Once you have an interview invite, what is the chance you will be accepted?

[applyingtograd]

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Once you have been selected for an interview, what are the odds of getting an offer? Does it differ by school? How many applicants per spot do programs tend to bring in? Thanks for the info! Totally stressing about interviews/ acceptances...as I am sure we all are! 🙂

 

[Marissa4usa]

I have attended interviews where the number candidates for each spot ranged from 2 to 8. I've heard from others they competed against as many as 11 other applicants.

Obviously, the more other applicants, the worse your odds (duh 🙂). I think the most common number is ~3-5, which I find reasonable from the school's perspective. Chances are 1 or 2 candidates don't turn out to be what you expected based on what they look like on paper, and then it's also possibile that your top choice applicant may decline your offer and you want to make sure you have a reasonable list as a back up. Having said, inviting more than 5 interviewee is in my opinion. just bad practice, especially if the applicant doesn't get reimbursed for any of expenses.

I attended an interview last year that lasted 2.5 days during which I dropped a good amount of money on all of the social activities, only to compete against 7 other people. I was seriously upset about. In addition to that, it was a top lab in my field, so chances are if somebody gets accepted into the lab, they'll attend. Consequently, there was no reason to invite that many people.

 

[modestmousktr]

I attended an interview in which there were about 30 applicants in the room with me, and they're having another session later. Is this not normal? They have 450+ applications, so does this explain the large volume of interviewees?

 

[PhDMiss2014]

My program interviews between 3 and 5 for each available spot or POI. If we're accepting a total of 8 people that can be between 24 and 40 total people interviewed.

 

[psychologyrun]

I attended an interview in which there were about 30 applicants in the room with me, and they're having another session later. Is this not normal? They have 450+ applications, so does this explain the large volume of interviewees?

For PhD programs, this might be the high side of normal, but not that out there. Remember, if another applicant isn't interviewing for the same POI as you, they aren't really competition. There may be a few people in the running for two POI's if their labs are similar. But at my program, people are very obviously invited by a certain POI, and none of the other POI's really know about or concern themselves with the applicants that other professors invited. I think 5-6 invitees per lab is normal, considering 1-2 "superstars" might take offers somewhere else and 1-2 might be terrible fits in real life.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

For PhD programs, this might be the high side of normal, but not that out there. Remember, if another applicant isn't interviewing for the same POI as you, they aren't really competition. There may be a few people in the running for two POI's if their labs are similar. But at my program, people are very obviously invited by a certain POI, and none of the other POI's really know about or concern themselves with the applicants that other professors invited. I think 5-6 invitees per lab is normal, considering 1-2 "superstars" might take offers somewhere else and 1-2 might be terrible fits in real life.

Agreed. 30 would be a pretty big group if, say, only two professors were accepting two students each that year. But if there are a number of POIs and/or the program accepts students as a whole and is taking 8-10 people, 30 could be about right (especially if that's the only interview day).

I think there were maybe 12-14 applicants around on my interview day (way back when), with 3 of them interviewing with my advisor. We all actually ended up getting invites, although originally the plan was to take 2 I believe.

 

[PsychPhDone]

It depends on the program and POI. At my program, if you're invited, you are likely getting an offer unless you screw something up. But I interviewed at places where there were 10-12 interviewees per POI, and several POIs (so it was a very crowded event)!

 

[applyingtograd]

It depends on the program and POI. At my program, if you're invited, you are likely getting an offer unless you screw something up. But I interviewed at places where there were 10-12 interviewees per POI, and several POIs (so it was a very crowded event)!

Do you think there are specific types of schools that tend to accept most of the people they invite (i.e. higher level schools, lower levels schools, small programs, big program. etc.)? I have an interview at a top 20 school next week and I am sooo hoping to get an offer!

 

[psychologyrun]

Do you think there are specific types of schools that tend to accept most of the people they invite (i.e. higher level schools, lower levels schools, small programs, big program. etc.)? I have an interview at a top 20 school next week and I am sooo hoping to get an offer!

