lypiphera

I've been living in Houston for a few years after having grown up in Chicago, and I would mostly agree with the above poster. Houston is not as liberally as Austin, but it is definitely still mostly liberal/democratic, despite being in Texas. Gun culture is definitely different, but it's never something that bothered me - sure, a lot of my friends have and like guns, whereas that wasn't the case in the north, but it doesn't really affect my life. Certainly no one cares if you don't have a gun as long as you aren't actively ranting about gun control. One thing that is a nice positive, even if it's counter-intuitive, is that I learned about driving in Texas to always assume the other person has a gun in their car (since there's a good bet that's true). What I have found comparing driving in Chicago and other cities to driving in Texas is that there is a lot less road rage - people honking and yelling and screaming at each other. Sure, there is still traffic, but I think that everyone is more wary of pissing other people off if they are worried about violent retaliation, which makes everything less violent! I know that's a common argument against gun control, and I'm not saying this is scientific evidence or related to wider gun use, but it is what I have noticed. Similarly, no one I have met has had a problem with me not being religious - I have not actually ever had someone try to convert me, but I'm not saying it couldn't happen. There are definitely a lot more very religious people here, but most of my friends are not, and most of the very-religious people I do know are super cool and not stereotypical evangelicals. I would also agree with the general atmosphere of friendliness to strangers. One thing I would amend to the above poster's comment is to beware NOT to assume a religious comment is an insult. While his example probably is, it is very common for people to end conversations with something like "god bless you" and it's not an insult - even though I don't believe in god, I understand it was meant well and always just respond with "you too" rather than get into an argument with someone who was not trying to insult. Because religion is more common here, it is acceptable for people to assume that, as long as they don't act bigoted when they find out you are not religious. As I said, I'm sure it happens, but I've never experienced it.

Two of my 3 recommenders were my bosses at work, and there is a strict policy about gift-giving to superiors so I couldn't exceed $10. I got them all chocolate covered espresso beans from a fancy local chocolate place and got a very positive response on them. I would have spent more without that rule, though of course you don't have to. I also included a hand-written thank you card (from Michael's - nice but I didn't splurge).

1) I would agree with the first response that you really need to tell school A about the situation as soon as possible. Make it clear that you aren't declining the offer, just that you misunderstood what you were enrolling for and haven't made a decision yet. I like your idea of doing it by phone - it was convey your sincerity and you can be more personal about it. Hopefully they will understand - it's definitely not ideal, but it's better to tell them NOW rather than tell them on April 14th that you've decided not to enroll. When talking to them, do not mention that the letter was unclear, even if it was; just take responsibility for the mistake and tell them you thought you were reserving your spot and not enrolling. The sooner the better, so they can change your status back to "waiting to decided" from "definitely enrolling." It is fine to mention that your acceptance might be contingent on the assistanceship, which is why you can't decide yet. If you do end up declining the offer, it will be ad, but it's not the end of the world. You may have burned bridges there for future job/post-doc opportunities, but it will not destroy your life or their's. They will probably be annoyed but will forgot who you are in a few months time. Being honest as soon as possible is the best way to remedy the situation. 2) I would tell School B you are considering another school if they ask, but you don't have to bring it up if they don't. All of my school visits asked me if I was considering other schools, and I told them all honestly. They understand the process and won't be offended by it. I would tell them if they ask that you may not make a decision until right before April 15th, so they can pass that information on to people who need to know.

I wouldn't put too much stock in the prestige of Harvard, though it's certainly a consideration. The fact that the others are PhD offers, with stipends on top of tuition, would be a no-brainer for me, but that's a personal decision. I happen to absolutely love Rice (I went for undergrad but married a grad student), and when I was looking at schools (again, for undergrad and not grad), the environment and supportive atmosphere is what made me choose Rice, over prestige of Ieague schools. In the south, Rice is very well regarded, though I know it doesn't have as much name recognition in the North (where I am from). Ignoring my bias towards Rice, which is an amazing school, I would go for one of the PhD offers over the masters, unless what you want to do in your career really only needs a masters. You will be getting a stipend and have more job opportunties at the end, and if you really hate it, you can leave the program with a masters. I don't know much about BU vs Rice, but I would ignore the small difference in stipend (Houston is one of the least expensive cities to live in) and focus on academic fit with advisor and job placement rates.

