fadedfigures

Thanks! I went ahead and sent a professional email. I also made sure to mention that I was following the admin assistant's advice. Here's to hoping I hear something back soon!

I called one of the schools that I applied to, and spoke with the administrative assistant regarding my graduate school application to their department. The person was helpful, and let me know that some interview invitations went out, but not all. I was advised to contact the PI I applied to work with and ask them directly about the status of the application. I don't mind doing so, as I have had friendly correspondence with this PI already, but I wanted to know if this was a good idea. I can honestly see the outcome going either way. It could either be seen as me showing a continued interest in the program, or seen as me being a nuisance. Any advice would be helpful!

Any updates for University of Denver from anyone? I notice invitations are going out, but they seem to be scattered across a few days. I'm hoping to hear some good news.

Tl;dr: Voldemort wants to kill Harry. But magic shit keeps happening, and Harry keeps surviving. Voldemort is back with a human body, and is totally after Harry now while restoring his reign of power. Thank you for sticking through my unfunny summary of the first four Harry Potter books.

Finally, Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys go to the Quittich World Cup, which is totally fun, except Voldemort's henchmen/henchwomen show up and cause tons of trouble, including setting the Dark Mark over the campgrounds. Because of course they would. The incident is blamed on a house elf, and they all go back to Hogwarts to find out that Hogwarts is hosting the Triwizard Cup, which is only hosted every 100 years, and only students who are of legal age may participate by entering their names into the Goblet of Fire. Which, you know, is a giant middle finger to anyone who was not born in that specific year in 100 years, but whatever, because of course, Harry is entered into the tournament by some unknown force. By the magical power of contracts, he has to participate, and everyone is like, "What the fuck, Harry," and he's like, "What the fuck to you too, I don't want to do this." But he does it, and does super well, and also overcomes Ron's poor attitude because Ron is like, "You always get to be famous and stuff," and Harry is like, "Seriously?" But Harry advances far in the competition, and even gets to the finals, and so he and the other Hogwarts student, Cedric Diggory, end up winning together because they both touch the trophy at the same time. Except the trophy is a portkey, and it transports the pair to a graveyard, where Cedric is killed and a bunch of Death Eaters are there, along with Pettigrew. He does some serious black magic, and Lord Voldemort is given a human body once more. He comes to duel Harry to kill him, except Harry is saved by a wild coincidence, in which Harry's and Voldemort's wands "connect," since they have the same core. So Harry is able to escape and he brings back both Cedric's body and the news that Voldemort is back, and Dumbledore is like, "...well, shit." Harry wins the Triwizard tournament, gives Fred and George Weasley his winnings, and goes back to live with his aunt and uncle.

Now, I don't remember much about the third book. But I'll try my best. Harry gets super angry at his aunt and uncle (because, you know, who can blame him?) and blows up his aunt. No, for real. He inflates his aunt with his angry wizard rage because he got mad, and I guess he never understood the phrase "swelling up with rage" because she was the one who became a human balloon. Anyway, he lives in Diagon Alley for the rest of the summer, and goes to Hogwarts, and he learns that a super dangerous murderer by the name of Sirius Black has escaped Azkaban, which is a high-security wizard prison which no one was ever escaped from before (but now here we are). So Sirius Black escaped, and he's the one who betrayed Harry's parents to Voldemort and killed a bunch of Muggles, and guess what? HE'S AFTER HARRY. So the whole book is like, "Black is so dangerous" and Harry is like, "Cool, totes." Oh, and they also introduce dementors, who are like the grim reaper except they're the guards of Azkaban and they suck away all your happiness. They can also take your soul away if you're really back. So they keep showing up like those people that you never invite to the party yet they still somehow find out and show up anyway, and Harry keeps passing out. So his current Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, who is totally qualified and actually competent in his job, teaches him how to summon a Patronus, which is a spell that sends out an animal ghost apparition type thing that can chase away dementors with their light. So Harry eventually find out that Sirius Black isn't really a deranged murderer. He's actually Harry's godfather, and the real murderer/betrayer is a dude named Peter Pettigrew, a close friend of Sirius and Harry's parents. Pettigrew did all that bad stuff, framed Sirius, and has been disguised as a rat for the last 13-ish years. Ron's rat, by the way, which is a weird coincidence. Anyway, they catch Pettigrew to clear Sirius's name, and Sirius asks Harry if he wants to leave his aunt and uncle and live with Sirius, and Harry is like, "Cool, totes," except Pettigrew escaped and Sirius had to flee, and Harry went back to live with his aunt and uncle. Oh, and Voldemort wasn't in the book as the antagonist this time around. He was doing dark wizard stuff.

