wnk4242

I had an on-site interview at a university this week. 
Some important interview questions I have prepared include (and I think everyone should be prepared to answer these questions very confidently and fluently):
Your educational background;
Your best quality, characteristic, personal trait- this should be something that can facilitate your future research career, such as tenacity;
Why do you want to pursue a PhD- for me the answer is definitely that I love research; I love teaching; being a professor is a rewarding career;
Why do you want to do a PhD in this area (my area is quant psych/methods)- my answer is that I am more interested in methodologies and statistics; this is an area full of opportunities for growth; I love coding; great job prospects;
What are your research interests- I just gave a very general answer (in my area, POIs don't expect us to have a very clear idea of what topics you want to do in the future. You can just tell them you are interested in such and such area). If you have a more detailed answer and your interests match your POIs, that's even better;
What are your career goals- when it comes to goals, I think you should be specific, like I want to get 5 first author publications (you can even name a few prestigious journals in which you want to publish) ; I want to graduate within 5 years; I want to become an assistant professor in 6 years; I want to create very popular R packages; choose some challenging but realistic goals;
What is your greatest strength and weakness (yes, they asked me what my biggest weakness was)- I said that my greatest strength is my ability to solve problems in very challenging situations and I gave an example (very important); as far as my weakness, I said I don't have a strong background in math/stats but I'm planning on taking a few refresher courses like calculus online and after I begin the program I will take as many stats courses as possible (the truth is most incoming PhD students don't have strong background in math/stats in our field, so this is not a fatal weakness and it is something I can improve upon);
Which research project are you most proud of- they are giving you an opportunity to impress them, so be prepared with a great answer;
Why you want to join their program- I said my research interests match yours very well and I like the courses your program offers; I also said that I love this city;
Also, show your eagerness to learn and do research! They want to see that you are driven to do a PhD.
If you have these questions prepared, you will talk confidently in the interview.
One good tip I want to share with you guys is that keep your answers succinct, easy to understand, and to the point. I don't think they expect you to give very detailed and long answers within 30 minutes (that's the normal length of an interview). A very complicated answer is very likely to make them confused because when you are being interviewed, you will feel nervous, and your speech may become unorganized under pressure.
Also, think of an interview as a conversation, not a test. This is very important. If you think of it as a test, you are going to feel very nervous and uncomfortable. If you think of it as a conversation and an opportunity to tell them how great you are, you will feel very confident and look very confident. They want to see that confidence.
I never try to memorize my answers. I practice these questions by asking myself these questions while I am walking, cooking, doing exercises. At least for me, It's a very effective way to prepare for interviews.
 

Hey everyone, I'm a current Phd student and wanted to send good luck your way with your applications this season. I went through this process three times and on the third try I was finally accepted into a Phd program. Congrats to all of you who are accepted and to those that aren't I have a video of my story and tips for next time here https://youtu.be/F9yxwWgQ71g
Again good luck everyone and well wishes into your journey :).
Jess

Guys. This application season is almost at the end for me. I applied to 11 programs, got 6 acceptances and 3 rejections so far. I withdrew one of my applications because they wanted to accept me into their masters program. I'm still waiting for the last program. It's been a very successful app season for me. 
It was not last year. I applied to 13 clinical psych programs and got 13 rejections.
I took GRE five times (including a psych GRE) and TOEFL four times. I just don't give up. I keep working on myself.
I just wanted to say that if you didn't get into your dream program this cycle, try it again. Learn to deal with rejections and frustrations. Re-evaluate your strengths, weaknesses, whether you are a great fit for the programs you applied to, and then get back on your horse and keep on moving forward. Never give up if being a PhD is your dream.
This is my third app cycle (I got into a masters program in the first cycle) and I finally made it this time, because I've learned many things from my failures and I never, ever give up.
I wish you all the best and hope we can keep in contact!

