OK, I've got a new one for you all: I got an email from a prof at Oregon today. Interviews will be Feb 11th. This news comes after the grad secretary told me a couple of days ago that interview invitations wouldn't be extended until the end of this week. It's probably a variable prof-by-prof type of thing, so don't panic if you've been waiting by the phone.
I have another issue on my mind that maybe someone could help me with. I'm growing increasingly unsure about the criteria I should use to evaluate programs. My present advisor was speaking with a friend of hers that is a prof in a top 5 clinical program about the programs to which I was applying (one of them is the top 5 program, with the advisor's friend as the potential mentor, for obvious reasons). Anyway, the prof was telling my advisor that she didn't really understand why I was applying to most of the other programs that I had chosen, including some of my top choices. Most of these programs are top 25 (according to our trusty US News ranking), and feel like a decent match for me. The point is, it's a little frightening that I could be highly esteeming programs that don't have that great of a reputation in the eyes of a prominent clinical researcher. I suppose these kinds of evaluations are all basically subjective, and I know I'm just supposed to guage my "fit" with the program, but it makes me a bit nervous. Does anyone have a clue about how to get the real, down-and-dirty, of-course-everyone-knows-that kind of rankings of programs?
This is fairly ridiculous question, given that I've been reading this forum long enough to know the prevailing opinions on the issue. But I'm throwing it out there regardless. Advice, fellow applicants? Current clinical students?
Apologies for my long-windedness...