Keyz

@holdingouthope It also becomes a bit more complicated since some programs use both a waitlist AND an alternate list while others use those terms interchangeably. I think that if you are concerned about it, you can definitely reach out for clarification, but make sure to word it properly.

I honestly think that it can be universally applicable. Deciding between two schools I feel would be okay with taking some time to figure out. But if you have 3+ I think that's when it becomes more of a 24-48 hours issue since most of the time you can narrow down to your top two programs easily and let go of any other offers you may have.

As far as what I know, there is usually a decent chance that at least one person will turn down an acceptance if there have been at least two applicants accepted to a particular professor. But as you said, it varies so much year by year and by program as well as institution. Most people probably won't turn down an offer from, say, Stanford. I was told personally by a professor that most of the time they go back to the waitlist multiple times, but there have been years where applicants accepted immediately. Keep your head up though, being waitlisted is still a great chance to get in and I'm sure something will work itself out for you!

Oh wow, cool thank you!

Didn't even know this was a thing, good to know!

For those of you who interviewed at Tennessee, what was it like? I applied but due to transcript issues my app wasn't released until 12/11 which was the day before interview invites so I'm assuming it didn't even get looked at which sucks. But I'm curious because it seemed like a good program regardless.

So I actually had prepped a WHOLE bunch of stuff for my interviews and in my most recent one, applicants who were too "scripted" got called out for not being genuine and asked to show more of themselves than just to basically regurgitate what they know or have read. So when it came time to interview with those professors, I made sure to just be super chill and keep it relevant but fun, which seemed to go well. Now, with all that said, it also depends on the program and the atmosphere of the faculty, which you will have to get a feel for.

That's............ Incredibly awkward. I'm hoping that you did actually get in and everything will come together. Sending good vibes your way!

Agreed, congrats! That's a very competitive program to get into.

On top of that it’s a long-term reward in my opinion. Having a pet has been the best self-care in my life.

At my most recent interview I had two interviews with grad students, one with three of them and the either with 5 of them. Then I interviewed with 7 of the faculty. It would have been 8 but one was out sick that day. WAY different than one of my other interviews which was only with 4 faculty.

Honestly it really depends on the program, it's so variable. One program I'm waitlisted on literally waitlisted everyone that interviewed except for the few that were offered the first round of acceptances. Others had a waitlist started after phone interviews, even before in person interviews were conducted. As for your question, grad students told me that it is perfectly fine to ask about how many people are waitlisted, what your position on that waitlist is, and the chance of being accepted off of the waitlist. They said that it is mandatory for professors to answer these questions because they are bound by the APA (don't know how much truth there is to that because I have never heard about it). However, I myself am still reluctant to ask any questions like that, however I did ask one of my POIs about whether waitlisted applicants have been accepted historically and received an answer and was told that I am more than welcome to ask any other questions about it.

Like others have said, it kind of depends. If it's your only acceptance...... maybe. But if you receive other offers where you wouldn't have to take out loans then definitely go for that. Grad school is expensive and the debt adds up fast, faster than undergrad. I know I personally would not attend any program that would require me to take out loans because there are so many other fully funded programs with a great stipend.

Literally just kept telling myself that everyday until I heard back.

The best advice that I have been given by different professors in the field, even those in other fields like cog and clinical, is that reputation is a very poor indicator of an institution. The best indicators are: is the program APA accredited? Does a professor have research interests that coincide with yours? Is funding available for you? If you want me to answer your question directly, in my opinion, Purdue would be the one held in “higher esteem,” but don’t make that cloud your judgment of an institution.

Yes, this is very normal. A lot of times they will figure out how much funding is available from the department and decide who they can admit based off of that, which usually takes a bit.

Haha congrats then! Maybe I should have hoped that my POI and the other faculty hadn’t lured me into a false sense of security by responding since I was immediately waitlisted lol. Oh well!

So I wasn’t personally asked this question, but one of my fellow applicants was asked by their POI what they would consider doing for their dissertation and how they would go about constructing it. If I was asked that question I would be extremely perplexed because that’s something I haven’t even finalized thinking about yet and even the other grad students were confused as to why it was asked. In any case, at least be prepared for that.

That’s so odd, I’m not sure how I would react since it’s really not too hard to at least reply with something like “it was nice to meet you.” I’m assuming it’s been a while since you emailed them. Hopefully it didn’t damper your confidence.

I agree with @Waiting272, don’t get discouraged or second guess yourself! I know that one of my POIs had gotten sick and therefore took a couple days to respond. I’m sure everything will work out.

It’s so odd how some institutions wait until the last minute; as if that doesn’t invoke more anxiety than necessary in applicants. Or even institutions that just decide to ghost people... Even worse. Hopefully they get back to you soon!

So my PI that I RA for is basically the head professor of our psych department and told me to ask both the faculty and grad students. So obviously the faculty stated what I said in the first post. The grad students corroborated that they hadn't had any issues whatsoever with funding but you have to actively seek it out and it's very competitive. The only thing is that it's hard because even though that's the case now, you never know what it will be like in the future since you will be actively working within the program for multiple years to come and you never know when funding will suddenly disappear. So it's nice when you actually have a guarantee of funding rather than a nonchalant "well so far we've been fine" if that makes sense lol.

This is a good question. I was told by current grad students that if I was rejected from anywhere and wanted to know why, it is technically a warranted question to ask reasons as to why you were rejected in order to strengthen those areas in the future. However, it can obviously vary (and my answer didn't come from an actual PI or my lab supervisor) and hopefully others weigh in their opinions and experiences.

What is your opinion on schools that don't necessarily guarantee funding but state that every student thus far has been funded every year?

It all kind of starts hitting you right before you're supposed to leave. Before that everything seems normal and then bam you have your interview out of nowhere. You got this though!