ASDadvocate

I just got an interview invite via email today for Idaho State. The interview day is Feb 16 with Feb 15 being a day where they hold research presentations and socials for you to get to know the research of faculty and students. PM if interested in POI. Good luck!

One of my supervisors is a Nova professor. She mentioned last week that they began reaching out to applicants. I'm not sure if this was for the School Psych Psy.D. program, though. I believe both programs (school and Clinical PsyD) are operated by much of the same faculty.

I’m wondering about Idaho State University as well. Interested in any information.

I will try my best to get a answer for you

I believe it's Feb 15th? (This is the date my supervisor is interviewing her candidates). Not sure if this varies by POI though.

YAY!! Good luck on your interview!!! ?

I’m sure it varies from program to program and school to school. My first interview (OSU’s IDD psych), I interviewed with 4 faculty out of the 5 core program faculty. I applied under 2 of them but they mentioned that they all interviewed candidates and determined best match after. It may very well be for this particular program since it’s a specialized program. For my second interview (UofU’s school psych), I haven’t received a specific itinerary but based on the interview email, it looks like I will be interviewing with multiple faculty as well. I think perhaps in these cases, the core faculty make the decision about admitting students into the program and the listed POIs decide whether to take on the student. Again, this may vary from program to program but this has been my experience thus far.

I received an interview invite for University of Utah today! Interview dates are Feb 14th and 15th. Willing to share POI through DM. Sending interview dust to everyone! ✨

This is a great list of steps to take to prepare for interviews! I would add that one way to keep it all organized is to create a "guideline" or sorts. I did this on a word document where I included questions I would likely be asked (taken from TGC and other sources) with the response I would like to provide, questions I would like to ask (for this I made the longest list possible which really came in handy when I interviewed with one particular POI who had no structure during the interview and had me ask all the questions), and a review of all of the POIs research articles and interests. I then printed this and had it with me throughout the day- this was extremely helpful!! I also wrote a paragraph with my research interests and goals post grad school. I was asked this so often that I found it very helpful to "study it" until it became second nature. DO NOT MEMORIZE obviously as it will not sound natural but make sure that you can easily talk about it. Also, it's all about perspective! If you walk in thinking that you are going to learn about cool research and meet potential colleagues, as opposed to an interview where you will be drilled, you will go in more confident and relaxed. PS. I read this last advice from someone here on TGC and it truly helped me the day of. Best of luck!

Thank you for the insight and for the SDN resource (I actually hadn't heard of that forum). I have been doing more research and talking to more people about the APA accreditation and I just hope they admit me into the dual clinical and IDD program at OSU which is APA-accredited! Either that or that I hear back from the other schools I applied to (at least the ones that I haven't seen anything posted for on the results page). Now that I have interviewed for a program, I find the waiting time to hear back from them even more anxiety provoking than waiting for an interview invitation ?

I just had my first in-person interview this past Tuesday and Wednesday. It was a two-day interview with lunches, dinners and the actual interviews. This program is a PhD in Psychology with a specialization in intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Interviews: Because this program is very specialized in a particular research population, although I applied to two specific POIs, the candidates met with all 5 core faculty from that division. Apparently, the faculty determines which candidates should be admitted and which ones in particular would be a good match for their mentorship styles and their research interests. I had 3 interviews the first day and 1 interview the second day (I was one of the candidates who wasn't able to meet with one of the POIs because she had very limited time). I found this particular interview to be much less intense than I expected it to be! I feel that I actually over-prepared for it- which could be a good thing in the end! I got general questions about why I wanted to go to grad school for a PhD, what my research interests were, and very few specific questions about my experiences (only follow-up questions when I brought my experiences up). The HARDEST question I was asked was, "What would be your masters project? And what variables/outcomes would you look at?! Thankfully, the current students were AMAZING and they graciously gave us tips about what to expect in the interviews! This very hard question was brought up the night before interviews and I had a chance to think about it in advance ?Interviews lasted 30 minutes and overall, I felt I spent more time waiting for my turn than actually meeting with the POIs. Socials: The night before interviews, after all candidates had arrived from the airport, a few of the students took us to a quaint place in Columbus to have dinner. This was very informal but gave the opportunity to meet them and ask questions. We also had lunches that were catered to the conference room where we met on both interview days. All the candidates ate with a few of the current students who were available. On the first day of the interviews, all candidates went to dinner with three POIs and the majority of the current students. This was very informal but also gave me the opportunity to learn more about my POIs personalities. Logistics: There were a total of 6 candidates including me who were interviewed. This may actually be different from other programs. One of the students told us that they typically only invite as many people as they would have space/funding for. As opposed to other programs who may invite 30+ candidates to ultimately extend admittance to 4 people. I thought this was nice. They reimbursed for dinner from the night candidates arrived to the city (we all came out of state) and for flights. They also booked us and paid for hotel rooms near the university. I felt very fortunate for this as it was very unexpected. In terms of transportation, the students drove us around to the dinner location, back to the hotel when needed, and to the hospital that we visited where we would be doing clinical work at some point in the program. There was also a shuttle bus from the hotel to the university every 30 minutes. Overall Thoughts: I really liked this program and I'm hoping for an acceptance! What I liked the most was the very specific research clinical work being conducted with the population I'm interested in and the collaborative climate I sensed from the faculty and students. This last piece matters a lot to me since the university where I currently work is very competitive and I don't feel a sense of "friendliness" among students and faculty. The one thing that concerns me a little is the fact that this particular program is not APA accredited. This is something that both of my supervisors emphasized I should look for in a graduate program. My thoughts are that attending this program might ultimately limit the states I would be able to practice in but I would still be able to become licensed and work in states that don't require you have a doctorate from an APA accredited program- which is honestly the majority. Plus, my husband and I are actually really looking forward to move out of FL and possibly not come back. FL does require APA accredited programs for licensure. I'm hoping to get an acceptance and at least have this option for grad school. I'm an older applicant and I don't think I'm willing to go through this process again for many reasons more personal to my specific circumstances. I hope this information helps people! Good luck to everyone!

