LadyL

Research skills are your friend, especially when applying Ph.D. programs . There is plenty of information on the NSF GRFP at their website: http://www.nsfgrfp.org/ The NSF GRFP is for basic science research, not clinical. Ranking schools by stipend makes little sense, since your match with the department will determine where you might actually get in. If money is that big a concern grad school probably isn't the best option for you. It's true that some schools have prohibitively terrible aid, but as long as a stipend is liveable there are many other more important factors to consider in your search, in my opinion. The last question made me laugh, because the only way to guarantee completion in five years is for you to work hard and be a bit lucky (as many life events or logistical issues can delay graduation). It is not the job of graduate departments to hold your hand through this process or guarentee steady progress - that is entirely up to you. Some schools put limits on how long you can be in a program (usually 7-10 years) but I don't know of any that guarantee any sort of timeline for graduation. It's not realistic nor is it their job to do so.

If you are coming in with your own funding and have acceptable stats I don't see why they wouldn't take you. However, there may be other logistical issues at play - like there isn't an adviser in your specific area who is able to take a student, or they need to limit their cohort for other reasons like wanting diversity of interests. I do wonder though how admissions decisions are made for people coming in funded. You'd think that on an administrative level as long as they were a strong student the school would be happy to take money instead of giving it out!

I assumed I was rejected before I even applied . Because it's MIT. But yeah, the email confirmation I got suggested that unless you got an interview in February you were rejected. I'd love to see the stats of those they accepted though.

Last round I made it onto 2 wait lists but didn't get in. This time I applied to a more select group of schools...and one of the schools that wait listed me last time, did so again! I also got rejected from a school that rejected me last time, except that now I'm working for 2 faculty members at that school, doing the same type of work that their grad students and post docs do. And not even an interview. I am not as bitter as I sound, really . I'm mostly impressed by how ridiculous and random this process is.

My understanding is that if the school is part of the Council of Graduate Schools (http://www.cgsnet.org/Default.aspx?tabid=102) then they require that students make decisions on funded offers by April 15. This applies to people already offered funded admissions. People who are accepted without funding or wait listed are not bound to the same time line. In my situation, if enough offers get declined by April 15th, I could get in with departmental funding. However if that doesn't happen but they decide to admit more students based on grant funding coming in, grant decisions are made in May, so I expect to hear as late as May or June potentially.

Any wait listed people have any updates? I emailed the grad coordinator yesterday and asked about whether the list is ranked, how many students they hope to take off the list, if more students will be admitted based on grants getting funded, and if I can do anything to improve my chances. No reply yet.

I'm so sorry to hear that. If nothing else this further convinces me that you can be OVER qualified, and still not get in! This process is truly ridiculous.

I got my first formal rejection this afternoon. 30 min. later I left to go work at that university. My lab is affiliated with them and uses their facilities so I spent 1/3-1/2 my week there. I do the exact same work as some of the grad students in the program I applied to. It didn't occur to me how painful and ironic it would be to be in this situation. Anyone else in the same boat?

even as i sleep grad admissions fill my dreams not a restful night bless my advisor "I am sure that you'll get in" false hopes being crushed my top choice grad school advisor is a prof. there still no interview waitlisted AGAIN how can they do this to me STILL not good enough

0. name: colleen 1. number of years you've applied: 2 2. number of schools applied to: 5 3. number of rejections so far: 0 official, 2 unofficial 4. what do you think went wrong? Applied to only highly competitive schools, don't have any publications (just posters), trusted my letter writers faith in me too much 5. will you apply next year? Probably, though the possibility of going through this a third time is terribly depressing. 6. if yes, how will you improve your app? if no, why not? I will try to get on some papers and cast a wider net in where I apply. 7. what will you do in your off year/the rest of your life? Hopefully my lab will find funding to keep me on another year. Otherwise hopefully find an equivalent job. Maybe sell my soul to big pharma if academia rejects me again.

I just wanted to thank everyone who contributed to this thread. I am currently wait listed at the same school that wait listed me two years ago, and I've been debating whether or not to email the grad coordinator and the professor I interviewed with. However, I feel better about doing so knowing that some people do get good information this way. I may wait a little longer just in case the news isn't good, so I can have a few more weeks of hope though!

If they were rejecting you, you'd have been rejected. Funding is a huge issue in many departments and many turn away qualified students as a result; others offer unfunded admission. It means you made the cut but got screwed on the logistical end. It was suggested to me that if I got an unfunded acceptance that I swallow the debt for the first year while applying for every grant imaginable and badgering the department about a TA or RAship. Apparently some students can get funded internally after the 1st year, and then there's stuff like NSF grants as well.

