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Your GPA and experience are excellent and being bilingual is real advantage. Not sure which CSU's are on your list but Fresno has waived the GRE requirement for this cycle and Fullerton does not require it. I have not seen other CSU's waive the GRE yet but we should know more over the next month. With that said, since you were scoring much higher with your practice tests, I would definitely retake the GRE. I'm retaking it tomorrow - also applying to CSU's with similar grades but strong GRE scores can help especially with SDSU, CSULB, etc. Both SDSU and CSULB take your best subscores across mul

Your profile looks very strong. If you attended a top 3 university, I don't think it matters whether there is "grade inflation" or not. You have also taken a lot of graduate-level courses in both math and stat, and grades in grad school tend to be inflated anyway. Your research experience in evolutionary genetics is also a plus. I think you should apply to mainly top 15 stats programs (according to the USNWR rankings). I'm sure you will get into several of them.

I think it's awesome that you want to pursue a PhD! I'm starting my first year in a PhD program doing trauma-related work, and it has definitely been rewarding thus far. With that said, I think you should be realistic about your chances of admittance into a PhD program with no prior research experience. Research is SO important when applying to these programs--actually, I don't think I am alone is saying that research experience is probably the most important part of your application. I applied to many trauma-focused programs last cycle with lots of experience in the field (posters, prese

Now that we're getting closer to applications, how many programs are y'all applying to? My expectation is in the 10-12 range, although could go as high as 15. I'm worried about applying to fewer because of competitiveness. I would love to walk out of this cycle with an offer (who doesn't???), but if not, at least a few interviews.

@DanielWarlock Thank you for the kind words and assurance. I think the stress is worse because of poor opportunities in my home country and the uncertainty around US visas (and of course, Covid). But it was helpful to hear this from someone else, thank you for reading through.

Hi! I completed USU's 2nd Bachelor's program and the schools I was accepted/denied to are listed in my signature. I can't recommend USU's program highly enough! It made more sense to me to get a COMD degree rather than try and complete all of the individual requirements for Cal State schools (although I think some schools like CSUSM still want you to have all of their class equivalents completed regardless of whether you have a degree- hopefully I'm not remembering incorrectly), but I recognize not everyone is able to manage that financially. I had a COMD minor from my first degree, however, s

Columbia Psych (not sure about Teacher's College) will waive GRE.

Retaking classes and doing well always shows growth. One bad grade won’t tank your application. A lot of colleges look at you as a whole and not just grades especially one D four years ago. I applied to schools with a C+ in bio and it didn’t stop me.

I'm not sure if you know this year, but GREs are being omitted (or optional) for many psychology graduate programs this cycle. So if you plan on applying this year, I would focus your efforts on your personal statement and the rest of your application. Hope that helps with your stress... maybe you can get into a graduate program without reading a single reading comprehension passage 😛

I've fallen off track quite a bit with my materials, as I was hoping to be done with them before August, and am not quite yet finished lol. But would definitely be willing to swap once I have more done, though! I'm still planning on applying, but I feel that many of the schools I apply to will probably end up cutting cohort sizes (UConn has been in the talks of doing so, with a push to do so by grad students with pushback from the grad exec board). So I've been planning on having multiple back up options (editing jobs, education programs, etc.) available to me in the chance that I'm not accept

No, no, and no. I interned at one of the ones you list for about 6 months straight out of undergrad. An MA in literature really is not necessary to work at these; what's much more helpful is journalistic experience and connections (say, if your goal is NYRB/The New Yorker, try to write for LARB or keep an eye on entry-level positions going at, say, Slate—Slate has a lot of lateral movement to those places). PhD --> literary journalism has in recent years become something of an alt ac track; think Naomi Fry (NYU PhD --> New York Times Magazine --> New Yorker) or Josephine Livingstone (

Selected as a Fellow for Japanese! Pretty excited about that! For those who are alternates, here's something you might want to know: apparently, last year Boren ran out of alternates, so this year they likely chose a few extra. This means that 1) there is a larger pool of alternates and 2) lots of people decline their award, so your chances are still pretty good! Best of luck to everyone, don't lose hope and your passion no matter what your status is!