I'm think I should go into clinical psychology, medicine seems too hard

[WisNeuro]

I am going to direct us back to psychology programs.....

So something happened to me today... I am applying to PhD programs in clinical psychology and yet i did not submit my applications. After contacting a potential mentor with my CV and brief information about my research interests, she invited me to a zoom chat!

What does this mean and how usual is this to happen? that a potential PI picks a chat with you before you even submit the application?

Am I in a good position because i can give them a first impression before they get to read my application?

Thanks!

This is hard to read into, as PIs vary quite a bit in how they handle this. Some refuse to talk to people prior to applications at all, some like to chat with people, and everything in-between. I'd say in general it's probably a positive, but I wouldn't assume too much when other potential PIs do not respond, or respond with a boilerplate email.

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[cara susanna]

I am going to direct us back to psychology programs.....

So something happened to me today... I am applying to PhD programs in clinical psychology and yet i did not submit my applications. After contacting a potential mentor with my CV and brief information about my research interests, she invited me to a zoom chat!

What does this mean and how usual is this to happen? that a potential PI picks a chat with you before you even submit the application?

Am I in a good position because i can give them a first impression before they get to read my application?

Thanks!

I can't answer that particular question, but I do want to emphasize not getting your hopes up based on this. When I emailed PIs, I got responses from some of them that seemed quite encouraging. In the end I didn't even get interviews with those programs.

That's good advice for this process in general. Like I had a faculty member tell me they'd be strongly advocating for my admission after my interview, and I still got waitlisted.

 

[szymk1sm]

I can't answer that particular question, but I do want to emphasize not getting your hopes up based on this. When I emailed PIs, I got responses from some of them that seemed quite encouraging. In the end I didn't even get interviews with those programs.

That's good advice for this process in general. Like I had a faculty member tell me they'd be strongly advocating for my admission after my interview, and I still got waitlisted.

To chime in: When I was going through this process, I had sent an email to a PI asking if they would be at a particular conference and if we could meet for coffee - no response.

This is the PI I ended up working under in grad school.

I later asked her about this and she said she thought she had responded and the email must have fallen through the cracks.

So not hearing from potential PIs is not necessarily a bad thing.

 

[NeuroPsychosis]

Yeah i am definitely not standing too high on my hopes just yet...at least not until i get an official interview. I just found it odd that a PI wants to meet me before I even submit an application to them.

Also, i keep in mind that admissions process is not always in the hands of one person in the department. Applications usually go through multiple people for review and a finalized decision from the graduate school or dean. So i always think even if a PI expresses initial interest in me as an applicant, there are multiple checkpoints the application is apparently going to pass through (or get detained by one! ).

 

[futureapppsy2]

Yeah i am definitely not standing too high on my hopes just yet...at least not until i get an official interview. I just found it odd that a PI wants to meet me before I even submit an application to them.

Also, i keep in mind that admissions process is not always in the hands of one person in the department. Applications usually go through multiple people for review and a finalized decision from the graduate school or dean. So i always think even if a PI expresses initial interest in me as an applicant, there are multiple checkpoints the application is apparently going to pass through (or get detained by one! ).

As a faculty member who reviews grad applications, I've never heard of a dean or grad school having veto power after the faculty vote. Before, yes, maybe, if the applicant doesn't meet minimum requirements or has missing documents, but not after.

 

[Big5Club]

As a faculty member who reviews grad applications, I've never heard of a dean or grad school having veto power after the faculty vote. Before, yes, maybe, if the applicant doesn't meet minimum requirements or has missing documents, but not after.

My program was like this. The faculty member would “recommend” an applicant to the program and it needed final approval from the graduate division. This was for every accepted applicant. For what it’s worth, the grad div never declined anybody as far as I knew, so I think it’s more of a formality. At least in my program.

 

[NeuroPsychosis]

Do you guys know if sending 4 letters of recommendation when the school asks for a minimum of 3 hurts the application?

I got into this case where i asked 4 people for a letter of rec (i was preparing for one to either forget or never reply)...but surprisingly they all notified me that they have prepared a letter for me. Now what to do? Do 4 letters hurt? for those of you who had been involved in admissions.... did you read the 4th letter or did you just choose 3, or did you actually think negatively about the applicant since they made you do extra work?

Would love a feedback on this! Thank you.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

If 4 letters are sent, in my experience, reviewers typically will only read the first 3; which could be good, bad, or indifferent, depending on whether the last letter was your strongest. However, if you have control over the situation (i.e., you're sending/submitting the letters rather than the writers sending them on your behalf), I would only send 3. You can perhaps mix and match if you'd like, depending on each school and whether one writer or another may be a better match for your application there.

 

[NeuroPsychosis]

If 4 letters are sent, in my experience, reviewers typically will only read the first 3; which could be good, bad, or indifferent, depending on whether the last letter was your strongest. However, if you have control over the situation (i.e., you're sending/submitting the letters rather than the writers sending them on your behalf), I would only send 3. You can perhaps mix and match if you'd like, depending on each school and whether one writer or another may be a better match for your application there.

Thank you! That sounds good. I will be sending only 3, but will switch between the last two letters to best fit the school and play with chances lol. The first two are obviously letters I want to send to all schools since i had the strongest relationship with their writers (PIs). The last two are either a researcher from the same lab as the first PI or a famous psychologist who is known for his books (professor from my MA program).