question for grad students-number of interviews?

[hpinvent]

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for all those who have been admitted to grad programs in the past, im curious about the ratio of # of interviews to # of acceptances..i know that this may not mean much at all, but i'd like to see if there's any pattern to this at all..thanks!

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

for all those who have been admitted to grad programs in the past, im curious about the ratio of # of interviews to # of acceptances..i know that this may not mean much at all, but i'd like to see if there's any pattern to this at all..thanks!

I don't think there is any correlation....as it comes down to how well you fit into the program and/or POI.

 

[deleted176373]

for all those who have been admitted to grad programs in the past, im curious about the ratio of # of interviews to # of acceptances..i know that this may not mean much at all, but i'd like to see if there's any pattern to this at all..thanks!

obviously there will be some correlation but it's probably not significant... really. That's like say is there a ratio between the number of applications to interviews... and the same answer applies. A bad application packet is likely to get little attention, a good packet will gain a lot of attention.

Mark

 

[Boston2k]

I'd be interested to hear how many interviews people get compared to number of applications filed as well.

 

[ny1020]

I'd be interested to hear how many interviews people get compared to number of applications filed as well.

I got interviews at 6 out of 12 apps. I was accepted into my first choice (first interview also) before the rest of the interviews, so I only went to one interview.

Good luck everyone!

 

[psy86]

Applied to 11 programs, was invited for interviews at 7 programs, actually interviewed at 5 programs (I declined the other 2 due to scheduling conflicts), was admitted to 3 programs.

 

[deleted176373]

I'd be interested to hear how many interviews people get compared to number of applications filed as well.

Year 1. 15 apps, 2 interview offers, 1 interview, 1 phone interview, 0 acceptances, 1 wait list.

Year 2. 27 apps, 14 interview offers, 8 interviews accepted, 3 acceptances, 0 wait list.

None of my stats changed between years.

Mark

 

[blindchaos]

Round 1 - 5 apps, 1 interview, 1 waitlist, eventually 5 rejections
Round 2 - 14 apps, 7 interviews thus far, 1 rejection thus far, no waitlist or acceptances thus far

 

[LilBunny]

Here are my stats:

Year 1: 8 applications -- 7 Rejections, 1 Waitlist
Year 2: 6 applications -- 6 Rejections
Year 3: 11 applications -- 1 Interview, 3 Acceptances, 7 Still waiting to hear

 

[LGymnast]

psy86's stats sound very similar to the stats of all of the grad students I work with...

 

[hpinvent]

very helpful to know others' stats..experiences..is it safe to assume that the more interviews you get more likely that you'd get accepted..?

 

[AlairaK]

I think it is all about match. Once they school decides to interview you, they have already decided that your credentials are good enough to be a student there. At that point, it's a matter of whether of not the research of your POI is really suitable for you.

I believe that if you don't get in after the interview, it is to the mutual benefit of both the program and the student...you wouldn't have been happy with their research anyway. And, if you do your research into the programs well, you should be well enough matched with the program at that point to get in!

I applied to 7 schools, got interviews at three, and have been accepted to 2. The third one, I haven't had the interview yet, so I don't know about it yet.

One official rejection so far, expecting three more (as they have already done interviews and I wasn't invited)

 

[empathiosis]

...

 

[psychwanabe]

11 apps, 4 interviews, 2 acceptances

 

[psypsypsy]

13 applications, 7 interviews offered, 6 interviews accepted, 2 acceptances and 2 rejections when I made my decision (got into my first choice and didn't wait to hear from the other 2 schools)

 

[WaitingKills]

Round 1 - 5 apps, 1 interview, 1 waitlist, eventually 5 rejections
Round 2 - 14 apps, 7 interviews thus far, 1 rejection thus far, no waitlist or acceptances thus far

Just wondering if you, or anyone else who had a great improvement in this process over a couple of years, mind sharing what you think the difference is for you this year compared to last year. Like, did you do the GRE's again, get more research experience, tailor your PS's different etc?

