Rejection Thread!

[VentureIntoNothingness]

I saw this:

So I thought it may be helpful to start a rejection thread. It would be great if we can inherit the old format and post the School that rejected you, the specific area, the rationalization, and your comments. Adding on the tradition, I think it may be helpful to also share your coping tactics. So the sample format would be:

School:

Area:

Rationalization:

Comment:

Coping tactics:

And remember, you may be rejected, but you are still an awesome person! 

[namarie]

I think this is a great idea! 

School: University of Georgia

Area: Clinical Psych

Rationalization: Adcom didn't feel my research interests matched theirs

Comments: I was really bummed (this was my top choice), but life goes on. This was my first rejection, so I'm hoping it doesn't set the tone for the rest of the season. 

Coping: I cried a little, hugged my mom, and wrote a letter (that I never sent) explaining why I thought I was a good choice. It was therapeutic in a way and helped me move on. 

[xolxs]

Good idea!  Just to clarify, should we limit the posts to definitive rejections, or implied rejections?  

 

[VentureIntoNothingness]

20 hours ago, xolxs said:

Good idea!  Just to clarify, should we limit the posts to definitive rejections, or implied rejections?  

 

whichever would be fine. Maybe the one that triggers your grieving process?

[vandsa02]

School: Michigan State University

Area: Clinical Psych PhD

Rationalization: Lack of resources for qualified applicants.

Comment: Welp. 13 more schools to hear from.

Coping tactics: "I didn't really want to go there anyway..." and avoidance.

[mschanandlerbong]

School: Iowa State

Area: Counseling Psychology PhD

Rationalization: Too many exceptional applicants.

Comment: I'm honestly not even that sad, I've been rejected from enough creative writing competitions that I am a bit numb to it, but it's still disappointing of course.

Coping tactics: Spending time with my friends. Sleep. Preparing for my other interviews (phone and in-person).

Edited January 9, 2016 by mschanandlerbong
grammar.

[Timemachines]

School: Northwestern (neuropsych track)

Rationalization: 97% rejected, second largest applicant pool to date 

Comment: not surprised (invites went out last week). I think I'm more upset that Bowie and Alan Rickman passed away this week. 

Coping: Expecting the rejection helped me cope with being bummed out about a week ago. On to the next one.

[FacelessMage]

School: Texas A&M, Tech Tech, Drexel, University of South Florida, Ryerson Universiy, Simon Fraser University

Area: Clinical psychology

Rationalization: I don't even know, probably more of the "too many qualified applicants" stuff they feed us every year

Comment: Honestly, I'm very upset. I put in so much work in the past year to make myself more competitive (have around 3 more publications than last year, plus 2 more conference publications), and it feels like it was for nothing

Coping tactics: Sleep, binge watching various shows, working on another publication

[FacelessMage]

31 minutes ago, beyondnervous said:

You sound incredibly competitive (I've stalked you on here for a while.. be flattered haha)- What round of application is this for you? Also, are you an undergraduate applicant or do you have an MA degree? 5/6 of the schools I've applied to have not sent any invites, but I want to prepare myself for the potential rejections from these schools... Ugh. There are no words to describe this misery.

Haha thanks. This is my third time applying, and with an MA now, so I'm a bit discouraged. My applications seemed to have gone better when I had a BSc and no pubs at all! It's honestly just such a random process. I'm sure you'll do fine! 

[buttercup8d]

Haven't gotten a single interview yet....it kills to refresh the grad cafe interview page and look at my schools being posted.

I'm starting to think I may have been way too specific in my essay with too many of my own goals (did anyone else do this, and not get any interviews?)

[vandsa02]

8 hours ago, FacelessMage said:

Haha thanks. This is my third time applying, and with an MA now, so I'm a bit discouraged. My applications seemed to have gone better when I had a BSc and no pubs at all! It's honestly just such a random process. I'm sure you'll do fine! 

