lewin

This forum isn't here to help with your homework.

I never wrote blog posts during my PhD because I figured that if my advisor saw them he'd think that was time I should have spent doing writing that was destined for peer reviewed outlets.

I really think you should get a note from your doctor and talk to your graduate program head. Maybe there's something they can do.

APS and APA aren't websites per se, they're professional organizations. It's not like facebook or linkedin where the point is access to their website, it's to belong to a group of people that are advancing the discipline in some way, though it sometimes comes with side benefits like access to a website or professional profile, or reduced conference rates.

Great advice above. I don't know about sociology but in my field, psychology, the journals with countries in the titles are seen as less prestigious because they're of narrower interest whereas, for whatever reason, the American journals are seen as international/universal. Put another way, there's no such thing as an "American" journal, they're just journals.

Some crappy journal might, but the good review journals don't publish papers that are just lit reviews; they need to make a novel theoretical contribution or synthesis (e.g., Psych Bulletin, Personality and Social Psychology Review). I'm not capable of this level of thought myself, and I already have my PhD Some journals are (mostly) invitation only too (e.g., Psych Inquiry, Current Directions in Psych Science). They're darn hard to get into. I'm speaking for social psychology, anyway, which fits with the topics you mentioned; maybe IO journals are different. So, realistically I think your chances of getting a review accepted somewhere worthwhile are < 1%. If you want to do it for the learning experience that's up to you, but the publication chances are so slim that, frankly, if you told a POI or professor, "I'm writing this review that I hope will get published," I think you'd come off as dreadfully--but hopefully endearingly--naive.

If you're concerned about your verbal GRE scores, it becomes especially important to have a great written statement to show that, where it counts, you can write very well. Make sure it's perfect. Also, not too much point worrying about it until you actually get your scores back. Maybe you'll do just fine.

Strunk and White - the Elements of Style - is wonderful. Everyone should read it annually. There's also a classic chapter "how to write an empirical journal article" by Daryl Bem, which is from the book "The Compleat Academic". That whole book is good if you're thinking about academia in psychology, though it's a bit dated now.

It's based on taxable income and I think the minimum taxable income to pay anything is $20,000. I only noticed because last year that was the only actual cash I paid to the government; my tuition credits didn't count against it.

Just to be pedantic, Ontario charges a health premium ($0-900 depending on income) but it's assessed on your tax return so most people probably don't notice it. To the OP: Prescription drugs, dental, vision, etc. are also not typically covered by provincial plans but hopefully your university has supplementary coverage for these things. Many universities do as part of their TA package or graduate student association. You'll probably need that regardless of whether you're on BC's plan or OHIP but don't worry about it until you arrive on campus.

No need to coin a new term, I think "sub drop" works just fine here. Grad school is definitely a D/s relationship. OP, take a week off and don't feel guilty about it, then get back to work afterwards. A week of 95% disconnection from work (e.g., save for a few emails) is a lot better than half-slacking for the next two months because you were burnt out.

What jenste said but also that you'll probably be required to sign a year long lease unless you're subletting somebody else's lease for the summer, which is common in university towns. In that case, make sure you can keep the place at the end of the sublet period, if you want to, because subletting is the exception to what I wrote above; there the actual tenant can make you leave at the end of it.

I'm from Ontario and I rent. Don't pay cash, send them a cheque. If they want cash that's a red flag because they won't give you the keys until the cheque clears anyway. Also, ask them if it's possible for a friend to visit on your behalf to view the unit and take pictures. Even if you don't have anybody who can do this, it might scare off any scammers. Even better would be to ask your new department if there's anybody nice who would do this for you. Ontario's rental laws can be much different than other provinces so you probably want to check out the government site on the rules. For example, Ontario landlords aren't allowed to collect damage deposits but they usually collect first and last month's rent. Another important law specific to Ontario is that you usually sign a one year lease, but after that year is up you're NOT required to sign another lease or move out. Instead, the tenancy defaults to month-to-month and, moreover, even as a month-to-month tenant, the landlord cannot evict you except for specific prescribed reasons (e.g., extensive renovations or they want to personally live in the unit). "I want more money" or "you won't sign another lease" or even "I sold the building to someone else" aren't legal reasons to evict you even as a month-to-month tenant. A common thing is that the landlords ask (but can't require) you to sign for another year in exchange for some consideration (e.g., no rent increase).

If they're self-assigned, just give him 30/30 like the rest of the class probably assigned themselves.

You need to come across like you're serious about IO and didn't just pick it on a whim. How do you actually know that you like IO? (i.e., if you had IO lab experience you could explain using that) If it looks like you're going into IO without knowing much about it, it appears more likely you that could easily become disinterested (or turn out to be bad at it). That's the impression you need to combat.

Another thing you might want to consider is which journals he publishes in. You want to graduate with a CV full of psychology journal articles, not journals that might be good within communication but where nobody in psychology knows anything about them. So much of the job market is heuristics ("Oh, you got a Psych Science [or JEP], that's great!").

It's pickup artist gibberish. "Social value", the way they use it, is a bullshit concept. You're better off ignoring whatever you're reading and switching to something useful (i.e., not misogynistic).

Good advice. I find the "research interests" listed on faculty webpages, if the OP is looking there, can be misleading. I can mean anything from "active researcher" to "an idea I'm interested in" to "I did this twenty years ago".

Saw this today, which might be helpful: Religion and Spirituality at SPSP

If you want to be a real outcast in social psychology, try being a social conservative or even, to a lesser extent, a fiscal conservative.

Okayyyyyy. Source? Find me one [social] psychology mainstream publication that argues the "mind" is anything but that's what produced by the body. People study the mind as a level of analysis but nobody would ever argue it's separate from biological processes. I will agree that psychologists are empiricists who, I daresay, might view philosophical claims as speculation unless they can be empirically tested.

That's really misguided in this case. By the OP's own account of who has done what work, it's the advisor who has done most of it. If I think of an idea, then plan and run a study, and ask you to take a look at the data to see if there's anything there, it doesn't become yours to write up as first author just because.

Agree with the above. "Sorry, in the past I've always paid for posters where I was the first author." If money is that tight black and white is like $15.

I erred in picking Harvard as my "good" school when I meant it as a proxy for, like TakeruK said, "high ranking in one's discipline". For what it's worth, the traditional top three programs in my discipline are Stanford, Ohio State, and Michigan, none of which are Ivy League. I agree with what TakeruK said in response to this, and reiterate that program reputation isn't just a argument's premise or an unjustified notion, it's also a conclusion based on evidence. For me, I don't need to go on what profs have said: I go to conferences, I read journals, I see where it comes from. Though of course, there are always exceptions, and I can only speak of my own field. I'm not trying to say this is the way things should be, but I'm trying to give pragmatic advice to prospective grad students, especially those interested in academic careers. The job market sucks and the truth is that reputation matters a lot. People want to know where you trained, with whom you worked, etc. People judge by heuristics and you need to look like you're on an upward trajectory. This doesn't mean that evaluators will throw out your job application if you're from a lesser known place, but you'd need to stand out all the more (i.e., with publications). You get less benefit of the doubt.

It gets worse when they do give you rationale. I had a student who said they were on academic probation and if they didn't get a 70% in my class they would have to drop out of school. I just said that I was sorry, but it wouldn't be fair to the other students, many of whom would also have good reasons for wanting an extra 3% on their final grade. (And what I thought but didn't say was, "If this grade was so important you should have studied more.") At least the story ends well: The following term I saw the student on campus walking to class so either they worked it out or were full of shit. Either way, I stuck to my guns.