When my top choice started sending out interview invites and I didn't get one, I had to take a day off of work to get myself together. Thankfully I got over it and now feel oddly detached from the whole process. I'm in waitlist limbo but I am almost reassured that I was considered somewhere, and that I'm not rejected anywhere, and at least I still have a job in this economy.

Oh believe me I am well aware with the level of obsession this process engenders . Online status has not been updated to show me as waitlisted and didn't last time either, so I don't know how reliable that function is (maybe it only applies to rejections/acceptances?) The rejected applicant is a coworker I ran into in the hallway and when I mentioned my interview with Tufts she said she had already been rejected. I didn't press for any other info. She was applying for something neuropsych/neuroimaging related - not sure what profs. or what particular specialty - but I know she didn't have a ton of neuropsych experience.

I've considered both theories as well. I do know at least one person who was already rejected from Tufts so it seems at least one round of rejections went out. But I wonder if they sent out acceptances, and if so how many. If it was a small number as it usually is there's a good chance those people are just not on this board.

Hi everyone. I found out today that I am waitlisted at a program I interviewed for. The professor I interviewed with told me on 2/10 that her 5 year, very large research grant had been scored favorably on 2/7 and that her ability to take a student would be contingent on funding. The wait list email indicates that the program hopes to take more students off the wait list but this is dependent upon availability of funding. So putting 2 and 2 together, my chances at admission seem to be tied in to the status of her grant. Does anyone know the usual time line between when a grant is scored and when a funding decision is made? I would ask my boss, who's been through the process many times, but he is out sick with pneumonia and I'd rather not bother him if I can avoid it. The NIH website seems to indicate that a decision will be made within a month or two: http://www.grants.nih.gov/grants/grants_process.htm Does that sound about right?

Sorry for forgetting to follow up on this thread - yes, I absolutely meant people who decided to apply last minute and have applications that reflect that. Like everyone else I polished my applications down to the last few hours, no offense meant .

I had to take a day off work due to anxiety when interview invites went out for my top choice and I didn't get one. I've woken up in cold sweats multiple times worrying about grad school. It's definitely affected my sleep. For the first time this year I contemplated anti anxiety meds, which I've always avoided. But I have things reasonably under control now.

Hey everyone - just got an email from Tufts - I'm waitlisted AGAIN! I compared the waitlist email from 07 to the one today, and the recent one is definitely more positive - they specified that they hope to take more students off the waitlist and that it's dependent on funding. Assuming the POI who interviewed me is the one who's interested, I know she has a grant in review that was scored favorably, so maybe if that comes through that will fund an RAship for me. But I have no idea if it's her or the other POI who's interested, and am wondering if I should ask.

A coworker of mine used to review graduate applications and he said this is normally the case - that up to 50% of apps. are total crap, and that if there are a lot of last minute applicants, their apps. will likely be weak as well.

So, being the data driven person I am, I have some numbers for this week to present to you . Since 2/6: 34 Rejections 5 Acceptances 21 Interviews 5 Wait lists These results were generated by searching the results page for "psychology" and recording the first 3 pages worth of results. So, what I infer from this is that most programs have made or are actively making their initial round of cuts. I haven't gotten any rejections yet, so phew! The next step seems to be interview invites. I'm really hoping this process will continue through next week and even the week after,because I haven't had any formal interview invites. It seems like acceptances have been extended to the first tier applicants at some places. I don't flatter myself to think I'd be one of them since I applied to very competitive schools. Wait list notifications seem really early to me - don't those usually go out last? But maybe programs who have a very limited number of slots to offer are trying to see who will accept and who will decline earlier on, and therefore have a wait list already as backup. Now obviously every program is different but it helps me to have a general sense of the process, and to know that there may still be hope. What are everyone else's thoughts right now?

I think I would give up a minor body part, like a tooth (a molar wouldn't be a big deal) or a toe. Can you tell this is my second time applying and I'm getting panicky?

I'm really hoping this is the case for my top choice. They started sending interview invites this week but I haven't gotten one . However, those invites were sent directly from POIs, not as a mass email, so I'm hoping that my POIs are just still making decisions. This was the first week where the stress really got out of control. I've been fighting to control my anxiety for several days now. The possibility of not getting in again (this is my second round applying) really makes me sick.

She asked about my work style, my research experience, what made me interested in the program, conflicts I've dealt with in the workplace...mostly standard job interview stuff. She didn't say anything about time lines at all. When I was wait listed last time around I found out in early March.

I applied for "experimental clinical psychology" with Drs. Shin and Kuperberg. Spoke with Dr. Shin today. As always I feel like a moron after phone interviews. But she was nice and complimentary in a noncommittal about acceptance kind of way . Of course I am worried that I didn't give the "right" answers, but I was honest, if somewhat disorganized in my thoughts at times. Who knows. At least it's over with.