Started undergrad at 33, master's at 38, starting a PhD program at 40.  Professors I inteviewed with said my life/work experiences were what caught their attention.  

https://stats.stackexchange.com/
https://www.researchgate.net/

Great idea to compile all the lessons we've learned! Here's hoping it'll help next year's round of applicants. I was fortunate enough to receive interviews from all 5 programs I applied for, and offers from 4 (one waitlist). It's been a whirlwind, but an incredible experience! As a bit of context, I applied for Psychology PhD programs, specifically for Cognitive Neuroscience (memory). Below are my tips.
 
Applications
Choosing programs As a starting point, speak to your current mentor (if you have one) about where to begin your search. Post docs and PIs have excellent advice about big names in the field, up-and-coming researchers, mentorship styles, and the inside scoop about the atmosphere of different institutions. Only apply to programs that you would seriously consider attending. If you know that you would definitely not want to take an offer from a backup school, don't bother in the first place. I have friends who submitted a dozen applications, multiple to places that they weren't very excited about, just in the hopes that something would stick. When it came time for interviews, they realized that it was impossible to proceed with multiple conflicts, and they had to triage. Application components Letters of reference are SO important. I was lucky to have developed really fantastic relationships with PIs at my undergrad institution, and they apparently provided such high praise that it was repeatedly mentioned when I attended interviews. My current mentor gave me excellent advice about writing my personal statement. Of course you should convey that you are passionate about your chosen research topic, but bear in mind that when everyone says the same sort of thing, claims of passion fall hollow. Instead, focus on highlighting your own unique accomplishments right off the bat, in the first paragraph. What are the key points of your past experiences that demonstrate that you have the necessary skills and enthusiasm? I fretted over my GRE scores because the quant component was lower than I had been getting on practice tests. I considered re-taking, but ultimately decided not to, and I am very glad that I did not waste my time and money on another shot. It didn't pose a problem in admissions, and nobody commented on test scores at all in any of my interviews. One program that I applied to "strongly recommended" the Psych subject test of the GRE, but I decided that I didn't want to bother taking it (again, time and money). Omitting the subject test didn't seem to hurt my application at all.  
Interview Trips
Travelling Always dress for your travel day in an outfit that you would be okay with wearing to the first interview event. At 2 of my 5 interviews, I experienced massive travel delays. I lost all the buffer time in my schedule and ended up going directly to the first event from the airport. If the travel agent sends you an itinerary that you don't like (e.g., leaving very early in the morning after the end-of-interview party), you can just ask for a different one.  Travel-sized dry shampoo will save your life. Would recommend bringing some melatonin pills. Personally, I am a night owl, and interviews required shifting my sleep-wake cycle by quite a few hours. Combine that with nerves, and it can be very hard to sleep without some help. Interviews There will be many profs interviewing you, not just those you mentioned in your application. Many of them will conduct research that is completely irrelevant to your interests, but that's okay. You do not have to feign interest in joining their lab. I suggest looking up their lab website blurb and the abstracts of a few recent publications. Try to do some theory of mind and imagine what sort of angle they would take when hearing about your own research projects. You can change the way you frame your research to match the sorts of questions and methods that they clearly favor. The best possible preparation for knowing what to say in an interview is to have presented a poster on your research projects in the past. If you have that experience, then you have several versions (varying in brevity) of a walk-through speech about each of your projects. You'll also have learned how to deal with interruptions  and questions. If you haven't presented a poster on your research, I would strongly suggest practicing telling that scientific narrative. When you meet with graduate students, remain on guard! Remember that they are there because they care about what they do, and they want a peer who will be like-minded. At my home institution, I overheard graduate students in my lab discussing how an interviewee had made a poor impression by asking "fun" questions instead of sensible ones (e.g., "What are your favorite pizza toppings? What would your lab mascot be?"). The "middle-school sleepover" vibes made them think that she did not take the research seriously. You may think that you have a "ranking" of your program choices in your head, but keep an open mind! I went into the interview process agonized about not knowing which school I wanted to attend. After my second interview, I was completely convinced that I had found the right place for me. I was wrong! Interview #3 changed my mind, but not until I had taken several days to process everything. I strongly encourage you to attend all interviews and treat each one as a serious mission to get all the information you might need, even if you think that you don't want to attend the school. Other applicants will have impressive backgrounds, but try not to succumb to imposter syndrome. If they invited you to interview, you earned that spot. As I am still finishing up my undergrad, I was a little intimidated to find that the vast majority of other prospective students were around 4-5 years my senior. We had different experiences, but each one of us deserved to be there.  
Making a Decision
If a program wants you, you will know. They will make that very clear with strong and swift communication, friendly follow-ups from POIs, messages from current graduate students, offers to answer additional questions, etc. Personally, I thought that such positive and prompt responses seemed to reflect a department that values its students and has a solid organizational infrastructure in place, both important things to consider. You are in data collection mode until the end game. Don't worry if you're halfway through the process and you still have no idea where you want to go. Just keep on doing your best to learn more about each program! You can get a dozen opinions and attack the problem with rationality (I initially tried making a giant spreadsheet with 20 criteria weighted by importance...), but ultimately, you should choose a program that feels right. That comes down to research fit, interpersonal dynamic with the POI,  and potential future peers (Could you see yourself being friends, or are people competitive? Do you care?). Personally, I was looking for a program that was interdisciplinary and collaborative, PIs who were approachable and responsive, and peers who would be friendly and genuinely passionate about their research.

