ilikepsych

I’ve received four interviews and applied to seven programs (two programs do not do interviews, only recruitment weekends), and I think what helped me most was my letter of recs. Got a letter of rec from a big name in the field. I also only applied to places with PIs who knew at least one of my recommenders personally. GREs were mediocre, but GPA was good (3.88) and research productivity looked promising (only 1 year of research experience but applied with 7 conference presentations in a span of one year, number will rise to 11 by May this year, no publications). POIs commented that I put together a strong application in general and specifically mentioned very strong recs.

It could be normal--a number of programs do this. University of Michigan's developmental psychology program didn't do interviews (formal or informal) last year and the year prior according to the results page. They did do phone interviews this year, though, however.

I'd say it may depend on your discipline and the culture of the department to which you are applying. I only have one anecdotal experience of a friend (applied to social sciences PhD) who spent 7 years (on and off) in community college, failed multiple classes, and ended his college career with a 3.2 GPA. Absymal GRE scores, two research projects in undergrad. Wrote a really compelling SOP about how his past has influenced his future goals and why he wanted a PhD. He's now in a PhD program after applying the first round. Sometimes we forget that adcoms are made of real people. My take is that if a school can't see past your early academic history and will hold it against you, it's not a school you'd want to attend. Imagine how they'd treat you as a grad student. Take time to craft the SOP and PS (if the school has one), since this is the only chance to explain your academic trajectory. Of course, don't focus on the negatives without explaining what you've learned from these experiences, and how you might apply them to your future work as a graduate student. I highly suggest applying for a summer research program at a ranked university to show that you are ready for graduate level work. Work your tail off there, and develop good rapport with the PI. That person's letter may be the difference between your application making it to the last round vs. being tossed out the first round. I say this based on experience--I don't think I'm the strongest applicant, but I did a summer research program, had my PI write me a strong letter, and I've received 4 interviews from top 20 schools so far (waiting on 3 more).

School name: Pennsylvania State (Penn State) Date interview invite received: December 21 Degree: PhD Type: Developmental Psychology Notified via: Email From: Area Coordinator Interview date: February 23-24 School name: University of Michigan Date (phone) interview invite received: December 19 Degree: PhD Type: Developmental Psychology Notified via: Phone From: POI School name: Northwestern University Date interview invite received: December 16 Degree: PhD Type: Social Psychology Notified via: Email From: POI Interview date: February 1-3 School name: UCLA Date interview invite received: December 24 Degree: PhD Type: Developmental Psychology Notified via: Email From: POI Interview date: February 2-3