Fall 2019 Psychology PhD Applicants!

[shockwave457]

4 minutes ago, DevelopingThoughts said:

So I was anxious and decided to do a mass email to be POIs I reached out to over the summer/early fall about my status, here are my mix of results 

Stanford: “We should be done reviewing by mid-January”

NYU: “We are in the middle of reviewing applicants, youll have an update ‘soon’ “

Minnesota: “The applications have filtered our way to us faculty, I will be reviewing them soon. best of luck!” (Glad to know I made the filter haha)

Yale: “Thanks for the update! You’ll hear from me soon”

Michigan: “Expect to hear from me by the end of the week” 

UCSD: “Don’t worry, the other UCs are much faster than us (I referenced how other UCs are sending invites already)”

 

For Michigan did you email a specific POI or the program in general?

[DevelopingThoughts]

4 minutes ago, davidfreire20 said:

For Michigan did you email a specific POI or the program in general?

Everyone I emailed were professors. I suppose I was lucky that all the POIs I emailed over the summer responded fairly quickly to me 

[petitebiscuit]

Just now, DevelopingThoughts said:

Everyone I emailed were professors. I suppose I was lucky that all the POIs I emailed over the summer responded fairly quickly to me 

Alright go ahead and post your template so we can do the same ?

[shockwave457]

2 minutes ago, DevelopingThoughts said:

Everyone I emailed were professors. I suppose I was lucky that all the POIs I emailed over the summer responded fairly quickly to me 

If you don't mind could you DM me your POI? It's okay if you don't want to

[xxxxxxxxxx]

3 minutes ago, petitebiscuit said:

Alright go ahead and post your template so we can do the same ?

I def. will sit this one OUT LOL... I wouldn't want to rub any professors the wrong way. To me sending an e-mail at this point looks pushy/impatient and inappropriate. Trusting the process over here  

[DevelopingThoughts]

10 minutes ago, checkingmyemail said:

I def. will sit this one OUT LOL... I wouldn't want to rub any professors the wrong way. To me sending an e-mail at this point looks pushy/impatient and inappropriate. Trusting the process over here  

To be fair I didn’t just send a “please let me know” email it was more of a “here are some updates to my application since I turned it in” email 

[PsychApplicantFall2019]

26 minutes ago, DevelopingThoughts said:

UCSD: “Don’t worry, the other UCs are much faster than us (I referenced how other UCs are sending invites already)”

 

I had a Skype call with a UCSD faculty earlier today, and she told me that the faculty are able to make recommendations to the admissions committee, but the admissions committee  makes the ultimate decision. They will not meet to make the decision of who to invite for interviews until January. Then the interview weekend is the last weekend in January. 

[clinicalpsych243050]

Hi everyone,

So i’m a little bit scared about my applications and getting into a clinical program. I think my research experience and GPA are good but I did absolutely horrible on the GRE..like below average horrible. I took it four times and only improved my score the second time and did worse the last two times. i’m just a horrible standardized test taker, I always have been but now I think it’s really going to limit me. I took a kaplan course and magoosh but neither really helped me. Does anyone know someone who experienced this and has actually gotten into a clinical phd program? Or have any advice for what I should do? This is my first time applying btw and honestly don’t know what i’ll do if I don’t get in, I may just not apply again lol

[humanisticPOV]

7 minutes ago, clinicalpsych243050 said:

Hi everyone,

So i’m a little bit scared about my applications and getting into a clinical program. I think my research experience and GPA are good but I did absolutely horrible on the GRE..like below average horrible. I took it four times and only improved my score the second time and did worse the last two times. i’m just a horrible standardized test taker, I always have been but now I think it’s really going to limit me. I took a kaplan course and magoosh but neither really helped me. Does anyone know someone who experienced this and has actually gotten into a clinical phd program? Or have any advice for what I should do? This is my first time applying btw and honestly don’t know what i’ll do if I don’t get in, I may just not apply again lol

Most programs consider applicants on a holistic basis; if you have low GRE scores but make up for it in another area (i.e. LOTS of research experience, great recommendations, etc.) you may still have a chance at getting in. This is my third application cycle and I've retaken the GRE each year, scored higher, and then still haven't gotten in (on top of having high undergrad and masters GPAs, good recs, and 3 years experience in an experimental psychology lab). Seems to really be a case by case basis! Don't give up hope, it takes most people multiple application cycles to get an offer.  

[Jung&Psyched]

7 hours ago, aaustin said:

Question - 

Did your status update from "Application Complete - Ready to be Reviewed" to something else prior to getting an interview invite? I'm trying to figure out if they just haven't looked at mine yet or if I wasn't selected for an interview.

Nope! I just checked and my application still says "ready to be reviewed" ?.  So I guess the status on their application portal doesn't mean anything!

[AnxiousOverApps]

Did anyone else get an automatic(?) email from Wisconsin Milwaukee saying their application status had changed? I got it a couple of hours ago but when I log onto the portal I can't see what's changed and now, of course, I'm incredibly anxious that my POI has already rejected me or something is wrong with the app.

[ResilientDreams]

Okay. I reformatted the personal statement for my last application that's due in January. Now all I have to do is write a paragraph about why I'm a good fit for the POI.

