The Selection Process

Some misconceptions concerning graduate school applications are derived from a very basic misunderstanding and lack of information concerning the selection process. For example, many people believe that rejection from a program means the program found that they were not qualified for graduate school. This inference is usually false. Any program that receives 200 applications for 6 positions will reject at least 100 people with excellent qualifications, all of whom would likely do well in the program.

Here is a brief summary of the selection process followed by most graduate programs. Since APA accredits programs according to a common model, the admission processes followed by training programs are largely the same.

Most programs have a committee of faculty that mediate the selection of new students. Some committees are composed of faculty and graduate students. Some committees have the primary responsibility to choose the new students; others just process all the applications, compose a group of finalists and then individual faculty members choose the new students with whom they will work.

Application deadlines are usually in January. Most applications are not sent directly to Psychology departments. They are usually processed by the University graduate school or enrollment office. This office assembles a folder of applicant materials that includes the applicant form, transcripts of the undergraduate school, letters of recommendation, GRE scores and any other supporting documents. The applicant folder is then sent to the Psychology department admissions committee after these materials are assembled for each application. The admissions committee collects these folders.

At some point in early February, the admissions committee convenes and does an initial sorting of the applicants. At this point, the committee must select the group to be interviewed. Most programs can only reasonably interview 40-60 applicants at the most. These people are interviewed during the month of March. Following the interviews, the committee makes the final choices. The committee formulates its choices into a list of accepted applicants followed by a set of possible applicants, often called the wait-list. The applicants selected for the program are contacted by phone immediately. They are encouraged to make a decision as soon as possible but, according to APA guidelines, they do not need to accept admittance into the program until April 15. From the second week of March until April 15, the program moves down its list of rated applicants, extending admissions after getting negative responses from some of the applicants that were accepted into the program. Of course, programs are also rejected by applicants who are accepted into multiple programs and the admissions committees must create a list of acceptable applicants that is greater than the number of admissions slots they have available.

Now, let's analyze this selection process according to the psychology of human decision-making. In fundamental terms, the applicant pool starts with a large number (e.g. 300), it is reduced to approximately 50 for interviews then to approximately 20 applicants who are finally selected for admission. The selection criteria include grades, GRE scores, impressions from the recommendation letters, interests of the applicant and impressions from the interview. However, these factors are considered at different points in the selection process.

The first phase of the selection involves reducing the complete set of applications down to the interview group. Since there are so many applicants to review, every program stresses the standardized credentials at this point, the GRE scores and grades. Some programs have a formula or set of cut-off scores they use consistently from year to year. Sometimes the cut-off levels are adjusted each year according to the number of applicants. The magic cut-off scores for the GRE are typically 600 for the Verbal section and 600 for the Quantitative section. The cut-off for Grade Point Average (GPA) is approximately 3.4. Using these cut-off scores, the admissions committee reduces the large group of applicants to approximately one-third of the original number. The final group selected for interview (approximately 50) is based on more stringent GRE and grade levels, or on interests and compatibility with the program. Whatever the method chosen, the admissions committee is only involved in selecting 50 interview candidates from approximately 100 applicants.

There is an important consideration derived from this step in the process. Since GRE scores and grades were used to reduce the applicant pool, the people still in the pool have similar grades and GRE scores. This is important because it suggests that the admissions committee can no longer use grades and GRE scores to further refine the sample. Since the people in this sample all have approximately uniform high grades and GRE scores, these variables can no longer be used to discriminate among the applicants. Further refinement must be accomplished using other considerations, such as the letters of recommendations, interview performance and the compatibility of interests.

It is crucial that you make the interview selection. If you are not interviewed, it is very unlikely you will be selected for graduate school. It is this point in the selection process that your GRE scores and grades are most important.

The final step of the selection process is based almost completely on the results of the interview. The major factors conveyed in the interview are your interests in clinical psychology and how they are compatible with the opportunities offered by the program. These interests include the topics you want to study in research and the clinical work you wish to do. There are also idiosyncratic factors that influence the selection at this point. These include your personality and maturity as they are perceived by the interviewer. Many of these are not observable. Imagine yourself as an interviewer attempting to select someone you will work with for the next four years. A number of things you might use for the selection are unknown to you, or may be completely unreasonable as criteria. They include personal compatibility, friendliness and secondary interests. It is difficult to estimate the magnitude of influence of factors like this. However, they all blend into the mix of influences on the final decision.

From a quasi-scientific point of view, the overall decision about graduate school admissions appears 50% based on your credentials, 20% based on idiosyncratic factors that are largely unknown to you and 30% based on complete chance. No one knows the magnitude of these factors but it is clear that the selection is not determined by grades, GRE scores or any set of academic qualifications. Yet, most applicants probably believe that academic credentials are more important than the role they actually play.

The major lessons to learn from the fact that the process has considerable random factors is 1) You must apply to as many programs as possible to give yourself the most opportunities to capitalize on chance factors and win the graduate school lottery; 2) If you are rejected, it is very likely that chance factors were the reason rather than some specific defect in your application.

The best strategy you can follow is to make the best application you can to as many programs as possible that meet your training needs. In that way, you will give yourself the best chance of finally making the selection.

