Linelei

Thank you so much for your bravery in emailing and getting us this information!

I'm having a similar issue. I had two top choices, got accepted to one, and haven't heard from the other yet (although it appears no one has, so it's still a possibility). I'm so in love with the school where I got accepted, I'm losing my objectivity! My thesis advisor keeps telling me to remain open, and I understand all the reasons why, but is it really so bad to love a choice? Especially if I may never hear from the other one, whereas this one WANTS me?

Let's see here... Writing chapter drafts for my honors thesis, studying for the exam I have in four fours, emailing people about an upcoming Psi Chi meeting (had a dream last night that I forgot to get the food for the meeting and everyone left), contacting honorary societies on campus for an upcoming Phi Kappa Phi event, studying for a test on Tuesday, scheduling more control participants for my thesis, updating my data analysis program... oh, and exercising! I think I've gained about 15 pounds through this whole grad school application thing! What I SHOULDN'T be doing: obsessively refreshing the results pages while nervously chomping on twizzlers.

So back over the break I received several emails from X University Graduate Admissions. I would get all nervous and excited and click on the email... to discover a notice that the admissions department would be closed for the holidays, or a nice little note along the lines of "Did you know you can check your admission status online?" Yes, I know that! I've been doing it every five minutes since I submitted my application! In all fairness, they were perfectly nice and helpful emails. They just happened to wrench my soul and contribute to early gray hairs.

Aww, hang in there, everyone! We took all this on because we are dedicated and love what we do. I believe in our individual abilities to make it through!

Hahaha! I like where this thread has gone. Here's a conversation I've been repeating lately: Other person: "How is the grad school thing going?" Me: "Great! I got accepted at X University!" Other: "So you're going there?" Me: "Maybe. I still haven't heard from my other top choice, Y Private School, yet." Other: "Oh, isn't that a better school? You should go there." Let me explain precisely what is wrong with this... a. I JUST told you I haven't heard from them. So if I don't get accepted there, you've now made it clear the school I WILL be attending isn't as great, in your mind (which is flat-out wrong, FYI). b. There is a whole lot more to grad programs than a general public feeling of how good schools are. For example, Y Private School doesn't have as strong a program for what I want to do, although it has other strengths. c. I spent countless hours searching through research databases and then school websites and then lab pages. After narrowing it down, I contacted profs and built relationships. Finally I forked out money and jumped through all the application hoops for both schools. Would I have done all that if I didn't think both were feasible options for my education? Done ranting now.

At my current school, two grad students currently work off campus. One has a job related to her research, and seems more than capable of juggling both, although she relies on a lot of caffeine. The other is not often in the lab and tends to get emails from the PI about putting in more lab time. I have a feeling it won't work out in the long run. So there's some anecdata. I personally look forward to NOT having two jobs on top of school and volunteer work and all that. I hope to just focus on grad school and my research, which is why I only applied to fully funded programs.

I see just one result for Boulder under Cognitive Neuroscience, too. My thought is one result may indicate that the PIs aren't contacting people all at once but rather on their own schedules, so there still may be hope!

No problem! And that is definitely good advice from 42ed.

Hahahaha! Absolutely.

That's what I keep getting! What the heck, people!? I'm pretty sure I can brave LA traffic in order to go to an awesome program. Not to mention its proximity to the beach, Hollywood, Disneyland, San Diego, and a ton of fun things right there in the city. I've secretly renamed everyone who says something like this to Wet Blanket, Negative Nancy, or Jealous Joe. I may start throwing in a Covetous Constance or two.

It seems previous posters have pretty much covered it! I will say, though, that if you do have unique circumstances or some truly big event in your life, the rule against spending too much time on personal stuff may not apply so much. I think the issue is when you try to create the appearance of depth, as opposed to actually addressing major life experiences. I viewed my personal statement as sort of a filter. I'm a nontraditional student, so I decided to be really up front about why I went to school a little later and how that affected my goals and direction. I figured that anyone who wasn't comfortable with that probably wasn't someone I wanted to spend 5-6 years working with. It's sort of like letting someone know on a first date that you have a kid; sure, some people might be turned off by the fact, but isn't it better to find that out early? This strategy seems to have worked for me, as I have been accepted to a program in which everyone I'll be working with seems to value and appreciate my life experiences!

When I received the very type of phone call that was mentioned in the post tat started this thread, my POI told me not to feel pressured to make a decision right away, and that if I told him then and there I was going to that school, he wouldn't believe me. I think the vast majority of faculty are going to be used to this process and expect students to take time to be sure, so it's not rude to think things through. It's a major life decision, after all!

I've received an unofficial acceptance as well, in that it was over the phone, but was told "You don't need to worry about anything, you are IN." So I'm taking it as real. The fact that your email ended with "congratulations" says to me you are also IN and don't need to worry.

