Selection method psychology frustrates
A life-changing lottery
Door Jacques Malherbe
By Jacques Malherbe
Jacques Malherbe
When Lisa Onderstal (26) opened the message in her inbox, she found out her dream had been put on hold. She had applied for the Dutch master of clinical psychology in April and was excited to start right after summer. But when she read the email, she realised it was not going to happen. ‘We are sorry to tell you…’
She was put on the waiting list, together with no fewer than 136 other students who had taken part in the randomised lottery for entrance into the master. ‘I was in twelfth place.’
Lisa watched her name creep up throughout the summer, but one of the coveted spots remained always out of reach. ‘I ended up as the second on the waitlist. I was really sad, because I was a good student. I worked hard for it and it was something I really wanted’, she says. ‘I see myself working as a clinical psychologist. It’s not just something I decided to do. It’s a dream.’
It was even more frustrating because she had persistent high grades throughout her bachelor course. She’d also scored 50 out of 60 on the master entrance exam that she had to take before being allowed to apply at all.
Lottery
Lisa’s experience is a common one for master applicants at the department of psychology. Of the eleven master tracks – eight in English, three in Dutch – seven currently maintain a selection procedure. Applicants who meet the minimum educational requirements and pass the exam on the basics of psychology are randomly assigned a ranking by lottery, determining whether they get a place on the course or are wait-listed.
It felt unfair to me, I worked very hard for three years to get into this programme
This year, eighty-nine students were waitlisted for the Dutch track of clinical psychology, while forty-eight students were enrolled immediately. The waiting lists for other master’s degrees are shorter, but still extensive, with over seventy students left waiting for the master in clinical forensic psychology.
All university psychology masters in the Netherlands maintain some kind of selection procedure, though the exact form differs, with other universities preferring methods such as interviews or entrance essays in order to select their students.
Groningen’s way is not fair, Lisa thinks. ‘It just felt really random. There were students who scored lower on the selection test who did get a place. It really felt bad. I thought maybe I could have done something better, but that’s not the reality.’
Necessary
Twenty-one-year-old Vera Prins ended up in a similar position. ‘I had forty-six correct answers, but I knew people who had thirty-eight questions right who did get into the master’, she says. ‘It felt unfair to me. I worked very hard for three years to get into this programme. I did very well on the selection because I studied for every test. I was sad and angry.’
She doesn’t understand why the psychology department would choose this method. ‘It’s okay to do a test, but why the lottery system? I don’t understand it. You want to get the best students, don’t you?’
Do we want people with high grades, or do we want good psychologists?
However, course coordinator of the clinical master Miriam Lommen stands by the decision to have a randomised lottery. It’s necessary, she says, to guarantee a high quality of education. For one, the department simply cannot handle all 137 students that want to get in. But maybe even more important: ‘The university cannot provide clinical placements to such a high number of students.’
The selection procedure has been extensively debated since its introduction in 2020, with those opposing it arguing for a fully merit-based selection. ‘There are ups and downs to every kind of procedure you choose. It’s very complicated’, says Lommen.
Best solution
She acknowledges the downsides of the lottery system. However, she also believes it is the best solution available. ‘We know that past grades are a good predictor of the later grades. However, the question is, do we only want people with high grades, or do we want good psychologists?’ she says. ‘Academic performance is one thing, but that is not necessarily a good predictor of what students will be like as psychologists.’
A lottery may be the fairest thing to do, because now it’s just a matter of chance
Diversity of experience and achievement is thought of as a strength in the pool of potential psychologists. And randomised selection removes any potential unconscious biases from the admissions process. ‘We notice biases in interviewing. People tend to select people who look like them’, Lommen says. ‘A lottery may be the fairest thing to do, because now it’s just a matter of chance. It eliminates any potential biases.’
Lommen does understand the disappointment of the students that did not get in. ‘They’ve done their bachelors and want to move on. But it has nothing to do with personal reasons. It’s really about just what we can do and what we can provide in a quality way.’
Meanwhile Vera is still not over being wailisted. She is hoping to once again pursue her dream of clinical psychology in February, but, she says: ‘I’m not excited anymore, because it kind of hurt my feelings that I didn’t get in. Now I don’t feel motivated. I’m scared that it will happen all over again.’