1 Clin Psy Ph.D. Interview of 10 Applications. Am I an error?

[yoosirname]

Hi,

 

I applied to 10 schools for a Ph.D. in clinical psychology below: 

 

BU

UC Berkeley

Duke

Emory 

Yale

Columbia

Rutgers

U Buffalo

Stony Brook

WashU

I had one in-person interview at WashU. a couple weeks ago. I've been reading that people who get interviews often get multiple ones. Since I only had one, does that mean that their inviting me to WashU. was an error? Schools that were ranked below WashU. didn't invite me, so I don't know what to think of this, although I know that whether people are accepting candidates or not depends on a variety of factors (e.g., funding). 

 

I was really thinking I had slim chances of getting an interview in clin psy at all because my background is in social psychology and I've been out of school for 4 year (e.g., I did an honors thesis at NYU in political psychology, that was published in the Yale Review of Undergraduate Research in Psychology. After graduating, I worked as a psy lab manager at NYU, then an english teacher, and most recently victim advocate). I decided clin psy combines my interests in research and working with people in a clinical setting. I feel like my background is not what programs are working for...

 

Was it weird that I only got 1 interview? I feel this indicates that my application is weak.

 

How can I improve my chances next round?

 

I have been accepted to the MA in psychology at NYU and am waiting to hear back from Columbia (2yr MA), Stony Brook (1 yr MA), BU (1 yr MA) and U Buffalo (2yr MA). Would doing an MA improve my chances of getting into a Ph.D. in clinical psy if I refine my research interests, try to get updated academic recs, and try to do some independent research? Please help, and thank you so much! I have no one to help me through this.

 

 

[n_psych]

Hi. I don't think your interview is an error at all, and you should not look at the results of this process that way. Departments at various schools look for different things in applicants, and so is the case that WashU liked you. Remember that clinical psychology is extremely competitive, and applications have gone up in the last few years. There are also a LOT of factors that affect whether or not you get an interview or an acceptance (fit, whether or not the POI is accepting a student, funding, etc.). I don't know how your whole application looks like but if you think there is room for improvement (GRE, publications, presentations, etc.) then I suggest taking the time to work on them to improve your chances for next year.

[yoosirname]

On 3/2/2013 at 1:50 PM, n89 said:

Hi. I don't think your interview is an error at all, and you should not look at the results of this process that way. Departments at various schools look for different things in applicants, and so is the case that WashU liked you. Remember that clinical psychology is extremely competitive, and applications have gone up in the last few years. There are also a LOT of factors that affect whether or not you get an interview or an acceptance (fit, whether or not the POI is accepting a student, funding, etc.). I don't know how your whole application looks like but if you think there is room for improvement (GRE, publications, presentations, etc.) then I suggest taking the time to work on them to improve your chances for next year.

 

Thank you so much for your response! I am relieved that you think I am not an error as some of the other applicants that I had spoken to at the interview at WashU. had mentioned that they had multiple interviews/offers.  

I think I should definitely try to get some publications and presentations in clinical psychology. As an undergrad, I did research in social psychology, but only presented and published my thesis among undergraduates. Do you feel that the aforementioned would be better to focus on as compared to me GRE scores? My verbal was 98%, but my quant was only 68%. I know the quant was weak, but when I looked at the scores of people who were admitted to programs, this percentile was very close to or at the median. 

[n_psych]

Hmmmm, it's tough to say. If you re-take it you might likely score lower on your verbal (regression to the mean) but perhaps a higher quant would be better. It really depends on the program. Maybe you should talk to your advisers to see whether or not you should re-take it. If you can get publications and presentations in the area that you are interested in definitely do that. If it were me, I would work on both. Perhaps some of your programs have unofficial cut-off scores on quant that you did not meet.