vent/share post for second+ time around-ers

[blindchaos]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hi all!

I'm sure I'm not the only one here applying to doctoral programs for the second (or more) time so I figured I'd create a post where we can vent about doing these #&*$%(# apps and essays again, share about what we've done since we applied the last time around and (as a lot of posts tend to go) panic about what may or may not happen this time😛

Here's my story - *First time around* - applied to 5 clinical psych psyd programs (why only 5? I have no idea.). Got one interview, one wait list, and no acceptances. Well, sort of no acceptances. Two of the programs (interview program and one of the reject programs) offered admission into their master's program. Ended up in the master's program at the school I interviewed with.

*This time around* applying to 14 clinical psych psyd/phd programs (the 14 includes the original 5). Who knows what will come of this...
I think I have a good shot at the doctoral program of the school I'm at now (kinda weird - the person that interviewed me for the doctoral program is now my prof and one of my LOR writers... 😀)

Anyway, that's what's going on over here... what are yalls stories? And for those of you who got in after two or more tries, please feel free to share to inspire us

 

[deleted176373]

Hi all!

I'm sure I'm not the only one here applying to doctoral programs for the second (or more) time so I figured I'd create a post where we can vent about doing these #&*$%(# apps and essays again, share about what we've done since we applied the last time around and (as a lot of posts tend to go) panic about what may or may not happen this time😛

Here's my story - *First time around* - applied to 5 clinical psych psyd programs (why only 5? I have no idea.). Got one interview, one wait list, and no acceptances. Well, sort of no acceptances. Two of the programs (interview program and one of the reject programs) offered admission into their master's program. Ended up in the master's program at the school I interviewed with.

*This time around* applying to 14 clinical psych psyd/phd programs (the 14 includes the original 5). Who knows what will come of this...
I think I have a good shot at the doctoral program of the school I'm at now (kinda weird - the person that interviewed me for the doctoral program is now my prof and one of my LOR writers... 😀)

Anyway, that's what's going on over here... what are yalls stories? And for those of you who got in after two or more tries, please feel free to share to inspire us

LOL, Ya, it took me 2 times to get into a decent program.

1st time 15 apps, 2 interview offers, snowed out of 1, 0 offers of anything.

2nd time 27 apps, 14 interview offers, 8 interviews, 3 offers. Got into my #1 choice and I am getting paid $67,000 a year to go to school and get my Ph.D. 😛

Mark

 

[blindchaos]

Ok just out of curiosity...how in the world did you apply to 27 programs?! I have a whole spreadsheet created just for 15! Also, I think I saw this on a different thread, but schools contacted you as early as Jan 2?? How early were your deadlines?? This time around, I've had 1 due on Nov 15, two on Dec 1, two on Dec 15, and the rest are Dec. 30/early January (I think the latest is one on Jan 20). Though arkansas apparently has a fast turnaround...apps due Dec. 1, interviews on Dec 29 (and just to calm any other arkansas applicants that may read this, as far as I know they haven't sent at interview offers yet, I just know the date b/c it's listed on their website 😛)

 

[JockNerd]

interviews on Dec 29

Are you serious? I think that's idiotic.

 

[deleted176373]

Ok just out of curiosity...how in the world did you apply to 27 programs?! I have a whole spreadsheet created just for 15! Also, I think I saw this on a different thread, but schools contacted you as early as Jan 2?? How early were your deadlines?? This time around, I've had 1 due on Nov 15, two on Dec 1, two on Dec 15, and the rest are Dec. 30/early January (I think the latest is one on Jan 20). Though arkansas apparently has a fast turnaround...apps due Dec. 1, interviews on Dec 29 (and just to calm any other arkansas applicants that may read this, as far as I know they haven't sent at interview offers yet, I just know the date b/c it's listed on their website 😛)

I was accepted by Texas A&M on Jan 15th, got an early interview offer from University of Alabama on Jan 2nd, and I had numerous Dec 1st, Dec 15th, Jan 2nd, and a few Jan 15th deadlines. Nothing was due in November.

