quick1

That is a good point. Have to consider the difference in applications, ones that never make it through a cutoff or initial screening, incomplete apps, and of course those that seem to defy logic of grad admissions and gets offers. You're right, it is people reviewing the applications and thus there could be wide variations in which applications get the offers. Thank you for taking the time to calculate the math, I'd hope my chances are higher than 15% of getting into at least one as i'd hope not all 16 are considered top difficultly.

I've been telling people my chances are 33.3333% chance of getting in somewhere, getting in nowhere, and getting wait listed. I'm not sure where I pulled the number from, I just know somewhere it was stated that in Clinical Psych people had about a 1/3 chance of getting in somewhere. Or maybe it was 33.3333% chance of not even getting an interview. Either way it's probably bad math but sounds better than saying "it's harder to get into clinical psych than it is to get into med school" to family and friends although it's true. Part of this I think came from looking at number of spots, number of applicants, and number of schools. So 16 schools with an average of 7 spots per school is 112 spots (likely higher as one school takes like 22 a year). Average number of applicants per school is probably around 300 (one got 800 this year and another got maybe 80). The rough chance of getting a spot at a single school is 2.33% but that's at each school so multiply that by 16 and you get 37.7%. Keeping it conservative bring it down a few points. Math isn't my strong suit haha. Correct me if I'm wrong but I applied to 16 schools and was rejected by 3 so far so that leaves me with 2,197 possible outcomes excluding interviews?

About half of the schools I applied to had deadlines of Jan 15th for application, so for most of those schools I don't expect to hear anything until end of February at the earliest possibly March. I just started hearing back from 3 of the dec 1st to 15th application deadline schools last week (rejections so far) so for me at least I expect to wait weeks if not at least another month before hearing from most schools.

Thanks! I'm from South Jersey originally but got my B.S. and M.A. in Philly. I'm applied to like 15 schools, I wanted to get a good spread and selection. Unfortunately already got 3 rejections and I think at least 2 more are implied rejections due to timelines. A bunch had application deadlines in January so I figure there is still a bunch of time left. Already have a few other schools I'd want to apply to if this round proves unsuccessful. Adelphi Bowling Green State Clark University - Rejected Duquesne University Long Island University Penn State U of Penn University of Rochester - Rejected St. Johns University SUNY Stony Brook Boston College Ball State Lehigh University University of Maryland - Rejected Seton Hall Temple University

...no pun intended. I really like this school and the work they do. But lately their emails have been a roller coaster of excitement, followed by fear, followed by a sigh of relief tinged with anxiety. Who else applied to Ball State Psych and is waiting? They sent me an email in January saying I met the Grad School's min. admission requirements (I take that as, hey you made it through the initial cut off, you're somewhat smart!) and my application would go to the Psych dept admissions for review. Then yesterday I got an email from their psych admissions and my heart skipped a beat. It was just them letting me know that they are still reviewing applications and lots of competitive applicants, hope we're all doing well and said we'd know if we got an interview by 2/13 with interviews on 3/2. (Now my hopes are higher because I feel like maybe those of us getting these emails made it through some hoops and are so close to interviews we can almost see ourselves suited up and there). I know some schools send out flat rejections first then interviews. I know other schools work on interviews then do rejection notices (my guess is they want to keep some extras lying around in case interviews dont work out), and I know some do them all at once and then add wait lists. Ball State so far is the only school that's kept me in the loop on the process which makes a possible outright rejection even more disappointing if I don't at least interview there.

IMO it is like a job interview. Regardless of the actual work you'll be doing most applicants show up in at least a shirt and tie and nice pants if not a suit. Just because you might not be wearing that outfit on a daily basis if you get the job, I think it shows professionalism and shows you are putting effort into what you are doing. If I get any interviews I'll strongly consider wearing one of my suits. Although for my M.A. interview, and Masters internship I didn't wear a suit as I didn't have any but wore a nice shirt, dress pants, and a tie. (For the internship I work shirt, tie, khakis.)

I totally agree. I always get a 5 or higher on writing, and I'm always 87% or above percentile ranking on Verbal. Quant. not so much and it frustrates me to no end that so many Psych programs put so much emphasis on math ability. Haven't they realized that programs like SPSS do the math, if they want quality research assistants they should test them on the relevant stuff. It's frustrating to see near perfect Quant. scores and people getting into programs because of their math scoring and they almost always have lower than average verbal and writing scores when schools show mean and median scores. What gives? Good GRE math scores are not the only predictor of PhD success...if they were than 60% of PhD students wouldn't be failing to get their degree and remain in ABD status...hmmm I wonder if writing and verbal has anything to do with that critical part of education?

Make sure your guides and study materials reflect the latest GRE as there were major changes. Note too that ETS will show the "range" usually of what your new score looks like on the old score scale. That said, I took the new GREs and technically did better on all sections but I talked to others who took the new GREs and there are grumblings that ETS's scaling and percentage ranking system for the sections is messed up as it's still new.

If I learned anything it's that it is never over til its over. My first time applying when I had no business doing so landed me an M.A./M.S. acceptance that I didn't even plan for and it was well after most of the other schools outright rejected me. This time around I'm still wary of acceptance, I think I may get shut out again but its way too early to even consider that. So far I have 3 official rejections and 2 likely unofficial rejections. No interviews, no acceptances. But I applied to a large number of programs and some had deadlines 2 weeks ago so I know there is still plenty of time.

I've been lurking on this forum for a month or two (I wish I had known this existed when I was filling out applications!) and figured I'd join up and join in a bit. A little about me: I'm currently waiting to hear back from schools for a PhD in either Counseling Psych or Clinical Psych. I have a B.S. in a totally unrelated science field and a recently obtained M.A. in Clinical and Counseling Psych. I see some clients currently and just began getting intake experience. I spent close to 2 years working on a qualitative research study, totally voluntary thesis because you know they're fun!, with a focus on those of us in the field, our experiences as they impact our relationships, and basically hoping to contribute to research on clinician self care , interpersonal relationships, and work life balance. This is "technically" my 2nd time applying to PhD programs but my first time I had no clue what I was doing and really had no business applying when I did. Fortunately that first try got me into an M.A./M.S. program and really helped me develop and find my focus. I'm a late 20s guy and outside of school I like writing, biking, music making and listening, and just trying not to lose my mind while I figure out where I'll end up next. And naturally I enjoy caffeine.