motherofdragons23

I didn’t see this already done for this fall so... I’m starting the trend!
 
I will be in the clinical psychology Ph.D.  program! I am super excited about starting! I will be moving from PGH. 

I'll be attending SLU for the experimental program (social)!

I am going to be attending Saint Louis University for Clinical Psychology! I am super excited!! If you are going to SLU or even WASHU since it's close - I would love to connect with you! 

UVa for Social Psych - made it off their waitlist. Beyond excitement

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.  

YAYYY!! CONGRATULATIONS! I am so happy for you!

After a very stressful past week, I have been accepted to the CNS program at USF and will be starting in the Fall!

I applied to the Master's program at my undergraduate institution (University of Northern Iowa). They have a great program that offers both internal and external clinical practicum experiences as well as great assistantship opportunities. If you are an out-of-state student, they will only charge in-state tuition. I was also able to get my second year fully funded with a scholarship. The program is designed to be more of a stepping stone program into a PhD. It should be noted, however, that UNI does not offer a PhD program in Clinical so you would have to pursue that elsewhere. 
Here is a link to their website for you to look into it a little more: https://csbs.uni.edu/psych/clinical-science-emphasis
Hope this helps! 

Based on my experiences and conversations with others during my application cycle, I think generally it's very poor form to hold on to more than 2 offers at a time (as per CUDCP guidelines as well). 
If people want suggestions on how to narrow their choice down from someone on the other side, I'll say pick based on how much you like the P.I. 
I would prefer spending the next 5 years of my life working with someone I like interpersonally, even if it meant I had to relocate to the base of a dormant volcano. My program/area has its weaknesses, but I never feel hesitant or uncomfortable having to talk to my PI about...anything really. I couldn't have asked for a better mentor and it's been a cushion on days where I feel overwhelmed. Conversely, I've talked to multiple colleagues in top research programs who don't love their PI, and they're pretty miserable. There is a difference between being able to work with someone and actually liking them. I think a lot of people focus more on the former, but I'm here telling you the latter is just as important.

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. 

For future reference, there is no "opposite" gender. That implies gender is binary when in reality there are over 60 of them. I hope you resolve your issue though!

As acceptances are coming in, try not to hold onto more than one acceptance at a time. If you are accepted to two places and you know you will go to one over the other if it comes down to it; decline the one you know you won’t go to. That way individuals on the waitlist can potentially get a spot (because for them that may be the only school they haven’t been rejected from or is their ‘last hope). I understand if maybe you haven’t visited campuses for some and want to wait to see how the fit feels during visiting day or for funding details ( I would too); but just keep it in mind if you have two or more acceptances.
 

As acceptances are coming in, try not to hold onto more than one acceptance at a time. If you are accepted to two places and you know you will go to one over the other if it comes down to it; decline the one you know you won’t go to. That way individuals on the waitlist can potentially get a spot (because for them that may be the only school they haven’t been rejected from or is their ‘last hope). I understand if maybe you haven’t visited campuses for some and want to wait to see how the fit feels during visiting day or for funding details ( I would too); but just keep it in mind if you have two or more acceptances.

Same. ☹️ it looks like I'll have to go through this process again next year. 

Hey guys, I saw a similar thread for a previous cycle and thought it could be helpful to those being on the wait list to know if one of the fortunate candidates have decided to turn down an offer. It could help give hope to some people since we know its a tough time.
 

I received one today. I guess it’s not too late!!  

What's your research area? In social, at the major conferences (SPSP, APS) it's hard or nay impossible (SESP) for a student to present. Instead you could seek out regional or specialized conferences (e.g., ISJR, SPSSI, IARR, MPA, EPA) where getting a talk accepted is easier. Or, apply to a SPSP preconference that has a grad student session or data blitz. I think 1-2 posters per year is just standard/expected for a grad student but it's not unusual to have no/few talks in social because people know the rejection rates are high. The real utility of a talk is more than the CV line; it's that people see you and your research personally. ("Every talk is a job talk.")
 

Hi everyone! I noticed our thread doesn't have a lot going on, so I just wanted to say that I hope everyone is having a great week!

