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Fall 2019 Psychology PhD Applicants!


dancedementia

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On 1/19/2019 at 10:59 AM, PsychGal said:

To the University of Minnesota Clinical Child Psychology Track poster, do you know if all offers have been extended?

I applied to the child psych developmental science track, but I would imagine so. They sent out emails for alternates/waitlist and I saw one acceptance on the Results board. Historically they invited this past week so I would expect all offers have gone out. 

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Hey everyone! I need some advice. I have two interviews in the same week. For one interview, I said I would confirm my attendance later that week, and they said it was fine. I confirmed the day after, but I got no response. I need to book my flight soon since I'll be heading from one interview to the other, but I'm nervous my interview slot for this university will not be reserved because I didn't get a response after my confirmation. Should I follow up with a call or email? Or should I just book my flight and trust that my spot has been reserved since I did email my confirmation?

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15 minutes ago, paraent said:

I expect that practically all interview invites from the schools on my radar will be out within the coming two weeks. Moment of truth...

Oh, I guess the interviews have to go well, too. Haha...

Same here. Most of my schools have traditionally notified in the last week of January. I'm excited and terrified all at once.

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Ugh, I somehow ended up hearing that I was almost invited to interview for some top programs (through connections/PIs I'd been in touch with) and it's killing me. I'm not sure if I'm even going to be able to go to grad school at all since the programs I am invited to are iffy about funding..... meanwhile I'm hearing how close I was/getting waitlist type offers to places I'd love to go that would have completely livable guaranteed funding. 

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12 hours ago, round2_ said:

Ugh, I somehow ended up hearing that I was almost invited to interview for some top programs (through connections/PIs I'd been in touch with) and it's killing me. I'm not sure if I'm even going to be able to go to grad school at all since the programs I am invited to are iffy about funding..... meanwhile I'm hearing how close I was/getting waitlist type offers to places I'd love to go that would have completely livable guaranteed funding. 

I feel your pain :( I feel like a lot of us got unlucky with this round because of how competitive it is this year. I don't know if people say that every year, but it seems like a lot of people took time off to do do research for 2-3 years, so they have really impressive post-bac research assistantships, and P.I.'s are just having to make a call about how to invite, knowing full well many well qualified applicants won't make the cut. 

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1 hour ago, TrustingTheProcess said:

I feel your pain :( I feel like a lot of us got unlucky with this round because of how competitive it is this year. I don't know if people say that every year, but it seems like a lot of people took time off to do do research for 2-3 years, so they have really impressive post-bac research assistantships, and P.I.'s are just having to make a call about how to invite, knowing full well many well qualified applicants won't make the cut. 

Ha I actually am an RA already. It's frustrating because I already had a ton of experience as an undergrad, but only got 1 interview (at a top program) so I did another 1.5 years full time. I have publications, I have posters. I've beyond shown I can do the work. I just need someone to give me a shot -- but it's way easier to hire an engineer who took a few psych classes for fun or someone who has a huge list of prestigious awards/opportunities or the right connections.

Edited by round2_
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7 minutes ago, round2_ said:

Ha I actually am an RA already. It's frustrating because I already had a ton of experience as an undergrad, but only got 1 interview (at a top program) so I did another 1.5 years full time. I have publications, I have posters. I've beyond shown I can do the work. I just need someone to give me a shot -- but it's way easier to hire an engineer who took a few psych classes for fun or someone who has a huge list of prestigious awards/opportunities or the right connections.

Damn if this isn't a mood. The connections are everything in this game, and as someone who didn't do psych undergrad and also applied for schools out of state and in a different concentration area than my masters, I feel like I don't know ANYONE to vouch for me on a personal level. It sucks. I purposefully applied to more PsyD and less-research-based PhD programs so that my clinical experience could shine more on its own, but research connections are still so important.

Edited by dancedementia
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25 minutes ago, dancedementia said:

Damn if this isn't a mood. The connections are everything in this game, and as someone who didn't do psych undergrad and also applied for schools out of state and in a different concentration area than my masters, I feel like I don't know ANYONE to vouch for me on a personal level. It sucks. I purposefully applied to more PsyD and less-research-based PhD programs so that my clinical experience could shine more on its own, but research connections are still so important.

