PhD/PsyD Re-interviewing experiences

[NPsyHopeful]

Hi all, this is my first post on SDN. I did not find anything on the psychology forums about re-interviewing for a program. Last application season I interviewed for a counseling PhD program and was wait-listed. Sadly I did not make the cut. Right now I'm re-vamping my applications for this season.

Could anyone who has re-applied and re-interviewed with a program please share your experience? Any tips about bagging that second chance interview would be helpful as well. To me it seems like it has the potential to be weird or maybe even uncomfortable. Thanks!

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[testifeye]

My situation was similar but different than yours. I applied to graduate schools straight out of undergrad, and was not accepted to a program that was a good fit. I took a year off, traveled for a few months and then worked full time in a research lab. I reapplied to some of the same schools, and was actually accepted at more than one that I had not been interviewed at in the past.

If I were on faculty evaluating you, I wouldn't see re-application as awkward at all, but rather as a sign of how much you are committed to wanting to be in that program. If they did not like you at all, or felt awkward about you, they would not have wait-listed you. Every new year you are competing with different folks, and if you have used your time well this past year (and are an even better candidate) all the more reason to apply. In the opinion of this anonymous internet board member, go for it!

 

[MCParent]

Hi all, this is my first post on SDN. I did not find anything on the psychology forums about re-interviewing for a program. Last application season I interviewed for a counseling PhD program and was wait-listed. Sadly I did not make the cut. Right now I'm re-vamping my applications for this season.

Could anyone who has re-applied and re-interviewed with a program please share your experience? Any tips about bagging that second chance interview would be helpful as well. To me it seems like it has the potential to be weird or maybe even uncomfortable. Thanks!

Wait-listing means that they wanted you but that there was someone else who was just a somewhat better fit for some reason. It's not like an internship re-application in which you might have no idea how they ranked you the first time around. So, I'd suggest you just sell the experiences you've had in the past year that make you an even better fit. Frankly, as faculty I'd feel somewhat awkward in this situation too (not wanting a good applicant to think the program is just stringing her/him along).