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Biff

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    Psychology

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  1. Lol...sorry, I was being a bit melodramatic. I focused on the Barrons high frequency word list, which was helpful.
  2. I have to admit that I was a huge crammer, and it did help a lot... On my first practice test I scored in the 450 range on verbal, so I panicked and systematically went through the entire Barrons word list and made a ridiculous number of flashcards (I don't even know how many...1000? 2000?). I made the flashcards a few months in advance, but didn't really study them in earnest until the last 2 weeks leading up to the test (I probably "learned" about 500 words in the last 5 days). I ended up getting 710 on the actual thing, which was a HUGE improvement. Although I can't really recommend the cramming from a health perspective - that much stress can't be good for anyone! - it really did work, and a lot of the words I studied ended up on the test. I would especially recommend studying the past tests, because a surprising number of words I got wrong on the practice tests showed up on the actual one. On the other hand, I can totally see where the haters are coming from...if I had a naturally great vocabulary I'd be annoyed too if someone who crammed for 2 weeks got a similar verbal score. But I also don't think that those who have not been exposed to obscure words, for whatever reason, should have to resign themselves to having a low GRE verbal score on their grad school application. The GRE is a silly and somewhat arbitrary test that may or may not be a predictor of grad school success, and I think students are justified in using any study method that will work for them.
  3. I don't have a lot of experience in this, but from what I have heard, it's better to do a very brief email first, and then follow up if they reply. I think the prof is much more likely to read and respond to a short email. Once they know you and are interested, they will take the time to read a more detailed email.
  4. I always put "inquiry from a prospective student" as the subject...It sounds kind of formal, but it gets the job done
  5. I am not having much luck with this! I have tried contacting 2 professors so far. The first one I think I wrote an email that was way too long, and about 6 days later I got a 1-line response that he was not accepting grad students.... yikes. For my second email I cut it down considerably, and I still have not received any response at all (after a week!). Below is the email I sent, and I was wondering if you could let me know if there are any obvious problems with it?? Dear Professor X, I am currently a fourth-year psychology student at the [university of Y]. I am hoping to apply to [university Z] for graduate school this fall, and I was wondering if you will be accepting new graduate students in your lab. I am especially interested in the interaction between emotion and cognition, and I really enjoyed your paper "[title of paper]". I am currently working on my undergraduate thesis, which seeks to examine [blah blah blah (in one sentence)]. Many thanks for your time. Sincerely, My name My email Am I just being neurotic? I know there could be many reasons why I am getting such poor responses, but I can't help but worry that I am shooting myself in the foot with these emails. Do you see any issues? Any advice would be much appreciated
  6. Thanks a lot! That is really helpful
  7. UBC is a very highly-regarded, competitive Canadian school. One of my profs said that it is the second best research school in Canada (behind U of T...but he might have been biased...). Although it might not be well-known in the US, I would think that the people who matter most in the field would know about it.
  8. Hello! I am a Canadian student hoping to apply to both Canadian and American schools for cognitive and/or clinical psych this fall. While I am familiar with the quality of Canadian Universities, I am at a bit of a loss about which American schools I should consider applying to. I know about the Ivy League schools, however I don't know about many of the other universities. I have been looking at some of the other posts and there is a lot of talk about different "tiers" of schools...What does this signify, and how do you know what "tier" a given school belongs to? I know that the most important thing is that you have a good fit with your supervisor, but ultimately I would like to go to a decent school as well. So far I have been looking up the universities that are involved in the publications I have been reading, but I was wondering if there is a more systematic way of doing things. Does anyone know of a comprehensive ranking or list of American schools, or better yet, schools with strong psych programs? Any suggestions would be awesome! Also, thanks for humouring my ignorance...if you have any questions about Canadian schools I'd love to help!
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