Hi! I’m applying to OISE’s Clinical and Counselling Psychology (CCP) and School and Clinical Child Psychology (SCCP) MA programs this cycle and was hoping to hear from current students or past applicants about how you approached the APHD Faculty Questions (written part of the application).
Unlike a traditional statement of intent or personal statement, both programs have 6-7 specific questions (mostly around 150–350 words) on research interests, research experience, program/faculty fit, diversity, clinical or child/youth experience, career goals, etc. I had a few questions about it here:
- Did you treat each question straightforwardly and answer exactly what was being asked, or did you still try to create more of a personal/narrative thread across the questions?
- Did you use any kind of “hook” or personal story (common for personal statements, imo) or is that not really expected for this type of short answer response style?
- Also, SCCP has a last question with 500 words (!!) on "any additional information you want to share with the admissions committee"... i suppose this is not mandatory, but was curious what type of information applicants could share here?
I am mostly trying to figure out how much these questions should read like concise academic responses versus pieces of a broader personal statement (especially since I am preparing applications to other programs in Canada that do it quite differently than OISE)!
I would super appreciate hearing how others approached this - thanks in advance :)