You’re right, clinical psych does have a lot of threads on TGC!

Hi everyone! I work at FIU and my supervisor said they just reviewed applications yesterday. Hope this info is helpful to somebody!

Congrats on your interviews!! I’m trying to talk myself into believing that most programs reach out after the New Year’s week, next week! But it’s getting really hard ?

I had the opportunity to speak over the phone back in September with a POI for the PsyD program I applied to. In that particular program, you do get assigned to a professor and I had to choose 2 POIs on the app just like all the other PhD applications I completed. If I get an interview with that program, I’ll likely interview with the POIs I selected. However, not all programs are the same so it may be possible that for some PsyDs you may have a more general interview process. I would be interested to hear from others who have gone to PsyD program interviews.

My interview is for an IDD/Clinical PhD program but I don’t think that it’s too different between PsyDs and PhDs.

Yikes! That’s a tough question! Thank you for sharing this.

These are all great resources! I think it’s also important to be familiar with the POI’s research and funding agencies and to have genuine intrigue and questions about these. My current supervisor mentioned that lack of curiosity and questions about her research is a turn off for her.

Hi everyone! I have my first interview this Tuesday and Wednesday and wanted to create a place where we can debrief after the interviews. We can share anything from what everyone wore to actual questions and itineraries, as well as hopes and fears post-interview. Hopefully comparing notes will help ease anxieties!

Haha! I hear ya! I have my first interview (hopefully not my last) this Tuesday and Wednesday. I fly out on Monday and have spent the last couple of days prepping for it so at least that has helped to kill time. However, that hasn’t stopped me from checking my email either! Thinking of creating a thread for interview reviews!

I applied to 9 very different programs but all with research and POIs interested in the population I'm interested in. I'm an older applicant and I either want to do research/clinical work in what I'm interested in or not at all. For me, fit was extremely important- it's minimum 5 years of life! Then again some people may think I made my interests way too narrow. I applied to 9 because I wanted to increase my chances (psych programs, especially clinical psych, are very competitive) but also because these were the only ones I found matching my interests and in locations I'd be willing to relocate my family to. At this point only time will tell. I think we ultimately end where we're meant to be. Good luck to you all!!

I got mine on a Friday a little after 10 am. Even though it may vary across schools, it's still interesting to compare times ?

Same here ? 9 applications and only heard from 1. Although it looks like 2 other programs have started reaching out ? Trying to stay positive! I’m very excited to have an interview (and prepping for this one has made me even more excited about the prospects!) but I also want to feel like I have options!

It’s natural to worry! I’ve been researching interview stuff all week! There are a couple of threads that have been started with great advice for the interviews, I would look them up on the search bar on gradcafe. As far as the attire, I’ve kept seeing that others are getting black suits. I just got a navy blue one for my first day of the interview and two separate pieces, blazer and pants for the second day. I’m also planning on wearing very simple accessories. For my first day, they will be taking us to one of the locations where we would do most of the clinical work so there’ll be a lot of walking. I’m wearing flats or loafers because of all the walking (I’m also terrible in heels ?). Above all, it’s important that you feel comfortable! You don’t want to have to worry about clothing comfort during the interviews when there are so many other things that you will naturally worry about. Wear something that makes you feel like yourself but that it’s also professional. Also, for dinners and socials, I’m thinking of keeping my blouse and blazer/jacket and changing into jeans or khakis since it’ll be a more casual environment. That is if there is enough time to change. They sent me the itinerary for the interview day and it will be a packed day with no breaks! Also, I’ve read a lot that you should bring along a black folio? This might be good to hold all of the paperwork you may receive. I’m also planning to bring my questions, copy of CV and any other documents on this as well. Good luck on your interview!!! Enjoy the warm FL weather ?

Congrats on the interview! Would you send it to me as well? Thank you!