PhDchallenger

Just DMed you

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.
 

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 recently received a rejection letter immediately following an exhausting but positive day-long interview. Because of that weird juxtaposition, I just wanted to send everyone words of encouragement and support through this long, emotional, seemingly never ending process. There are a lot of ups and downs, excitement and disappointment, and it can be a lot to balance and just let it roll off of you. Reminder to myself (and everyone!) to not be fatalistic about your accomplishments and the hard work everyone's put into their applications and career trajectory. The admissions process is a strange beast for sure. Trying to remind myself that resilience just makes way for growth. 
Good luck everyone! We got this, even when we think we don't. 

This is what I know thus far (attached).

So last season I applied to 10 clinical programs and was extremely fortunate to interview at 7 of them. I presumed I was waitlisted at 5 of the 7, although I got offers from 2 of my top programs (and took the very generous offer from the top program - a very prestigious/competitive program). Like 8BitJourney, I noticed that after attending 2 of the interviews my anxiety went down immensely. Not everyone has the luxury/luck I might have had last season, but here's my general advice:
 
1) Like everyone says, do your homework about your POI. Be familiar with your POIs works from the last 5ish years, and any major pubs in the last decade. If your POI has grant funding, look up the grant on the NIH grant website and read the brief description to think about how your potential dissertation work can fit under your POI's work while being unique enough. If the POI has a good lab website, look over it carefully... from this you can get good information about what other grad students in the lab may be doing, as well as what the lab may like to do socially. (My POI actually mentioned to me a few weeks ago that she still remembers how excited I was about the lab culture and the things that they do -- information I gathered from the website.) 
 
2) Do your homework about the program as a whole. What is the training model like? What can you expect in practicum? If these things aren't clear, ask during the interview to show that you care about your training! Some programs have some kind of weird stuff going on that have pros/cons (like an in-house guaranteed internship: rare), so asking about things like that without sounding presumptuous is important. 
 
3) Re-read your personal statement. People will mention it to you and ask you to tell you your "story." They'll also ask you "why clinical psych (or insert XXXX program here)." This should hopefully be spelled out in your SOP if you wrote a good one, so re-reading it once or twice before an interview (perhaps on the plane ride before or something) is a good idea. 
 
4) The 2 days before you leave for an interview, pack your bag. As silly as it sounds, I almost forgot to do this once between the stress of back-to-back interviews and my undergrad classes and other commitments. Make sure you have a suit ready and some more nice casual attire for the informal dinners/parties. I'd also REALLY recommend getting a thank you card and a small trinket from where you are from for your grad student host (if you are staying with a grad student). The personalized touch can really go a far way in showing you are thankful to them for going out of their way to let you stay in their home. 
 
5) On interview day: don't get into a competition with other applicants, but do be social with them. There is no need to compare experiences. Even if someone appears to be far more qualified, they are not. You are all there for the same reason and on an equal playing field. The important thing is that you focus on doing your best and being yourself around the POI and the program.  
 
6) To your main question: just be ready to have a conversation about their work and be excited about it! Talk about how your interests align with what you've read. Usually nobody is going to ask intense method details unless a background in the methods (e.g., neuroimaging) is essential to the work they do. 
 
Anyways, I hope this helps! Always willing to talk over PM too if you have any questions.
 
Best of luck!
 
-J

Hi all,
I went through this process twice (came out with accepts from 2/3 of my top programs this time around) and what I found that I did differently was that I was way less nervous and let the conversation unfold organically. This definitely means reading over their most recently published work and paying particular attention to the methods, results and the next steps they propose in the discussion (got waitlisted at one school for this XD because I was neck and neck with another applicant so this had to be our tie-breaker). But I found that for all of my in-person interviews it was more of a conversation rather than a q & a. Have questions but I don't suggest just throwing at them rapid fire one after the other; really get in-depth on crucial concepts if you can.
Another tip: think of your own study and a hypothesis+methods you would use for it. I had this come up both times I applied. It doesn't have to be super sophistication and grant application worthy just somewhat relevant to your PIs work to show that you did your homework.
Good luck!

Here's something thats helping me currently: I applied to programs and faculty with emphasis in neurospychology. There are a few annual conferences that are designed specifically for neuropsychological research and, as such, Ive looked up abstracts for people Im interviewing with to see what their most recent work is all about. Symposia and poster abstracts will not give excessive information away, however, you will know what's current..you'll also be familiar with their current preferred methodology and be knowledgeable about at least one active ongoing project in their lab. 
I'd also recommend looking for common factors across publications - do they publish with similar folks? are they publishing with a particular cohort? Feel comfortable name-dropping. You saw that your PI publishes frequently with so and so...this is cool because abc and xyz (remember to keep it focused) - or you see that your PI pulls data from the CDC...or some longitudinal cohort ...think about ways in which you could complement these areas of your PI's methods, or why you'd be interested in working with them. Pick 2 or 3 papers max that you feel like you can really speak about knowledgeably whether its because you were surprised about the results, or the limitations sparked your interest, or you were interested in the methodology or research question. This will definitely convey your interest in your PIs research!
Reread your personal statement too. I felt like I epically dropped the ball in a phone interview because I described very eloquently what I was interested in in my personal statement, but then never recapitulated over the phone until ~30 minutes into the conversation. This is a document you will not have in front of you so I think it's often overlooked to recap your own resume and pitch (via a statement) to a PI
sincerely hope this helps!!

Unfortunately I think it varies widely from program to program. For the most part though, programs probably won't grill you on how well you know their stuff. Just make sure you can talk about their work and how it relates to your interests. I think professors want to see that you can think critically and have an intelligent discussion about what you're interested in.  They also want to see if you're someone they could get along well with for the next 5 or so years. 
One great tip I've gotten is to bring a small notebook to the interview and write down a list of questions (as many as you can think of) to ask your PI. A big part of interviews is you asking them questions to see if it is a good fit for you as well and I have been told it's totally okay to pull out a list and jot down notes during your interview.  

Gotcha. Well it sounds like you've done your homework and they won't expect you to know everything. I think as long as you show you're familiar and interested then you should be fine. Try to prepare a few questions to ask them about their work and what they currently have going on. Other than that the interview will probably be more focused on you

Hi everyone,
So I figured I'd start this thread not to encourage pessimism, but to talk about the realistic possibility of receiving all rejections. I have personally applied to seven Psychology PhD programs with no response (as of January 13th) and I think a forum like this would help those of us, like me, who are facing this anxiety. This is my first round of graduate school applications and I think this could be a beneficial space to maybe hear words of encouragement from those students who went through a rotation without any acceptances? "Everything happens for a reason" is a great quote but not necessarily one someone wants to hear after years of their hard work doesn't get recognized the way it should.
I hope whoever joins this conversation can give advice on how to stay motivated, what to do in regards to self care, and address the "what nows?" that have infiltrated our thought process. Again, I really don't want this to come across as pessimistic or too hopeless, rather a realistic approach to this tough process. I wish everyone on here the best of luck in regards to admissions. 
Applications: UT Austin (Counseling Psych); University of Houston (Clinical Psych); University of Louisville (Counseling Psych); Florida International University (Clinical Psych); Clark University (Clinical Psych); Harvard University (Clinical Psych); USC (Clinical Psych)
Acceptances: ?/7; Interview Notifications: 0/7; Interviews: 0/7; Rejections: ?/7