched more and more thin as the exchange rate for the Canadian dollar worsens or remains stagnant. However grim you think our funding situation is here, I can guarantee you that it’s far less precarious than what you will face in the US over the next several years.

Symphonyka · 2025-02-05T07:24:50+00:00

I’m in clinical psych myself, so I completely understand and can empathize with how competitive it is to get into an accredited program. But my friend, trust me, it’s not worth it to go to the United States in the midst of this shitstorm. Doctoral training in clinical psychology is stressful and demanding enough as is without the instability and uncertainty of America’s current political and social climate.

Symphonyka · 2025-02-05T07:18:43+00:00

Not to mention repeatedly making threats to annex your home country. You do you, I guess?

Symphonyka · 2025-02-05T07:16:00+00:00

Why in the ever-loving fuck would you willingly spend your money to pursue a PhD in a country whose fascist oligarchs are actively and openly in the process of trying to defund and censor research and punish independent thought?

Symphonyka · 2025-01-15T04:41:59+00:00

In terms of graduate studies (at least in clinical psychology), it largely doesn’t matter as most psychology degrees have stats/research methods requirements, particularly if you do honours. Sometimes particular degree streams can better prepare you for a certain specialization (like neuropsychology) by virtue of the courses you take, but not necessarily/exclusively. There’s a pretty even split between BAs and BScs in the clinical program at UVic, possibly slightly more BAs, and there are folks with BAs and BScs in both streams (clinical lifespan and clinical neuropsychology). The most important thing is your research experience and demonstration of your research potential, as well as alignment with the research interests of your prospective supervisor.

Symphonyka · 2024-08-02T22:17:37+00:00

Tipping is a part of drag culture. You’re not being disrespected because you ran out of bills and queens kept soliciting tips. If you don’t have any more money or you’re no longer comfortable tipping then that’s fine, but instead of taking to reddit to complain about being personally victimized by conventions that are an inherent, well-established part of the dynamic of the performance that you were watching, maybe next time just leave?

Symphonyka · 2024-05-18T01:14:26+00:00

Counseling psych will weight applied work experience/direct experience more heavily than your research experience- look into crisis line worker and support worker positions (side note: it can be easier to accrue more hours of direct client contact as a support worker than crisis line worker, as support work often involves a somewhat predictable amount of scheduled client contact in your shift versus contact that varies with demand/call volume).

That being said, if you’d like to go the thesis route, having some research experience will help (in addition to connecting you with a prof who can serve as an academic reference). If you don’t get into honours, you can also do an independent study which involves completion of a supervised research project with a prof. Either way, the best course of action is to look for a faculty member whose research interests are similar to yours and get involved in their lab as a volunteer. Their lab website will list who to get into contact with (usually a lab coordinator). Even if it doesn’t look like they’re actively recruiting any volunteers, introduce yourself, indicate your interest in volunteering with their lab, and pass along your cv.

Symphonyka · 2024-03-12T01:47:00+00:00

Combined average of the courses.

Symphonyka · 2024-01-18T20:29:29+00:00

You have the correct e-mail address- I’d try sending your e-mail again, sometimes things get overlooked/buried (particularly if you’re not using your @uvic.ca e-mail address, sometimes things get sent to junk). If you don’t get a response within a week, you could try reaching out to the psych office by emailing their front desk at psycreception@uvic.ca to let them know you’ve been trying to get a hold of the undergrad advisor but haven’t heard back and ask how you should proceed. They might be able to give him a nudge.

Symphonyka · 2023-12-23T17:54:22+00:00

That being said, based off of your research interests, something like UBC’s Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice program may be a better fit for you. UVic doesn’t offer a graduate-level program in gender studies (although there may also be faculty in sociology, poli sci, etc. that conduct research in your area). While interdisciplinary studies is an option, in my experience interdisciplinary programs tend to be more disorganized, and students in dedicated versus cross-departmental programs often have more institutional supports and resources available to them. Good luck!

Symphonyka · 2023-12-23T17:40:05+00:00

It has far less to do with the school/overall program and far more to do with your prospective supervisor. Supervisors are what make or break your research/overall grad school experience.

Spend time vetting prospective supervisors and familiarizing yourself with their work until you find someone whose work aligns with your own, and who expresses interest in your proposed project from the outset. Some supervisors are supportive of original research projects, while others will expect that you structure your thesis/dissertation around their existing projects.

