windypoplars

I'm currently in a masters program and was planning on graduating next year May, and start my PhD program the following September. However, things seem a little out of order, and am thinking of just not graduating from my masters program, and start my PhD program (assuming I'll get in somewhere) next year. The problem I have is in my PhD applications, I indicated that I expect to receive my masters next year May. Hypothetically, if I end up not graduating from my masters program and get accepted to the PhD program, will my acceptance offer be revoked?

I'm applying to several cognition / cog neuro programs, and I noticed there were several faculties working on computational modeling. I have no experience in that area, but find it interesting and have some background in programming. Do you think it's worth applying to work with these faculties, or do I have a slim chance since most other applicants will already have sufficient experience in that area?

ditto (note, brevity of this post…)

I understand that's the way to go in real life, but I'm more on the side of arguing against having to customize your email to each person. Obviously, that's not what I will do, but I think that should be the norm because it's really not a huge deal for the PI to say "yes" or "no", and there's little to no cost for them to respond to students who may be a horrible fit to them. On the other hand, it does seem a lot for PIs to demand students to understand the research work when students have to figure out 50+ people's work. The reality is that students aren't super enthusiastic about all 10 schools that they're applying to and everyone knows that. Sigh... I'm just frustrated with what's demanded in this process.... (arggggg)

On top of it, some schools want transcripts scanned in b&w with xxx dpi, some schools want them sent directly from the school, some schools want it all in one envelope..... it doesn't matter if you're applying to 3-4 ... it gets very confusing when you're applying to 10+... it took me 12 hrs to get these straight and order transcripts :-S

Some schools give you the option to write "personal statement" talking about your opportunities/disadvantages that led you to your current position... I'm just an average student .. no crazy or impressive history... do you think it's worth writing this thing? I'm already overwhelmed with having to customize my SOP to every school... :-S

What is the best way to go about this? It has been more than a week, so at this point, I don't think "waiting" is the way to go... Should I contact the admissions people? or send another email to the POI?

I realize this is a very stupid question, but I couldn't resist to ask. For some schools, I ended up wanting to work with just 1 faculty, but wondered if I should try to squeeze in 1-2 more just to increase my chance of getting in by stretching my research interest a little bit. Does anyone have a similar dilemma? Should I be true to my research focus, or compromise my focus to increase my chances?

When the lab website reads "we are not taking grad students in the academic year (2013/2014)" does that mean the admission cycle 2013/2014 (which is for students to start in fall 2014) or the actual academic cycle (which is for students to start in fall 2013)?

i haven't found a full test other than the prep books but one of the apple apps called "GRE Psych" has a good flashcard type program that I found useful.

For PhD admissions, is it better to get a LOR from a professor whose class you did exceptionally well in, but is not that well known in the field, or from a lab PI who only saw you do basic RA work (i.e. just implement experiments, and minimal analysis), but is well known in the field? Both do not know me well on a personal level.

looks like "10" is the magic number for most of us... My research allowed me to pick 8, but I am pressured to add in 2 more :-/

I was wondering if there's anyone out there, we can take mock tests together, and share materials....

jbean can i ask what your gre scores were ? was it as stellar as your GPA? i'm in a similar case as you are, and i'm a little worried myself.

I'm applying for cognitive psychology, but social psychology as well, depending on the POI. I was planning to send my emails to potential POIs in July, and request Rec's in early fall. I have a good GRE score (>95%) and sufficient GPA (3.8 - 4.0) but my weakness is research experience, because I changed careers. I'm doing my first RA work this summer, but my only concern is whether it'll be enough for my application which I'll be submitting around November. (so by then, I'll have 6 months of research experience in 2 labs) I guess I'll just have to hope for the best.

that's a relief!!! I was freaking out at the moment.

I'm very troubled... I am applying for schools this year (for admissions in 2014) and was preparing to study for the subject test this summer. I tried registering for this exam for Oct 2013 just now, and was notified that all seats are taken for 2013?! It's still June, and how is this possible?? Were people that proactive, to be registering at least one year in advance?!

I'm reading some funding info for international students at UC, and it doesn't seem clear to me whether the fundings can cover all costs (=tuition, living costs, health insurance). Although they mention that nonresident fees won't be covered, they also allude that if you try hard, you may find some fellowship/scholarship... Does anyone know what the real deal is? Is it a given that additional costs will be incurred, or is it very feasible to get all costs covered by funding?

Hi, I am trying to go through some of the classic psy books (ex books by William James, Freud, Jung ... ) And I find it hard to stick with the book because the writings are dense. But I'd like to get through these books during the summer. So I'm hoping to form an online book club for this (ex set reading list, deadline to finish books (or chapters), and hold discussions via email or chat... ) Is anyone interested ? Please send me a message and your email address.

Does anyone know who's researching the topic that Benjamin Libet left off? The topic is on the timing of conscious will, where the brain activates to perform in a certain way prior to the conscious will deciding to perform in a certain way

It seems like contacting the POI is important, but is it imperative to contact those ppl individually? It seems like some schools look for students who are just compatible with the whole faculty, as opposed to just one. In such cases, is it still important to contact the POI?

It seems like everyone knows what POI is but me, but seems like something I should know.

There's a lot of interesting conferences that I'd like to attend, but if I'm a masters student, would I need to attend those on my own expenses? Is that the norm?

Hi, I'm curious how you ended up with the interviews/acceptance so far. I am going along a similar course as you are. I worked as an actuary in the finance field for 6 years, and then in Jan 2013 switched my career to start studying psychology (cognitive) at City College masters program. I plan to apply for a PhD in fall 2014, but by then, I'll prob have only a few months of researching experiences under my belt, although I prob won't have any publications available by the time I apply (in Dec 2013). My GRE scores are similar to yours, GPA around 3.7, and have a masters in stats from Columbia as well. Could you please share how you fared so far?

I'm a masters student in psychology and am looking for cognitive psychology research opportunities in NYC. I plan to send an email along with my resume to some faculties in universities that are conducting the researches that I am interested in, but I am not sure how receptive they will be in responding to a psychology student from a different school. Does anyone know the lab atmosphere at Columbia or NYU? Are they open to receiving students from other schools for their research labs? Also when I send an email, should I briefly explain my interest in the field within 1-2 sentences, or should it be a long cover letter?