You might have a better chance at getting off the waitlist at a lower ranked school, only because the best interviewees might get better offers.

*However, if you truly aren't a fit for the program, a lab will go without any new students for the year over accepting someone who doesn't fit right. * I've seen it happen several times.

There can also be interdepartmental politics and behind the scenes negotiating about who gets to accept a new student. It can be really hard to tell on your end. Sometimes all the speculating beforehand just makes your anxiety level go up rather than being accurate in any way. Just to be the best you can be and try to hang in here the next 2.5 months!!! It truly does suck, and I'm not sure I've fully recovered since my own interview days 🙂

 

[PsychPhDone]

Do you think there are specific types of schools that tend to accept most of the people they invite (i.e. higher level schools, lower levels schools, small programs, big program. etc.)? I have an interview at a top 20 school next week and I am sooo hoping to get an offer!

I don't think you can draw too many conclusions based on the relative "ranking" of the school. I applied to all "top X" schools (i.e., research-heavy, fully-funded) and experienced a lot of variability.

 

[cara susanna]

It seriously depends. My program usually interviews 19-20 applicants and then has 7 to 8 spots open. However, some programs interview like 50-some applicants.

 

[weeblewobble]

Yeah, I don't think there's a good answer to this, unfortunately. Even within program, some professors may invite a 2:1 ratio for the number they want, while others may do 5:1 or 10:1 (which, yeah, frustrating and overcrowded). You'll be able to tell for the most part when you get there how many people you're up against, unless applicants did off-day interviews or phone interviews.

As for how long, I heard anywhere from the day after interviews to two months after interviews. It's crazy making.

 

[tdenny91]

I got an interview at Baylor and in the email invitation they said that applicants who come to the interview have a 25% chance of getting accepted. I'm sure this isn't the same for every school, but I would assume it's pretty close to that.

 

[Ollie123]

Not only will it vary across schools, it will vary within schools. Some POIs may invite tons, some might only invite 1-2. Sometimes the same POI will do different things different years depending on their funding situation. For example, if they can fund someone via a TA line one year they may interview more folks because they'd be happy with anyone decent - if its off a grant they might only interview a handful they feel will be amazing because they'd rather go unfilled than spend the grant money on a mediocre candidate.

I'd say the average is 3-5 per open spot, but there is a lot of variability around that.

 

[clinical psych]

I was curious about something somewhat relevant to this thread!

Let's say a program puts some applicants on a waitlist before interview weekend (and those applicants are notified of this).

Does this mean that these applicants are waitlisted for interview weekend or that they are waitlisted for a spot with the POI?

Also, do programs that waitlist people like this tend to have smaller numbers of applicants invited for each spot at interview weekends? Or, is it largely not relevant?

Thanks!!

 

[dumbledoresgirl]

I was curious about something somewhat relevant to this thread!

Let's say a program puts some applicants on a waitlist before interview weekend (and those applicants are notified of this).

Does this mean that these applicants are waitlisted for interview weekend or that they are waitlisted for a spot with the POI?

Also, do programs that waitlist people like this tend to have smaller numbers of applicants invited for each spot at interview weekends? Or, is it largely not relevant?

Thanks!!

I've never heard of applicants being put on a waitlist before attending the interview...I've only ever heard of schools putting applicants on the waitlist after they've interviewed (and decided they would even want to accept those people...after all, waitlist implies that you would get in if the people who got offers turned them down). I can't really see a POI accepting someone into the program after not inviting them to the interview weekend...it's just too big of a risk without having met the person first (unless, of course, those arrangements were made ahead of time and the applicant did a Skype interview or something like that).

