I agree with Don; and as Don suggests, I'd first encourage the student herself to contact programs directly (first by e-mail, with a possible follow-up phone call) to find out what she could do to strengthen her application the next time around. So long as such inquiries are civil (which they almost always are), I don't mind them on my end, and I always try to make some time to provide constructive feedback to students about their application folders.
Scott O. Lilienfeld, Ph.D. Professor Editor, Scientific Review of Mental Health Practice Department of Psychology, Room 473 Psychology and Interdisciplinary Sciences (PAIS) Emory University 36 Eagle Row Atlanta, Georgia 30322 [email protected] (404) 727-1125 Psychology Today Blog: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-skeptical-psychologist 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-140513111X.html Scientific American Mind: Facts and Fictions in Mental Health Column: http://www.scientificamerican.com/sciammind/ The Master in the Art of Living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his education and his recreation, his love and his intellectual passions. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence in whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him - he is always doing both. - Zen Buddhist text (slightly modified) From: don allen [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, March 19, 2010 2:36 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] graduate program admissions Hi Annette- I think that it would be perfectly appropriate (and useful) to contact some of the programs. I also think that it would be OK for the student herself to contact them to find out where they thought she was deficient. I always advised my students who had been turned down after a job interview to do a follow-up call so that they could be better prepared for the next interview. The key, of course, is to make sure that it comes across as a request for information rather than a complaint about not being selected. Not everyone will give you a straight answer, but those who do will have provided you with very useful information Hope that helps, -Don. ----- Original Message ----- From: [email protected] Date: Friday, March 19, 2010 11:09 am Subject: [tips] graduate program admissions To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <[email protected]> > I had a student who is truly a top student--she has a great gpa > (3.87), has good GREs (in the 600 range each), has had extensive > research experience with several conference presentations, two > manuscripts under review and one as a co-author that has been > accepted. I know she had strong letters of rec because even > though she is not off the scale genius she is extremely > motivated and a hard worker. > > She applied only to social programs, primarily dealing with > forensic/law subareas of research. That is the area she'd like > to pursue. > > She applied to 16 programs and got into none. > > I am floored. > > She did apply to 4 law programs and got into one but is now > having second thoughts, thinking she might try again next year, > preferring to go the phd/law combined route. However, she is > coming a this decision from a perspective of being very down in > the dumps about it all. > > I was wondering if anyone on the list, who is in a program with > graduate programs, think it would be appropriate for me to > contact some of the programs and ask them what more I could have > done to mentor her; or if there was something really amiss in > her application packet that I didn't see and am not picking up on? > > Any ideas? > > Annette > > Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D. > Professor of Psychology > University of San Diego > 5998 Alcala Park > San Diego, CA 92110 > 619-260-4006 > [email protected] > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13157.966b795bc7f3ccb35e3da08aebe98f18&n=T&l=tips&o=1375or > send a blank email to > leave-1375-13157.966b795bc7f3ccb35e3da08aebe98...@fsulist.frostburg.edu > --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. 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