I tracked the whole thing on an excel spreadsheet and was completely anal about the whole process. I didn't get the interview at Arkansas, although it was on my list. I was fortunate enough to have enough money to spend in this manner. I was determined to get into grad school come hell or high water, I over-compensated I really didn't need to get that crazy. If I had applied to my top 15 programs, I still would have gotten 8 interview offers and two acceptances. If I had whittled it down to my top 5, I would have gotten 4 interview offers and 2 acceptances. I wasted a fair bit of money (LOL, I also got into grad school though.)

The top 15 (in order) included USUHS, U of Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor, U of Alabama, U of Ark, U of Kansas, Michigan State University, U of Az, U of Hawaii, U of Miami, U of Houston, Texas Tech, Duke, Notre Dame.

I eventually was offered admission on April 10th to USUHS and accepted on the 15th after passing my armed services physical.

Mark

 

[thewesternsky]

Ooh, nice thread. Here's my story-- Applied to three programs last year (long story involving severe illness in the family; I wasn't willing to leave the area). Interviewed at one, accepted to zero. I was, however, accepted to a M.A. program in experimental psych, which I started in September.

Talked with my advisor in September and figured I could probably finish the M.A. by August. I'm currently applying to 7 clinical Ph.D. programs (I know it should be more, but I have fairly specific research interests and would rather apply again next year than go somewhere I wasn't thrilled with).

My application has changed a bit since last year. I rewrote the GRE to make sure I scored in the top 85th percentile on all sections (1420; 5.5); schools that count the last two years of grades will now use an average that's 7 percentage points higher than last year; and I've started doing research work that's at least tangentially related to the kind of work I'd like to start later. I'm working on personal statements now... I guess we'll see how it goes.

Good luck all!

 

[blindchaos]

I think this time around, I'm more excited b/c I know my chances have improved with the experiences I have gained but I'm also more nervous/scared really really REALLY not wanting to be soundly rejected again!

At least I should hear back from two programs relatively early so I know where I stand with them (like I mentioned before - Arkansas interviewing on Dec. 29th, and I applied to Pepperdine through the early application deadline so *if* I am selected for an interview, it'll happen in late December/early Jan)

EEEK!

 

[standbyme]

.

 

[blindchaos]

which schools are you applying to? (You don't have to answer if you don't want to). We may have a few in common though most of mine are clinical PsyDs...

Washington State
Pacific U (OR)
Pepperdine
Denver
Arkansas
Marquette
Wright State
Xavier
Indianapolis
UMass Boston
Widener
Marshall
Hartford
Loyola C (MD)

 

[shock-me-sane]

Markp, how do you like USUHS? They are on my application list for the civilian clinical program.

 

[deleted176373]

Markp, how do you like USUHS? They are on my application list for the civilian clinical program.

It has a different flavor than any other grad program, but I love it (even if I was rolling my eyes in methods II today.) It's a little crazy fast paced, like drinking from a fire hose for us military folks. The civilians have a slightly slower pace and have 5-6 years to make it through the program as opposed to the 4 years that military folks have.

So, yes, I like the place ALOT. The students tend to form very tight cohorts, each with it's own unique personality. They encourage lots of collaboration between cohorts, between faculty, just everywhere... That's my favorite part of the school!

The profs always seem to have time for you and always seem to wish to help.

Mark

 

[Duckygirl]

Yes.

This is technically my 3 round of applications. The first year I applied to only 3 schools in places I really wanted to go and were not too far away. I moved home in 2005 after getting my master's degree in teaching and then got a job in a children's mental health clinic. I coordinate my own research projects that I'm interested in, but I have yet to present at a conference on my study, and I'm just not quite done writing a report. I also do a lot of clinical work, and I think that has turned schools off from my application. That and my crap, crap, crappy test scores.

Last year I applied to 15 schools, including the three from the year before (all PhDs and 1 PsyD), got 2 interviews, 1 acceptance, and was waitlisted at seven schools. Being waitlisted at schools I wasn't offered an interview at was purgatory because I knew it would be a cold day in hell before I'd be competitive enough to bump waitlisted applicants who had interviewed. I turned down my one acceptance with the hope that one more round of GREs and another year of experience might be enough to tip the scales in my favor.