I would agree that I wouldn't wait for the perfect 100% feeling to go to a school. I really like the first 3 schools I visited - none were perfect, and there were definitely some cons of each, but I felt like I could see myself at each one. The fourth school I visited, however, it was very clear to me that I did NOT feel a good fit there and would not have wanted to go there, possibly even if it was the only place I got into. If you didn't get that strong negative feeling, I wouldn't cross it off the list. However, what you said about the academic fit would be more worrisome to me. One of the schools I visited was similar, where I loved the people and environment but the research being done wasn't as aligned with my interests. They were planning to hire new faculty, but you ever know if that will end up happening and how aligned the new people would be with your interests, or how much they would want to work with you, or what their personalities are like. I am more risk-averse than that and chose a place that already had a lot of faculty in the area I was interested in. Personally, if you already have a good job in industry with a good career path, I would stay there! It all depends on how much you like your career of course, but it's not a great time to be going into academia, career-prospect wise. I was in a job that I am leaving for graduate school, but it was not a career-path job and not something I would want to spend my life doing. Academic jobs are scarce and will only become more so, so if you have a stable, successful career already, my advice to be to stick with it. Obviously that is contingent on you enjoying your current job, which it sounds like you are.

I have already accepted an offer of admission, but there is one school I never heard a thing from. I submitted, paid the fee, and saw my status as "submitted", but I never once got an email from them about my application, either acceptance or rejection or confirmation or anything. Since I've already accepted an offer elsewhere, I don't think I should bother following up about it, but it is certainly frustrating. I understand schools have until April 15th (at least for funding offers), but it would be nice for them to at least give some indication before that. I would assume in this case that I have been/will be rejected, since they held interviews I wasn't invited to, but I would not assume that for all schools. If they had interviews and you haven't heard anything, there's probably a low chance of acceptance, but if they did not do interviews and/or if professors are accepting students on their own time, it's possible they are just still working on applications and you do have a chance.

I would go nice-casual for this. Since you've already been accepted, you don't need to really dress up nice, but it's always good to make a good first impression. Casual is fine, but make sure you look presentable, e.g. no holes or frayed ends, etc. As for shorts, I probably wouldn't recommend it because you'll likely spend a lot of time indoors, and while it may be hot in Texas outside, it will be cool inside. Wearing light pants would be better so that you both don't need to worry about seeming underdressed and won't be cold inside. Polo or nice t-shirt would be fine. Where are you visiting in Texas? Just curious because I'm in Houston and know the social psych professors at Rice very well, if that happens to be the place.

Heh, I think I may be going in the opposite direction of many people here. I have been dressing business casual for the past 2 years in a "real" job, and I am super excited that I can wear my jeans and t-shirts again that I haven't worn during weekdays since undergrad! Shoes won't be a big change, since I just got a pair of "nice" black gym shoes instead of my normal ones to wear here. Although I am extremely short (under 5'), I do not wear heels.

School B does sound like a better deal, but I would not consider more TAing to be all that terrible. Yes, it is a time suck and may lengthen your stay, but it may also give you a more impressive resume and teaching experience. If all else was equal, I would take the less TAing, but if you are really close with your family and would like to stay, I wouldn't be stopped just because of an extra 2 years of TAing. It all depends on your own priorities and values - I wanted to live far away, so family wasn't an issue, but if it's really important to you, you should factor it in.

I can't say how dangerous it is, since it's a risk with completely unknown probability. Basically, if your advisor leaves, for whatever reason, you will be in a tough spot. In addition, if your interests change (which I understand is VERY common in graduate school), you want other labs you are interested in. I had a similar decision, and I went with the place that had more researchers doing the work I am interested in. Now, I didn't exactly have one "ideal" advisor at another school, but I did place a lot of importance on the high number of people doing work I wanted to do. At one school where there was really only one, and no one else's research I was interested in, I declined. It really depends on the magnitude of the difference in fit. If the multiple advisors at one school really aren't doing work that you love, while you are completely set on the one advisor at the other school, then you could consider that. Otherwise, I would go with the place with multiple advisors, all else being equal.

Just to be contradictory, I wouldn't necessarily go with School A. It sounds like A wouldn't be a bad choice, but I wouldn't ignore your gut feeling on it. While I will be going for 5-7 years and not 2, I definitely did factor in location, weather, and fit with students - after all, what's the point of a good program if you're not happy. If you think you could handle it and maybe not just love the city, then A would be okay, but if you truly feel that the location would make you miserable, it's not worth it. Having said that, the fit with advisor worries me more in what you said. If your PI will not be a good mentor to you, that may not make a good graduate school experience.

Hi Bio - I will be attending UCI as well, for Psychology and Social Behavior! I am really looking forward to moving out there. Aside from the whole finding a place to live and moving all my stuff out there, I am ready to go there NOW because I am so excited! I have a few months of work left and then I will start visiting and will likely move out in August some time.

