[Clinical/Counseling Psychology Doctoral Applicants - Fall 2014]

It's important to realize that nothing is a "safety" for clinical programs, in the sense that nobody is ever "overqualified" to work with a certain professor. I also don't think the admissions process is a "crapshoot". I just feel like we all need to step out of that high school/undergrad view and realize this is an entirely different ballgame. Yes, the programs are ranked, but that probably means way less than undergrad rankings, and even those are questionable. And some of the objective "qualifications" used for admissions, such as GRE and GPA, matter significantly less than people expect. Even if your "qualifications" were above average, that doesn't mean you were a strong applicant for that program/professor aside from those objective qualifications. It's also entirely possible that the professor you applied to work with gets the strongest applicants in the program because he/she is most well-known... so while you had stronger "qualifications" than the general applicant pool, maybe they weren't strong compared to his/her applicants.

 

I got an interview at a top psych program and rejected for a lower ranking one, but it was probably because my research interest EXACTLY matched the professor at the high ranking program, while the lower ranking program was more heavily focused on clinical, and I was more interested in research- and my research didn't perfectly align with the professor. That doesn't mean I think I was overqualified for the other program- clearly I would have gotten an interview if the prof/program was interested in having me- and at the end of the day, the program/POI rejected me.

 

I just think this is an important- and very different- mindset than what people are used to. I also think programs/POIs/students can pick up any sense of "this program isn't good enough for me", and that sometimes, that is what does people in.

 

 

I just found this site today, and I have to say that it looks like a great resource.  Anyhoot, it's funny that you guys were using Eastern Michigan as an example as it's one of the schools I have an interview at.  It's by far not the most prestigious school around, but qualifications aside my application reads as a perfect fit for their program and with the prof. with whom I applied. I just had a phone interview yesterday with another school and the prof was afraid of their research population and their program focus not being the best fit with my goals.  I think that fit maybe is a little more important than amazing qualifications. 

 

Oh, and good luck to anybody still waiting.  I'm still waiting to see if U of Washington and SIU Carbondale have sent out invitations yet.