zapster
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Posts posted by zapster
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Does anyone know how to interpret the schools at the end without any ranking displayed?
My former BA/MS program was on there. It used to be a really great school for clinical psych but it really went downhill badly a few years ago.
"Rank Not Published means that U.S. News did calculate a numerical ranking for that school/program, but decided for editorial reasons that since the school/program ranked below the U.S. News cutoff that U.S. News would not publish the ranking for that school/program."
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Methodology: For psychology 246 schools were surveyed, and only 16%, i.e. 39 schools responded, of which top 2 and bottom 2 responses were discarded to get the trimmed mean score...i.e. the Psychology rankings are based on the assessment of 35 individuals in the field grading programs on a scale of 1 to 5, with 4=Strong and 5=Outstanding. Scores: Rank 1 is 4.8, Rank 29 is 4.0. I guess what I am trying to say is that there is not much to go by.
(For the sub-fields it gets even better - only programs nominated by at least 7 of the 39 respondees appear on the lists, in order of the number of nominations.
Consider I/O Psychology - only 4 names made it to the list.)
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I like how they don't even have one of the most represented specialities (clinical psych) on there.
Clinical Psych ranking get reported under "health" rather than under "Psychology":
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Any advice on locating good elementary schools for kids in LA, California? Near UCLA ? Thanks.
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How many programs did you apply to? Is this typical/high/low for your field? Do you wish you had applied to more / less, and why?
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1st question - are there any other specific programs you are seriously considering.
Was sort of expecting such a question but not straight upfront.
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One way to figure out where you might improve is to pick up some of your own earlier writing on a topic that you have not been working on for a while and review it. Try to play devil's advocate and figure out where and why you might want to improve - especially whether the writing flows naturally from argument to argument.
Sometimes when we are actively working on a topic, our brain can automatically "fill in" the gaps whilst reading or writing about that topic. This could be one of the reasons why someone else may believe the writing lacks clarity. Trying the above exercise might help you identify if this is the case.
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I want to say that it might not always be "who declines" over "how many decline"-- I know someone who was told she was first on the waitlist for social psych, but if anyone accepted to any of the psych disciplines declined, she would get in.
I think this depends on what the constraint is - in the above case it seems like funding might have been a constraint, so any decline would free up funds.
Also, it depends on the field - for example in business PhD programs I understand there may be a slightly more structured waitlist; for areas where the research interests within a specific department are highly heterogeneous, the waitlist may depend on who declines, etc. as the constraint is usually the bandwidth that a particular POI has to take on additional students.
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Some schools allow it, some don't.
I agree with some of the advice above - try to avoid it as far as possible unless you are a 100% sure that you will be equally great a fit at both the programs. If you are planning on applying in this manner to increase your chances, I think this is not a good idea and can possibly backfire, especially if the programs happen to be within the same broad department. Usually you should be able to figure out which program is the better fit and apply only to that.
The one exception to this is possibly when a professor is a faculty with multiple departments. If you are particularly interested in the work of such a professor and say the programs at both the departments seem to fit well you might want to contact the professor upfront, mention your interests and ask whether they think you should apply to both the programs given your interest or whether only one of these will suit your specific requirements. Their replies should hopefully provide you with a good indication.
Finally - it might help if you clarify what kind of programs you are looking at - since this may well vary depending on the field of interest.
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Have you figured out roughly what is the total debt you might land up with at the end of the program - make a plan on how you might manage to be comfortable with that kind of debt and how long it might take you to get debt free again. Remember that this program is something that is going to enable you to fulfill what you want to do for the next few decades - try to put yourself in your own future shoes at that point in time - does the debt you are worried about right now seem trivial? If the program is truly as great a fit as you say it is you should try your best to pursue it.
What you should ensure is that you have a strong financial plan and the discipline to stick to it - to stay within budget, and ensure your debt does not pile on to more than what you plan for right now. Then continue searching for any further funding opportunities as a bonus.
If you however decide that even with your best intentions the debt you will amass is just not viable and that you wish not to accept - I would recommend discussing this issue openly with your POI / faculty contact before you decline (assuming you have not already done so).
Best of luck and hope you are able to make it work!
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The biggest challenge will be getting good academic LORs and ensuring your SOP convincingly addresses why you want to get into this program now (and in my opinion - should NOT dwell too much on personal reasons for why you did not get into this earlier). If you manage these two aspects, I would think you have as good a shot as anyone else with similar credentials.
