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Rejection after prelim phone interview


potter365

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Got the email from counseling psych program that although I did a prelim phone interview I would not be continuing forward. I thought the talk went well but I now wonder if the rejection is based on something I said. Is this probably the case? 

Really bummed, kicking myself for a few things I said that were possibly miss-taken/misinterpreted:

- they asked “what is the most difficult part of research for you” and I replied that I was unfamiliar with some tests but was a fast learner. 

- they have a specific population that they work with and I made clear I had a lot of interest in this population. I asked at one point if this would be who I worked with clinically and their response was that I was not tied to them for the clinical work. I now wonder if they think I didn’t want that pop even though I do.

- asked my strength and I said I was very persistent and hard working, especially for things I find enjoyable. I said research is fun for me and so I could commit a lot of time to it.

Not sure what else. He was so friendly, maybe I was just to comfortable. I wish I knew :(

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I can't give you any reasons, as I wasn't there obviously. It could be a matter of preference on the profs part (ie. something about your personality didn't fit his) or maybe he had other prelim phone interviews that went so well that you ended up cut just based on number of other qualified applicants. Maybe you got the prof on a bad day. Maybe it really was your answers to those questions. Who knows. 

 

The only thing I can offer you is some empathy. I also had a prelim phone interview that I thought went really well, only to not be offered an in-person interview. I did exactly what you're doing now - went over everything I said and asked myself, "was my response to this question what tanked me?". It's such a stressful process and we have so much riding on it. It becomes very easy to blame ourselves, I think because it gives us some modicum of control. Easier to tell yourself you did something wrong (and can improve), then to admit your future is a roll of the dice. 

 

I'm sorry if that's not very helpful. There really isn't much closure in the grad school process. 

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