I've read things that say MAs are turn offs for certain programs (at least in clinical) because some programs like to train people all the way through. It sucks, I'm sure. 

Did you hear from USF and Drexel directly? I applied to both of those, but I haven't heard anything from either program, which kind of freaks me out (but also not knowing means I can continue to live in ignorance of what is probably impending rejection...)

Edited January 15, 2016 by vandsa02

[FacelessMage]

1 hour ago, vandsa02 said:

I've read things that say MAs are turn offs for certain programs (at least in clinical) because some programs like to train people all the way through. It sucks, I'm sure. 

Did you hear from USF and Drexel directly? I applied to both of those, but I haven't heard anything from either program, which kind of freaks me out (but also not knowing means I can continue to live in ignorance of what is probably impending rejection...)

They'd have the chance to train me since my MA is experimental rather than clinical. I haven't heard from either of them (hence the assumed rejection) but I know that these programs are fairly competitive and are unlikely to do multiple rounds of interviews. 

[SAH]

School: University of Michigan 

Area: Cognitive and Cognitive Neuroscience 

Rationalization: Too many applicants, etc., etc. 

Comment: I saw rejections go out the last few days and thought i might get lucky, no dice.  

Coping tactics: I'm extremely fortunate to have been invited to three interviews before I got my first rejection, so I'm concentrating on that instead of agonizing over this rejection. 

[sociallyawkard]

School: Stanford, UC Berkeley, UC Davis (Assumed rejection - Invitations already sent for interviews)

Area: Psychology (Social)

Rationalization: My GPA is too low (3.37 at the time of application, thanks to a bad first year [1.67] about 15 years ago. 4.0 since...). 

Comment: My other qualifications were sufficient, the GPA was addressed in essays, and in the case of Stanford there are two faculty doing the exact same research as I am. But given the competitive nature of these schools I sort of assume that my application was eliminated before even being read.

Coping tactics: Hmm, mourning for several days after realizing no invitations were coming from any of these schools. True detective... etc.

[coffee_maniac]

Northwestern University,

clinical psychology

didn't read the rejection, but saw the word "regret", and knew what's going on. So delete it. I guess northwestern is not fortunate enough to have me there.... 

[FeelTheBern]

School: University of Connecticut

Area: Psychology (Language & Cognition)

Rationalization: The professor already has 3 students and doesn't have enough funding for a fourth.

Comment: Even though it is the first official rejection, it was a happy one with a really nice email from the POI commending the application. So it's all good

Coping tactics: Looking forward to interviews!

[St0chastic]

1 hour ago, coffee_maniac said:

Northwestern University,

clinical psychology

didn't read the rejection, but saw the word "regret", and knew what's going on. So delete it. I guess northwestern is not fortunate enough to have me there.... 

Northwestern's clinical program is one of the more competitive in the country.  I have a co-worker who applied there.  Hopefully she received good news...

[pittpanther]

School: University of Michigan, University of Oregon, SUNY Buffalo, VCU, South Carolina Columbia, George Mason, UNC Chapel Hill, KU Clinical Child

Area: Clinical Psychology

Rationalization: Low-ish GPA (3.44) Average GRE Scores (V-158 Q-157).  I figured my research experience (4 years in a clinical/developmental lab, 1 honors thesis, first author poster presentation, first author publication in major journal) would make up for the scores

Comment: Sometimes you get the bear and sometimes the bear gets you.

Coping tactics: Looking forward to interviews I do have. Exercise (nothing like a hard workout to alleviate the rejection pains)!

[ELathan]

30 minutes ago, pittpanther said:

School: University of Michigan, University of Oregon, SUNY Buffalo, VCU, South Carolina Columbia, George Mason, UNC Chapel Hill, KU Clinical Child

Area: Clinical Psychology

Rationalization: Low-ish GPA (3.44) Average GRE Scores (V-158 Q-157).  I figured my research experience (4 years in a clinical/developmental lab, 1 honors thesis, first author poster presentation, first author publication in major journal) would make up for the scores

Comment: Sometimes you get the bear and sometimes the bear gets you.

