For those of you already in programs, what influenced your choice the most? How did you pick your school?
At the time of my application, I was most influenced by the reputation of my mentor and the research resources that mentor could provide. I chose the school on the basis of that almost entirely. In hindsight, I wish I had weighed my mentor's prominence against his availability; very well-known people sometimes do not have a lot of time available to their students.
What are the questions you wished you had asked before you accepted an offer?
I wish I had asked the other grad students in the lab about their working relationships with faculty, the frequency with which faculty published with students, and their overall impressions of the program. I think most of them would have given candid answers if I would have asked the right questions.
And if any of you are in clinical psychology programs, what are the best ways to determine how good the program's clinical training is (it seems much easier to tell about the research side of things)?
Some things to consider:
1) Outcomes (the most important factor, IMO): What percentage of their students receive their top- or second-ranked internship spot? What percentage of students fail to match on their first entry into the APPIC pool? Do all of their students eventually complete APA-accredited internships, or do some students fail to match with accredited sites?
2) Breadth of Opportunity: How many different externship opportunities do students have to choose from while in training at their home institution? Is there a wide variety of opportunities outside of the University clinic (inpatient and outpatient opportunities at public and private clinics, maybe a VA, specialized sites like primary care or behavioral medicine sites)?
3) Faculty: What portion of the clinical department faculty are actually licensed? Who else in the community/adjunct faculty pool supervises students? How many different supervisors do students have the opportunity to work with over the course of the program?
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Good luck with your interviews!