I realize the application season is far from over for many of you, but I felt it's a good time to be retrospective. I wanted to share some of my anecdotes and qualitative data in hopes that it will help those in the future.
Before I begin: this is based on my subjective experience and is not meant to be interpreted as prescriptive. I applied to a combination of I/O Psych and Measurement programs, thus this may be less relevant to some of you- I don't think that will be the case.
Here are some thoughts looking back:
Grad Cafe
The beauty of Grad Cafe (though cliché) is the journey. Many applicants will not visit this place, many will avoid it like the plague, many will lurk. The exceptions provide invaluable information, they empathize, and even sympathize. This process is one that validates and demeans, it's not clean, knowing that you're not alone does so much. You learn about your "competition"- that they are just as smart and accomplished as you; they also are kind and helpful, I found solace in the fact that a deserving person was accepted when I was not. You start building your network here. These people may be in your cohort, may see you at a conference, or may score you a job in the future, so make it count.
Clean the Results Survey...
I did a project a while back trying to crowd-source some data to help those applying. I quickly realized that the results survey is a garbage-fire. All of the open-ended text boxes (i.e., program, school) are very unclean. It does have a predictive component but if someone types something incorrectly others will start getting that as a predictive option. It is also hard to find particular hybrid programs, so I think a tagging taxonomy would bode well. I've emailed the admins about this. The benefit of Grad Cafe can be improved by cleaning the user-experience. This would be a good place for sourcing how grad students deal with rejection or giving particular programs a profile in terms of when they respond to students. You'd need to control for self-selection, but I see this providing a huge benefit to society. Admins clean up the response strings and make the tag structure more defined....constructive feedback, don't delete this post. 
 
Initial Email
-The most underestimated part of the application process
Most of us are highly conscientious so bugging a person we don't know may be excruciating.  Funding is the name of the game for many programs. If you apply to the wrong lab it doesn't matter how strong of an applicant you are. Take the time to send an email to figure out who is planning on taking students. I also find that emailing the current students is both less intimidating and more insightful so do not shy away from this. Another thing this will help is your personal statement. I spent so much time specifying advisers  just to find out that some of the programs don't want you working with just one person. The program websites are always filled with obsolete information, get current information from those living it.
 