This year I am applying to 15 schools (including the original three and five from last year, plus the one I turned down last year). I decided to go the specialty route; I went looking mostly for professors studying ADHD. I applied to mostly child track type programs last year, some with attention and behavior as specialties, but I wasn't quite comeptitive enough for some. I was able to raise my GRE scores some this year, not to a competitive level, but to a non-embarrassing level. I have made more promising connections with a few professors, but I really haven't had anything amazing happen yet. I just finished 3 Dec. 1 applications, and the thought of doing 12 more makes me sick!

The worst part, for me anyway, is dwelling on the fact that after two seasons of applications: essay writing, letter and transcript collecting, test agony, and the waiting- I still have nothing to show for it. For all the work and money I've spent I could have completed a year's worth of work by now. This is my last round, seriously. I want it so bad, and there isn't much I can do to change the fact that I went to a small undergraduate school that didn't prep psychology students for careers in psychology and offered virtually no opportunities for research or to write a thesis. I've spent two years of my life taking everything in about clinical psychology- I think I've probably done 1,000 hours of assessment- and it still hasn't been enough. I know I could cut any program I attended, but I just haven't had any school believe that yet.

Maybe this will be my year.

 

[deleted176373]

Yes.

This is technically my 3 round of applications. The first year I applied to only 3 schools in places I really wanted to go and were not too far away.

Maybe this will be my year.

I hope so! Good luck, it can be tough out there!

Mark

 

[blindchaos]

Does anyone else kinda rotate between feeling very hopeful/confident that it will happen this time around to fearful that there will be a host of rejections again? I'm trying to stay on the "hopeful but not too hopeful" side of things but somehow I end up either too confident or too doubtful. I wonder if there is an application-induced bipolar disorder diagnosis coming out in DSM V 😛

 

[thewesternsky]

Does anyone else kinda rotate between feeling very hopeful/confident that it will happen this time around to fearful that there will be a host of rejections again?

Yes. 🙂

 

[blindchaos]

Thank you WesternSky 🙂 Glad I'm not the only one! Also, in reference to my earlier posts in this thread, I think Arkansas interviews in late January. The website says December 29, 2007 but also states they look forward to meeting the class of 2007 and the agenda link goes to the schedule for the interviews conducted on January 29 2007. Now if they do interview in late January (earlier than most programs), when do you think they'd start inviting people? Sometime this month or early January? Due date for apps was Dec. 1. I'm so glad I don't overthink this whole application process.....😛

 

[standbyme]

.

 

[islandgirl1]

Does anyone else kinda rotate between feeling very hopeful/confident that it will happen this time around to fearful that there will be a host of rejections again?

Yes. 🙂

me too 🙁

first time. 4 clinical phds. i was blindly applying with not-fantastic scores and gpas.
this time. 7 clinical psyds. i'm just at/above the averages for the applicants accepted over the past 3 years.
in the interim, im working full time in a private practice getting a ton of experience.

 

[Duckygirl]

Does anyone else kinda rotate between feeling very hopeful/confident that it will happen this time around to fearful that there will be a host of rejections again?

Of course we do! We've been asked to be confident and at the same time, nervous as hell over being rejected AGAIN. This is my last time doing this junk. I want to get in terribly, but I'm not gonna wait to have kids when I'm 40. I've been so positive this fall because I've actually made some promising connections, but I think I be even more disappointed if none of them works out. This blows.

 

[WaitingKills]

This is my 2nd time around too... hopefully the last 😉

First time, low GRE scores, no publications, my master's degree was not finalized. I applied to about 12 schools but didn't contact any professors and didn't write my personal statement to match specific research interests. I wrote about research I would like to do on a specific topic and picked a couple prof's who were close. I received one pat on the back type thing of 'if we were accepting ph.d's I would have accepted you, but we are only taking students at the master's level this year'... blah.

This year, I'm applying to about 14 schools (most the same, some different), have one publication in submission (hopefully in press by the time most of my app's are due) and two in preparation, higher GRE scores, my master's is complete and going through international qualification assessment. I contacted prof's at almost every school I'm applying to and have received some positive feedback. I am also smarter with making my personal statement fit with the prof's interests.