Summer happens, and Harry goes back to live with his aunt and uncle. Then a house elf comes along and ruins a super fancy dinner party by ruining a cake, so Harry is locked in his room as punishment. So Ron and his brothers come and bust him out, and they spend the summer at their house having a grand old magical time. When the time comes to go to Hogwarts, they try to go through the barrier to the train, except it is magically locked. Well, shit, they think, and they steal Ron's dad's flying car and fly (drive?) it to Hogwarts. And they crash into a tree whose bite really was worse than its bark. (I'm sorry. I couldn't resist.) Anyway, they're in trouble, but Hogwarts is in more trouble, because Slytherin's heir is totally back after 50 years, and he wants revenge. He opens the Chamber of Secrets and unleashes a basilisk upon the school who only goes after muggleborns because that snake is a jerk like that. So all these muggleborns -- including Hermione and a cat, for some odd reason -- are petrified, because looking into a basilisk's eyes results in instant death. Except none of them looked in the basilisk's eyes, because for some convenient reason, they all saw the eyes indirectly, like in a puddle's reflection or through a camera lens. In fact, the only person to die from the basilisk was a girl during the first time the basilisk was a jerk, way back 50 years ago. She's dead now, and lives in a toilet. Anywho, some other magic stuff happens. Harry learns he can speak to snakes, by the way, and Hermione totally figures out that there's a basilisk in the castle. (She has a note in her hand when she gets petrified, having figured everything out herself. Thank god they defeated that troll in their first year or else this story would not have been that long.) So Harry and Ron figure out where the Chamber of Secrets is, where Ron's sister has been kidnapped to, and they bring along their new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher for some reason I can't remember. (Backup? Moral support? I think because this dude -- total narcissist, by the way, claims to have done all of these awesome magical things and they want his backup.) Either way, dude is a fraud, and tries to wipe Harry's and Ron's memories, and fails magnificently. He uses the wand that Ron broke in the car wreck at the beginning of the book, and wipe out his own memory. Haha oh what a silly and awkward mistake. Anyway, surprise surprise, Voldemort is behind everything, except it's a teenage remnant of him who lives in a possessed diary. He sets the basilisk at Harry, who receives help from Dumbledore's phoenix by bringing him the Sorting Hat, which (somehow) gives Harry a sword. Harry kills the basilisk, takes the basilisk's fang, and stabs the diary and kills the Voldemort living in the diary. They escape the chamber, Ron's sister is okay, the muggleborns are revived, and Gryffindor wins the house cup again, because fuck you, Slytherin. (I actually don't remember, but still. Fuck you, Slytherin.)

Let me see if I can give a synopsis. A spoiler alert is in effect. Lord Voldemort. Big bad wizard, everyone's afraid of him, except he tries to kill a baby. Except magic shit happens (which, you know, explains most of the events in the book). Anyway, the baby doesn't die, and Voldy is killed instead. That baby was Harry Potter, and he becomes super famous for being The Boy Who Lives. Except for reasons not yet explained, he's sent to live with his non-magic aunt, uncle, and cousin, who for whatever reason hate his guts. (I think because his aunt hated his mother or something? I don't know. Of all the books, I read the first one the least.) Anyway, they do what they can to keep him from knowing magic, except the bearded Jolly Green Giant comes along and says "Yer a wizard, Harry." Then Harry is whisked away into a land of magic, and starts to attend Hogwarts. He befriends Ron Weasley and snubs Draco Malfoy, the biggest prat in history. Malfoy was like, "Don't hang out with Weasley, hang out with me instead," and Harry is like, "Girl, who are you?" and Draco is like, "Ugh, really?" Then they become enemies for the rest of the series, because apparently Voldemort isn't enough. Anyway, they eventually befriend Hermione Granger, who started off as a know-it-all snob, but then turns out to be super cool after they rescue her from a troll in the girl's bathroom. Because apparently, of all the things trolls lack, common decency and mild manners is not one of them. Lots of crazy magical adventures happen, like sneaking a dragon's egg and getting an invisibility cloak for Christmas, until they learn that good ol' Voldy is after something called the Sorcerer's Stone (or the Philosopher's Stone, for you UK folk across the pond). Drinking the elixir of the stone grants you immortality, which of course Voldemort wants because he's sort of dead but not really (it's weird -- don't ask). So Harry, Ron, and Hermione, as 11-year-olds, are like, "Let's go get this stone," and they manage to pass a bunch of trials without dying (sort of), and Harry comes face to face with...his Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Oh, and Voldemort too, who has been hiding under the teacher's turban for a year. I am sure it got really, really warm under there. Anyway, Voldemort can't touch Harry, because his skin burns like a vampire in daylight, and Harry is unconscious and Dumbledore is like, "Hey, you did it, good job." Then he rigs the house cup competition so Gryffindor wins, because fuck you, Slytherin. But wait, there's more!

