Does an interview say that "You are Accepted?"

[AKAindie]

Hi all,

When you get an interview from a school, does this mean that you are pretty much accepted once you do well on the interview? Do you really have to suck to not get selected? Or can you do well and still not get selected? What should I be worrying about now? I got three interviews lined up in February. Appreciate the feedback.

[ladybug3]

It might depend on the school, but I have a friend who had an interview last year but was not accepted to that school. She was, however, accepted to two schools without interviews and waitlisted at another.

I imagine that most schools narrow down their candidates by offering interviews, but most likely interview more people than available positions. I would not recommend going into an interview acting as if you're already accepted. At least in Canada, Psychology/Neuroscience is pretty competitive... I imagine it is excellent that you made it to interviews, but this is only the next hurdle on the path to acceptance...

[far_to_go]

I concur with ladybug- an interview is definitely a good indicator that the school is interested in you, but should not be taken as a sign that you're basically accepted. At my program (different discipline, so YMMV), it seems that about half of the people who are flown in for the prospectives' weekend visit and interviews are given offers. Some people who can't visit campus are given offers after phone interviews. But my sense, based on the campus interviews, is that less than 50% of the people who get interviews get accepted.

[PhDreaming]

Nothing new to add except further evidence for my agreement. The school I am currently at for my MA hosts a weekend of interviews for a shortlist. The shortlist is essentially for those who have made the cut and will get an offer (at least that's how it happened last year). However, one of the schools I am applying to definitely uses the interview weekend as the finals decision maker.

[Ying Chen]

As far as I've learnt the school uses interview to check your compatibility with the school - ESPECIALLY IN PHD PROGRAMS. A PhD is a big investment from the school so they will choose wisely. You will not be accepted only if there's someone in the dept you are applying to has an interest on what you are interested to do. So really do your homework on the professors before you are there!!

[socihealth]

I wish! But i have heard from my advisors that while an interview is a good sign, it is not an automatic acceptance. The above posters are right, its a good idea to prepare and do your homework! Good luck!

[AKAindie]

Thanks guys. Finished all my interviews.. Heard back from two waiting to hear from the others..

[MarketingPhD2012]

Thanks guys. Finished all my interviews.. Heard back from two waiting to hear from the others..

Accepted?

[sb29]

I was rejected after a (good) interview at one of the top European business schools for PhD and was accepted at another top European program without an interview. Highly subjective.

[OldGrad2012]

I was rejected too after what I think was a good interview. But I was accepted at one school after a phone interview only. So you are right, it really depends on the school.

[wannabeaphd]

Like timt99 I was also rejected after a good interview. It sure does happen...

[ol'spice]

"out of the theater of the absurd"... That's the comment one of my professor made when I shared my experience with one of my interviews: (I'll keep this somewhat in stealth mode since I found the interview to be a true recognition of my work)

I was looking at a panel (skype) of 4 people, grad students, head of graduate dept. and director of the dept. I was applying. They told me they had looked at my portfolio for the tenth time and they found my work to be really strong and were wondering why I was pursuing an MFA at this time in my life (I'm 47).

I told them the work I'm exploring is very new to me, I'm only starting to wrap my head around it and grad school would be the perfect place to continue the investigations I had began and that I wanted to teach art once I finished my degree.

She, the director warned me I wasn't going to like what I was about to hear next:

She told me they couldn't do anything else for me there. They had over 250 applicants for 10 spots and they needed to manage their limited resources.

There were many people trying to get to where I was and because of that they couldn't accept me into their program. She added that I should just paint and become part of my art community and show my work and that I should consider not pursuing an MFA.

I tried reiterating that teaching is a really important aspect of my pursing of the MFA, but at that point I realized it would be better to accept the compliments and move on.

There... So it was a real interesting rejection. The icing on the cake came when the person interviewing me ( an important critic) told me to mail her an invitation to my first show.

[MarketingPhD2012]

"out of the theater of the absurd"... That's the comment one of my professor made when I shared my experience with one of my interviews: (I'll keep this somewhat in stealth mode since I found the interview to be a true recognition of my work)

I was looking at a panel (skype) of 4 people, grad students, head of graduate dept. and director of the dept. I was applying. They told me they had looked at my portfolio for the tenth time and they found my work to be really strong and were wondering why I was pursuing an MFA at this time in my life (I'm 47).

I told them the work I'm exploring is very new to me, I'm only starting to wrap my head around it and grad school would be the perfect place to continue the investigations I had began and that I wanted to teach art once I finished my degree.

She, the director warned me I wasn't going to like what I was about to hear next:

She told me they couldn't do anything else for me there. They had over 250 applicants for 10 spots and they needed to manage their limited resources.

There were many people trying to get to where I was and because of that they couldn't accept me into their program. She added that I should just paint and become part of my art community and show my work and that I should consider not pursuing an MFA.

I tried reiterating that teaching is a really important aspect of my pursing of the MFA, but at that point I realized it would be better to accept the compliments and move on.

There... So it was a real interesting rejection. The icing on the cake came when the person interviewing me ( an important critic) told me to mail her an invitation to my first show.

WOW! I wouldn't have known how to respond to that!