Hopefully this time around, we'll all have some better luck.

PS. I wish this site had a poll feature so we could get a better gauge of how many times people applied to get in.

 

[Sarahanne]

Hello,

This was a great idea! Thank you for starting this thread.

I applied last year to only five schools. I really didn't spend enough time researching the schools that would fit my interests best, and instead applied based on location. I was also in the middle of completing a masters program, so it was a rather challenging and crazy busy time. I was offered one interview, and extremely disliked the program. So here I am applying all over again.

This time I am applying to 15 schools. Since my undergraduate school did not prepare me for a career in psychology, I felt like I needed more research experience, so I got a master degree that focused on this. I have two years of both clinical and research experience now. In case my GRE scores did not increase, I had my grades from graduate school to fall back. I was (with a ton of studying and mostly luck) able to increase my GREs enough to be considered a competitive applicant. I also changed the way I chose schools, instead of picking based on location I chose schools that have both a curriculum for peds psych as well as research and clinical opportunities...this also means I may end in Kansas, Texas, or Ohio but that's ok because this is what I want to do with my life and you have to make sacrifices somewhere....right?

It's nice to know other people are in the same boat as I am. I wish you all the best! Here's to hoping we all get in this year!!

 

[CheetahGirl]

...

 

[Wrking4U]

Last year I applied to 13 programs, got three interviews and no offers (but was being considered at one school up until April 15th).

I had publications, research, and clinical experience, not sure what happened. So, given that there was only 4 months before I had to do it all over again I didn't think I could really improve my application that much.

I decided to apply to one Master's program (where I work, so I can take classes for free) and one clinical Ph.D. program. I'm applying to the Ph.D. program because the person I want to work with wasn't taking students last year and isn't taking students this year, so I figured I'd give it a shot. I'm just not ready to apply to 10+ programs again!

 

[Duckygirl]

I am feeling so bitter about applying this year! I know in the past I have put my applications in the mail, full of naive hope, and then eagerly awaited a thousand rejection letters in the mail.

This year I felt like, I ought to be better at this...I've done it before...
Consequently, however, I almost feel like I am doing this worse than before. I am sending all of my applications in at the last minute, some without proofreading at all! Now, I have to qualify this a little, I have what I consider to be decent writing skills, and fairly strong editing skills. I catch many mistakes with one glance through, and I can say that of all my old essays that I've written, my biggest flaws were leaving out articles (the, a) or having an extra comma because I had changed a sentence that was copied and pasted.

Now, I do know that I must be learning...because I look back on what I've written, and I think, I could say it so much better now. I have the professional articulation I didn't have two years ago.

But then I wonder...is this sh** any good? I'm 700 miles away from my undergrad, I'm no longer around other students anymore, I went to a small undergrad that doesn't prep psych majors for graduate school...perhaps all my essay and stuff are junk. I suppose I could have taken more time and effort to send my personal statements around to a professor or two...or consulted my undergrad career services center for help...but then I slap myself because it's waaaaaaaaaaaaay too late for me to be thinking about all the things I could have done. It bums me out big time. I feel like it has to happen this year...my ovaries are gettin' old! But what if it doesn't?

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

Fears of futility are part of the process, welcome to the first step of graduate school.

-t

 

[islandgirl1]

I am feeling so bitter about applying this year! I know in the past I have put my applications in the mail, full of naive hope, and then eagerly awaited a thousand rejection letters in the mail.

This year I felt like, I ought to be better at this...I've done it before...
Consequently, however, I almost feel like I am doing this worse than before. I am sending all of my applications in at the last minute, some without proofreading at all! Now, I have to qualify this a little, I have what I consider to be decent writing skills, and fairly strong editing skills. I catch many mistakes with one glance through, and I can say that of all my old essays that I've written, my biggest flaws were leaving out articles (the, a) or having an extra comma because I had changed a sentence that was copied and pasted.

self handicapping?

 

[Thrak]

In some ways, this is my 3rd time, in others, it's my first.