Someone a few pages back who applied last cycle said he/she still got responses around mid feb. Depends on the schools I guess

Hey, all! Just got accepted to UCLA’s social psych PhD today, so I’ve taken the offer and will be starting in the fall. Looks like my spot at CU-Boulder, Portland State, and Northwestern will be less competitive from here on out hopefully, so good luck everyone! I’m excited to see where everyone ends up ☺️

Also not my field, but I'm got some experience with very selective admission committees and wanted to add an important point to all the great ones mentioned above:
Don't take it personally
Seriously. You would not believe how, at a certain point, this process is largely arbitrary. Because, really, it's not like the departments are looking carefully at each application and saying "this person meets our standards, this person doesn't" and all the former get in. No. They do that, then look at the still large pile of people who meet their standards and they'd like to accept, and then somehow figure a way to whittle it down to the number of slots they actually have available.
It bothers me when I see people on results page say "oh, I knew my GPA [or GRE] wasn't good enough" or "I bet it was because I didn't have any publications." If your GRE/GPA is way below the average for your program, that might be the case. But for people at or above the average, it is literally impossible to guess why you weren't accepted and someone else was. (It's not impossible to know, you could ask them and they might tell you. But it's impossible to guess.) Once you meet a certain standard on the basics and you're on the shortlist, you can bet that what gets you accepted or rejected after that point is entirely out of your control. Departmental politics, a particular faculty member's ability to take on another student, the profiles of the students accepted last year, the profiles of the other students who will probably be accepted this year, unconscious biases (or affinities), funding issues ... Or a billion other things that could affect the decision — all of which are out of your hands, and none of which are even really about you.
So if you get rejected, even if you get rejected by all of them, don't take it personally. Take a good look and if you have obvious deficiencies make a plan to correct them, but if you don't, don't drive yourself crazy trying to find what small flaw caused them to reject you. Because, a lot of times, it's not you; it's them.
 

 
 

I agree with you. Perhaps my point was not very clear in my previous post, I didn't mean that location was more important than the program. In fact, i believe location is a minor (if relevant at all) consideration fo a PhD applicant. The department, and the research being conducted by the faculty, is a far more relevant consideration. People usually overestimate how important location is to their well-being. To me, what matters most is having a group of friends that you can rely on - especially during a PhD, when loneliness is (unfortunately) an issue. You can find that anywhere, be it in a small or big city, west/east coast or midwest, small or big department, etc.
In fact, one of the happiest times in my life was when I was an exchange student in the American midwest. There wasn't much to do in the city, but there was always someone to hang out with. Being connected to people is what really matters!
On top of that, as you said, relying on research fit when applying may maximize the chances of admission. 
 

Hey nerds, just wanted to add a random note of encouragement! I got accepted last year to two of my dream programs, and even though the other students in my area are excited for recruitment weekend because it's two days of free real food (rather than our usual peanut butter sandwiches and apples..) and hanging out with the whole area, I really feel for the interviewees - I remember how horrifically anxiety-inducing the whole thing was. But the grad students are just there trying to get to know potential new members of their family, nothing more.
Anyways, I managed to make up for my 3.1 undergrad GPA with two years of volunteering in labs (post-graduation) followed by two years of being a lab manager for two awesome social psych professors. I thought I had no chance when I started out, but thankfully for social psychology, it's the grittiest people who aren't willing to let go to the dream who win in the end.   So many of the current students applied multiple times (I applied three times total), so just because you maybe weren't the strongest candidate last year doesn't mean anything for this year.

As much as waiting patiently is torture for me, I completely agree.  The chances of the response being "Why, yes, you're accepted and we just forgot to tell you" is next to zero, so I can't imagine any good news coming from such a contact.    I do things to occupy myself like check TGC a million times a day instead.

I agree with this as well. I think with my original comment I was not trying to suggest "safety" schools or getting a PhD just for the sake of it, as I think that would be silly/misguided. But I think it's easier to find the top researchers in a certain field who are often at prestigious schools. It's often more difficult to find less renowned faculty at smaller schools but still doing the same or similar topics, but I tend to believe they exist for most interests and that there is a range of competitiveness. I honestly don't believe in safety schools, just that you can sometimes search people you like and their collaborations, and find new or young faculty or something at less prestigious universities with similar/identical interests by, for example, seeing who they mentored/advised or something.

I am sorry if it seemed earlier like I was encouraging just applying to safety schools for the sake of acquiring a PhD. That was not my intent. I agree with everyone's comments/sentiments.