As some of the other comments have said, there is a lot to be said for the experience and ideas that a non-traditional student brings to the table, and you should concentrate on highlighting those areas. Start your application process early and ensure you can tick off the right boxes on whatever is currently under your control - for example the GRE, meeting with your earlier professors to build a rapport for getting strong LORs, researching the programs that you want to get into in a great amount of detail - especially contacting potential POIs early on with a brief academic/professional background of yourself and a note on your research interests and why you are interested in their program. Ask (directly or indirectly - depending on what you are comfortable with) whether they believe you will be a good fit. Doing this early on will give you a good idea of which programs will be more suitable / accepting. Ensure you are familiar with recent research in your area of interest. Finally, in your SOP I would advise demonstrating strong specific research interests rather than leaving it very generic.
Best of Luck!
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If you had mentioned specific POIs in your application or SOP you should get in touch with them. Ask them questions in both areas - reasons for rejection as well as what can be done to improve your application in the future.
p.s.You should know that they may not all necessarily respond to you (depends on the individual, and I have heard mixed stories on this one), but if they do, you can get some really good insight.
Best of Luck!
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wabisabi...IMHO:
Not specific to the OP's situation, but generically:
If the source of stipend in both cases is a TA, then it is unlikely there will be significant differences, or any differences at all, since these are standardized rates depending on the actual workload put in.
Differences in tuition remission vs having to pay one's own tuition might often be on account of some fellowship awarded. Alternatively, it is possible that a TA was not guaranteed, and one student is awarded a TA earlier than the other depending on availability of TA slots etc. each quarter. Not very likely but always possible.
The most likely scenario wrt differences in stipend etc. is usually when the funding comes from research grants etc. Different advisors may have very different funding sources, and in case of the same advisor - he or she may have multiple grants from different projects, in which case it may simply be a function of which project you are working on vs another student and the comparative funding that each project has. At the end of the day, funding sources for specific projects that are assigned by the specific advisor are not fungible.
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I would not blame you for being upset - I guess most of us would - but the reality is that this does happen.
This may be circumstantial or connived, but the fact is that there is not much you can do except work hard towards seeing how your own stipend can be increased, if possible. So as hard as it is, try not to be upset and speak with your advisor to see what can be done (I would advise against "comparing" when you speak to him/her, rather try to speak on the basis of your own individual circumstances and absolute stipend, whether there is any additional or different but related research you can get involved in etc.).
p.s. this happens not just in grad school but even in large corporates - people with similar academic and professional backgrounds, similar job profiles and similar experience can often be paid very differently.
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Also, does this depends on the program? It seems it is easier for people in humanities to get in contact, but as far as I know, we people in mathematics do not really get that much reply.
I think this is quite field specific - you are right, in humanities as well as most social sciences it is quite usual to email POIs and elicit responses - but it gets harder in the hard sciences and business schools. Most of the time a detailed read of the program website actually provides good guidance - most of the programs I researched had clear guidelines / FAQs that mentioned either "we encourage you to contact professors before submitting applications....etc." or "Professors are busy and do not encourage contact ......etc." quite clearly.
I have been told by professors that programs / departments / fields where the admission process is highly POI dependent - i.e. the POIs make more individual decisions based on specific interests and fit with the POI - often even with admission given with the assignment of a specific advisor - we are encouraged to write to POIs in advance. On the other hand where the admission decisions are highly structured, wrt a formal adcom etc. and where specific advisors are commonly chosen well into the program, do not usually encourage initial contact.
Either way, unless the website specifically discourages contact with the professors, I think it can never hurt to email them in advance. My biggest learning from the application process was that I should have probably emailed professors earlier than I did. I received a fair number of replies, even some information on latest research interest etc. that was not published on the websites - this enabled me to select the programs better and ensure I could genuinely address the question of fit.
There were equally some professors who did not respond at all, and a few who came back with "pls apply through the normal application process...etc.". I was pleasantly surprised with responses from some of the professors, including some which subsequently replied with personalized comments on why I had been rejected (far more helpful than the standard rejection "you are 1 out of 10 zillion perfect applicants blah blah" that most schools provide!).
Finally, one last observation - so far the acceptances I have received have been from programs where the POIs I had contacted had replied back.
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I've heard about it, and how excellent it is! I've been tempted to pick up the manga for it! You would say it's worth it?
Have read the English novel which was gripping - not sure of the manga; the English version of the manga is supposed to have made a fair no. of changes to the original plot etc.
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I am in LOOVE with dystopia YA novels!!
If you haven't heard of it, you should pick up the Razorland series!! SOOOOO good! I read them all in a weekend! It's like Fallout (the video game), the Walking Dead, and Hunger Games all rolled into one!
Battle Royale (Batoru Rowaiaru) - English version or the novel by Japanese writer Koushun Takami. -
Is it difficult to get published as an undergraduate?
Difficult but certainly not impossible - I would think it also varies a lot by field, but am not familiar with the scene in anthropology, so cant really comment.
My point is that even if you do not publish, but do a particularly good project with say a reputed anthro professor - a strong LOR from him/her talking about your research capabilities can be a huge positive.