Back when I was in undergrad, I thought I wanted to do clinical psychology. After narrowing my choices down from 124 schools to 7 (nice big Excel spreadsheet on that one!), I was ready to apply. I was taking a grad course in research ethics at the time, taught by a clinical psychologist. I realized during the course I did *not* want to go into clinical psychology.* I still applied to one clinical psych program. I was rejected.


(* - A tangent: the story that put me over the edge. My prof was talking about one of his patients. The patient wanted to borrow a pen. He refused, because borrowing the pen could be some kind of emotional manipulation. That, combined with the horror show that he described in dealing with health insurance companies and having to manipulate Global Assessment of Functioning scores, turned me off completely).

I was in a combined BA/MA program, and when I finished my undergrad, I had completed 21 grad psych credits. I wanted to go into research, and applied to one psychometrics program. I was rejected. (My GPA was good, but my GREs were lackluster, especially the math).

Now, it's been 7 years since my last application process. I'm applying to 8 programs in Social Psych, my MA is finished, I've got 5 years work experience as a research assistant in three different areas (consumer psych, psychophysical vision, and vision and diabetes), my old GRE scores have expired and my latest ones are better (and balanced!), I have a couple of co-authorship credits on articles and a couple of poster presentations as the primary author.

This is by far my best shot. If I don't get in this time, I may just throw in the towel. Maybe I'll get trained in teaching high school social studies...😱

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

Thrak, I hope you have an opportunity to use the added experience you have gained, which I really think will be helpful. It still surprises me that so many programs take such young people. They all have the pre-requisite research experience, solid grades, etc......but I wonder how lacking in life experience will effect their development. I have seen some really smart people do great on the school end, but do quite poorly with the relational/inter-personal/applied end. I am obviously biased since I didn't go straight through, but I still wonder if the business world was onto something when the top MBA programs pretty much now require 3-5 years of experience before they seriously consider the applicants (obviously there are exceptions, but they are pretty rare).

Just my 2 cents.

-t

 

[Duckygirl]

self handicapping?

I'm not sure what you're implying when you say self handicapping.

 

[blindchaos]

bump bump 🙂 Everyone hanging in there? My sanity is staying intact for two reasons - 1. gotta finish up a few final apps (lots due on the 15th)
2. none of the schools I applied to have started to send out invites yet 🙂 Kinda a good and bad thing. Means more waiting but at least there's no panic about seeing someone else getting an invite and going nuts wondering if one is headed my way too 😛

 

[bettysblue08]

Hi everyone,

This is my second time applying too! I applied two years ago to around 10+ schools, received interview invites to 3, and was ultimately accepted to 0. I guess I was too naive then...because I thought I had a really good shot with good GRE scores, grades, and poster presentations at regional/local symposiums :T

I am more nervous than ever this time around! With an additional 1.5 yrs of research coordinating experience under my belt, I think my chances are much better this time. My chances have also improved because I am much wiser this time around with my program selection. I am a lot more focused on my research topic and I did not apply to work with any POIs with research interests that I have not had prior experience in. I really dont know what I'd do if I dont get accepted this time. I'll have to re-evaluate my goals and my life again. If a phd in psychology is still what I want the most then I will reapply a 3rd time. What Doesn't Kill You Will Only Make You Stronger!

Anyway, it's a tough process...many very qualified applicants still do not get in for various uncontrollable reasons. I am going to try to stay optimistic but also prepare myself for the worst.

I wish everyone the best of luck! 🙂

Betty

 

[Sarahanne]

bump bump 🙂 Everyone hanging in there? My sanity is staying intact for two reasons - 1. gotta finish up a few final apps (lots due on the 15th)
2. none of the schools I applied to have started to send out invites yet 🙂 Kinda a good and bad thing. Means more waiting but at least there's no panic about seeing someone else getting an invite and going nuts wondering if one is headed my way too 😛

Not really, I'm hanging on to my sanity by a thread. I'm at the stage now where my apps are totally complete, and have been since December 15th, and not a word yet! Then, I walked in this week from vacation, and someone at work who is applying to programs too told me they had an interview already! But you're right, to my knowledge none of the schools (at least the ones I've applied to) have started contacting people yet. But now I find myself checking the official interview invite thread about 15 times (or more) a day....Could this process be any more agonizing?