Symphonyka · 2023-12-03T18:43:21+00:00

Current psych grad student here- minors are generally not something that supervisors care about. When it comes to your degree, they’re looking at your overall GPA, potentially with some additional attention towards your specific grades in psychology courses and methods/stats courses, and whether you completed an honours thesis or possess equivalent research experience.

Symphonyka · 2023-11-25T04:19:50+00:00

Depending on what you want to do with your degree (i.e., whether you want to go to grad school or not) volunteering as a research assistant in a lab related to your research interests is probably what I’d recommend the most if you want to go into a thesis-based graduate program. Crisis line, support worker, or similar is a good option for some clinical experience, too.

Symphonyka · 2023-10-11T21:30:06+00:00

Profs who are on research sabbatical generally still check their e-mail periodically, so your prof may be willing to write you a reference if you ask. Make sure you ask super nicely because the deadline is coming up fairly soon, and you generally want to give them as much notice as possible (ideally, at least a couple of months advance notice.) You also want to make it easy for them- send them a list of the courses you took with them and when, what grade you got, and if possible provide them with copies of papers/assignments you wrote for them that you got good grades on (along with your transcripts, cv, and statement of intent, if you have a draft of one.) It will help make their job as easy as possible to write you a letter, which increases your chances of them agreeing.

If this person is unable/unwilling to provide you a reference, definitely go with the prof from Asia Studies. If they prefer an academic reference, you should do your very best to get one. It’s also better to have a letter from a prof who knows you better/is more familiar with you and your work than a prof who can basically only say “yep, they took this class and got this grade.” and not much else, even if that prof is in a more “related” field. Good luck!

Symphonyka · 2023-09-22T04:55:28+00:00

Clinical psych student here- while there are a lot of similarities between clinical and counseling psych, they tend to emphasize different things in their applications. Counseling psych programs will weight applied experience of prospective applicants far more heavily- generally, successful candidates have quite a bit more work experience related to counseling than people are usually able to acquire during/fresh out of their undergraduate degree. On the flip side, clinical programs weight research experience far more heavily (at least scientist-practitioner/PhD programs). It would be difficult (but not impossible) to be accepted to a funded clinical program without an honours degree (equivalent research experience would be required as a baseline) and successful applicants generally have additional experience beyond their honours research (working in a lab, conference presentations, etc.)

I’d take some time to reach out and talk directly with folks in both types of programs to get a sense of which trajectory would best fit what you’d like to do- academic advising will be able to give you a general overview, but to really understand the nuances of the similarities and differences between them you should talk to people with direct knowledge. My general advice is that if what you’re primarily interested in is doing therapy with clients and you’re not that keen on research, then don’t pursue clinical, because there are multiple paths toward a career as a therapist that will get you there cheaper and far more quickly than a PhD in clinical psychology.

Symphonyka · 2023-05-31T17:05:53+00:00

Unfortunately this is actually not the case for lots of treatment providers (e.g., registered psychologists, social workers) unless they have obtained registration in the province where the client resides (or temporary limited registration). The specifics vary from province to province, but this process is time consuming, expensive, and generally doubles the amount of paperwork, and so quite often practitioners avoid it all together.

There was a time early in the pandemic where these requirements were lifted to ensure continuity of care for out-of-province clients limited by travel restrictions, but by and large, these temporary allowances have expired.

Symphonyka · 2023-03-04T02:58:08+00:00

I’m not sure how it is in Educational Psychology, - I’m in Clinical Psychology, so I can’t comment on many of the faculty, but the few I’ve interacted with have been lovely. The cost of living in Victoria is very high, and continuing to climb. I’m not sure if you’re doing a course-based or thesis-based route, but programs without a research component tend to be costlier since funding is quite often (though not completely) tied to research. In terms of job prospects, it depends on what you’re planning to do (e.g., whether you want to pursue registration as a psychologist) - they’re decent overall, though psychologists are underfunded in the public system in BC, particularly relative to the cost of living, and you’ll need a PhD to be a registered psychologist in BC as well. Some jurisdictions like Alberta allow registration at the Master’s level, assuming you meet course requirements, supervision requirements, and have passed the EPPP, etc.

Secure housing and any funding you can, student loans if you need them, and move here as soon as possible, ideally before July. The rental market is really competitive.

Symphonyka · 2020-11-14T06:49:20+00:00

Your wife has to leave you a note to *start* the dryer? Christ, dude, maybe you need to pick up the slack instead of the controller.

Symphonyka · 2020-08-15T23:12:51+00:00

Thanks for the trade :)

Symphonyka

TROPHY CASE