GRE/GPA
- A perfect GRE/GPA score will not guarantee your acceptance
If this was the case no program would have an interview portion nor would you have to submit CVs and Personal Statements. Obviously, programs will use the quantitative metrics (GPA and GRE) when convenient, so in the beginning when the pool is large. Programs may get 300 applicants so selecting 30 to interview would be tedious without a common scale. The first filter will be a quantitative metric and if you aren't above average...none of your other qualifications is going to fix that.  You can't change your GPA but you can improve your GRE. I've heard all sorts of metrics: (Quant + Verbal) * GPA, sometimes programs will weigh verbal more or quant more, you never know. You want to make the first cut, so don't think you need the highest score because chances are you won't have it. Shoot for that 75th-80th percentile. Some of you may think that it is impossible but it's not, this is coming from someone that increased their GRE score by 20 points in a short amount of time. If you're struggling go here. The GRE is based upon adaptive Item Response Theory (IRT) so focus on increasing your mastery of the more difficult questions.
 
Personal Statement
- Don't overthink it
I spent most of my time doing these. I'm a terrible writer. There is no special sauce, no formula. Just don't tell a 2-page story about your grandma dying. I do suggest demonstrating that you know how to craft a research idea relevant to your person of interest. Also if you see research that they've done where the findings relate to an experience you've had....golden. I asked over 20 professors (from different programs) if they had to choose just one: GPA/GRE, Personal Statement & Recommendations, or CV and Research experience to select a candidate, which would they choose? No one said personal statement. Once again I'm in the area of I/O, so other areas may differ but none of us are in Creative Writing.
 
Research/CV
-You do research in a PhD program, so research experience is critical
This is the area I lack. My estimation is that it is why I got rejected from places, and is what sets apart the candidates after the GRE/GPA hurdle. I would really love to see the stats for applicants that got 75th percentile on the GRE with publications versus an applicant that is in the 99th percentile without research experience. A vast majority of the professors I spoke to said if they had to select a candidate based on 1 metric that they would choose CV and Research experience. It makes sense because students will be doing research. Don't underestimate how you layout your research experience on your CV. If you can get on MTurk and code someone's data or if you can present to a small clinic or non-profit, do it. 
 
Interviews & Recruitment Days
- It's all about the questions. Don't be vanilla.
 I didn't dress the best. I'm sure I creeped out all the current students and applicants, but they remembered me. Ask good questions, I can't emphasize this enough. 100% of the interview/recruitment days I went to accepted me afterwards. I definitely wasn't the smartest person there, but I asked good questions. Don't ask things you can learn from a follow-up email or on the website. Act like you're about to marry them, or that you're on a Tinder date 4 glasses of wine in. 
Some examples (all of which I've used):
For students: What would you improve about your program? What class was a waste of time? What are 3 things your adviser can do better? If you had to punish someone deeply, what professor would you handcuff them to?  How much time have you spend off-campus with those in your cohort? How much of your weekend is spent doing work? My favorite: If all of the faculty participated in the Amazing Race with a clone of a generic student, who would you put your money on? Who would drop out?
For faculty: What are three adjectives your students would use to describe you? What is a unique skill you offer that the other faculty do not? If you could add a course from the core-curriculum, which would you pick? In your opinion what proportion of a PhD student's time should be spent in the following areas: Assistantship, Coursework, Research, Personal Life? From your perspective what is the biggest social challenge? emotional challenge? and financial challenge? a student faces in grad school.
 
One love...

Thank you all,
 

Hello all,

I wanted to make individual replies but I didn't expect so many people to give such helpful responses!

Thank you all for your valuable input and sharing your experiences. I understand the application/admission process a little better now and see how the factors you all mentioned come into play.

@E-P Thanks again for your help!  I will definitely reach out and ask about the weaknesses of my application. I'm glad I have the opportunity of doing the MA as a means of improving myself as a researcher and applicant. @+ve regard I'll definitely try to be more proactive about getting connections with PIs this round too!

@dr. bubbles Thank you for sharing the tip about SoP! I definitely need to work on that for next cycle. I'm in my senior year of undergrad and I totally approached it too much like an undergrad college essay. I also didn't know anything about the application process, and had little to no help from mentors (grad students/faculty/department or career centers). I don't really blame this on them (grad students, my professors) though as I imagine they're super busy. I also wasn't the most persistent in getting help from those people, for that reason. The career center and psych department advisers however....... haha. I totally wish we had the built-in infrastructure/resources med students (sometimes) do for their application process. This is besides the point though. I basically just wanted to say I definitely agree with you. After going through the process once I definitely have a much better handle on what to do to be more successful next year.