I probably would not. It's certainly a good experience to have, but I don't think a few months of non-research work experience will make a huge difference to most professors, and unless it's a BIG change you need to update, it's probably not something they'd want to be bothered with. It's good to know that you may have a job option though!

I would agree with the above poster in that I would not at all assume the professor doesn't like you based on what you've said. They are super busy, and if POI B was taking the time to "woo" you, he would probably be spending more time on another student. Even a professor that accepted me and wanted me to come took a long time to respond to emails, and while some grad students I've emailed responded right away, others I never heard back from. It's an unfortunate coincidence that they student and professor are both not responding to emails, but unless there is some other indication, I would not think that means they don't like you.

There are a lot of good points people have already mentioned that you should take into account when considering buying. One to add (that has been touched upon) is the possible maintenance that you will need in the future - not just the cost but the convenience. If the difference is really only $15k, I would definitely rent for that. Something will come up in 5 years (likely multiple things), and when you buy, you not only foot the bill, but have to really take care of it and not just call the apartment manager and have them send maintenance up. Of course, there are hidden benefits to owning as well (e.g. allowed to make changes, less rules/restrictions), but the hidden costs of listing, re-selling, HOA fees, waiting while it doesn't sell, etc., mean that it really needs to be a big difference to be worth it for 5 years, IMO.

Lots of people have posted great suggestions that I agree with. I am also trying to get back into the swing of things, so as others have said, I plan to take some free online courses, read journal articles, and edit my undergrad honor's thesis into a (hopefully) publishable work. For online courses, I am using Coursera. I can't recommend it or anything since I haven't used it yet, but it looks good. I signed up for an intro to social psychology (as a refresher), statistics (as a refresher and to learn SAS), and intro to computer programming (since I have no experience with it). Once I'm done with my job in June, I plan to spend more time on fellowship applications as well, such as NSF. My advisor said we should start talking over the summer so I can "hit the ground running" when I get here, and I totally agree. I am looknig forward to going back to school life after work. I do really like my job, and I work in research so it's not irrelevant, but I am excited to be an the academic environment again.

Is it too late to start saving some? I don't know what your financial situation is, so I apologize if this is not an option, but I am in a similar situation and I am saving up money now to cover for the 2-3 months without income. My husband (a current grad student who will also not have income this summer) and I put together a budget to figure out what we could cut out (e.g. going out to dinner, name-brand groceries, non-necessary purchases), both to save money now and to have less to cover this summer. I may also borrow money from family members - again, I know this is not an option for everyone, but if you know you will have the money to pay back (which you should make sure of before borrowing) once you start getting a stipend, it's worth asking at least. Aside from those steps, which may or not be possible for everyone, I would agree with others about short-term, part-time jobs. If you can pick up a couple of things, hopefully you can scrape by with rent and food without other purchases. I've worked part time at animal shelters, day care centers, pet sitting, tutoring - anything you can do makes a big difference, even if it's not a lot of money. Check out Craiglist for one-off tasks people need help with that pay (e.g. helping someone move, doing yardwork).

