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Fall 2019 Psychology PhD Applicants!


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On 1/9/2019 at 9:41 PM, itsannat said:

I applied to nine schools and have only heard back from one.. starting to get very nervous. Anyone else in the same boat? The one response was an interview invitation but still very nervous. 

I'm right there with you and one of my program's deadline is today 

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13 minutes ago, honeyrue said:

For UMass Boston's clinical psychology program, their email blast stated that invited interviewees will receive a phone call or an email "after January 15th". They were delayed this year due to a new applicant interface that caused issued with uploading documents/submitting recommendation letter links.

Yes! Opps I am so sorry I meant Jan 15th

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20 hours ago, PsychGal said:

Has anyone heard from Notre Dame for Clinical Psych PhD? I know one person posted and mentioned they were doing only Skype interviews this year. Does anyone else have more info?

I'm also waiting to hear. I emailed the coordinator and was told that all first round offers will be completed by February 1st. I didn't know they were only doing Skype interviews, but there's still two weeks to hear something! Fingers crossed!!

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2 hours ago, honeyrue said:

For UMass Boston's clinical psychology program, their email blast stated that invited interviewees will receive a phone call or an email "after January 15th". They were delayed this year due to a new applicant interface that caused issued with uploading documents/submitting recommendation letter links.

I never received the mass email, is this worrisome?

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4 minutes ago, HowDoesThatMakeYouFeel said:

I never received the mass email, is this worrisome?

I'm not sure... Did you apply for the clinical track? Could the email have possibly been sent to your spam or junk folder? The email was from the assistant director of the clinical program, sent on December 1st. She also sent a follow-up mass email on December 11th to assure applicants that the committee had not started reviewing applications still at that point in time, but that every single application would be reviewed.

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43 minutes ago, honeyrue said:

I'm not sure... Did you apply for the clinical track? Could the email have possibly been sent to your spam or junk folder? The email was from the assistant director of the clinical program, sent on December 1st. She also sent a follow-up mass email on December 11th to assure applicants that the committee had not started reviewing applications still at that point in time, but that every single application would be reviewed.

Weird I got the follow up email on the 11th, I assumed the email about notifications being sent out was after that one. Might be because they had to update my application to show i had all the materials on the 3rd so my email wasn’t in a list to pull for the initial notification 

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So, I am asking for a friend (no, really I am, Im not being cliched-lol) if they heard back from SUNY-Buffalo, school psychology, and asked for interview, except asked to interview with two mentors she never even mentioned in her personal statement or on her application, does this automatically mean she wont be eligible for mentorship under her preferred POI or does it not really matter who she interviews with? any information from you guys would be very helpful for us!!! 

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34 minutes ago, psycash said:

So, I am asking for a friend (no, really I am, Im not being cliched-lol) if they heard back from SUNY-Buffalo, school psychology, and asked for interview, except asked to interview with two mentors she never even mentioned in her personal statement or on her application, does this automatically mean she wont be eligible for mentorship under her preferred POI or does it not really matter who she interviews with? any information from you guys would be very helpful for us!!! 

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. 

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15 minutes ago, PsychApplicantFall2019 said:

How much does everyone plan on reading before the interviews? I kind of feel that the ideal would be to have read every paper/book written within my area of interest. Obviously, that is not the expectation! So, how much is the "good enough" to sound knowledgable about the PI's work and the field? 

I just got back from my first interview and my advice is to learn as much as you can about your PI's work. Get a feel of their publication history by reading abstracts going back in their career and read a few of their papers (3-5) related to their current work. This is not a research project and no one will grill you on their current research - in fact, I found that my PI and the lab members were very excited to tell me about their work and having questions about the work that they were doing was not frowned upon. Be honest when you are not familiar with a topic they are speaking about - most are totally happy to explain it to you or point you to resources to learn more - but acting like you know will make you look phony.

Basically, know what you are interested in and want to talk about beforehand through your research, but be ready to learn a lot. Some of the research you will learn about is likely unpublished or starting up in the future and you won't know about it until you get there. Soak it all in, try to imagine how you could see yourself participating, and get excited about discussing it with top-notch researchers - they will definitely notice your enthusiasm.

At the end of the day, the faculty only bring in people for interview that they believe can do the work. The interview is to evaluate how well you will fit in with everyone there. So, don't worry about knowing everything heading in - this will come with time - and just try to learn as much as you can and be enthusiastic about the possibility of working in lab that is doing key research in your topic of interest!

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24 minutes ago, PsychApplicantFall2019 said:

How much does everyone plan on reading before the interviews? I kind of feel that the ideal would be to have read every paper/book written within my area of interest. Obviously, that is not the expectation! So, how much is the "good enough" to sound knowledgable about the PI's work and the field? 

Read the last few things they've published in recent years and if there is some sort of seminal work that they are famous for, read that. Maybe skim their CV and see how their research area has evolved over the years. Also, be aware of recent projects. Look at their lab website, search online, and as someone else suggested, search NIH to see if they have any recent grants. 

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23 minutes ago, PsychApplicantFall2019 said:

How much does everyone plan on reading before the interviews? I kind of feel that the ideal would be to have read every paper/book written within my area of interest. Obviously, that is not the expectation! So, how much is the "good enough" to sound knowledgable about the PI's work and the field? 

