Fall 2014 Applicant Thread!

[tingski]

I just submitted my last application of the year. I have another one due on January 1st but I don't want to think about it until it becomes necessary. Good luck everyone!  

[emmanuel goldstein]

Received this from UF:

 

 

Greetings,

 

Thank you for your interest in pursuing your graduate education at the University of Florida!

 

Below you will find information on funding opportunities available through the Office of Graduate Minority Programs as well as other units across UF.

 

For more information, please follow the links below.

[emmanuel goldstein]

Dear

You are receiving this e-mail because you started an application for Georgetown in 2013. If you are no longer interested in applying to Georgetown, you can opt-out below.

The Georgetown University Graduate School and all other Georgetown University offices will be closed for the winter holidays, beginning at the end of the business day on Monday, December 23, 2013. All offices will reopen on Thursday, January 2, 2014.

As a result, all incoming mail, application or credential status updates, phone or e-mail inquiries, and application decisions received during the holiday will begin to be processed on Thursday, January 2, 2014. We will work diligently upon return to address all documents, applications and questions in the order they were received. Our goal remains to process all materials and applications within two weeks, but we ask for your patience as it may take us slightly longer than normal.

The online application deadline for select programs of Wednesday, January 1, 2014 at 11:59 p.m. EST is not affected by our closing, and all mail received by the end of the business day Thursday, January 2 will be considered on-time for the select programs with a January 1 deadline.

We are sending this early so you still have time to reach us with questions about the application or programs by replying to this e-mail or calling (202) 687.5568. If you have technical problems with the application while we are closed, you can contact the company that supplies our online application via the technical support link in the application.

We and the entire Georgetown University community wish you a relaxed end of 2013 spent with family, friends, and all that is most important in your life.

Sincerely,
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Admissions
Georgetown University

[Yaris]

I initially planned on using this waiting period to get back to the gym and start being healthy again... then Sporcle happened.

[SportPsych30]

Ahhhhhh, Winter Break at last.. Perfect time to fly home, sit by the fire, and work on some apps... oh wait, they were due December 1st? I already did all of them? What am I supposed to do now??

[housemousee]

Hi everyone! I'm just looking for some feedback on my credentials. I've already submitted all my applications so it's pretty much out of my control for the time being.

 

I am applying to both PhD and MA/MS programs in experimental psychology, with an emphasis on behavior research.

I have a 4.0 undergraduate GPA, 150 (quant)/156 (verbal)/4.0 (writing) GRE scores. I have several years of research experience, specifically 1 year at UCLA in the learning/behavior field. 2 posters & 1 presentation.

 

any feedback is greatly appreciated.

[tingski]

Hi, does anyone know when schools typically offer interview invitations? I received one, but it makes me wonder if that means i already got (softly) rejected by other schools, or if this one school is particularly early. 

[BeingThere]

Hi, does anyone know when schools typically offer interview invitations? I received one, but it makes me wonder if that means i already got (softly) rejected by other schools, or if this one school is particularly early. 

Have you checked the results board?

[tingski]

what is the results board?

[BeingThere]

what is the results board?

Up at the top of this page, you'll see some links (Forum, Members, Blogs, Chat, Results Search....).  Click on Results Search and type in Psychology or whatever your subfield is and the list will populate with folks who have posted schools they've heard from.

 

Of course this is just a subgroup of the people who are members of Thegradcafe.com.  For more complete info on your programs you would have to contact them directly or see if they say on their website when they usually send out interview invites.

Edited December 23, 2013 by Bren2014

[tingski]

Up at the top of this page, you'll see some links (Forum, Members, Blogs, Chat, Results Search....).  Click on Results Search and type in Psychology or whatever your subfield is and the list will populate with folks who have posted schools they've heard from.

 

Of course this is just a subgroup of the people who are members of Thegradcafe.com.  For more complete info on your programs you would have to contact them directly or see if they say on their website when they usually send out interview invites.

Thank you so much! 

[bathingintheneon]

Just finished a phone interview with the PI at UC Davis. She seemed a little concerned about my "fit," but then said she was 99% sure she could invite me to the interview day on February 3. So I guess that's one invite down, seven to go?

[bezoomny bunburyist]

Just got invited for an in-person interview!  Has anyone heard of what your chances of acceptance are once you get an interview?  How many people does each professor invite?  

[gellert]

Just got invited for an in-person interview!  Has anyone heard of what your chances of acceptance are once you get an interview?  How many people does each professor invite?  

 

Congrats!