Selection committees must complete all their work by April 1. Most complete their selections well before this. APA specifies that programs must inform all the applicants they have selected by April 1. Applicants must then inform the program selection committees by April 15. Of course, everything happens much sooner than this. From approximately March 15 to April 1, programs contact students and try to recruit them. By April 1, most programs have recruited almost all of their students.

The Final Selection Phase

The next interval in the admissions process involves the final selections by the committees and the recruitment of the applicants. The admission committees have a summit meeting in which they make the final selection. At this point, the information gathered from the interview has a major influence. Here is the basic format of most such meetings:

The group convenes and reviews each student who was interviewed one at a time. Sometimes the interviews, recommendation letters, grades, GRE scores, clinical experience and research experience are all rated in some fashion that they are comparable. For example, every area may be rated on a five-point scale, ranging from Excellent to Poor. The applicants are then usually stratified by the average rating. Other committees may use one area, such as GRE scores, to stratify the applicants. Regardless of the method, the committee will form a list of the most desirable applicant down to the least desirable.

The only major deviation from this scheme occurs when programs allow individual faculty to choose their own students, Presumably individual faculty form a stratification within the subsample of applicants who have expressed interest in working with them. The end result is essentially the same. However, the relative competition varies with the number of applicants in each subsample. If one faculty member is choosing from among 10 applicants and another is choosing from among 3, then the applicants in the latter group have a better chance of selection.

Although the groups may use some sort of scaling to make an initial stratification of the applicants, they usually engage in a lot of shifting of the sample in order to accommodate to the fact that many applicants have the same ratings for virtually every area and the listing is somewhat arbitrary. In addition, many applicants have unique credentials or experiences that are reasons for moving them up or down in the list. Some faculty make special arguments for applicants they want to advance up the list. After considerable discussion, the committee finally comes to the list of applicants who will be awarded admission into the program.

The number each program accepts is established by two general rules: 1) Programs that have large undergraduate schools and do not depend on the income from graduate student tuitions, usually only accept the number of students that can be funded by assistantships and grants, or approximately one new student for each faculty member; 2) Programs that rely on the graduate student tuition for their funding will accept as many graduate students as they possibly can. This number is still relatively low and probably never exceeds three new students for each faculty member. If you want to make a quick estimate of the number of new students a program likely accepts, then simply count the faculty.

Anticipating that many applicants will not accept their program, most committees extend acceptances to twice as many applicants as they expect to have in the incoming class. Some committees will initially only admit the number they expect for the new class and then wait to see who accepts the program. If an accepted applicant rejects the program, these committees will then accept another applicant. They will continue in this way until they have recruited the number expected for the incoming class.

Faculty members are assigned to make phone calls to the selected applicants. Some applicants will accept the program at the time they are called. Applicants may wait until April 15 before making a response. However, it is in everyone's interest for applicants to make decisions as soon as possible. Keep in mind that there are many applicants waiting in line for acceptance. The longer an accepted applicant waits to make a decision, the longer everyone behind them waits anxiously for acceptance.

Here is the strategy you should follow when making decisions at this phase of the process. First, make a list of the programs to which you applied. Stratify the programs according to which ones you would most like to attend. When you are accepted into a program, check to see where it is on your list. If it is rated below a program that has already accepted you, then tell the person who contacted you immediately that you have already been accepted at another program. Of course, if you have taken acceptance at any program, then make sure to inform all the programs you applied to that you have chosen where you want to attend. Do this for all programs in which you are under consideration, including the programs that did not interview you. If you do this, you will do a favor for all the many applicants waiting for an offer as well as the programs that are trying to fill up their incoming classes.

Dealing with Rejection

After reviewing these pages, you should understand that rejection from programs does not mean you are not qualified to be trained as a clinical psychologist. All it means is that you did not beat the odds and did not beat your competition. Although there are no data available bearing on the issue, it is likely that up to 40% of psychologists in practice applied to graduate school more than once. The uncertainty inherent in the selection process suggests this. Most presumably learned how to apply again after having the experience of applying the previous year. This experience certainly increases the chances of getting into a program during a subsequent year.

Many people who are rejected cannot understand why this occurred when they obviously have all the credentials specified in the application. They do not appreciate the competitive element involved and how this plays in the application process. Imagine a program that receives 200 applications. The program then interviews 30 applicants and finally accepts 6 for the incoming class. Although 150 applicants are probably very well qualified, only 6 will get in. That means there are 144 people with great qualifications who are rejected. It is far more likely that your application will be rejected. Even if you are accepted in a program, you will be rejected by most of the programs to which you apply. You should expect this to happen and learn from it rather than have the disappointment immobilize you.

If you are rejected by all the programs you have applied to, the first thing to do is review your application in detail. Review every major dimension: grades, GRE scores, research experience, clinical experience and letters of recommendation. Do not gloss over weaknesses. Examine each area and try to map out a plan to improve your credentials. If you need more research experience, then get this in the coming year. Ponder your experiences during interviews and plan a new approach to the interview for the coming interview cycle. Learn more about the programs to which you will apply and pick a group of programs that better matches your interests.

In the end, the process is still the same: make the best application you can to as many programs as possible that meet your training goals and interests. This is the best anyone can do. If your credentials are in the range of acceptance, you will likely eventually gain admission.