BeingThere

Cats sleep a lot.  Some estimates are 18 hours a day.  My cats probably sleep most of the day while I'm at work.  I assume this because a.) not much of their food is gone and b.) they are always stretching and just getting up when I come in the door from work.
 
Adult or kitten?  Depends, as folks have said, how much time you want to devote in the beginning.  Kittens should not be left alone all day.  Kittens are more social (for obvious evolutionary reasons that have to do with survival).  However, it is true that adopted adult cats may have some issues.  But you could get a crazy neurotic kitten also.  Temperament is likely genetic as much as it is environmental. 
 
Keeping your cat indoors is less expensive and less dangerous for the cat.  If you let your cat outdoors, you must get them flea treatment and keep their shots current to keep them healthy.  If you keep your cat indoors, then you don't need to worry about flea treatment or exposure to feline leukemia (or getthing in fights with other cats, or getting hit by a car, etc.)
 
One of my cats will scratch on any wood that is unpainted.  He also uses his cardboard scratching box.  He scratches a lot.  My other cat eats metal.  He chewed off the antenna from my little CD player boom box.  He will pull apart paper clips.  He also chews paper.  Maybe he has pica.  Oh, and he unplugs cords from outlets.  Anyway, just be prepared for some.....um...quirks.  It makes life interesting and usually it's things you can live with, or adapt to.  But you will have to adapt!  People think cats are low maintenance and compared to dogs, maybe they are - but they are definitely a measurable amount of maintenance.  Getting a cat means you will be living with another sentient being who has their own idea of how things should be - and their own idea of what a good time looks like.  (That exam you have at nine the next morning?  Well, they scheduled it on the wrong day becuase tonight is run-around-the-house-like-a-crazed-hellbeast-for-no-reason night between 3am and 5am, according to your cat.)

ALERT:  Straight person's comment, for what it's worth.  Considering how conservative Kentucky is, I'd say Louisville is quite a remarkable exception.  I find that in my sphere of friends and hang-out spots, there is a wonderfully vibrant gay community.  I moved here from San Francisco 12 years ago.  Thought I would stay one year and actually have been very comfortable as a liberal straight person.  I imagine it must be a very different experience to actually be gay (and have to face discrimination), but the folks in my life who are gay are thriving here.  There are gay bars and there is a robust gay social and local music scene.  In short, you could do better, but if you got accepted to grad school in Louisville, you could definitely do a lot worse. 
 
As for partnering with Southern Indiana for PRIDE, Louisville and Southern Indiana partner for a lot of events.  Louisville is a small city surrounded closely by small towns across the river in Indiana.  It's a matter of a relatively small population to begin with, not that Louisville relies at all on Southern Indiana for support with gay-friendliness.  In fact, just the opposite.  Southern Indiana is much more conservative than Louisville.

Cats sleep a lot.  Some estimates are 18 hours a day.  My cats probably sleep most of the day while I'm at work.  I assume this because a.) not much of their food is gone and b.) they are always stretching and just getting up when I come in the door from work.
 
Adult or kitten?  Depends, as folks have said, how much time you want to devote in the beginning.  Kittens should not be left alone all day.  Kittens are more social (for obvious evolutionary reasons that have to do with survival).  However, it is true that adopted adult cats may have some issues.  But you could get a crazy neurotic kitten also.  Temperament is likely genetic as much as it is environmental. 
 
Keeping your cat indoors is less expensive and less dangerous for the cat.  If you let your cat outdoors, you must get them flea treatment and keep their shots current to keep them healthy.  If you keep your cat indoors, then you don't need to worry about flea treatment or exposure to feline leukemia (or getthing in fights with other cats, or getting hit by a car, etc.)
 
