PhD/PsyD Overthinking the Interview

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pcyhedout

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Hi all, I have appreciated this forum a lot during this Grad school interview season. I recently interviewed at my top Ph.D. program (yay!), where they only accept 5 applicants. I think I put too much pressure on myself because I did not walk away from the day feeling good. All I can think about are the cringey things I said and how I wish I did things differently. I find the virtual format very frustrating and wish the faculty could have seen my true self, which perhaps didn't shine through Zoom. The wait time before admissions decisions are brutal. Any advice?
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So...what's the etiquette nowadays? Can you follow up with a nice email or handwritten note (Yikes! does anyone do that anymore??) stating your appreciation for their time, your renewed interest and enthusiasm in the program. I don't feel it can harm (but APA may have made some no-contact rule for applicants), and perhaps this task will leave you with a better feeling (maybe your interviewers, as well). Or you could take my husband's advice...write the email, save it in drafts, let your acute emotional reactions dissipate, and then, never send the email.

Please take our cumulative perspectives. I am 'old school,' meaning the fancy handwritten notes set us apart....way back when (ha...or maybe it didn't...and I only believed it did).

Mind you...it could also be the Zeigarnik effect (where we tend to remember unfinished, incomplete tasks...more than finished ones. Maybe you did much better than you feel because the stakes are so high?).

Good luck! :luck:
 
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Send a personalized thank you email in which you BRIEFLY touch on some of the more interesting topics you had discussed with the faculty you are emailing.
 
Stop by Amazon. Get some personalized stationary. Preferably on linen. Grand total of like $30. Send an actual thank you card. Stand out from the crowd.
 
pcyhedout said:
Hi all, I have appreciated this forum a lot during this Grad school interview season. I recently interviewed at my top Ph.D. program (yay!), where they only accept 5 applicants. I think I put too much pressure on myself because I did not walk away from the day feeling good. All I can think about are the cringey things I said and how I wish I did things differently. I find the virtual format very frustrating and wish the faculty could have seen my true self, which perhaps didn't shine through Zoom. The wait time before admissions decisions are brutal. Any advice?
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My advice...let it rain... :)

 
Fan_of_Meehl said:
My advice...let it rain... :)

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Opinions contraindicated by functional neuro imaging. Same group whose opinions on acupuncture were characterized by the world health organization as something like, “impossible to reconcile with science”. Which checks out with a basis of knowledge that starts before germ theory.

sorry, but the veracity of something is not predicated upon it being old and not western.
 
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PsyDr said:
Opinions contraindicated by functional neuro imaging. Same group whose opinions on acupuncture were characterized by the world health organization as something like, “impossible to reconcile with science”. Which checks out with a basis of knowledge that starts before germ theory.

sorry, but the veracity of something is not predicated upon it being old and not western.
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And don't forget gross orientalism.
 
Thank you all, sadly I was rejected. Trying not to take it too personally. It hurts!
 
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