Unfortunately, social capital is what matters most in the real world — effort and perseverance come second. 

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I've got a question for folks that I'd appreciate some opinions on. I booked my flight to interview with a competitive program after doing a prelim phone interview a few weeks ago. Last week, I received an interview offer for another competitive program on the same day that I'll be traveling. I can't rebook my flight and they are only offering interviews on this one day (I already asked about an alternate date). I have the possibility of scheduling an interview late in the day, but I'll be staying with a graduate student from the first program. Do you think it would be inconsiderate to interview for another program while staying with someone from a different program? On the very first evening we meet, in particular?

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1 hour ago, JoePianist said:

Unfortunately, social capital is what matters most in the real world — effort and perseverance come second. 

I’m not going to say that social capital isn’t a huge help, but to keep those of us without it from feeling hopeless, I would just like to say that I have been invited to two interview weekends at two top programs that I have no connections to. I also am coming straight from undergrad. I think the main reason for this is my experience and most importantly research fit. I also had two strong letters of recommendation. And so far, the one school where my current mentor knew my POI has not come calling. So I really think that there is more to it than who you know. 

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30 minutes ago, hdclark said:

I've got a question for folks that I'd appreciate some opinions on. I booked my flight to interview with a competitive program after doing a prelim phone interview a few weeks ago. Last week, I received an interview offer for another competitive program on the same day that I'll be traveling. I can't rebook my flight and they are only offering interviews on this one day (I already asked about an alternate date). I have the possibility of scheduling an interview late in the day, but I'll be staying with a graduate student from the first program. Do you think it would be inconsiderate to interview for another program while staying with someone from a different program? On the very first evening we meet, in particular?

As a current grad student who has hosted people for interview weekends before, I wouldn't hold this against anyone. We know how difficult the application and interview process is and that sometimes shit like this happens. I think as long as you make it clear that you're obviously still interested in the place that you're physically at and are just keeping your options open, you should be fine. 

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3 hours ago, dancedementia said:

Damn if this isn't a mood. The connections are everything in this game, and as someone who didn't do psych undergrad and also applied for schools out of state and in a different concentration area than my masters, I feel like I don't know ANYONE to vouch for me on a personal level. It sucks. I purposefully applied to more PsyD and less-research-based PhD programs so that my clinical experience could shine more on its own, but research connections are still so important.

I can very much relate to this. Most of my experience and training has been in a related but different field (from psychology), and this was something that really made me question my ability and potential coming into the application process. But as I have received interview invites to my top programs (with no networking opportunities), I've realized that fit with the programs is definitely a huge thing (as I thought this was the biggest thing I had going for me). I was petrified going into my first interview a couple of weeks back. Once there and after meeting the faculty and discussing current research projects, I knew there was no way I would have felt comfortable talking about research topics I had no interest in and I think that's what helped me feel like I did well. Now I just hope they feel just as confident about me as I feel about myself ?

All of this to say that "our" idea of a perfect candidate is not always "their" idea of a perfect candidate and sometimes we just get really into our heads. Good luck!

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So, I got a “tease” email today from FSU, but they did say near the end that the reviewing process had begun. (I mean, quote me if I’m wrong but I do believe they only started school back this week—and on the app status page it says the deadline for freshmen notifications is 1/31) can anyone back this up? I haven’t seen anything posted on results page about FSU and am starting to worry. But the email today was optimistic, even if it was a generic material 

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16 minutes ago, psychclin said:

So, I got a “tease” email today from FSU, but they did say near the end that the reviewing process had begun. (I mean, quote me if I’m wrong but I do believe they only started school back this week—and on the app status page it says the deadline for freshmen notifications is 1/31) can anyone back this up? I haven’t seen anything posted on results page about FSU and am starting to worry. But the email today was optimistic, even if it was a generic material 

I got this same email and my heart fell into my stomach. I had honestly just given up on hearing back from anywhere else haha. 

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