sparrowbirdie

Along with the aforementioned suggestions, I would suggest doing very well on your GREs even if you're a Canadian student applying to a Canadian school (as opposed to a US school). For example, I've heard that UBC uses the GRE to shut out applicants in the first round (take this with a grain of salt, since who knows what happens during the admissions process). As a personal note, I had a horrid CGPA (3.1) and still got into two different programs in Canada. It might be worthwhile to consider universities in the prairies, as they tend to be a little less demanding about applicants' academic strengths. If there's a school that you definitely are looking to get into based on research fit with a particular prof, see if you can volunteer RA in his or her lab. If you can show your research potential that way, and even get a few posters/publications out of it, you may have a higher chance of getting into that school to work with that specific professor if he/she wants you.

Don't know if anyone is waiting for U Toronto, but apparently professors have to make their accept/reject decisions by early next week, with mailed notifications soon thereafter. (One of the profs told me just now.)

attribution bias

I'm in the same situation. I actually asked why I was contacted even though I only put one name down on my SoP, and I was given a very friendly answer.

@Syedahum, I applied for OGS and then declined the award because I went out of province for my MA. I'm currently applying to various PhD and second MA programs, so I'm in the same boat. When I applied, I was told that the graduate committee at the home school/department looks at your grades first (for cutoff), then statement of interest to see importance of work or competitiveness of proposal compared to others, then recommendations to support your potential to be a good researcher/student. Since the OGS is now awarded through the home school, and not through a central association, it seems to be important to appeal to the home school's style of writing and research... Although, who knows; I could be totally off-base. I've submitted one OGS app already (I applied to OISE and their OGS was due a few weeks ago), and haven't really heard anything, so I only know as much as you with all of these new changes to the system.

is this the one you saw a while back?:

I had done the same thing and then ended up accepting at the school that gave me a later offer, so I'm curious as to what would make you consider accepting the offer from the other school (if there is the possibility of it). You said you want to wait to hear back even though you're pretty certain about your decision, but what might be the factor(s) that might make you decide on the other school?

Exciting! There are quite a few profs here working on phenomenology, so even if you don't end up working with Jeff (as lewin has stated...somewhat jokingly?) then Cor and Don are good bets. The department is only just going through the files now, so hopefully you'll hear about an interview soon! Good luck! Feel free to PM me if you have any questions!

I'm re-applying to 5-/6-year programs this year after finishing an MA (in June), and usually what I hear is: "Are you scared of the real world?" "So you won't be done school until you're 30?" (Usually preceded by a huge gasp) And also: "Don't you ever want to get married?" (Yes, because apparently marriage and graduate studies are mutually exclusive.)

Haha, no worries! I'm actually doing my MA (Social and Cultural--what a coincidence!--but none of the profs you mentioned) at the U of A right now, so I thought I'd ask out of curiosity. EP... do you mean evolutionary psychology? Or experimental psychology?

amanda_Fyi: who did you apply to work with at Alberta?

I've never been asked about research interests because it's pretty much fully covered in my SoP. However, they always ask about the role I had in my research projects and future directions for each. Other questions: Why did you apply to this area of psychology? Have you ever worked with x population? (e.g. clinical, adolescent, children, etc.) One of your recommendations said x; can you tell me more about why they said this/what they might be referencing/what they mean? What are your future career goals? Where else are you applying? Do you have any questions for me? (as other posters have said)

For my programs, I would rely on what the POI says. I've recently been invited to a department-wide interview day, but was also given the option of meeting faculty and grad students a couple of weeks ahead instead. When asked, my POI said they don't care about the interview day, and just wants me to come and talk to other people.

I had to do it because of a conference that overlapped with my interview dates. They're usually very willing to accept the situation--it's not going to be the first time that they've heard such a request from a potential student.

I don't know many other people applying to this program. Just you! At least the two of us can keep it going I spoke with Todd Wills (I guess the Grad Secretary position) yesterday, and he said something to the effect of waiting until early April to hear about the status of applications. Not sure if I should start crying now, considering that's way too late to be an acceptance.