I would take any feedback your receive here with a grain of salt (including mine). Although most people on this forum have probably taken the GRE, that doesn't mean they did well, and even if they did, they likely did not get essay feedback. I will offer a few comments, but although I did well on the writing section, it was almost a year ago and I don't remember the rules/criteria. These are just initial impressions, not thought-out critiques of your writing style. Although they are very specific to this essay, hopefully they will be helpful in general. - I personally don't like starting the essay with a question-form repeat of the prompt. Some do, it just bugs me. - "After careful consideration," Can you really say after careful consideration, since they know you have to write it in 30 minutes? - "it is certain that the ability of humans to think will not deteriorate, no matter how much their reliance on technology increases." I know they tell you to write absolutely (e.g. avoiding "I think that it will"), but I would be careful of making it sound off the bat like this is 100% guaranteed, no other discussion. Better to say "It will" and not "I think it will" OR "it is certain that it will." Again, this is just personal impression, but "it will" sounds confident while "it is certain it will" sounds arrogant. - "Technology only aids humans in proceeding with tasks with little difficulty by saving time, effort and energy. It does not replace the human mind in analyzing and problem solving." Good thesis/summary statement. - "Now consider the use of home appliances," This sentence would be better without the word "now", it sounds awkward to start out a sentence that way - it sounds too conversational. "such as an oven, microwave, blender or dicer, in a kitchen." Look over comma-usage rules. Having a comma after "blender" is optional (I like it better with, but it's just preference), but the comma after "dicer" should not be there. - "save time, effort and energy of the human utilizing the technology" I understand what you mean but this is awkwardly worded. - "does not affect the thinking processes of the user in any way." Again, be careful of what you can say with certainty. You might bring up the argument that some people point to the reduce in effort/energy expenditure as evidence of increase in laziness or dependence, but this type of convenience does not affect the underlying critical thinking skills that constitute effective problem solving. Saying it doesn't affect "thinking" in any way leaves you open to the counter-argument that of course your thinking is different in some way, just not in the ways that matter (i.e. higher level complex thinking). - "Like the home appliances, dependence on transportation technology such as a car does not deteriorate the ability to think in people" Very awkwardly worded. I know that's not too helpful, but just try reading sentences out loud to see how they sound as you write. Alternative: "As with home appliances, human reliance on transportation technology, such as cars and trains, does not cause a deterioration in people's ability to think critically." Pay close attention particularly to prepositions to make sure they sound natural and are not ambiguous. - "It would be problematic for the user to forego the car and reach his destination" Is "problematic" the right word? His (and I would go with "his or her"; it may be acceptable to use the male generic but it would make you look better to keep it equal) destination could be across the street and it wouldn't be a problem. I would instead talk about how not using a car can cause problems, such as the inability to travel to far distances, and then lead in to how using a car entails other problems that are just as complex that need to be solved by the driver. Also, the word you are looking for is "forgo" (to abstain), not "forego" (to precede). - "While it may be established that increased dependency on use of calculators reduces the speed at which students can solve math problems without calculators," Is this true? It's completely fine if it is, great point even, just make sure there is evidence to back it up and you are not just assuming. If you can talk about this with more backup, that would look great. You don't need to have a citation handy of course, since you'll be doing this in isolation, but anything you can pull from studies you know, newspaper articles, famous quotes you know, books, etc., is great to use to back up your argument. I'm not saying you did assume this fact, since it seems likely, just make sure you don't assume or posit something that doesn't have supporting evidence (even if you can't cite it). - "it does not necessarily point towards deterioration in the thinking ability" awkward wording again. It would be deterioration of critical thinking skills - no "the" and try to be more specific. - "overtime the person will adapt and solve problems by himself." This is the most important argument you have in this paragraph, so I would expand on that more instead of going into another example (computers) which is essentially the same as calculators. - "does not deteriorate the ability of humans to think for themselves." Whatever you are writing about, try to avoid using the same word too many times. If you have used the same word over and over, reviewers will notice and the word will start to sound redundant instead of reinforced. Other options for deterioration: reduction, loss, impairment. - ". If anything, reliance on technology leads to improvements in technology and such advancements are proof of the ability of humans to think for themselves – the humans are thinking of making life more convenient for themselves." This is a new argument and should not be brought up in the last paragraph. You have no support in your essay for this, and you should not bring up a point without supporting it. This is a fine point to argue, but it would have had to be done in the beginning of the essay. The conclusion should not bring any new information/arguments to the table but should just wrap up the essay. - The concluding paragraph is a bit long, with some unneeded sentences. Given what I've said above about how the conclusion shouldn't bring in new information, you can see that it's not a necessary place to spend time on. If time is getting short (and it will during testing), you can just write a sentence or two at the end and spend more time on your body paragraphs. In this essay, I would change the last sentence (as discussed above) and remove the following two sentences entirely, which are almost exact repeats of earlier sentences: "People rely on technology for convenience. If people have to perform tasks without the use of technology it would only require more time, effort and energy." It's going to be somewhat redundant at the end since you are summarizing, but try to at least vary the wording. I hope this was helpful! I can't give a grade, but it seems like a decent essay that would be better with some polishing but is not suffering from any major flaws. I was not planning on writing nearly that much, but once I go into "edit mode" I can't seem to just turn it off or do quick reviews. I am going to have to work on that for TAing - I will never have time to grade if I have a comment about every sentence!

Sleepdr: Ooh, a second monitor is a great idea. I got a second one for my work computer, and just like you said, everything goes so much faster; particularly for what I was working on that involved coding information from a document and entering it into a spreadsheet. I can't imagine going back to one screen. I think that I will have a desktop at school already, though I don't actually know. so I may need the full set-up. Since my laptop works fine, I can focus on a desktop and two monitors if I am limited by cost. stephchristine: I believe that a laptop was one of the examples given of what to spend it on, but it's been a while since the conversation so I'm not sure. Good to know that that's not a guaranteed option; I would have assumed it was. I don't think I'll need a lot of physical equipment, since I will be doing mostly online surveys, but I agree that I should check before spending anything. I'm not planning to buy anything yet (won't even get the money until I start attending in the fall), but I want to think of lots of ideas now so I have options no matter what the restrictions are. Conference travel will likely be the biggest expense, but it's always possible it won't be allowed to be used on travel. I don't know what the restrictions are and don't want to ask since I don't need it yet. Thanks guys! Any others?

