osculations

Paul Bloom at Yale as well.

Have you thought about applying for lab manager positions? They are typically 2-year commitments, but at least you get paid-- you also can gain valuable administrative and research skills. And depending on the PI, there are often opportunities to get authorship on projects. I currently know of 2 faculty at great universities looking for lab managers for next fall, so PM me if you'd like more info!

The area made 3 offers, I think... I heard back on 2/27.

I'm not sure if all invitations have been extended, but I applied to the developmental area.

One thing you want to think about is when you'd like to apply to graduate programs. If you want to send in applications senior fall, then you will not be able to showcase your thesis because in all likelihood, you'll still be working on it then! I echo the above-- any intensive research experience is beneficial, but specifically you want to seek out an environment that values your opinion and trusts you with independent work. Of course, it would be nice to work on questions that you want to pursue after undergrad, but I think it's more important to form strong working relationships with faculty and grad students. Once you demonstrate your ability to think like a scientist and interest in continuing your training, your mentors will support you all along the way.

My research advisor thinks that the rationale behind contacting POIs ahead of time is to ensure that you list as your first choice a faculty member who is absolutely taking students that year. (Most faculty dislike being an applicant's second choice.) But I agree with what has been said above. If a POI is taking students, then lack of previous contact should not matter so long as the official application is strong.

Thank you for your thoughtful feedback! I already purchased a used edition of PR's Psychology GRE, and I'll start taking a look at it now. I will also meet with my PI once next term starts to touch base on our current projects and ask for advice about narrowing down my research interests. caitlinalobdell, good luck to you as well! It's a difficult situation with no easy solution, but I have my fingers crossed for both of us. I'm not sure if you've read this blog, but it has some interesting things to say about this topic: https://sites.google.com/site/gradappadvice/the-two-body-problem DarwinAG, thank you for thorough advice about the GREs-- I'm currently using Magoosh and studying vocabulary, and it's been very helpful thus far. And I will definitely keep faculty mentors in mind when formulating my thesis proposal and begin to familiarize myself with the literature of potential mentors.

Hello everyone. I've been reading through this forum for a while and I've finally decided to speak. I'm a college junior at an Ivy, 3.86 major GPA, 3.91 overall (including an Education minor), with 1 year's worth of part-time research experience in a social neuroscience lab and 1 term of field experience (working at an under-resourced high school). I will be continuing my work in the same lab next term, which will culminate into an honors thesis next year. For next summer, I'm applying to some REUs that will allow me to gain research experience in developmental science. Since I have some coursework ahead of me, I cannot confidently list finalized research interests, but I am particularly interested in the interaction between social and cognitive development in both academic and non-academic settings (e.g., how do infants and children learn to think about other minds? how can teachers best motivate their students?). And of course, I'm also interested in a plethora of other topics-- empathy and psychopathy, dual processes in moral thinking, development of concept and conceptual frameworks-- but we'll see how things go for the rest of the year. My goal is to apply to 10-15 PhD programs in developmental psychology for Fall 2014 admission. Here are my questions: ---Just how important or informative is the GRE subject test? Most schools don't require them, and I feel that my time may be better spent elsewhere (on SOPs or the general exam, for example). ---Other than researching potential programs, contacting potential faculty mentors come spring/summer, and preparing for the GREs, what are some things I should do now to improve my chances / prepare myself? General and specific advice? ---Should I also look into some Human Development (e.g., Cornell and UChicago) and Education (e.g. Michigan's Joint Program in Ed and Psych, UW-M) programs? For those with similar research interests, have you considered or applied to these programs and what do you think? ---And a weird-ish appendage. My boyfriend, who attends another college, is planning to apply to Ph.D. programs in English. We'd like to use this opportunity to end the long-distance portion of our relationship. We're serious about our future together but we recognize that sacrifice may be necessary to make it work. Any thoughts?