The following are answers to the most common questions we get around application time from our Honours students. We will also run a Courses and Careers Session (normally in Sept or August) and highlight other opportunities in the Student Newsletter as they arise.

General Advice for MPsych and MPP Applicants

Make sure that you are aware of the requirements for each application at each university.
Write a separate personal statement for each application at each institution (rules will vary, at Cairnmillar we ask for a 500 word personal statement, elsewhere it may be 250 or 800 words, some may have multiple questions, etc).
Check that you know what is required by each uni and make it as easy as possible for the selection team to review your application.
We look for things like: an understanding of the profession, maturity, ability for self-reflection and suitability for the profession – these can be hard to quantify and even harder to demonstrate when you’re nervous.
Check all of your documents carefully for spelling or grammar issues.
NEW: When applying online, use proper capitalisation for your name, address etc in all online forms and sign-up systems. Using all caps or no caps can seem informal and might not make the best first impression now that most applications are reviewed digitally.
Be yourself. There is no cookie cutter answer to writing a CV or personal statement.
See also: How to apply for a new course or program and Applicant FAQs.

Interviews

Each university or institute will have a slightly different process. Some can be panel interviews, some round-robin (or speed-dating) style, some online, some only in person etc.

Manage your nerves. We know that you’ll be nervous but what we’re looking for is how you manage that in the room on the day.
Be prepared for the unexpected (some unis may ask you to do a written task or respond to a case study etc).
Practice with a friend or peer.
Remember what you have learned in fourth year and why you want to be a psychologist.
Be polite and professional, not just with the interviewers but with professional staff and anyone else you interact with in relation to your applications.

Resume or CV

Your resume or CV is a chance to highlight any relevant experience, awards, scholarships and any non-academic achievements. Curriculum vitae (CV) just means ‘life list’ – you CV is just a list of things you have done and achieved.

Don’t worry too much about how long it should be – this will vary depending on your life-stage and experience. 2-6 pages is normal.
It does not have to be an “Academic CV” so don’t worry about trying to create one.
You can probably use your existing professional CV as a basis and just add some more sections while cutting back on irrelevant details for some jobs.
If you don’t already have a CV, use a template (e.g. Word or Google Docs). Remember: you have a free MS Word and Office 365 access through your Cairnmillar account.
Volunteer experience counts and might be more relevant than paid experience.
Use Headings and sub-headings to help it make sense.
If you don’t have something then remove the section (e.g. Scholarship and Awards).
Feel free to add sections, e.g. add a section for Publications if you have one (even if it is still ‘under review’). You can find advice online about how to list publications in your CV or ask your supervisor or co-authors for advice.
Use the ‘keep together‘ and ‘keep with next‘ functions in Word to keep sections and sub-sections tidy
Keep it simple and to the point
Save it as a pdf if possible (it makes it easier for most people to read and will ensure that your formatting efforts hold up to any compression or file storage changes)
If you need advice, ask your supervisor or a peer mentor

WAM for Masters

By now we hope you know it takes more than good grades to get into Masters. You do however need good grades as well to even be considered. This is due to the fact that APAC accredited Masters programs get many more eligible applicants each year than we are able to offer places for (because of the significant professional placements in these courses APAC accredited Masters places are difficult and expensive for institutions to offer at all).

Almost all institutions will have a much higher actual minimum WAM to get an interview than the minimum WAM to apply. While the exact cut off to be further considered will vary each year, it is normally around 1 grade band (or 8-10 WAM points) higher than the minimum to apply.

In general, you will need a WAM of 70% in your BPsych(Hons) to have a competitive application for the MPP program. Furthermore, two academic and one professional reference is required. If successful, students will be invited to an interview. The average WAM for students who attained an interview for the MPP was 79.97%. An the average WAM for applicants who attained an MPP offer in 2022 was 80%.

In general, you will need a WAM of at least 80% in your BPsych(Hons) to have a competitive application for our Clinical program. We do not normally interview anyone with a WAM below 78% (H1) for this program. The minimum cut-off for an automatic interview for Cairnmillar’s Clinical program is 85%. The average WAM for students who attained an interview for the Clinical program was 85.14%. The average WAM for a Clinical offer at Cairnmillar in 2022 was 84%.

Work Experience – What is ‘relevant’ experience’?

Masters applications in psychology can be daunting due to the large number of 4th year graduates and lack of places in most programs across Australia. It is true that having relevant experience can help an already strong application but that doesn’t mean that your existing experience isn’t worthwhile also.

Think about what skills you will need to be a good psychologist and then think about ways that you can relate those skills to your existing work and skills. Even something like a reception job or working in retail can still involve relevant interpersonal skills or resolving conflicts. Think about how what you do now is relevant to your future professional goals and show this in your CV or application.

There are a number of relevant work and volunteer opportunities which can help current honours students, and future Masters applicants, improve your CV and gain crucial interpersonal work experience. These opportunities are all optional and should only be undertaken if you can balance the role with your other work, life and study commitments.