As far as how many applicants are invited to interview weekend, it's clear from others' posts that it varies widely across programs. My program invites 40-45 people to the open house, which is a 1.5 day event. Some POIs invite more applicants than others (I happen to know that one of the professors in our department only invited two people, while others are inviting 5-7). But, I think inviting only two people to interview is pretty unusual, and I think the most common number is 5-6 per spot (and there are 8 spots available).

Edit: Some schools will actually list on their website how many people received offers vs. how many people accepted offers...so if you know how many people they invite to interview, you can figure out roughly your chances of getting an offer after you interview. That said, this likely varies from one school to another and also from year to year in one school...it's possible that one year a lot of applicants turned down first-round offers for that school (and therefore several people get in off the waitlist), but it's also possible that all 8 people who got first offers accepted right away.

 

[Psychadelic2012]

I was waitlisted before interviews once and they explicitly stated that I was on a waitlist for an interview. This was for a university-based PsyD program. After interviews occurred, I discovered that I was rejected.

 

[mewtoo]

I've never heard of applicants being put on a waitlist before attending the interview...I've only ever heard of schools putting applicants on the waitlist after they've interviewed (and decided they would even want to accept those people...after all, waitlist implies that you would get in if the people who got offers turned them down). I can't really see a POI accepting someone into the program after not inviting them to the interview weekend...it's just too big of a risk without having met the person first (unless, of course, those arrangements were made ahead of time and the applicant did a Skype interview or something like that).

As far as how many applicants are invited to interview weekend, it's clear from others' posts that it varies widely across programs. My program invites 40-45 people to the open house, which is a 1.5 day event. Some POIs invite more applicants than others (I happen to know that one of the professors in our department only invited two people, while others are inviting 5-7). But, I think inviting only two people to interview is pretty unusual, and I think the most common number is 5-6 per spot (and there are 8 spots available).

Edit: Some schools will actually list on their website how many people received offers vs. how many people accepted offers...so if you know how many people they invite to interview, you can figure out roughly your chances of getting an offer after you interview. That said, this likely varies from one school to another and also from year to year in one school...it's possible that one year a lot of applicants turned down first-round offers for that school (and therefore several people get in off the waitlist), but it's also possible that all 8 people who got first offers accepted right away.

I know that Oklahoma State did what the previous poster said. I was invited for an interview and either later that day or the next day people were posting that they were waitlisted. It has confused me as I've never heard of this happening before either. I'm really wondering how many people were invited per spot now, but I guess I'll just have to wait and see in 2 weeks. If anyone has any clue, though, I would appreciate a bit of your knowledge. 🙂

 

[dumbledoresgirl]

I was waitlisted before interviews once and they explicitly stated that I was on a waitlist for an interview. This was for a university-based PsyD program. After interviews occurred, I discovered that I was rejected.

Hmm that's good to know, like I said I had never heard of that before. Do you know if there were any people who were waitlisted for an interview that later got in? And if so, if they had to arrange for an alternative interview day, or if they were just accepted without an interview?

Unless what you mean by "waitlisted for an interview" is that you would be invited to the already scheduled interview day if someone else who was invited declined to come? I guess when I read the OP's post I thought they were implying that you would get waitlisted to get in, not for the interview itself (so you would automatically get on the same waitlist that other people would get on after they have interviewed). Sorry if I misunderstood!

 

[Psychadelic2012]

Well, all I know is what the letters stated (although I attended that school for my master's, so I had *some* inside knowledge from one faculty member)--they said they would possibly contact me after interviews occurred to see if they could interview me at a later time. My impression is that I was one of the "backups" in case the invited interviewees did not pan out. I was behind even those who were waitlisted after the interview, in other words. Since those who interviewed and received offers accepted, I was then rejected.

 

[bmedclinic]

It seriously depends. My program usually interviews 19-20 applicants and then has 7 to 8 spots open. However, some programs interview like 50-some applicants.

my program works approximately this way as well.
Edit for clarity: I think we usually have 6-8 spots and invite under 20 people. Though unlikely, I havent been involved in interviews for the last 2 years so it may have changed.