And yes, I asked this question because I've been a little skeptical of stories where people not getting any admissions despite 3+ cycles, especially if they claim to have been actively doing appropriate things to improve themselves. I am aware that there may be outliers from time to time of people who truly have amazing stats and seemingly good fit yet are unable to get in a program after years of trying. I guess it's not so much being uncomfortable with the idea that not everyone can get what they want, but more that these people seemingly don't have any obvious issues as an applicant... yet they haven't been able to get in, year after year. It makes me wonder, what about me could possibly be so different from these individuals for me to believe I could get in and have a better outcome than them?

I definitely resonate with @Sherrinford's piece about being taught all our lives that if one to work hard enough, one could succeed eventually. Especially from a western/cultural standpoint. However, I do agree that the way of the world is that sometimes, some people don't get what they want. I also see what @lewin is saying about some people just not being cut out for grad school. Who knows, anything could happen and I could find out that my talents lie elsewhere or am better fit for a different type of learning/growing experience than a PhD program.  @wnk4242  also touches on this, but in terms of specific psych disciplines. I completely see where you're all coming from and will keep what y'all said in mind. I guess all we can do is just try our best to gather as much knowledge about the process, to try as hard as we can, and give ourselves the best chance of achieving our dreams. Me asking this question/creating this thread is one way of doing that. I just want to know more and learn from other people's perspectives on this grueling experience.

Thanks again for all the valuable advice and perspectives! Hearing from everyone on this forum has been really fun and helpful.




 

I am an international applicant from China (got a masters in mental health counseling in the US). I applied to 13 clinical psych programs last year and got 13 rejections. I applied to 9 educational psychology programs (with a concentration in measurement and statistics) and 1 quantitative psychology programs and got 7 offers.
How do you make of my experience? I think sometimes your choices are more important than your working hard.
That said, I don't think switching from clinical psych to quant psych programs is the only reason why I am much more successful than last year.
You should work hard but also work smarter.
In my case, after the first failed cycle, I re-evaluated my strengths and weaknesses, and realized that quant might be more suitable for me. I've always interested in statistics and I'm good at coding, so why apply for clinical psych and fail again instead of working on my strengths? 
I did an independent study using R and wrote a strong writing sample about it;
I built a personal academic site and published my writing sample and CV on it;
I rewrote my SOPs and customized them to each program;
I contacted all of my POIs 1-1.5 months prior to the app deadline;
I didn't retake and improve my GRE scores because they were already decent;
I asked the same letter writers to write my letters.
I think one of the reasons why some people fail repeatedly is that they haven't realized where their true strengths lie. They don't spend time talking to themselves and trying to figure out who they are. They just follow what other people do, like applying for clinical psych programs. Once they figure that out, things would become much easier.
 

I am an international applicant from China (got a masters in mental health counseling in the US). I applied to 13 clinical psych programs last year and got 13 rejections. I applied to 9 educational psychology programs (with a concentration in measurement and statistics) and 1 quantitative psychology programs and got 7 offers.
How do you make of my experience? I think sometimes your choices are more important than your working hard.
That said, I don't think switching from clinical psych to quant psych programs is the only reason why I am much more successful than last year.
You should work hard but also work smarter.
In my case, after the first failed cycle, I re-evaluated my strengths and weaknesses, and realized that quant might be more suitable for me. I've always interested in statistics and I'm good at coding, so why apply for clinical psych and fail again instead of working on my strengths? 
I did an independent study using R and wrote a strong writing sample about it;
I built a personal academic site and published my writing sample and CV on it;
I rewrote my SOPs and customized them to each program;
I contacted all of my POIs 1-1.5 months prior to the app deadline;
I didn't retake and improve my GRE scores because they were already decent;
I asked the same letter writers to write my letters.
I think one of the reasons why some people fail repeatedly is that they haven't realized where their true strengths lie. They don't spend time talking to themselves and trying to figure out who they are. They just follow what other people do, like applying for clinical psych programs. Once they figure that out, things would become much easier.
 