*brain goes to sleep*

[AlexandraF]

Did anyone apply to SUNY Buffalo clinical phd?

[light1996]

12 hours ago, DevSci said:

UPDATE: I just got a call from UCI -- they explained the situation and invited me to the interview on Jan 13-14. Never mind! Thank you for your thoughts, @buckeyepsych!

Hi! Just curious is the dev psychology program under The School of Social Ecology at UCI?

Edited December 13, 2018 by light1996

[light1996]

12 hours ago, olddognewtricks said:

Just over here quietly freaking out about you awesome peeps and your UCI interviews... (stares at phone, checks email). UCI is one of my top two choices (stares at phone and checks email again 'cos at least 3 seconds have passed)...

Did you hear of anyone else getting UCI interviews because I haven't seen anyone else so far?

[DevSci]

8 hours ago, light1996 said:

Hi! Just curious is the dev psychology program under The School of Social Ecology at UCI?

Yes, it is!

[olddognewtricks]

8 hours ago, light1996 said:

Did you hear of anyone else getting UCI interviews because I haven't seen anyone else so far?

Several on the results page...

[TrustedTheProcess]

16 hours ago, clinicalpsych243050 said:

Hi everyone,

So i’m a little bit scared about my applications and getting into a clinical program. I think my research experience and GPA are good but I did absolutely horrible on the GRE..like below average horrible. I took it four times and only improved my score the second time and did worse the last two times. i’m just a horrible standardized test taker, I always have been but now I think it’s really going to limit me. I took a kaplan course and magoosh but neither really helped me. Does anyone know someone who experienced this and has actually gotten into a clinical phd program? Or have any advice for what I should do? This is my first time applying btw and honestly don’t know what i’ll do if I don’t get in, I may just not apply again lol

The P.I. I work for is pretty strict about certain cutoffs for the GRE, but once you're past that I don't think it matters as much. Research experiences definitely trump GRE scores though, as long as you get past the initial cutoff. I do know that our lab has come down to two equally qualified candidates for admission and ultimately the GRE score was the only deciding factor. That's probably not very common though, but I think with competitive programs like PhDs you just have to try and make your application as well-rounded as possible.

[ResilientDreams]

15 minutes ago, TrustingTheProcess said:

The P.I. I work for is pretty strict about certain cutoffs for the GRE, but once you're past that I don't think it matters as much. Research experiences definitely trump GRE scores though, as long as you get past the initial cutoff. I do know that our lab has come down to two equally qualified candidates for admission and ultimately the GRE score was the only deciding factor. That's probably not very common though, but I think with competitive programs like PhDs you just have to try and make your application as well-rounded as possible.

What are these cutoffs, if you don't mind sharing?

[humanisticPOV]

15 minutes ago, ResilientDreams said:

What are these cutoffs, if you don't mind sharing?

Many schools require a combined score of at least 300 (new scoring procedure) to be considered but there are also schools that specifically say there is no required cutoff. Check with the specific program!

[gottogetthatphd]

On 12/11/2018 at 4:13 PM, stinger said:

Apparently someone has received an interview invite for the clinical psych program today. Not sure if I should start being bummed out or not already...

Did you ever receive any other notifications? I saw that people had either received interview invites or notifications that you have not received interviews? I feel like i am a bit of a sitting duck and am not sure if i should be reaching out to the admissions office 

[stinger]

17 minutes ago, gottogetthatphd said:

Did you ever receive any other notifications? I saw that people had either received interview invites or notifications that you have not received interviews? I feel like i am a bit of a sitting duck and am not sure if i should be reaching out to the admissions office 

Yeah, for UGA they sent an email the next day after they sent out interview invites letting applicants know that they would not be receiving an interview and to expect a formal rejection in the coming months or so. I do not think it will be like that for most schools, however.

[TrustedTheProcess]

26 minutes ago, mwood126 said:

Many schools require a combined score of at least 300 (new scoring procedure) to be considered but there are also schools that specifically say there is no required cutoff. Check with the specific program!

Agreed! I think it depends on the specific program. A combined score of 300 is around the 50th percentile, so I would say that's pretty competitive. I have heard my P.I. comment that people "should not bother applying" if they are in the 20th percentile or below in either category ?

[Clinapp2017]

7 minutes ago, TrustingTheProcess said:

Agreed! I think it depends on the specific program. A combined score of 300 is around the 50th percentile, so I would say that's pretty competitive. I have heard my P.I. comment that people "should not bother applying" if they are in the 20th percentile or below in either category ?

The 50th percentile isn't competitive; it's like the minimum cutoff. If you look at good clinical PhD programs and their admissions stats, you will usually see mean percentiles for the admitted class of students hovering in the 75-85th percentile. Of course, like all mean scores, there is some range, but I would not say a 300 is a competitive stat from the point of view of someone on the other side of this process. 

[gottogetthatphd]

12 minutes ago, stinger said:

Yeah, for UGA they sent an email the next day after they sent out interview invites letting applicants know that they would not be receiving an interview and to expect a formal rejection in the coming months or so. I do not think it will be like that for most schools, however.

Sorry to hear that... thanks for the heads up! Would you feel ok letting me know the initials of the person you applied it? Good luck!!

Edited December 13, 2018 by gottogetthatphd