This is the information for an SDNer who wishes to remain anonymous:
1) Area: school, clinical, counseling, other: School PhD and PsyD
2) # of applications submitted: 22 (20 PhD and 2 PsyD)
3) # of interview invites: 19 (17 PhD and 2 PsyD; one school didn't interview). Attended 7 in-person and 9 by phone (one did phone interviews only); declined 3 invites (1 PhD and 2 PsyD); withdrew from 6 post-interview (I received a rejection letter from one after I had sent in my withdrawal email)
4) # of waitlists: 2 (accepted off one with a university fellowship; withdrew from one)
5) # of rejections: 2 pre-interview; 5 post-interview (6 if you count the one I withdrew from before being rejected)
6) # of acceptances: 4 (one without interview) plus one "I would have accepted you but I got a job offer from another university" (take that as you will)
7) GRE score: 1250 (590 V; 660 Q; 5.0 AW); Psych GRE: 750
8) GPA: 3.78 (psych and social work double major, bio minor)
9) Years of clinical experience: 2 years facilitating psychoed/intervention-y groups for undergrads referred for mandated substance misuse intervention
9a) Child experience: 1.5 years of volunteering at a children's science education center on weekends (1 year at interview time); partial summer of volunteering in a therapeutic preschool and also volunteering at children's science summer camps
9.5) Teaching experience: 3 semesters TA for freshman honors course; 1 semester proctor for Intro to Psych; 4 semesters teaching internship seminar for undergrad psychology interns; 1 semester teaching freshman social science course (instructor of record)
10) Years of research experience (undergrad. versus full-time research):
-7 semesters biomedical psychopharm research (undergrad)
-5 semesters in undergrad in various psych department labs; none of it child/adolescent-related, including 6 months in area of interest (different from below)--2 semesters in Area A, 2 in Area B, 2 in Area C (would be three but the labs been dormant this semester), 3 in Area D
-1.5+ years paid undergrad RA in area of interest combined with Area C
-Independent paper (Area A/ed psych)
-Undergrad thesis (related to clinical work)
-Honors undergrad thesis (area of interest/ed psych)
-PI on a project (area of interest/ed psych) with a professor at another university (non-grant funded; undergrad)
11) Information about publications, presentations (all in area of interest except the two ones at the local undergrad conference):
-One peer-reviewed article (3rd author)
-2 articles under review (one since accepted; one in revision and resubmission, 5th and 2nd author respectively)
-2 more manuscripts in prep
-2 presentations at local undergrad research conference; one, on my (non-Honors) undergrad thesis, won an award
-Poster (1st author) and presentation (2nd author) at national conference
-Poster (1st author) at large regional conference
-Presentation (1st author) at national undergrad research conference
-Presentation (3rd author) and poster (4th?) author at APA--though I don't think these were on my CV when I applied
-a few non-referred local presentations
12) Give any relevant information that you think helped you to do well this cycle or that you feel you could improve on for the next cycle. (Also of interest might be: Did you get into your 1st, 2nd, 3rd choice school?)
Well, I didn't rank my schools throughout the process, so it's difficult to say if I got into my 1st, 2nd, 3rd choice. I will say only one of the schools I was rejected from post-interview would have been a top contender for me (though I also quite liked the school I was almost admitted to), and I was very, very happy with three of four schools I was admitted to (I was ambivalent about the 4th due to the fact that it is not yet[?] APA-accredited--it seemed to be a very research oriented program, so I don't know how much it is a priority for them).
I think what helped me was my research experience and the fact I could talk about it well --perhaps my SOP, too. What hurt me was probably my very minimal child experience (especially compared to my fellow interviewees) and lack of child/adolescent research experience. Also, I think I defined research "fit" while legitimately and within reason--I would have been legitimately happy to work with any of the people I applied to work with--rather broadly, and while that was enough to get me to the interview stage, it wasn't necessarily enough to get me an offer. That being said, the schools I was admitted to were all very clear, strong research matches, and I'm happy with how things ended up.