I've received 3...THREE...rejection emails from the same school in a 2 1/2 week period. Like, I get it. I'm rejected. Please no more emails. 

I definitely agree with the fact that a good amount of application success being due to luck (after you consider all the other important factors that have already been mentioned in this thread). You could look really good one year because the rest of your application cohort isn't as shining, but in a different year be utterly unremarkable the next year. A lot of success also depends on department politics in a given year. Some POIs will be prioritized in being able to accept students in different years (especially in clinical). If you're in a fairly niche area of research (like forensics, eating disorders, or sex research), you're going to have a much harder time since there's less spots for the amount of applicants than say someone doing general anxiety or depression research. 

Clinical is definitely the hardest of the specialities to get into (in my opinion, it's harder to get into a clinical program than med or law school). Social psych and I/O are also hard specialities to get into, but most experimental programs are easier to be accepted into (at least from my Canadian perspective). 
It took me 4 application cycles to be accepted into a clinical PhD program (niche research field). I just kept working on my application every year, making sure I was seeking out extra opportunities to improve my application, and it paid off! 

I had a subpar undergrad GPA as well but a good MA GPA helped me out there. It's impressive that you have a pub and the posters are good too. Try to make sure you apply to programs with a really good research fit for the experience and interests you have. That is the most important thing, in my opinion. 
Finally, you need to get your GREs up. There are rare exceptions here and there, but you should look at what the average GRE scores for admitted students into programs are to get a sense of what you should be shooting for. A lot of schools use GRE scores as an easy screener. 
A lot of people typically have to apply more than once before getting in. Many of professors had to apply twice. It's a very competitive process and part of it is also dumb luck honestly (I know that isn't reassuring). If you don't hear back from any of your programs, take a couple of weeks or a month to just feel like crap and ruminate and all that. But then, no more of that, you get your bootstraps and start preparing for the next time you interview. Build a comprehensive plan, do research, talk to your mentors or really anyone who'll give you time, and see how you can improve every aspect of your application. 
I hope my advice didn't come off mean, I have a tendency to be blunt! 

Been an absolutely ridiculous last three hours: I'm in a strange time zone for vacation right now and I got a call from my top top top favourite program Princeton at 3 in the morning, subsequently can't fall back asleep, then checked email and found out a UPenn rejection in the next hour, tried to fall asleep again, and was waken up by a call from Rutgers, and now it's 6 in the morning. 

The GRE math isn't tough at all, it's easier than the SAT

Also, you seem to be using a completely different username although ur the same person who has been messaging me...

Nice and congrats. I am sure it was hard-won and totally worth it. Looking forward to hearing about your decision as well!

Guys. This application season is almost at the end for me. I applied to 11 programs, got 6 acceptances and 3 rejections so far. I withdrew one of my applications because they wanted to accept me into their masters program. I'm still waiting for the last program. It's been a very successful app season for me. 
It was not last year. I applied to 13 clinical psych programs and got 13 rejections.
I took GRE five times (including a psych GRE) and TOEFL four times. I just don't give up. I keep working on myself.
I just wanted to say that if you didn't get into your dream program this cycle, try it again. Learn to deal with rejections and frustrations. Re-evaluate your strengths, weaknesses, whether you are a great fit for the programs you applied to, and then get back on your horse and keep on moving forward. Never give up if being a PhD is your dream.
This is my third app cycle (I got into a masters program in the first cycle) and I finally made it this time, because I've learned many things from my failures and I never, ever give up.
I wish you all the best and hope we can keep in contact!

Yay, Oregon! Congrats!
Congratulations! They don't send an email at all? Odd. 

