How often do schools fund interviews?

[sidekick]

How often do schools (clinical, school, counseling, etc) pay for interviewees to come over? In your experience, did most schools offer or not offer to pay?

I'm trying to get someone to understand that graduate schools (at least in psychology) typically don't pay to fly students over, regardless of the caliber of the schools. He's arguing that schools which expect students to pay their own way are elitist, and miss out on a lot of students (domestically, and internationally) as a result.

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[Quynh2007]

the school pays for everything. and doesn't even charge for the application. i like that a lot

 

[JockNerd]

I got between $100 and $300 at each interview. I was fed well at all of them. One put me up in a hotel, and paid for an extra night when my flight didn't leave until the morning after interview day.

Sometimes how much they pay depends on how much they have allocated and how many people show up to live interviews (i.e. they budget x dollars, and everyone gets x dollars/n).

 

[irish80122]

It just depends on the school. None of them offered to help with the cost of getting there (I had 6 interviews with one being at a top 10 school) but all of them housed me, provided some food, etc. One even had an open bar...and I ended up there, go figure.

My experience is not to expect funding, but it seems that others have different experiences. I have heard that Notre Dame, where I want to undergrad, does do funding for interviews but I didn't apply there and I doubt they would have given me money anyway as I lived on-campus .

 

[Ollie123]

Prior to this thread I had never heard of a school paying travel costs. Maybe if you asked and can prove "financial hardship" it might happen, but I have never heard of a clinical program offering to pay travel costs. This goes for the 3 schools I was offered interviews at, my undergrad, and the other dozen or so schools I've had friends interview at. Mostly large research universities.

I/O is another matter though - they often do - I assume from the business influence, where it is MUCH more common for the institution to incur the cost.

That being said, EVERY school has paid for at least a few meals, and offered housing.

 

[psychanon]

I don't think there is a singular poll answer. Some do, most don't. I had one or two pay for my airfare (this was 4 years ago, so things may have changed). Most did not offer transportation money. All offered housing through grad students. It probably depends on the financial status of the department and on the number of applicants they interview (one of the ones that paid for me only invited about 10 applicants).

 

[clearcolor]

Most schools that offered me interviews (clinical PhD) didn't pay for transportation costs - many of them notified me of the interview date so late that it made booking a decent-priced plane ticket difficult. However, 2 schools (Penn and University of Southern California) out of about 10 paid for my flights.

 

[RayneeDeigh]

I'm pretty sure that while most schools may compensate you for stuff like meals, hotels, etc. they don't do anything about transportation. And really, most of them can afford not to since they have a ton of qualified applicants willing to travel just to get an interview. It's some sort of marketing concept I don't understand, haha.

 

[blindchaos]

A school I interviewed at didn't pay for travel or house applicants - there was one small meal and that's about it. The closest it came to accomodations was sending out a list of hotels in town.

 

[JockNerd]

What kind of mean people run the places you guys applied at??

I guess I interviewed at bizarre places; I assumed some travel reimbursement was the norm.

 

[shock-me-sane]

I wish they paid! I mean I am getting housing and food, but I have 3 interviews thus far and have spent close to a $1,000 on flights. Maybe I should have applied to closer schools...

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

Housing (if I wanted it) and food for all of mine.

-t

 

[GiantSteps]

Private schools seem to have more money available for contributing to travel expenses and accomodations than state schools, although some public schools will offer money too.

No one mentioned that many schools offer rides to and from the airport. In NYC that would save you at least $70 round trip.

 

[RayneeDeigh]

Everyone I know who interviewed at a private school got nothing.

 

[JockNerd]

Private schools seem to have more money available for contributing to travel expenses and accomodations than state schools, although some public schools will offer money too.

I only interviewed (well, I only APPLIED) at publics, and all of them gave me money.

No one mentioned that many schools offer rides to and from the airport. In NYC that would save you at least $70 round trip.

I like to brag about the prof who drove an hour to pick me up at an airport outside the college town.

 

[scienceisbeauty]

I like to brag about the prof who drove an hour to pick me up at an airport outside the college town.

WOW. I wanna gooo there lol jk, but that sounds like a place with a damn warm atmosphere

 

[JockNerd]

WOW. I wanna gooo there lol jk, but that sounds like a place with a damn warm atmosphere

haha I ended up turning them down

Although, had I not had an offer from the place I'm at now, I'd have been happy going there.

 

[Hain Adam]

Prior to this thread I had never heard of a school paying travel costs. Maybe if you asked and can prove "financial hardship" it might happen, but I have never heard of a clinical program offering to pay travel costs. This goes for the 3 schools I was offered interviews at, my undergrad, and the other dozen or so schools I've had friends interview at. Mostly large research universities.

I/O is another matter though - they often do - I assume from the business influence, where it is MUCH more common for the institution to incur the cost.

That being said, EVERY school has paid for at least a few meals, and offered housing.

From my knowledge most I/O programs don't even have on campus interviews. Few have phone interviews and most make decisions without interviews.

 

[Ollie123]

From my knowledge most I/O programs don't even have on campus interviews. Few have phone interviews and most make decisions without interviews.

True, but a lot have "open house" weekends where they invite the accepted and waitlisted folks out to get to know the program, and I've heard of many cases where the schools provided funding for that.

 

[PhDshallsee]

Of those who responded they paid for everything, I'm interested to know if you asked the school if any money was available?

The reason I ask is because I was under the assumption the school didn't pay for anything, and actually found out from one school (that really, really wants me) that most schools do have money available, and simply don't advertise it.

That said, I asked a few more schools and indeed, they too had money available.

All were state schools, by the way.