One of my cats will scratch on any wood that is unpainted.  He also uses his cardboard scratching box.  He scratches a lot.  My other cat eats metal.  He chewed off the antenna from my little CD player boom box.  He will pull apart paper clips.  He also chews paper.  Maybe he has pica.  Oh, and he unplugs cords from outlets.  Anyway, just be prepared for some.....um...quirks.  It makes life interesting and usually it's things you can live with, or adapt to.  But you will have to adapt!  People think cats are low maintenance and compared to dogs, maybe they are - but they are definitely a measurable amount of maintenance.  Getting a cat means you will be living with another sentient being who has their own idea of how things should be - and their own idea of what a good time looks like.  (That exam you have at nine the next morning?  Well, they scheduled it on the wrong day becuase tonight is run-around-the-house-like-a-crazed-hellbeast-for-no-reason night between 3am and 5am, according to your cat.)

Congratulations to all who have made their decisions. I have officially accepted George Mason, definitely get in touch if you are also planning to attend =)

Medicine is not the sure bet it once was.  Health care reform has changed things and will continue to do so.  Talk to doctors (seasoned and newbies alike) in both primary care and various specialties.  Don't make a decision like this in a vacuum.  Also, it's more difficult to land a residency nowadays.  For years, the number of U.S. medical schools was capped.  Over the past 5 years, there has been a new-medical-school boom and graduating class size at preexisting medical schools has increased BUT the number of stateside residency slots has remained the same.  So, many more U.S. med students are being squeezed into the same, old number of residency positions.  
You know the not-so-pleasant backstory about academia.  Make sure you know all of medicine's ins and outs.  Don't idealize it.
Good luck 

I think you're better off finding another career. I apologize in advance for being really harsh here, but you've written several things that suggest you might not have the aptitude or background for PhD work, and included a few serious misconceptions about the field. Of course, I don't know you--so disregard if you like--but here are the details.
 
 
 
Are you sure these problems are behind you? You yourself might be convinced that your record doesn't reflect your ability--and maybe that's true, I don't know you--but graduate schools won't take your word for it. They need to see a proven track record. Like, years of stellar work.  Once I hired an RA whose academic record was spotty because he had some chronic illness issues that he assured me were behind him. I gave him a chance and he repeatedly missed work because of illness. Maybe he was really sick--and I was sympathetic--but I still needed the work to get done. Why should I take a chance on someone when there are many other qualified candidates that don't require taking a risk?
 
Also, GPA doesn't just reflect capacity for learning but also whether you have the necessary knowledge to move on to more advanced work. Even if you could have done better if you'd been accommodated/diagnosed at the time, the fact remains that a low GPA suggests you might have missed much of the material that you should have learned and would need to succeed at the graduate level. 
 
 
 
 
In the graduate school context, a "relatively low GPA" means 3.0 instead of 3.9. I think the 2.4 gpa case linked above was a one-in-a-million shot.
 
 
 
Non-academic work doesn't count, don't even mention it in any of your application materials or it will look like you don't know the norms.
 
Also... are you sure your reference letters will be positive? They need to be stellar. I ask this because the record of being let go in other jobs suggests that you might also have had problems (about which you're unaware) in the research jobs. When you ask for reference letters, I would pay close attention for subtle or not-so-subtle cues that they're reluctant to write them. You also graduated a few years ago.... by now their memories of you might be fuzzy and the letters would lack the necessary details that make a good letter.
 
 
 
 
This is just not high enough. Many programs require 80th percentile or higher. Put off writing and study longer. A score in the 50th percentile would just confirm that your GPA accurately reflects your knowledge and abilities, and not in a good way.
 
 
 
 
This one of the misconceptions about the application process that I mentioned above. This is not what a personal statement should be about. It should be about how you developed your research interests, what you've done about them (in a concrete way), and your plans for pursuing that research in the future. I would look for a trusted professor who can read your statement before sending out. 
 
 
 
No. Very few PhDs get their coveted tenure track jobs and if that's not your goal, you're better off taking another path. A new assistant professor might make $60-80k starting but those positions are rare and getting rarer. Nobody goes into academia for the money.
 
 
 
There's no shame in doing something other than grad school. Many times I wish I'd done something different and I regularly ask myself whether it's time to cut out of academia and find something else--and I started in a much better position than you're in now. The field is tough and getting worse so, based on what you've written, I can say with almost complete certainty that you'll be better off choosing something else to do. I'm sorry to be so blunt, but maybe it'll save you a lot of time and anguish in the future.