Coping tactics: Looking forward to interviews I do have. Exercise (nothing like a hard workout to alleviate the rejection pains)!

Did you get rejection emails from these schools or are you just assuming?

[ClinicalApplicant07]

I know so many qualified candidates who are getting rejections! This is one of the most competitive processes we will probably go through in our lives! I guess we just have to stay positive and keep trying! 

[vislabgirlx]

School: University of California, San Diego

Area: Cognitive Psych

Rationalization: The usual--too many qualified applicants, etc. 

Comment: This was a really surprising rejection for me, since I know my POI and he made it seem like he was genuinely interested. 

Coping Tactics: None. I was disappointed for like 2 hours, then I reminded myself that I have a very promising interview at my top choice, and another interview for a program that is ranked higher than UCSD and far more prestigious, so I'm over it. 

[St0chastic]

1 hour ago, vislabgirlx said:

School: University of California, San Diego

Area: Cognitive Psych

Rationalization: The usual--too many qualified applicants, etc. 

Comment: This was a really surprising rejection for me, since I know my POI and he made it seem like he was genuinely interested. 

Coping Tactics: None. I was disappointed for like 2 hours, then I reminded myself that I have a very promising interview at my top choice, and another interview for a program that is ranked higher than UCSD and far more prestigious, so I'm over it. 

UCSD was the one school I applied to that didn't invite me to interview.  Either they have a particularly competitive applicant pool (more so than UCLA, Michigan, WashU, Illinois) or they are looking for a very specific kind of background/experience.

I'm feeling pretty bad for all the clinical applicants.  If I had applied to clinical programs rather than cogneuro/cognitive, I'm not sure if I would be going to any interviews!  While the cognitive admissions rates are relatively low (~5-8%), for clinical they are just brutal (~1-3%).  Kudos to all of you clinical folks!

[pittpanther]

3 hours ago, ELathan said:

Did you get rejection emails from these schools or are you just assuming?

I got an email from Michigan and Buffalo.  I called the departments at South Carolina, George Mason, and Kansas and all interview invites have been extended and applications are no longer being reviewed. UNC Chapel Hill posted on their website today that all invites have been extended.  Oregon has sent out interview invites, but is still reviewing applications, so that is just speculation. I have not been able to confirm anything with VCU, but it appears all interview invites have been extended.

[Gvh]

Just now, beyondnervous said:

 

Comment: F*$% the GRE/ETS company. I despise them so much, words cannot the describe how much I loathe that worthless company and the anxiety its pointless test has given me. I cannot believe that two sets of numbers are truly in the way of me securing my future in clinical psychology, and the fact that I have to re-take this exam in order to secure funding/an opportunity in a program really angers me.

FWIW @beyondnervous, I feel the exact same way. Last year I was shut out because of a 50th percentile Q score. By the time this application season had come around, I had taken the GRE 5 (!) times in my life. Yes, FIVE. It was an uphill battle, but if you do get shut out this year and want to reapply next year, know that others have conquered the GRE in spite of everything. Don't give up!

[Neist]

1 minute ago, Gvh said:

FWIW @beyondnervous, I feel the exact same way. Last year I was shut out because of a 50th percentile Q score. By the time this application season had come around, I had taken the GRE 5 (!) times in my life. Yes, FIVE. It was an uphill battle, but if you do get shut out this year and want to reapply next year, know that others have conquered the GRE in spite of everything. Don't give up!

Random tangent.

Out of sheer curiosity, did you find that repeated attempts improved your score? My score was decent for my field, but not amazing. It probably wouldn't immediately disclude myself from good programs, but it probably isn't helping, either.

Wondering if I should grind out like you next cycle, assuming I don't get an overly attractive offer this round.