Another thing to consider is that, as a gross generalization, younger/newer PIs tend to have more breadth in their particular research interest, while older, more established, tenured profs are more likely to have focused in on a direction and are doing fine-grained, in-depth research on that particular area. Obviously there are many exceptions, but just a thought. And there are pros and cons to both. If you like the idea of getting to explore various avenues of research within the area, younger might be better, but you might not become as specialized. Older could give you a more thorough understanding of a specific aspect of the area but you might miss out on the big picture. Again, generalizations, but looking over publications can give you an idea if this trend is true for your POIs.

Hahahahaha! You mean to tell me that members of admissions committees have lives while we are sitting here hitting refresh all the live long day? So unfair. Oh, all right: they deserve weekends, too. It's not their fault we are obsessing instead of enjoying our Sunday!

I definitely feel ya! I should be working on a thesis chapter right now instead of obsessively checking results...

Thank goodness I got accepted and don't have to worry about this! But my 'Plan B' was to do more research, strengthen my application, and apply again next season. I know what I want to do and by God I am doing it! Never give up! Never surrender! But more seriously, there is nothing else I want to do with my life, so there is no other plan. I didn't even apply to safety schools, because I would have been unhappy with anything less than my dream schools.

Hi, and congrats! I don't know that I'm qualified to answer your questions, but I figured I'd give you another point of view. 1. I think it depends on where you are interviewing. At some West Coast schools the dress is generally business casual, emphasis on casual, so a truly formal pant suit might stick out. But elsewhere that may be the norm. I'd bring some accessories that make it more casual, like a colorful scarf or fun jewelry. That way you have options if you get a casual vibe from the place. 2. I would know everyone's general research interests, but that's it (except of course your POI). It seems most places have short interviews and it's really just a chance for them to get the feel of who you are and your motivations. I have yet to be grilled, although I hear that happens occasionally, but it sounds as though your program is trying to put you at ease on that front. And I wouldn't worry about specific research ideas, but perhaps put some thought into a particular research direction within your interests you would like to explore early on in grad school. 3. Seems to me your energy is best spent in finding that clear narrative about your heritage, rather than on memorizing profs' interests or coming up with research ideas. The fact that your family was ashamed but you are not could be a good direction. Why aren't you ashamed of your heritage? What was different for you that allowed you to accept it instead of hide it? I'd focus on that instead of trying to explain that it's complicated. 4. What helped me to stay calm was to come up with a massive list of questions to ask everyone else. That helped me keep in mind that I was interviewing them, too, to see if the program would be a good match for me. Everyone loves to talk about themselves and their research, so any time there was a lull in a conversation, I could pull out a question and get things going again. Plus it looks good when you show initiative and interest.

"Are you sure you want to live there?" After being accepted to a top school, in California of all places. Not like it's Nebraska or something! ....No offense to any Nebraskans out there, but that would make a lot more sense to me as a general comment.

Glad to know others still haven't heard from UC Boulder, either. If anyone does, please post right away!

I am a non-traditional student: I'm older than most of my undergrad peers, I've had some hard knocks (literally and figuratively), and am generally rich in the "life experience" category. Which is exactly why I found the grad students at my school and befriended them - because, as a whole, they are ALSO rich in "life experience," as well as knowledge, passion and dedication. And at a recent interview weekend, I found the exact same thing: a bunch of interesting, intelligent, motivated, passionate individuals who are wicked smart and know a lot about their particular specialization. So the moral of my story is: every single grad student has to have jumped all the hurdles we have/are. They are well-rounded and care enough to have attained this difficult goal of grad school admission - and tenacious enough to have survived at least a year! Don't assume you know more than them or they won't be as experienced as you. If you know more and are more experienced than your typical undergrad classmate, then just be grateful you may have the opportunity to work with some people more like you, and be humble enough to learn from them. They deserve our respect for getting to where they are now. Also, the grad students in my potential lab definitely helped me get accepted! My POI told me they all said good things about me and that their opinion really counts for him.

I applied to 5 schools, two of which were top choices, and I've been accepted to one of them! My advisor told me, basically, go big or go home, as I have specific interests and only a few people do that research. I'm glad I listened! If I didn't hear back from anyone, my plan was to take another year to strengthen my application and network, and then apply again. Good luck!

For myself I found that contacting POIs was very useful and informative. I saved myself the trouble and money of applying to several schools where the POI wasn't taking students, and for two of my schools I received a lukewarm response, which allowed me to weigh whether or not to still apply. I ended up applying (because I wanted them to know a bit about me, as I will probably be interacting with them in the future) but fully expecting not to hear from them, which is saving me some heartache now. As for examples, check out: http://www.howigotintostanford.com/letters.php#meet. For myself, I read some articles, focusing on the 'future directions' parts, and wrote something about myself and how my research interests might align with those future directions, and asked if they would be interested in pursuing a line of research like that. I had to email a couple of them twice before I got a response, and my second email was much shorter, just basically a , "Hey, I emailed you before, still interested, are you taking students?" type of email. They both quickly replied. I started emailing over the summer, so the first ones probably just got lost in the shuffle. Of the two POIS who sent the most positive responses, one invited me to interview and I was just accepted! The other hasn't started reviewing applications, so we'll see. But I think it is very much worth it.

No letter, but I received an acceptance offer from my POI! I am over-the-moon-excited right now!