These are some of the areas that our current and recent MPsych(Clinical) students had on their CVs when they applied for Masters.

Paid Employment

If you are going to be working while studying, consider ensuring that your paid employment helps you in your future career as well. There are lots of jobs eager to employ people with an undergraduate degree in psychology.

Even if you are not employed in a relevant role, think about ways that your current employment helps you demonstrate the soft skills and personal attributes that will help make you a great psychologist.

Here is a list of relevant roles current and former Masters students have found helpful when they applied.

ABA Therapy – Employment

Many ABA therapy employers provide full training and semi-flexible work which can be suitable to students who already hold an undergrad degree in psychology.

See: Seek.com.au or Lizard Centre or ABIA for various opportunities through the year.

EAP Customer or Client Services Roles

Converge International and other large EAP centres often look for psychology bachelors graduates to fill relevant or potentially relevant customer service and client support roles.

Disability Support Workers

For example, this information about roles at at the Disability Forensic Assessment and Treatment Service (DFATS) or similar state and national services.

DFATS is a state-wide specialist treatment service for persons with a disability who display high risk, anti-social behaviours and who are involved, or are at risk of being involved in the criminal justice system. DFATS aims to facilitate positive long-term changes that will allow clients to transition, live and participate safely in the community. We provide assessment, therapeutic and psychoeducational interventions across various services including;

Intensive Residential Treatment Program (IRTP)- a 14 bed secure facility located in Fairfield
Community treatment program
Community Forensic Dual Disability Clinic
Assessments not related to accessing community based treatments or the IRTP

DFATS often advertise casual vacancies for Disability Support Workers on the State Government Careers Site Careers. While private and NGO support providers may advertise on Seek or other relevant websites such as Ethical Jobs.

Victorian Aboriginal Health Service (VAHS)- Expression of Interest

Submit an expression of interest for a position that may become available to: employment@vahs.org.au
This should include a covering letter outlining your job interest(s), an up to date resume and two current employment referees.
Your details will remain on file for a period of 12 months. Resumes on file are referred to from time to time as positions arise with VAHS and you may be contacted if another job matches your skills, experience and/or qualifications. Expressions of interest are destroyed in a confidential manner after 12 months.

Volunteer Roles

Volunteer roles do not normally pay well or at all and you may need to cover training costs in some cases. If you have capacity these can still be great opportunities to learn and grow while contributing to your community in a meaningful way.

Raise – High School Student Mentoring

For as little as two hours a week, you could help change the direction of a young person’s life. Listening, and actually hearing what a young person has to say can make all the difference. Sign up and become a Raise mentor now.

If you are interested in mentoring with Raise please click here. [They] will explain what is involved and how you can sign up to be a volunteer Raise mentor.

Phone or Online Counselling

Experience at Lifeline (https://www.lifeline.org.au/support-lifeline/volunteer) or organisations like ReachOut (https://about.au.reachout.com/take-action/volunteer-2/) can also really bolster your Masters applications and give you real world counselling experience.

Do Cairnmillar graduates have an advantage for Cairnmillar MPP and MPsych(Clin)?

Yes and no. While we will try to interview more of our own graduates if all other factors are the same, we do not give formal weighting on where you completed your fourth year. We try to keep our Masters admission processes as fair and transparent as possible despite incredibly high demand making these programs very competitive.

That said, in practice Cairnmillar graduates have a significantly higher likelihood of being made an offer if they apply to our MPP or MPsych(Clin) than external applicants. Around 29% of all applicants (56% for MPP and only 16% for Clinical) will be made an offer in psychology Masters, however 48% of our own CMI graduates will be made an offer if they apply (around 84% for MPP and 26% for Clinical). this is probably in part due to you feeling a bit more relaxed on ‘home turf’ as well as our Masters teams faith in the quality of your fourth year educations.

	All Apps Offer Rate*	CMI Alum Offer Rate*
Clinical	15.96%	25.89%
MPP	56.84%	84.29%
Total	29.80%	48.35%

*Based on internal applications data from 2017-2020

Around 51% of all Cairnmillar Honours graduates will be enrolled full-time in a Masters or PhD program (both at Cairnmillar or at other institutions) in the year immediately following completion of fourth year, which is a really fantastic outcome seeing as many students take a year off or go into other professions at the end of honours without even applying for Masters. While we do not have directly comparable data for other honours programs specifically, the national average for all equivalent psychology programs is only 15.1%** while the overall average for all CMI psychology programs is 36.1%** which is one of the highest and impacted by our small numbers and high proportion of honours students.

**GOS data collection 2017-2019

Further advice and specific questions

See also: Career Guidance – you can send and email or make an appointment with one of your Honours Course and Program Coordinators for further course and career planning advice.

You can also further explore myCMI or email specific admissions admin questions to education@cairnmillar.edu.au and we will assist if we can. Make sure you check out our website FAQs and Pathways & Registration page, which has lots of detailed advice about registration pathways and options.