how to tell if a program wants you

[YoungPsychDoc]

After you interview, what do you expect to happen if the program likes you and plans to rank you highly? Thank you for sharing.

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[Bartelby]

Depends on the program. Some programs (like Yale) are explicit about not contacting you no matter how much they want you in their program because it can put you in the compromising position of feeling like you need to tell them you want to go there as well (an off-limits question). Some places will follow up with a friendly phone call asking if you have any other questions. Some places will follow up with a phone call dropping hints that they want to know how you will rank them (which is really questionable behavior). Other programs will call or email and let you know that they will be ranking you highly in no uncertain terms.

As you can see, there is a huge range and you can't really tell how you will be ranked based on what you hear after interviews. The one exception is if others who interviewed at the program are getting love-letters and you are not then you are probably not as highly ranked. Keep in mind, too, that these indicators are not a guarantee to match; people are told they will be ranked highly by a program and then fail to match there every year.

 

[VMSmith]

Unless the program tells you that you are ranked to match, I wouldn't read too much into anything they tell you.

Just create your match list based on where you would like to be and leave it like that. You can tell your number 1 that you are ranking them number 1 but don't expect them to say anything in return.

 

[hamstergang]

After you interview, what do you expect to happen if the program likes you and plans to rank you highly? Thank you for sharing.

The real question is, why do you care? You gain no advantage whatsoever by making your rank list based on this info. If it's just to make yourself feel good, then you can pretend to read between the lines of any follow-up communication you have, but it probably doesn't really mean much.

 

[splik]

Don't believe any of it. you will find out if a program wants you on match day.

 

[Bartelby]

The real question is, why do you care? You gain no advantage whatsoever by making your rank list based on this info.

It does play a role in future planning, especially if you have a spouse trying to figure to which city he/she should be applying. It would be nice to have more certainty earlier on for some of those situations. Unfortunately like splik said, you can't really believe any of it. The best you can do is rank in order of your preference and then roll the dice.

 

[diagonal]

Man. This process is such a head ****.

 

[hamstergang]

Man. This process is such a head ****.

Only if you want it to be. You can also choose to just not worry and look at it as a good opportunity to find what you want. Just relaxing is generally good advice.

 

[peppy]

There are programs out there who will blatantly mislead people (as in telling everyone they interview "you will be ranked highly", and then people who thought they were sure to match there end up not matching). There are programs that won't say anything to their top ranks. You really should try your best not to worry about what they say or don't say.
Even if your reasons for wanting to know early are legitimate like the spouse looking for work thing, it would be very disappointing for your spouse to fall in love with a certain job position because of what a program said to you only to get a surprise on match day when it turns out they decided to rank someone else higher after all.
Focus on ranking places the way you prefer them. No, seriously. I know you totally are going to try to read things into what the programs say to you regardless of what we say, but try not to. 🙂

 

[diagonal]

Only if you want it to be. You can also choose to just not worry and look at it as a good opportunity to find what you want. Just relaxing is generally good advice.

Just navigating my own thoughts, I can see how people get blindsided by matching at 8 on their rank list. A couple years ago I'd read such threads of a distressed person dumb-founded of that result. Back then I'd be like "oh, boo-hoo, you're still going to be a insert specialty here."

But now that I'm in it, I get it. It's one thing if you're going for a competitive field, where low rank matching is par for the course, but in psych it's not hard to day dream about your top few choices and make the inherent assumption you'll end up at one. But clicking on that match e-mail and seeing Meharry** staring you in the face has got to be a punch in the gut.



**no offense intended

 

[diagonal]

There are programs out there who will blatantly mislead people (as in telling everyone they interview "you will be ranked highly", and then people who thought they were sure to match there end up not matching). There are programs that won't say anything to their top ranks. You really should try your best not to worry about what they say or don't say.
Even if your reasons for wanting to know early are legitimate like the spouse looking for work thing, it would be very disappointing for your spouse to fall in love with a certain job position because of what a program said to you only to get a surprise on match day when it turns out they decided to rank someone else higher after all.
Focus on ranking places the way you prefer them. No, seriously. I know you totally are going to try to read things into what the programs say to you regardless of what we say, but try not to. 🙂

I don't think it's peoples rank lists that are being affected by such things (to do so would be a fundamental misunderstanding of the match process), but it's seeking some comfort in knowing they'll end up at their favorite programs.

If anyone knows of the programs that blatantly BS people, it'd be nice to generate a list and expose that lame behavior to the light of day.

 

[splik]

Depends on the program. Some programs (like Yale) are explicit about not contacting you no matter how much they want you in their program because it can put you in the compromising position of feeling like you need to tell them you want to go there as well (an off-limits question). Some places will follow up with a friendly phone call asking if you have any other questions. Some places will follow up with a phone call dropping hints that they want to know how you will rank them (which is really questionable behavior). Other programs will call or email and let you know that they will be ranking you highly in no uncertain terms.

Even then Yale prematched last year so the whole never contacting thing etc is BS and I know someone who had been contacted and offered a prematch some years before. Also I know of another program that offered a prematch last year but claimed to others they weren't offering prematches. Another program I know offered several prematches which came about post-interview. These were 'top 20' programs with internationally respected PDs. At least last year there were for independent applicants prematches so you could know you were loved. Now that has gone you just have to wait and assume everyone is lying.

 

[YoungPsychDoc]

I am not going to base my rank list on whether or not I think I'm likely to be accepted by a program. I am prone to anxiety, and if I feel like I'm going to match "somewhere," my anxiety is lessened. Hence the motivation for creating this thread. So far I don't feel I've received any post-interview guarantees of matching, but I did get 2 generic emails thanking me for coming to the interviews.

 

[Scorcher31]

There are definitely some programs that don't actively pursue applicants. We are probably considered a mid tier program and we treat all interviewing applicants the same. We don't do any of that you will be ranked to match stuff.