hopefulgrad2019

Clinical

I know someone who has heard back from Penn state. It was before the holidays. They aren’t very good at communication. One of my friends who applied last year never get a rejection.

3-5 students/1 spot but this can vary. My PI only invited me and one other person last year and extended us both offers.

I have a nose stud and kept it in for interviews and was accepted so I’d say keep it in if that’s what you’re most comfortable with!

So happy to hear that! You’re welcome.

Yes! I actually did this last year because I was invited to interview at my 2nd choice (lets call this school A) and it was the same weekend as my 1st choice (school B), which I hadn’t heard from yet. I waited as close as I could to the deadline to let school A know but I emailed the program admin at school B to check on my status when I still hadn’t heard anything. The program admin actually replied saying she was under the impression I was being invited to interview weekend and she’d check with my PI. I got the interview invite for school B very shortly after and let school A know I was unable to attend the interview weekend and asked for a phone interview etc. Again, reiterating to ask the program admin and not the PI. Feel free to message me and I can provide you with the email I sent to the admin asking for my status.

I would strongly discourage reaching out to the PIs you applied to for updates. It comes across as pushy and it’s also still winter break for most schools! It’s normal to not be hearing anything right now because of the holidays. If you absolutely need to get an update for scheduling/interview conflict reasonings, email the program admin. Hang in there!!

Reply right away and indicate your strong interest in their program and excitement in being invited but say you’re still in the process of coordinating your schedule and will let them know as soon as possible. Thank them at the beginning and end of the email, etc.

As a current grad student, I would say no. A thank you email is enough.

? clearly not as concise as you

Most masters programs require a minimum 3.0 GPA so I can’t imagine any PhD program would admit that low of a undergrad gpa. Unfortunately, there’s just too many good candidates that have way above that.

hahaha feel free to DM! ?

As others have said, it’s still VERY early. The clinical faculty where I’m a student at didn’t even meet to discuss applications until today and no interview invites will be going out until a couple weeks into January. Try to stay positive through the holidays!!

Yes.

Wait it out. Reaching out will appear pushy and it’s a very busy time right now at most institutions (the end of finals week/having to get grades in, etc.)

Most programs will give you a deadline for when you have to accept the interview so of course thank them for the invite and express your excitement but they KNOW people applied multiple places so you don’t need to agree right away. You can wait until closer to the deadline and then if you get other invites, go in person for the one you’re most interested in. This happened to me last year and the program I asked to skype interview for never even followed up with me (after I followed up multiple times) but now I’m a student where I did interview! It’s really important to go in person to your top choice, not just who invited you first. editing to add you should never schedule then cancel an interview but if you can wait to accept, that’s respectful as long as you give you decision by the deadline.

Yep, it is really variable. I’m a 1st year PhD student so I can only speak to how my institution does interviews/rejections.

Always try to go to as many events as you can. I wouldn’t say it’ll reflect poorly but you want as much face time as possible.

Usually yes but it’s technically still possible to get an invite until you’ve received a rejection.

I would be prepared with a lot of questions for THEM. My best advice would be to never run out of questions to ask. In person interviews are about you evaluating their program, too. A question I got from a faculty who isn’t my PI was the basic “if you have unlimited funding and IRB approval, what experiment would you design?” Most of my other interviews were more me interviewing them by asking questions. This is fairly common. (this is from last cycle as I’m a current clinical psych 1st year PhD student)

I had my first rejection of last cycle early in December (from Georgia) and it was very upsetting and I thought it was setting the tone for the rest of interview season. I’m now a first year at my 2nd choice so it all worked out! I guess I would just try to stay positive and I kept telling myself that the rejections were only making my path clearer. I ended up with two interviews to schools in my top 3 and I’m confident it worked out the way it was supposed to but that doesn’t mean I didn’t SOB when I got my first rejection. Hang in there!!! You got this.

You didn’t quote anything when you asked that question, which was where the confusion was.

For all programs? No definitely not. Most programs won’t extend interview invites until January

I second this! My friend and I got interviews to the same program but her PI emailed her the day or two before mine emailed me (it was a terrible waiting game).

Short answer - no it doesn’t mean things might be bleak. Before Christmas last year, I had 1 rejection and 1 interview but my interview to the program I’m currently at didn’t come until mid-January. My particular program doesn’t send invites until January so it’s really program/PI specific. I wouldn’t worry yet.