I've taken the time to re-read the Harry Potter series, and it has been nice reliving part of my childhood since Harry Potter was such a huge part of growing up. (I'm STILL bitter that my Hogwarts acceptance letter didn't come. My Muggleborn ambitions? Crushed.)

Anyone hear from University of Denver? I tried reaching out to their department, but they don't have any updates.

Would it be normal for a PI to take a few days to send out all the invitations for the students they want to work with? Or do you think PIs would send out all invitations in one go?

I understand to keep an eye on my sub-field's date. I'm just (probably irrationally) worried that the professors will end up making their choices among the clinical students, and I'll be out of luck when I show up a few weeks later as a social student. Say Dr. Clinical is looking to take two new students, and he meets two he really likes during the clinical interview weekend. He might already make the decision to accept them, and then there's no more slots for me to try for. I'm realizing how silly this sounds now that I'm typing it all out. I'm sure departments hold off on making admissions offers until they interview ALL the students (and I'm sure they make all the interview invites before they start interviewing anyone). I just have to admit it's a worry I've had today. Hurray for this process and the fact that it makes some of us think irrationally.

Here's a big thing that is throwing me into a loop today. So I'm a social psychology applicant, but my research interests are better suited for a clinical psychology PI. I checked at the schools where I applied, and each school and the PIs I applied to work with said that their programs allowed this sort of cross-field mentorship. However, a number of the schools interview their clinical applicants a few weeks before the other applicants. I'm seeing on the results page that interview offers are being made to clinical applicants, and I'm sitting here thinking, "...don't forget me!" It's rough.

Y'all are getting news, and I'm still sitting here in the dark. My interview will be here one day, someday soon. (Hopefully.)

Yay! Someone else applying to DU! The Admissions Results page doesn't have a boatload of information on the program, so I'm glad to see someone who is also currently in the midst of awaiting results. It seems that between yesterday and the end of the month is when they make their calls to invite you to a February interview. It's rough to think that we might keep holding on until the end of the month (or even more after that). I just want to know. Their program seems amazing.

Still waiting to hear from my schools as well, so everyone is in good hands. Although according to GradCafe's admission's page, DU has typically made their calls this week for the past few years. It's safe to say I'm a little nervous!

Not necessarily. SPSP would be a good, informal chance to chat with someone, but not everyone will have the opportunity to attend SPSP. (Personally, I work and cannot take the time off to attend. Other people would be in a similar situation.) It would be a poor reflection of the program to not consider someone simply because they did not attend an expensive conference. Think of conference mingling as more of a way to make an initial impression versus the ultimate interview.

Brain games

It happens. I noticed two typos in my statement to one of the schools. It happens. As long as the rest of your statement is solid, they will forgive an accidental mistype.

That's how I feel. I'm trying to find any way to waste time quickly so the days go by faster. Granted, there's so much time in a day, so I'm wasting it however I can. All because this waiting is making me extremely nervous.

...I cannot wait until the end of this month for some news. I mean, I can, but it doesn't mean I want to. The waiting is starting to drive me a little nutty. I was debating calling the department today to ask about the status of my application, but I figured I've give more time before reaching out. Either way, the time needs to go by much more quickly.

Congratulations! Make or break time! You'll do wonderfully! For everyone else: I've noticed that the Social Psychology thread seems to be updated infrequently, while the other fields (Clinical, Counseling, etc.) seem to have a lot of activity. Have we largely been hearing nothing as Social Psych applicants? I mean, no news is good news, but I'd like to confirm that there really is no news so far.

That is my hope now. The schools were all closed up today (and also all last week), so now that school is back in session, I am absolutely hoping for some news. Although I need to be realistic. Every day, I tell myself "Today is the day!" and then my phone stays silent through the day. Please, graduate schools. Let us know some good news soon.

Business briefing

This is WAY too many schools to be considering. As @GreenEyedTrombonist said, you need to first figure out what your research interests and career goals are. That'll help you in narrowing down this list from...however many schools that is to a more manageable amount, such as 8-12. In addition, the fit of the program, including advisor, location, resources, and fellow graduate students will play a stronger role in where you should go versus the prestige of the school. Sure, we are all told to aim for R1 schools. But what's more important is the fit of the institution, as it'll all come down largely to your publications anyway.