I would say read enough so you are knowledgeable on the topic and promenant thinkers within your area of interest. Make sure to read critically and actively to engage yourself with some ideas or questions you might have about the literature. I think it is more important to have critically read fewer papers than to have quickly gone over a large number of papers. From the interview I had, the professor seemed more interested in what I thought about the field and what type of research questions I’d like to explore. Hope this helps. ? 

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Has anyone heard anything from these schools/programs:

--Washington University in St. Louis (Clinical)

--Duke (Clinical)

--University of Texas at Austin (Cognitive)

--Tufts (Cognitive)

--Rice (Cognitive) 

Thanks! And good luck everyone! 

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3 minutes ago, kwilson28 said:

Has anyone heard anything from these schools/programs:

--Washington University in St. Louis (Clinical)

--Duke (Clinical)

--University of Texas at Austin (Cognitive)

--Tufts (Cognitive)

--Rice (Cognitive) 

Thanks! And good luck everyone! 

I heard a bunch of applicants were waiting to hear from WUSTL. No one has heard anything yet.

Don't know about the rest.

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Does anyone know if there is hope getting accepted off of the waitlist? I had a phone interview with Wayne State (IO) and my POI said I was on the “short list”? I’m not even sure what the means exactly. I assume that means waitlist but does anyone know the difference between the two? ?

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Just now, londonbnd said:

Does anyone know if there is hope getting accepted off of the waitlist? I had a phone interview with Wayne State (IO) and my POI said I was on the “short list”? I’m not even sure what the means exactly. I assume that means waitlist but does anyone know the difference between the two? ?

The "short list" is the list of folks that they are considering bringing in for an interview and/or admitting (I'm not sure how I/O does interviewing). Basically, you're under consideration :) This is good!

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Hey all. New here but I've seen posts scattered about requesting updates from some of the programs I've received interview invites to. Feel free to pm me for more details. (I hope this ameliorates worry rather than contributes to it)

 

Pitt / joint clinical-health - call from PI inviting to interview weekend Feb 15/16

Duke  / clinical - email from admin team and grad student for interview Feb 8/9

Rutgers / clinical - email then phone interview, followed by formal invite for interview weekend Feb 1/2

SDSU/ucsd JDP / clinical / behave med concentration - phone call from POI inviting to interview Feb 11/12

 

note that in most these cases the poi mentioned that most faculty had not made decisions or even deliberated. SDSU/UCSD mentioned that other concentrations haven't even started to meet. None of these invites were mass. Still hope!

 

 

 

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Desperate for advice! 

 

I have gotten an interview at one of my top schools. The PI called me to let me know they wanted me to come down for an interview and provided me with two options for interview weekends which I feel is rare (usually it is just one). I said I preferred the earlier date - I'll call it option 1, and she said that one is getting crowded so she will have to check. I chose that date because another top school of mine has interview days on the later date (option 2). Although I have not gotten an interview from this other school yet, I have heard that they have not yet sent out invites and there is still a chance I could hear from them and so I thought it would be best to avoid a potential conflict. The PI got back to me a day later and asked if there was any way I could come to the second option, and if not she understood, they are just trying to accommodate everyone. Feeling like she was still giving me an option, I replied and told her I was so sorry but I still had the conflict on my calendar and would greatly appreciate it if she could squeeze me in to the earlier date. She got back to me today and told me she is getting a lot of push back from the committee and if my conflict was firm, and to be honest either way.

 

I've gotten different feedback and am unsure what is best.

1)Be firm and tell her I can only do option 1

2) reach out to my other top choice and see my status on my application, maybe that will give me insight 

3)just give in to this first school and do the option 2 since this is a school I have heard back from and as of right now I have the greatest chance of getting in here compared to the other school I have not heard back from

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1 hour ago, flattery_245 said:

Desperate for advice! 

 

I have gotten an interview at one of my top schools. The PI called me to let me know they wanted me to come down for an interview and provided me with two options for interview weekends which I feel is rare (usually it is just one). I said I preferred the earlier date - I'll call it option 1, and she said that one is getting crowded so she will have to check. I chose that date because another top school of mine has interview days on the later date (option 2). Although I have not gotten an interview from this other school yet, I have heard that they have not yet sent out invites and there is still a chance I could hear from them and so I thought it would be best to avoid a potential conflict. The PI got back to me a day later and asked if there was any way I could come to the second option, and if not she understood, they are just trying to accommodate everyone. Feeling like she was still giving me an option, I replied and told her I was so sorry but I still had the conflict on my calendar and would greatly appreciate it if she could squeeze me in to the earlier date. She got back to me today and told me she is getting a lot of push back from the committee and if my conflict was firm, and to be honest either way.

 

I've gotten different feedback and am unsure what is best.

1)Be firm and tell her I can only do option 1

2) reach out to my other top choice and see my status on my application, maybe that will give me insight 

3)just give in to this first school and do the option 2 since this is a school I have heard back from and as of right now I have the greatest chance of getting in here compared to the other school I have not heard back from

It would be great to reached out to the other school to check your application- maybe even call to see if you can get an answer ASAP. However, I would absolutely prioritize the interview school. 

Edited by ihatedis
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