mindnspirit

So it's a week later and I basically told my POI that I'm interested in pursuing the possibility of me attending to UIUC, assuming she can work things out on her end with the administration. She now asked for a Skype interview later today. I imagine if she was able to convince the administration to take on a graduate student, she would probably also want to have an in person interview. Is this typical for some applicants? Phone, Skype, then (possibly) in person interview? I feel like most of the things I've read indicate either phone or Skype interview, then invited to in person.

Thank you for all of the replies so far! They have all been quite helpful. At this point in time, it does not seem like I have many other options, as it appears my application wasn't super competitive (good grades, decent GRE, honors thesis, 2 years undergrad research experience, but no publications or presentations, etc.) enough for most of the schools I applied to. I just think my POI is bringing up this possibility because we have quite a strong overlap in research interests. So I suppose I'm just trying to weigh the option of possibly (if such a transfer actually works and my POI is certain she'd like to take me on) pursuing a PhD at UIUC versus some other kind of predoctoral experience (another professor at a good school has asked if I'd be interested in applying for a 2-year research coordinator position). So far, everyone's replies seem to indicate UIUC is definitely a good place to go with a very respectable program. Thanks again for everyone's thoughts! If anyone else has further opinions about UIUC, the program (social, in particular), community life, etc., I'd love to hear them!

Hi everyone, I'd really like some other people's thoughts on this situation, as it's pretty strange to me. I've applied to social programs and so far have gotten flat out rejected or silent rejections (no interview invite). The latest of which was from the University of Pennsylvania. I was a bit confused yesterday because although people had been posting that all interview invitations had been sent, my POI at UPenn emailed me that morning to speak on the phone later that day. When we spoke, she basically asked me about the research I'm conducting now (senior honors thesis) in addition to what other interests I have. She also asked me about how I first became interested in psychology and how I was liking it, etc. It was at this point that she informed me that I had not been considered super competitive enough by UPenn to be invited for an interview, although she as a faculty member had expressed interest in me. Furthermore, she then informed me that she has recently decided to take on a professor position at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign this coming fall. Thus, she mentioned that she would still be taking on a graduate student (and that her current graduate students would be transferring to UIUC I believe), but she is still looking into the logistics of it. She basically mentioned that there is a slight possibility that I could work with her, but at UIUC. However, this would be a very strange and unorthodox process as I didn't even apply to UIUC, and that she would have to talk with the administration. But, she encouraged me to take a look at their website to see what I thought about the school and we can continue our correspondence. So has anyone been in this sort of position before? I'm just a bit overwhelmed at all of this right now, as I didn't look much into UIUC social because none of the faculty members had similar interests so I know next to nothing about their program or the area itself. Any advice, on any part of this?

Hi again! I was curious about something on the results board. When people report "Interview" via Phone, does this mean they had a phone interview or does it mean they were invited to an in person interview by their POI calling them? I'm sure there's probably been a bit of both, just curious what it's been like for most people who've had phone conversations with their POI!

Hi everyone, I had a question about something I'm not sure how to interpret. My POI at a program I applied for emailed me today asking me if I could ask one of my letter of rec writers to personally email my POI their letter of rec for me. That's pretty much all my POI said, nothing else. For one, my POI knew the name of the letter writer they asked for. If it's of any significance, the letter writer is my thesis advisor. In addition, the letter writer used to be a professor at the school in question (before coming to where I am now), at which my POI is a professor at. So knowing this, is there any reason why my POI would ask me to ask my thesis advisor to email them the letter? I would assume that those reviewing my application can also see the email addresses I included of the letter writers. My POI didn't mention anything about being unable to view the letter, nor did my POI ask for any of the letter writers to email their letters. Any guesses about this?