Exchange programs at international universities
Faculty collaborate far more across borders than you might imagine. Study the websites of the top few professors in US that you would be keen to work with - they usually list their collaboration netowrk / associates on their websites - that should give you an idea of whether there are any particular international programs that tend to collaborate more with the US programs. Even otherwise, it is not necessary that the linguistics faculty in the international school be personally known to the US programs - as long as they are of good standing in the field of linguistics and can write you a strong LOR, that is a big positive.
How early on? How do I go about contacting them? What would I say?
Earlier the better - but after you have done a fair bit of reading viz. their publications / research in their areas and can have a reasonably knowledgeable discussion. Contacting them and then sounding clueless can be very dangerous!
Once you are reasonably confident of your knowledge in their area, email them telling them that you wish to pursue a PhD in XX, in XX years from now, mention your specific interests - highlighting how it overlaps with their specific areas of interest. Tell them you would be keen to work with them in the future, and ask for their advice on what they believe you can do to prepare and strengthen your profile. you can be open and tell them that you are pursuing research opportunities in ling.anthro. at your school, but there are limited opportunities for pure linguistics research, etc. Ask if there are any projects / ideas etc. on which they would consider allowing you to participate remotely or providing any sort of assistance. I agree that the last part is a bit of a long shot frankly, but you never know, and even if you dont actually get to work on something remotely, you will have got (a) a fair bit of useful advice from the profs., and (
a bit of recall in the future when you apply to these profs.Best of Luck!
- AspiringLinguist and Arezoo
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introduce criteria based pre-applications that requires simple online input (e.g. unofficial GRE, GPA, summary POI/research interests - preferably based on a standard drop down menu, headline key experiences - e.g. research publications / work ex.) and require minimum manual effort to scan through, that provide, for example, a 4 scale rating: 1-Sure reject, 2-Weak Chance, 3-Strong Chance, 4-We Love You.
Reduce the processing requirements for the adcom / University, reduce cost of applications for students, and set realistic expectations for the students.
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Just read one of my SOPs...sigh!
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Can you demonstrate reasonable research experience - even if it is not closely connected to linguistics - if yes, then that can be a big positive. Identify early on who is best placed to provide you with LORs - ideally at least one professor who can talk about your research experience, even if it is not specifically in linguistics
Any chances of an exchange program etc. where you can spend some time at another school which has a strong linguistics program and develop a working relationship with a professor ?
Read contemporary research publications in your area of interest - your SOP should be able to demonstrate that although you do not have research experience in linguistics, you are familiar with the latest research in the subtopics that interest you. Without sounding artificial, your SOP language should be able to demonstrate familiarity with the research language unique to the field (does that make sense?).
Identify people you may like to work with early on, and write to them asking the same question - there will always be a few professors more than willing to
give you pertinent advise, and you may even build a few correspondent relationships. Ask professors if there is any pro bono research assistantship that you can do on a remote basis. Am not familiar with research in the field of linguistics, but if there is absolutely anything that you can contribute with remotely, it will reflect strongly in your application.
Grab hold of visiting linguistic PhDs (if any) and follow up with them shamelessly (!)
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Considering your lab will be pursuing publications in English language journals, can you use that as bait to try and get the others to speak 'science' in English ?
It may help to try and speak one-on-one with a couple of postdocs - preferably those who have been around for some time or you know the best and have a discussion with them on whether moving the lab discussions to English (wrt work related issues) will be beneficial to the group at large - try and position this as something that will be productive for the group (e.g. postdocs will move on to other schools where they may not have such a homogeneous environment, publications will be in English, understanding of the subject literature in English might improve - whatever works) rather than this being "your personal preference" ? Raising it as a question rather than asserting your opinion might work better. If you get one or two others to start speaking in English more often, a cascade effect is sure to rub-off on the others.
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night fright
New US News rankings for psychology
in Psychology Forum
Posted
However the thing to note is that the department-level rankings used here were not the US News Rankings but the NRC rankings, which do not publish an absolute ranking but a range of scores for each department depending on a basket of criteria. The resulting output was multiple sets of rankings, and outside of the absolute absolute top tier (say top 3 schools) the ranking variances were very wide, e.g. ranking for the same school varioes from #5 to #29, or #9 to #46 depending on the criteria used. Even looking at the most important criteria, the scores awarded for 185 schools fell in the range of 24 (low) to 72 (high). The score range for the top 40 schools was 60 to 72.
My point, as in my original post, is that the best way to look at rankings (even when considering they determine future opportunities etc.) is in large blocks, i.e. possibly Top 5, 6-30, etc. and yes most people would prefer a #5 to a #200 any day, but I would think there is no big difference between #10 and #25, especially if #25 has POIs you would rather work with???