 

Chances of acceptance vary.  Some places have interviews for people they plan to accept just to make sure they aren't crazy.  Others use the interview as part of the admissions process and cut people post-interview.  Most professors plan to accept 1 student per year, rarely 2, and sometimes they choose to admit no one at all.  So if you go and there are, say, 5 people for your prof, you can reasonably infer a 17% chance ceteris paribus (this is including the possibility that they accept no one and does not take into account that most professors desire to admit a student from interview) or higher (if they admit more students than they anticipate accepting their offer).

 

But ignore those very very specific probabilities because there are way too many variables at play here, as I hope all the disclaimers I used in the above example proved.  Just do your best, do your research, and good luck!  It's impossible to really say your chances, only that they are better than if you received no interview at all.

Edited December 27, 2013 by gellert

[tingski]

Just got invited for an in-person interview!  Has anyone heard of what your chances of acceptance are once you get an interview?  How many people does each professor invite?  

 

I think it depends on which program you applied for. I read somewhere (was it in this thread?) that for non-clinical program, most schools invite 1-3 people for each spot, whereas for clinical program, they could invite 5-8 people. Congratulations and good luck!

[SocialConstruction]

What are an applicant's odds for acceptance when a program offers to pay for airfare and hotel stay during interview weekend? Do people often get rejected post-interview from that kind of offer? 

 

I would imagine that a program is pretty interested in an applicant if they're willing to spend money, but perhaps this is naive? 

[nessa]

I've read a lot about the importance of looking at APA internship matching rates when deciding on schools. I personally have already applied and the schools that fit well with my interests all have very high match rates. Anyway, I am still interested in why this is such an important factor when deciding on where to apply to schools. The schools that have very low APA match rates are mostly the freestanding PsyD programs (correct me if I am wrong), which accept significantly more applicants when compared to PhD programs, and those students, on average, have lower scores/less research experience etc. So, if you are a strong student, with good experiences and are motivated to get hours and whatever else is needed to get into an APA internship site, will those people still have a harder time getting an APA internship because of the school they attend? Is it that the match rates are low due to the quality of students? Or is it the quality of the program aka poor training/supervision? Or is it the stigma attached to the freestanding programs? I personally have worked with PsyD's doing research and clinical work and I found them to be just as good as the PhD's in the department. 

The quality of the program is also responsible for the low match rate of schools. Poor clinical training, no research, etc. There are people from programs with low match rates who work hard and are successful, but there are a lot of factors working against that even if someone is motivated/smart/a hard worker.

[hobochic15]

What are an applicant's odds for acceptance when a program offers to pay for airfare and hotel stay during interview weekend? Do people often get rejected post-interview from that kind of offer? 

 

I would imagine that a program is pretty interested in an applicant if they're willing to spend money, but perhaps this is naive? 

 

I'm not sure about other universities or programs, but I was invited to an interview last application season where the university paid for the flight and the accommodation as well as food and activities and such. My POI at that university invited me and one other potential student. After the interview weekend, we both were offered a spot at that university. 

I'd say that it's always a good sign if the university is offering to pay your way there- it seemed to me that the individuals invited were primarily there for sanity checks and so that the university could, in fact, recruit us. 

Hopefully this info is useful. Best of luck, and congrats!

[PsychGirl1]

^ I had two schools pay for my transportation, and for both, my POI invited 4-6 people and took 1. Really, it varies by program/school!

Edited December 27, 2013 by PsychGirl1

[SocialConstruction]

There's never a simple answer! But thank you both for the replies.

[ratlab]

Any behavioral or cog neuro people hear back yet?

[Socrates1]

Any behavioral or cog neuro people hear back yet?

I got rejected by the Behavioral Neuroscience program at Oregon Health & Science on the 20th. Standard "thanks for your interest, but you didn't make our interview cut" type of email. That's all I've heard so far, depressingly.

[ratlab]

I don't think any others have been sent, at least for my programs. But there isn't much to go off of based on the results page of the last few years since we are a relatively small subfield (in comparison to neuroscience programs in biology departments). I expect we'll hear back mid-January.

[fingerscrossed2014]

anyone who heard back from Ohio State apply for the IDD-Clinical joint program?

[Govari]

anyone who heard back from [the] Ohio State apply for the IDD-Clinical joint program?

I don't think you'll hear back from them until around mid-January when they make admission decisions. Though the only reason I know this is because my POI at the Ohio State emailed me about the quant division doing their applicant review a bit earlier than the rest of the department.