At the school I will be attending this fall, I received a recruitment fellowship of a few thousand dollars for my first year. However, I was told that there may be restrictions on what it can be used for; that it's not just added to the stipend, but has to be used for research-related purches, which I said was fine and I still wanted to apply for it. I got the impression it didn't have to be directly related to a specific project, like subject payments, but could be anything reasonable related, like a laptop. I'm starting to think about what I could spend it on, depending on the restrictions and how much support I'll have for my project already through my PI's grants. Here are some things I came up with: Laptop computer (I have one but it's a few years old, and I'm sure I will be using it for work all the time) Software (e.g. SPSS, SAS, Microsoft Office) Conference travel and registration Tablet(s) for data collection in the field (I don't really know yet if this is something I would need since I don't have a project outlined, but they seem useful) I'm sure I won't have trouble spending the money, particularly if I do need to use it for subject payments or conference travel, but I'm curious about other things I may have missed. Any suggestions?

You can definitely still ask, thought you might have less success. I would just word it differently - don't mention that you didn't get into other schools (unless they ask), just say that you'd really like to attend but are worried the stiped won't be enough to live on and is there anything they can do to help out. It will all depend on the institution and what kind of money they have if they will be able to or not, but you can absolutely still ask.

$16,000 in guaranteed stipend seems like a pretty good amount, particularly for a masters. I am assuming this is in addition to tuition remission, since you will be TAing, but if not that changes things. The research fit is very important. It really doesn't sound like you really like the research at Western U, and I can't imagine turning down your dream school. Obviously if you really can't make it work, that's something for you to consider, but if I were in your place, I would go to my dream school with decent funding and hope for that scholarship. It won't help much to have more money if you don't like the work you're doing and aren't working as hard in it. Even if you do have to go into some more debt (I can't comment on how disastrous it would be without specifics), it will be worth it in the long run to come out with a stronger CV, ready for the job market.

Mine were a bit longer and I mentioned where I was going and why I picked that. This was sent to the POI, not the graduate coordinator. After the phone interview, in-person visit, various talks over email, acceptance notification, etc., I felt they had put a lot of time and effort into trying to telling me about the program, and I wanted them to know that it was appreciated. This could vary based on how much contact you've had with the POI - if you haven't been in as close contact, it might not be as important. My emails included the following, in roughly one sentence each: 1. Thanks for the time and effort they put in telling me about their great program 2. Notification of where I would be attending 3. Mention that it was not an easy decision and that I did like their university 4. The reason I chose the other university (in my case, better research fit - I didn't want them to think that I just didn't like them) 5. Expression of possibility of working together in the future and/or meeting at conference 6. Best wishes to them and other faculty at schools Obviously this will vary based on what the reason you didn't attend and the relationship you had with the declined professor. This is just how I did it. I wanted to make sure that the professors didn't think that there was something I didn't like about them, because I don't want to burn bridges for future collaborations and job opportunities. All of the professors got back to me thanking for letting them know and expressing their understanding that the school/advisor I chose is a great choice and a good fit for me. Also, just a note to an above poster, I think "Love always" sounds a bit odd for a professional correspondence, but that's just my opinion.

I think you have a good chance at getting in somewhere and I see no reason not to apply. As others have said, your GPA is not low enough to be thrown out (maybe at the top programs, IDK), and they will consider your later years and psych classes more. Your transcript will hurt a bit, so make sure to mention it in your statement of purpose or somewhere on the application - some have specific places where they ask you to discuss anything negative, like low grades. You will need strong GRE scores, particularly in quantitative, to show that you have enough mathematical/analytical experience to make up for the low math class scores. Though you may not be going into a "hard" science, research programs will care about math skills. For your letters of recommendation, make sure to ask your recommenders to talk about how dedicated you are to the field, to make up for anyone who might think like the previous poster. That's something to bring up in your SOP as well - get others' opinions and edits to make sure you are making a strong case. One last piece of advice I have is to NOT talk about depression in your SOP or anywhere in your application. It's not anything you need to hide or be ashamed of, but clinical psychology programs see so many applicants talking about their personal history with mental illness and how that has made them want to go into clinical psychology. It's not a convincing enough motivation, and will not put you in a stand-out category of people. Again, you don't need to hide it if asked, but I would instead emphasize how medicine was not the right fit for you, and once you found your passion, psychology, you were able to excel. Address your negative background a bit and then go into all the great things you have to offer - it sounds like you can have a strong application, especially if that paper is published. Good luck on your application if you choose to do it!