 

[Sarahanne]

I am feeling so bitter about applying this year! I know in the past I have put my applications in the mail, full of naive hope, and then eagerly awaited a thousand rejection letters in the mail.

This year I felt like, I ought to be better at this...I've done it before...
Consequently, however, I almost feel like I am doing this worse than before. I am sending all of my applications in at the last minute, some without proofreading at all! Now, I have to qualify this a little, I have what I consider to be decent writing skills, and fairly strong editing skills. I catch many mistakes with one glance through, and I can say that of all my old essays that I've written, my biggest flaws were leaving out articles (the, a) or having an extra comma because I had changed a sentence that was copied and pasted.

Now, I do know that I must be learning...because I look back on what I've written, and I think, I could say it so much better now. I have the professional articulation I didn't have two years ago.

But then I wonder...is this sh** any good? I'm 700 miles away from my undergrad, I'm no longer around other students anymore, I went to a small undergrad that doesn't prep psych majors for graduate school...perhaps all my essay and stuff are junk. I suppose I could have taken more time and effort to send my personal statements around to a professor or two...or consulted my undergrad career services center for help...but then I slap myself because it's waaaaaaaaaaaaay too late for me to be thinking about all the things I could have done. It bums me out big time. I feel like it has to happen this year...my ovaries are gettin' old! But what if it doesn't?

This might make you feel better: I was just about finished editing one of my applications. I left I came back and thought I was done. I submitted my application and felt pretty confident about it. My fiance right before we were going to bed, asked me how I felt about it and I started going over all the edits and realized to my horror that I had forgotten to change a sentence I added to the end of the personal statement...guess what the error was? I basically indicated that I wanted to apply to another school in my personal statement, I tried everything I could to edit that application and nothing worked! I was up until 4 in the morning so upset about it, because it was one of my favorite schools and on top of that one of my recommenders knew the head of the department and told him to give him a heads up for my application! I called the next morning at 8:30am and contacted a staffmember from admissions. I told her I made a small mistake, and asked her if she would just delete my application? She said oh if its a small mistake, I can just fix it. I insisted, no please delete it and she had already pulled up my file. She asked where the mistake was, and once I told her she said "oh this is REALLY funny," and started laughing at me on the other end. To my relief, she said I could just submit another one and I made her promise she would tell NO ONE. After I told my family what happened they were pretty much rolling on the floor with laughter. Hopefully, no one else has had a blunder like this but I try to see the humorous side of it. Hope this helps 🙂

 

[WaitingKills]

This might make you feel better: I was just about finished editing one of my applications. I left I came back and thought I was done. I submitted my application and felt pretty confident about it. My fiance right before we were going to bed, asked me how I felt about it and I started going over all the edits and realized to my horror that I had forgotten to change a sentence I added to the end of the personal statement...guess what the error was? I basically indicated that I wanted to apply to another school in my personal statement, I tried everything I could to edit that application and nothing worked! I was up until 4 in the morning so upset about it, because it was one of my favorite schools and on top of that one of my recommenders knew the head of the department and told him to give him a heads up for my application! I called the next morning at 8:30am and contacted a staffmember from admissions. I told her I made a small mistake, and asked her if she would just delete my application? She said oh if its a small mistake, I can just fix it. I insisted, no please delete it and she had already pulled up my file. She asked where the mistake was, and once I told her she said "oh this is REALLY funny," and started laughing at me on the other end. To my relief, she said I could just submit another one and I made her promise she would tell NO ONE. After I told my family what happened they were pretty much rolling on the floor with laughter. Hopefully, no one else has had a blunder like this but I try to see the humorous side of it. Hope this helps 🙂

Holy crap. I am so happy that you got this sorted out, especially since it is your top choice. Way to work the grad secretary though, that's awesome. I think this is one of the worst nightmares for everyone on this board (at least mine lol).