I hope I'm not out of line when I say that psychology does its best to be a science.  Therefore, the ideas we "fall in love with" should not necessarily be the ideas we spend time/energy on exploring in the advancement of the science - especially if they've been discredited or outdated for some other reasons.  Isn't it the case that as scientists we are concerned with discovering how the mind actually works?  If a theory has been discredited or shown to be irrelevant, then why pursue it further as a scientist?  Likewise, if a technique has been discredited, then why insist on using it?
 
I don't mean to sound harsh.  Hopefully this offers another way to look at your dilemma.  Maybe this is an opportunity to grow as a scientist?

^ I am imagining you writing this in your Statement of Purpose.  *giggles*  Sounds like the level of deceit you would have to practice - to get in somewhere and then to do the work for five or six years - might not be worth it.  But I guess it's for you to decide if you want to attempt it.

I hope I'm not out of line when I say that psychology does its best to be a science.  Therefore, the ideas we "fall in love with" should not necessarily be the ideas we spend time/energy on exploring in the advancement of the science - especially if they've been discredited or outdated for some other reasons.  Isn't it the case that as scientists we are concerned with discovering how the mind actually works?  If a theory has been discredited or shown to be irrelevant, then why pursue it further as a scientist?  Likewise, if a technique has been discredited, then why insist on using it?
 
I don't mean to sound harsh.  Hopefully this offers another way to look at your dilemma.  Maybe this is an opportunity to grow as a scientist?

I hope I'm not out of line when I say that psychology does its best to be a science.  Therefore, the ideas we "fall in love with" should not necessarily be the ideas we spend time/energy on exploring in the advancement of the science - especially if they've been discredited or outdated for some other reasons.  Isn't it the case that as scientists we are concerned with discovering how the mind actually works?  If a theory has been discredited or shown to be irrelevant, then why pursue it further as a scientist?  Likewise, if a technique has been discredited, then why insist on using it?
 
I don't mean to sound harsh.  Hopefully this offers another way to look at your dilemma.  Maybe this is an opportunity to grow as a scientist?

I hope I'm not out of line when I say that psychology does its best to be a science.  Therefore, the ideas we "fall in love with" should not necessarily be the ideas we spend time/energy on exploring in the advancement of the science - especially if they've been discredited or outdated for some other reasons.  Isn't it the case that as scientists we are concerned with discovering how the mind actually works?  If a theory has been discredited or shown to be irrelevant, then why pursue it further as a scientist?  Likewise, if a technique has been discredited, then why insist on using it?
 
I don't mean to sound harsh.  Hopefully this offers another way to look at your dilemma.  Maybe this is an opportunity to grow as a scientist?

I hope I'm not out of line when I say that psychology does its best to be a science.  Therefore, the ideas we "fall in love with" should not necessarily be the ideas we spend time/energy on exploring in the advancement of the science - especially if they've been discredited or outdated for some other reasons.  Isn't it the case that as scientists we are concerned with discovering how the mind actually works?  If a theory has been discredited or shown to be irrelevant, then why pursue it further as a scientist?  Likewise, if a technique has been discredited, then why insist on using it?
 
I don't mean to sound harsh.  Hopefully this offers another way to look at your dilemma.  Maybe this is an opportunity to grow as a scientist?

I hope I'm not out of line when I say that psychology does its best to be a science.  Therefore, the ideas we "fall in love with" should not necessarily be the ideas we spend time/energy on exploring in the advancement of the science - especially if they've been discredited or outdated for some other reasons.  Isn't it the case that as scientists we are concerned with discovering how the mind actually works?  If a theory has been discredited or shown to be irrelevant, then why pursue it further as a scientist?  Likewise, if a technique has been discredited, then why insist on using it?
 
I don't mean to sound harsh.  Hopefully this offers another way to look at your dilemma.  Maybe this is an opportunity to grow as a scientist?

