Phone interview but no invitation to on-campus

[katciao]

Hi, All,

I had my second phone interview with a PhD program in Social (Health) Psychology program today. (First interview was last week with colleague of today's professor's. I got a surprise call from first prof!)

First thing today's prof said to me was that I seemed more interested in clinical work rather than research! I tried to convince her that I was committed to research (stated that I was pursuing tt with heavy emphasis on research, stressed my quant background). She was polite and spent most of twenty five minutes describing her research projects, all of which I would be happy to work on. At the end, she said I seemed well-qualified but would have to wait for the grad division to make the final decision. She estimated that they would decide in two weeks, pretty quick considering the deadline was Friday, Jan. 9. She did not, however, invite me to an on-campus interview.

First question: Have I been booted? I'm disappointed as my gut tells me that this was in the only school where I had a decent chance.

FYI, my stats:
GRE: 780 (q) + 770 (v) = 1550 (t); 5.0 (AWA)
GPA:
undergrad total (electrical engineering/math at competitive uni): 2.90 (was on intercollegiate team, not good at EE! 20 years ago)
undergrad Jr/Sr (math only): 3.2
undergrad psyc (post-bacc): 3.96
masters clinical psyc: 4.00
grad education: 4.00
grad finance: 3.44 & 3.89
Research exp: 2 yr in 2 psych labs at current university (getting master's) + couple years statistical research in other fields + 10 yrs experience teaching math; 1 journal publication; 1 conference presentation; thesis in progress
Research fit: fairly good (best guess)

Second question: When do invitations and rejection letters go out for USC (clinical psych deadline was Dec 1); UCSB (social psyc deadline was Dec 1); and UCI (psych deadline was Dec 15)?

Thanks,
LM

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[PhDToBe]

are you sure there is an on-campus interview? it doesn't sound like it if they're making decisions in two weeks. or maybe those only exist for people they're unsure about? it doesn't seem like a research program would need interviews as much, since they don't need to assess the skills necessary for clinical training. of course, i would want to meet anyone i had to deal with for 4-6 years in person before i accepted someone, lol.

 

[242598]

Hi, All,

I had my second phone interview with a PhD program in Social (Health) Psychology program today. (First interview was last week with colleague of today's professor's. I got a surprise call from first prof!)

First thing today's prof said to me was that I seemed more interested in clinical work rather than research! I tried to convince her that I was committed to research (stated that I was pursuing tt with heavy emphasis on research, stressed my quant background). She was polite and spent most of twenty five minutes describing her research projects, all of which I would be happy to work on. At the end, she said I seemed well-qualified but would have to wait for the grad division to make the final decision. She estimated that they would decide in two weeks, pretty quick considering the deadline was Friday, Jan. 9. She did not, however, invite me to an on-campus interview.

I wonder if she meant "final decision" as in whether or not they invite you for an interview and not whether you're accepted.

I'm applying to clinical programs and I had a phone interview that I think went well. At the end the professor said he wanted to invite me for an in-person interview but that he had to run everything by the department first and that he would have to wait to send out an invite.

 

[childpsych479]

I don't think you're definitely booted. It sounds like he/she thought you were a strong candidate and that you were able to reiterate your interest in research. I had a phone interview over the holidays and was unsure of how it went. A week later my POI invited me for an on-campus interview. This was for a clinical program but what I'm saying is that if this program holds on-campus interviews you may still be offered one even though you weren't offered during the phone conversation. Also, I think the other posters make a good point that the program may not hold these type of interviews.

Best of luck to you!

 

[304402]

Hi, All,

Second question: When do invitations and rejection letters go out for USC (clinical psych deadline was Dec 1); UCSB (social psyc deadline was Dec 1); and UCI (psych deadline was Dec 15)?

Thanks,
LM

See this thread for interview invitations:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=679923

 

[Wildcat06]

Based on my own experience and the experience of friends, it seems that non-clinical programs are less likely to have interviews before making final decisions. They might be waiting on grad school approval prior to making an offer.

 

[katciao]

Hi, All,

Thank you for your advice and support.

The first of the two professors at the university that started interviewing me last week, called again! Yeah! He asked me if the university had my transcripts. (I thought that they had my grades as I submitted my app on-line in mid-December and my transcripts were postmarked around December 23.) I hope that grades will not be the deal-breaker. I can't change them now so if asked about them I guess all I can do is tell them why they were what they were years ago and mention how they've improved. I included several of my many gpa's on my CV, which this prof has discussed with me.

As this will be my third phone interview with them, and likely last, unless they have an on-campus interview, I expect them to break out the tough questions. I anticipate very detailed questions about my past research and desired direction, especially in research. Academically/professionally, I would really like to focus on topics in social geriatric health psychology. Tenure track would be great as it would allow me to do a substantial amount of research as well as teach, something I've done for over a decade.

Any suggestions to someone with my background on how to get ready?

Good luck to all of you and thanks for any input!
LM