 

[scienceisbeauty]

Hi everyone,

This is my second time applying too! I applied two years ago to around 10+ schools, received interview invites to 3, and was ultimately accepted to 0. I guess I was too naive then...because I thought I had a really good shot with good GRE scores, grades, and poster presentations at regional/local symposiums :T

I wish everyone the best of luck! 🙂

Betty

Aww Betty, Your application the first time around seems like what mine is going to be like...has me a bit scared. :S *AH*
I wish you best of luck in this second round!!

 

[Sarahanne]

Holy crap. I am so happy that you got this sorted out, especially since it is your top choice. Way to work the grad secretary though, that's awesome. I think this is one of the worst nightmares for everyone on this board (at least mine lol).

Thanks, hopefully the secretary keeps her promise! The last thing I would want is to be called in for an interview just to be asked if I know I'm applying to the right place! Hehe....Hello Ms Sarah, How are you doing today? I noticed in reading your application, you indicated you wanted to apply to [insert school here] instead of this university. Reply: Well, I thought it sounded the same? or spellcheck must have replaced it with the right spelling? 😱 LOL

 

[deleted176373]

This might make you feel better: I was just about finished editing one of my applications. I left I came back and thought I was done. I submitted my application and felt pretty confident about it. My fiance right before we were going to bed, asked me how I felt about it and I started going over all the edits and realized to my horror that I had forgotten to change a sentence I added to the end of the personal statement...guess what the error was? I basically indicated that I wanted to apply to another school in my personal statement, I tried everything I could to edit that application and nothing worked! I was up until 4 in the morning so upset about it, because it was one of my favorite schools and on top of that one of my recommenders knew the head of the department and told him to give him a heads up for my application! I called the next morning at 8:30am and contacted a staffmember from admissions. I told her I made a small mistake, and asked her if she would just delete my application? She said oh if its a small mistake, I can just fix it. I insisted, no please delete it and she had already pulled up my file. She asked where the mistake was, and once I told her she said "oh this is REALLY funny," and started laughing at me on the other end. To my relief, she said I could just submit another one and I made her promise she would tell NO ONE. After I told my family what happened they were pretty much rolling on the floor with laughter. Hopefully, no one else has had a blunder like this but I try to see the humorous side of it. Hope this helps 🙂

Even more humerous, I received an early acceptance at a REALLY good school despite putting the wrong professors down for a school that was a direct rival of the one I applied to.

Don't sweat your mistakes. If they really want you, they will accept you flaws and all. Although I couldn't believe that this happened to me!

Mark

 

[Sarahanne]

Even more humerous, I received an early acceptance at a REALLY good school despite putting the wrong professors down for a school that was a direct rival of the one I applied to.

Don't sweat your mistakes. If they really want you, they will accept you flaws and all. Although I couldn't believe that this happened to me!

Mark

No way! That's awesome, that makes me feel a little better about my chances. BTW (I can't believe I'm going to admit this) but I'm really glad applications were due before American idol....lol I'm personally glad to have them out of the way not hanging over my head 🙂 time to finally get some rest 😴anyone else have some off the wall reason they are grateful applications are over?

 

[xlittlemissalix]

This is my first time around applying to Clinical Psych PhD programs. I'm new to SDN and have just been searching the threads. I've noticed a lot of you have been mentioning getting waitlisted at schools. I didn't know grad schools did that for some reason! What is that like? Do you still get interviews at the schools and THEN get waitlisted instead of accepted/rejected or do you just get waitlisted right away instead of an interview? And if you do get waitlisted and then get in... when would you find out? After April 1st I assume? Sorry for so many questions. I had just been wondering about the whole possibility of getting waitlisted and how it would work. Thanks! 🙂

 

[deleted176373]

This is my first time around applying to Clinical Psych PhD programs. I'm new to SDN and have just been searching the threads. I've noticed a lot of you have been mentioning getting waitlisted at schools. I didn't know grad schools did that for some reason! What is that like? Do you still get interviews at the schools and THEN get waitlisted instead of accepted/rejected or do you just get waitlisted right away instead of an interview? And if you do get waitlisted and then get in... when would you find out? After April 1st I assume? Sorry for so many questions. I had just been wondering about the whole possibility of getting waitlisted and how it would work. Thanks! 🙂

Normally the wait list occurs post-interview. They make the offer to the #1 person, if they accept, so sad - too bad... If they decline, or in my case got medically disqualified, then they call the next person on the list (in this case it was me!), that person can either then accept or decline the offer (in my case I accepted rather quickly, before they realized they made a mistake 😉.)