Can you really say that had you chosen School A you would not be having similar thoughts?
Would you possibly be regretting your choice of School A because while it offers more funding, it's far from your family and you got a better gut feeling about School C?
 
There is no way to know whether you made the right choice or not.  So choose to believe that you did.  And then make it the right choice.

Andy Fields' book, Discovering Statistics with SPSS (or R) would be a great refresher if you have access to SPSS.  Also his website, www.statisticshell has video lectures and tutuorials on it that would be good refresher material for all the undergrad foundational stats stuff.

We got the kittens! And they are so adorable!

This thread was so helpful!
 
We just went to the shelter today and saw two adorable 2-month old brothers. We might get them on Monday... because I was stupid and forgot to bring my lease that says that we can have cats, and they wouldn't let us take them today.
 
So, if the kittens are still there on Monday (and I can't go right when they open, and the shelter won't hold the kittens for us), then maybe it's a sign that it's meant to be!

I have decided to accept my offer from University of Minnesota.      After giving it considerable thought, it really was my first choice and there was no other offer I could have gotten that would have made me change my mind. 
 
I've let Michigan State, Akron, and Penn State know to take me off their waitlists, so if anyone else is on those waitlists, they just got a little bit shorter!

I let go of GMU and BGSU. Decided to attend UMN.
 
I'm sure that someone is going to take my spot at GMU. Best luck!
& really hope someone can get into BGSU at the last moment.
Don't lose hope...offer will come to you!

Hey guys, I created a GradCafe Fall 2014 IO Applicant Group on Linkedin (http://www.linkedin.com/groups/TheGradCafe-Fall-2014-IO-Applicants-6670202?trk=groups_management_submission_queue-h-dsc). It would be great if we could get a some people from the board on there so we can keep in touch, network and possibly schedule a meeting at SPIOP 2015 in Philly. Hope you guys all decide to join!
 
http://www.linkedin.com/groups/TheGradCafe-Fall-2014-IO-Applicants-6670202?trk=groups_management_submission_queue-h-dsc

As the clock winds down, I would like to state my appreciation for this forum and for what a wonderful resource it's been for me. 
 
This forum - and particularly this I/O sub-forum - was a life-saver for me through this process of preparing to apply, actually applying, and then the nail-biting weeks of waiting to hear back.  And I want to thank all of you for commisserating about the stress and the disappointments, sharing insights and information, and being cheerleaders at times. 
 
I hope to run into many of you at I/O conferences in the next few years (even if I don't know you were one of the many compatriots on this forum!) 
 
I'll still be checking in on here to see others' decisions, but I just felt like telling you all how much you've helped me through this process.   Cheers!

As the clock winds down, I would like to state my appreciation for this forum and for what a wonderful resource it's been for me. 
 
This forum - and particularly this I/O sub-forum - was a life-saver for me through this process of preparing to apply, actually applying, and then the nail-biting weeks of waiting to hear back.  And I want to thank all of you for commisserating about the stress and the disappointments, sharing insights and information, and being cheerleaders at times. 
 
I hope to run into many of you at I/O conferences in the next few years (even if I don't know you were one of the many compatriots on this forum!) 
 
I'll still be checking in on here to see others' decisions, but I just felt like telling you all how much you've helped me through this process.   Cheers!

As the clock winds down, I would like to state my appreciation for this forum and for what a wonderful resource it's been for me. 
 
This forum - and particularly this I/O sub-forum - was a life-saver for me through this process of preparing to apply, actually applying, and then the nail-biting weeks of waiting to hear back.  And I want to thank all of you for commisserating about the stress and the disappointments, sharing insights and information, and being cheerleaders at times. 
 
I hope to run into many of you at I/O conferences in the next few years (even if I don't know you were one of the many compatriots on this forum!) 
 
I'll still be checking in on here to see others' decisions, but I just felt like telling you all how much you've helped me through this process.   Cheers!

I just accepted my offer to UConn! I'll be letting go of my SLU offer this week asap.
 
None of this really feels real yet... Some serious imposter syndrome starting up.