 

[deleted176373]

Just wondering if you, or anyone else who had a great improvement in this process over a couple of years, mind sharing what you think the difference is for you this year compared to last year. Like, did you do the GRE's again, get more research experience, tailor your PS's different etc?

For me, it was MATCH, MATCH, MATCH.

Different PS and a lot of networking.

Mark

 

[blindchaos]

Just wondering if you, or anyone else who had a great improvement in this process over a couple of years, mind sharing what you think the difference is for you this year compared to last year. Like, did you do the GRE's again, get more research experience, tailor your PS's different etc?

The gap between round 1 and round 2 is 2 years - spent the time getting a master's in psych. Didn't take the GRE's again though I thought about retaking the psych GREs. Gained a bit more research experience, gained a lot more clinical experience, and was overall just less naive about the whole process - first time around I basically applied to 'random' places (didn't do that much research or contact POIs ahead of time...really don't know what I was thinking 🙄) This time around I applied to those same five schools plus nine more. Three of those five have invited me for interviews, one rejected me (again), and one I have yet to here from. Now I currently have 8 interview offers, 1 rejection, and no acceptances/waitlists (have only gone on 2 of the interviews thus far). There is 2-3 presumed rejections and the rest are up the in the air.

Personally, I think the biggest differences this time around was (a) - gaining some research experience (had literally none the first time around), (b) - having a strong grad school GPA (undergrad GPA was decent but not as good as grad school GPA), and (c) - putting much more effort into it initially - finding good fits and making contact early. Increased clinical experience helped though I don't think it was a major factor b/c I had a good amount the first time around.

To be perfectly honest, I'm very surprised with how this second round is going thus far (my goal was to have 4 interviews). I expected it to be a little better than the first round but I never would have guessed I'd have 8 interviews - two of which are at my biggest 'reach' schools - one of which is a perfect fit and I'm *really* hoping to get in there!!!

 

[irish80122]

I agree that it is all about fit! I don't know if this will help but here are my stats from last year.

10 applications, 6 interviews (one didn't interview), 3 interviews completed, 1 acceptance (top choice), 1 high waitlist which I withdrew from.

 

[Boston2k]

Thanks for the replies, these are great data. Keep 'em coming!

 

[PsychappA]

OK, I am sorry to throw a pity-party for myself, and obviously I am not in a dire position, but as I am reading over all these people who got 6-7 interviews and hearing about friends who received a similar number of interview offers, I can't stop wondering what I did wrong did get fewer. I applied to 15 schools and have 3 interview offers and 2 rejections so far. What I don't get is I feel like I did everything I could to present a strong app. I had a 3.86 GPA (4.0 in psych), 5 years research experience with pretty prestigous labs, 3 pubs, 3 posters, good recs, good clinical experience, and networked a fair amount with the people I applied to work with. I had 5 people edit my personal statement. The only thing I can think is that I went to a mediocre school for undergrad and I had 1 GRE quant score that was really low (500s), though I retook it & my overall score was in the mid 1300s.

Does # of interviews necessarily translate to how strong the application is? My fear is that I won't get in & I won't know what to do to strengthen my app (other than continue to get research exp. and publish, maybe retake GREs). Any thoughts? Sorry to be obnoxious... I'm just freaking out!

 

[Ollie123]

It might depend on where you are applying, I wouldn't read too much into it. Remember - you only need one acceptance! I applied only to ridiculously competitive programs and only had 3 interviews and I'm in a program now. Had I applied to less competitive schools I'd definitely have gotten more interviews, but I didn't want to go to any of those schools🙂

On paperat least, you are a better candidate than I was. To me that says you likely need to look at research match, and make sure you've got your interviewing skills down pat since generally speaking, once you have an interview your credentials become meaningless and its about how well you interview.