Mark

 

[RayneeDeigh]

I was waitlisted pre-interview and got in.

 

[xlittlemissalix]

I was waitlisted pre-interview and got in.

Did you then still go to an interview later on or did they just accept you?

 

[xlittlemissalix]

Normally the wait list occurs post-interview. They make the offer to the #1 person, if they accept, so sad - too bad... If they decline, or in my case got medically disqualified, then they call the next person on the list (in this case it was me!), that person can either then accept or decline the offer (in my case I accepted rather quickly, before they realized they made a mistake 😉.)

Mark

Oh ok. That makes sense. Thanks!

 

[Duckygirl]

Did you then still go to an interview later on or did they just accept you?

xlittlemissalix,

Actually, many schools make waitlists before they do their interviews. Why? Say a professor is seriously considering 5 students and plans on taking 1. All five students interview. The professor cuts 2 of them post interview realizing the match was not good/student was a nutjob/student misrepresented himself on the application and offers the spot to the top applicant, who declines because they have another offer that is better. The professor, is left with only two other applicants to chose from the initial 5, and perhaps they both take offers elsewhere as well. Where to go from there?

That's when the professor will dig into the pile of the originally-generated waitlist pool and start looking for back-up options. The professor starts contacting a few other applicants who were also highly ranked and does one of two things: 1) offers the student a chance to interview or 2) announces (or doesn't annouce, and in this instance your are left hanging without an interview and without a rejection for a long while) to the student that they are still being considered.

Not every school is set up this way. Some programs will interview FAR more applicants than they could ever accept, with the hope that they will have a healthy waitlist pool of interviewees from which to pick if the top applicants decline the first offers. However, this is not the case everywhere, and happens a surprising amount, particularly at schools where the professors select only a small handful of applicants to interview initially, and can only accept one or two students.

As we get closer to April, these scenarios will happen more and more and the situation will become clearer. Sometimes will be notified before April 1st, but it does occasionally happen to people after April 1st and before April 15th. For those people who will be waiting between April 1st and 15th to hear something, the wait is painful!

Hopefully none of us second+ timers will have to worry about that this year!

 

[xlittlemissalix]

xlittlemissalix,

Actually, many schools make waitlists before they do their interviews. Why? Say a professor is seriously considering 5 students and plans on taking 1. All five students interview. The professor cuts 2 of them post interview realizing the match was not good/student was a nutjob/student misrepresented himself on the application and offers the spot to the top applicant, who declines because they have another offer that is better. The professor, is left with only two other applicants to chose from the initial 5, and perhaps they both take offers elsewhere as well. Where to go from there?

That's when the professor will dig into the pile of the originally-generated waitlist pool and start looking for back-up options. The professor starts contacting a few other applicants who were also highly ranked and does one of two things: 1) offers the student a chance to interview or 2) announces (or doesn't annouce, and in this instance your are left hanging without an interview and without a rejection for a long while) to the student that they are still being considered.

Not every school is set up this way. Some programs will interview FAR more applicants than they could ever accept, with the hope that they will have a healthy waitlist pool of interviewees from which to pick if the top applicants decline the first offers. However, this is not the case everywhere, and happens a surprising amount, particularly at schools where the professors select only a small handful of applicants to interview initially, and can only accept one or two students.

As we get closer to April, these scenarios will happen more and more and the situation will become clearer. Sometimes will be notified before April 1st, but it does occasionally happen to people after April 1st and before April 15th. For those people who will be waiting between April 1st and 15th to hear something, the wait is painful!

Hopefully none of us second+ timers will have to worry about that this year!

Duckygirl - thanks so much. That was EXTREMELY helpful. 🙂 And good luck!! I give anyone who can go through this whole application process a 2nd+ time a lot of credit - it was NOT fun and I'm not sure I'll be up for applying again anytime soon if I don't get in. 🙁