RyanS

This sounds unacceptable to me. Does your university have an ombudsman, or is there a mentor that you trust?

There's no way to tell because it depends on how everyone else interviewed at that program. How will worrying be useful? ?

I'm very sorry to hear this and I'm glad you're reaching out for help. Rejection is never fun. I have a short story that might be useful. When I was in grad school I was working at a lock down facility for juveniles. At one point, three of the clients that I had "successfully discharged" had reoffended and were back at the placement. I felt like a total failure as a therapist and questioned why I was even dedicating my life to this. When I was talking to my supervisor about it, he reminded me that our identity is largely made up of the what we spend our time doing. In grad school, I was living, eating, and sleeping psychology daily from 8a-8p. Therefore, my identity was about 95% psychology. If there is any threat to something I was doing related to psychology, it felt like a threat to my entire identity, even though I am much more than just psychology. That's why I was feeling like such an abject failure. Our identities also tell us something about what we value. Even though you've written very little in your OP, it's clear that your area of study is very important to you. We only hurt for things we care about. The fact that you've been rejected in one "slice" of your life is not evidence of your total value; it just feels that way because the issue is so close to your heart. Rejection is part of the game, just ask anyone that you think is "successful." The real question is whether or not you are WILLING to experience rejection and keep moving forward anyways because that's what's important to you.

What was the national accrediting body?

Letters of recommendation are also used to evaluate professionalism, not just attest to your ability to research or likelihood of succeeding in the program. While your managers are able to speak to that, it is still better to get an academic recommendation.

I agree. I'm not sure what's "disastrous" about this issue.

That's interesting. I was waiting to see if others also had this experience. We were always told not to ask this, but I'm not sure why. My assumption is that it's just to figure out who their competitors are. I don't think they are using it to judge your application. If I got an application with that question and it said "no," I would just assume it meant the student doesn't want to say.

While the topics of your study are outside of my area, I will say that it's not uncommon for grad applicants to change focus from undergrad to grad. With this in mind, it would make sense that one's referees might be from different areas. We look at applications and try to judge interest and aptitude and look for how the student's aims line up with the program's goals and objectives. LORs can be one metric of this, but we also look at them for evidence of professionalism. Does it show the effort you put into your studies? Did the prof enjoy working with you? Were you timely with assignments and follow through? Did you go above and beyond? These are important data points. IMO, I don't think it's as big of a hole as it might seem.

Have you checked to see if some of the student clubs are still meeting, either in person distanced or online? You can (should, really) also get involved in special projects or functions, like student governance or task forces (e.g., we have a group on campus called Committee for Equity and Justice that involves students in planning events or protesting). Just some ideas, but you may meet others while also getting good fodder for your vita.

Haha, I'm such a nerd. I've seen this topic on the forum for months and thought it was for sharing interesting vocabulary words. Block Party

Also, honors grants and scholarships usually goes under education.

We have students come to our program from different backgrounds somewhat regularly. It's a small percentage of applicants, and in some cases they make a good case for why they want to move to the new field and show that they have the aptitude for it. It's not a barrier in and of itself, and in some cases the different background adds good diversity to our cohorts.

Could mean anything. Nothing to do but wait and see.

PM me and I'd be happy to take a look at it.

I don't think so. It seems like such an outlier I can't imagine it would matter. To be honest, there are many areas of your application that will get more attention than your transcripts.