 

[deleted176373]

OK, I am sorry to throw a pity-party for myself, and obviously I am not in a dire position, but as I am reading over all these people who got 6-7 interviews and hearing about friends who received a similar number of interview offers, I can't stop wondering what I did wrong did get fewer. I applied to 15 schools and have 3 interview offers and 2 rejections so far. What I don't get is I feel like I did everything I could to present a strong app. I had a 3.86 GPA (4.0 in psych), 5 years research experience with pretty prestigous labs, 3 pubs, 3 posters, good recs, good clinical experience, and networked a fair amount with the people I applied to work with. I had 5 people edit my personal statement. The only thing I can think is that I went to a mediocre school for undergrad and I had 1 GRE quant score that was really low (500s), though I retook it & my overall score was in the mid 1300s.

Does # of interviews necessarily translate to how strong the application is? My fear is that I won't get in & I won't know what to do to strengthen my app (other than continue to get research exp. and publish, maybe retake GREs). Any thoughts? Sorry to be obnoxious... I'm just freaking out!

At the risk of getting jumped by others, you have the right attitude, figure out what went wrong (although a little early to think that you won't get in.) I went to a Tier 4 school, so that's not it. I had excellent interviews in my second year (University of Kansas, Michigan State University, Baylor, USUHS, University of Alabama.) All solid schools. I came out of University of Texas at San Antonio... not exactly an academic powerhouse!

The number of interviews translates to how well you clearly communicated why you are a good fit to the program. Unless you somehow had a "bad" letter of reference. Sometimes, when you have a specific research interest, a particular cohort will have VERY strong demographics. This could leave you at the bottom of the barrel this year and at the top of the stack next year. It happens. Important thing to remember is NOT to give up and stay positive. If this is something you really want keep going for it. You have good stats and should be competitive, so talk to the programs about what they would like to see you do to strengthen your application after all this silliness concludes.

Mark

 

[PsychappA]

Thank you Ollie & Markp for the feedback. I think you definitely both are onto something. I did pretty much only apply to fairly competitive schools. The other issue was that I am trying to switch interests slightly (not to a research topic way off from my prior experience, but one that I have little specific experience in), so I am sure that made me a less ideal "fit" more many programs. It is good to hear that if it comes down to it there are changes that can be made if I have to apply again. Hopefully this will not be necessary, but it helps to have that knowledge in my back pocket.

Thanks again. These forums have helped me a lot & shown me that I am not alone in the agony of this process!

 

[psy86]

...I am sure that made me a less ideal "fit" more many programs...

This may have been what you meant, but what you need to demonstrate is that you are a 'fit' for a specific professor in the program, not a fit for the program itself.

 

[PsychappA]

This may have been what you meant, but what you need to demonstrate is that you are a 'fit' for a specific professor in the program, not a fit for the program itself.

That is what I meant! Sorry for being unclear. 🙂

 

[psy86]

That is what I meant! Sorry for being unclear. 🙂

I figured that's what you had in mind, but thought I'd check just in case- wouldn't want that to be a source of potential application trouble! 😉

 

[Ollie123]

That can definitely contribute - I think its one thing that held me back too since I was applying to primarily depression labs despite coming across as an addictions researcher. Given I ended up getting accepted at a VERY well known addictions lab, I'm pretty confident if I had been applying to addictions labs I'd have gotten many more interviews.

What's funny is I didn't even apply to my current lab - I applied with a depression researcher here and then my advisor contacted ME to see if I would be interested in interviewing with him as well. I made a case for combining the two areas and lo and behold, here I am, having gotten accepted into the lab ahead of 5 or so other people who interviewed despite not even mentioning this lab on my application. And I couldn't be happier with how things turned out🙂

My point is - weird things can happen. Don't write off this year until every last rejection comes. Even if you don't make it in this year, make some alterations next year and think about how you can either get experiences that are more in line with your current area, or how you can better "sell" your current experiences as fitting into your area of interest.