Annette, Of course, PhD programs in psychology are notoriously competitive, some areas more than others. I always tell students to apply to more than one program, especially if they are PhD programs, but the upper limit is hard to arrive at. If a student told me they applied to 16 programs (plus 4 in a different discipline), I'd be suspicious of a few things:
1) Did she put together stellar applications? I cannot imagine a student putting in adequate time with that many applications. And my God - the cost! 2) Often students write one general application and send it everywhere, doing little to communicate a specific match with THAT program. I mean, how COULD you have the time to do that with 16 or more applications? Kudos to her if she did. 3) Were all these programs indeed a true match for her? Once you start getting into that many, I wonder if there are other selection criteria at play other than match and that becomes clear to people reviewing her application. How many interviews did she receive? If she received a number of them, then perhaps she does not interview well, or there are some interpersonal issues which were red flags to the programs. Obviously, from the way you describe her, she is an ideal candidate for a doctoral program in our discipline. But if I'm not mistaken, social psychology doctoral programs tend to select a very tiny # of applicants each year (many not more than just a few). Perhaps she was near the top of each of these lists, but just never made it past alternate status? Like others, I would suggest she contact the programs (via e-mail) for some constructive criticism. In my area (counseling) and often others (clincial especially) feedback is difficult due to the sheer # of candidates (some clinical doctoral programs literally have 100s of applications - the most I've seen is over 600). I've even seen programs decline in advance on their website. Given her obvious strengths, I'd certainly suggest she reapply in the future after receiving feedback from at least a few programs. It seems like you've done a great job mentoring, and know the important characteristics needed. I drill these things into our students over and over again, but, unfortunately, very few rise to the level of preparation of your student. The few who do often require a second or third attempt to get into a PhD program. Dean M. Amadio Siena College <<Subject: graduate program admissions From: <[email protected]> Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2010 11:09:28 -0700 (PDT) X-Message-Number: 1 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=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=1397 or send a blank email to leave-1397-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