This is so important because $20k in New York is going to be completely different than $20k in Kansas City. So much of this is going to depend on what is important to you. For example, I avoid driving at all costs, so it matters to me how accessible/costly public transportation is. Having had to evaluate funding packages once before, these were the things that I looked at:
1. COL in the area - What is the rent like? Will you be able to live by yourself, or will you have to have roommates? Is it a place that has rapid rent inflation, like New York or the Bay area? What about grocery stores? Does your town have affordable stores, or are you in a food desert? What about restaurants, bars, and other fun things to do? You need to have some fun during your program, so are there sustainable options?
2. Transportation - If you're going to drive, how far is the commute going to be? How expensive is gas in that area? (I was so shocked to see that gas in my native Ohio was exponentially cheaper than in the Northeast!) What is public transportation like? If you don't drive, is it something that you can afford to use? If you're not in a major metropolitan area, how easy is it to get to one that has an airport/bus station/train station? How far will you be from your family, i.e. how expensive will it be to return home for holidays?
In terms of evaluating the individual funding package, here are some other things to look into:
1. Conference funding - Do they have a set amount that is guaranteed for conferences, or do you have to apply for funding? How much is guaranteed and how much could you apply for? How frequently do people obtain competitive conference funding?
2. Health insurance - Even if you're 23/24 now, over the course of a PhD, you'll eventually age out of your parents' health insurance. Does the university fund your health insurance? If so, how much of the premium do you have to cover? What are the out-of-pocket costs of the insurance? Does it cover dental and/or vision? Five to six years in the program means you almost certainly will use your health insurance, so you need to make sure you understand it.
3. Opportunities to "top off" - Are there teaching assistant opportunities that would allow you to add to your funding package? Research assistant opportunities? Other miscellaneous campus positions? Some do, and some don't.
These are all things you should ask faculty members, but more importantly, you should ask the current graduate students. Especially some variation of the question "What is something you know about the funding package now that you wish you knew earlier?" While the faculty will know the theoretical answers, the graduate students already negotiate these moving parts, so they are going to be the experts here about what is really feasible.

Guys. This application season is almost at the end for me. I applied to 11 programs, got 6 acceptances and 3 rejections so far. I withdrew one of my applications because they wanted to accept me into their masters program. I'm still waiting for the last program. It's been a very successful app season for me. 
It was not last year. I applied to 13 clinical psych programs and got 13 rejections.
I took GRE five times (including a psych GRE) and TOEFL four times. I just don't give up. I keep working on myself.
I just wanted to say that if you didn't get into your dream program this cycle, try it again. Learn to deal with rejections and frustrations. Re-evaluate your strengths, weaknesses, whether you are a great fit for the programs you applied to, and then get back on your horse and keep on moving forward. Never give up if being a PhD is your dream.
This is my third app cycle (I got into a masters program in the first cycle) and I finally made it this time, because I've learned many things from my failures and I never, ever give up.
I wish you all the best and hope we can keep in contact!

Okay so this isn't an acceptance but my husband just received an email saying that he is on the "short list" for the University of Maryland and inviting him to a Skype interview next week! We are local to the school so he's going to offer to go in person (not sure if that's an option) but I AM SO EXCITED FOR HIM!
P.S. Any PhD interview tips would be super appreciated!

Congrats!!

That is good! No need to feel guilty, multiple acceptances means that you are hot on the market.
And I have decided to go to Penn State for a social psych program. So not in the running for QM programs now. Wish everyone best of luck! 

Thank you Jason2018!

I would note that perhaps the best interview I had with someone outside of my POI was when I was able to ask the professor to tell me more about his research in XXXX area using XXXX model. He got really excited that I wanted to talk about this model he had designed with one of his graduate students (he pulled out slides from his computer and everything), and I got to participate in a conversation with way less pressure. We even got to theorize on different directions the research could go and different applications of the model. It pays to know enough to ask one of the questions, but you don't need to know everything. In fact, you may only need to know one thing (e.g., he may be interested in and publish in XXX1, XXX2, XXX3, and XXXX4, but I ask/talk about XXX3).