Hi guys,
I am an incoming grad student in Human Development and Family Studies at Penn State. My classmate and I are renting a three-bedroom duplex located at 1117 South Atherton Street. We are looking for the third roommate to rent the third room (should be male). The monthly rent for the house is $450 before utilities (utilities around $50-$70/ month/ person).
We'll be spending most of our time doing school works and we are fine in terms of neatness. My friend will bring a 20 pounds friendly female dog, an Italian greyhound. If you would like to bring a pet, you have to pay an additional non-refundable deposit ($250) and monthly pet fee ($20).
Please send me a message if you're interested or would like to know more about the place. Thanks....
Hello,
I thought I would start a Penn State 2016 thread. You can post here if you are looking for roommates, information about State College, or anything of the sort.
Personally, I am looking for housing options. I am a graduate student and I will be living with my girlfriend starting in the Spring. I am also looking to get a dog. I am exploring both 1 BR/Studio and 2BR+ with another roommate.
I look forward to hearing replies.
Sooo... Today was interesting.
Got done teaching my first Recitation of the day, and one of my students hung around to talk with me about how excited he is about the class. Awesome.
I know him from elsewhere, and he congratulated me on my marriage and I told him about PhD programs, and how my husband would be happy if I went to Delaware because it would mean he would get to ride trains to see me (he loooves trains)...
And there on my phone.... A call from Delaware arrived! Received a fully funded offer of acceptance and a generally heartwarming phone call.
My student watched be freak out, and, in a daze, I ran up the mountain because I was late for a meeting with my thesis advisor. I breathlessly told her of my acceptance and she said "go call your mom!"
So, I called mom, hung up the phone, and there it was.
an interview notice for Rutgers. "holy crap in a pita!" I exclaimed, and ran to my advisor's office again! "look, look!"
*ding ding* went my email as I was showing my prof the Rutgers email.
There it was. An acceptance to UC Davis.
My thesis advisor said "yeah we're not meeting today. You're not going to be able to focus on anything else but this today! Here, have some candy."
Two acceptances and an interview within 20 minutes of each other. Best Thursday ever!
Sport psychology is a great field, and the questions that you ask are very hot topics right now. In fact, I was fortunate to hear a keynote speaker address these very questions, at a conference this winter. I think I may be able to help, and would be happy to discuss through private message.
You are on the right track with wondering which route is the best for your intended career. As you know, PhD programs are largely focused on research and are set up for those who wish to remain in academia and continue researching. For what you want to do (applied work with collegiate athletes), the terminal master's degree is probably going to be all you need. When looking at schools/ advisors, it is an important question to ask whether or not you will be able to become AASP certified by the time you are on the job market.
Getting back into the types of programs (i.e. counseling, kinesilogy), this can be rather confusing. The advice that was given by Dr. Jeff Martin at the AASP regional conference was that this field isn't quite developed enough for applied sport psychologists to make a living off of working only with athlete clients. He went on to say that the best route is to start as a mental health counselor where you can have a large clientel base, while slowly building up your resume and athlete clientel. To do so, you will need the degree in counseling, not sport psych. Many students, including one of my current colleaques, do a dual masters program where they earn a degree in kinesiology (sport psych) as well as a degree in counseling. This takes much effort but really sets you up nicely to A- make a living, and B- have the knowledge to work with the athletes.
I am a big fan of the program at MSU, and have had great conversations with some of the faculty there. My advisor's advisor (academic grandfather?), Dr. Dan Gould, is actually my hero, so I may be a bit biased. Sport psychology is best understood as a scientist/practitioner teeter-totter, where some programs teeter more to one side or the other. From what I can tell, the program at MSU seems to be heavy on the scientist side, and less weighted towards practitioners. All this means is that it may not be the best fit for you. I can tell you first hand that there are programs out there that are very focused on developing practitioners to go out and work in the applied setting. Don't leave any rock unturned, make sure you explore far and wide to find the best fit for what you want to do. Try to get a copy of the Sport psychology program directory book by Dr. Sachs. It's excellent.
Thanks for all the help! Everything was settled this morning. Turns out that I am only being supported for 8 hours this first semester, which is why I didn't think it would be covered. This is because all first years in my program are only expected to take 8. She is absolutely fine with me taking it, and was willing to even have them add funding if needed. I am just pushing back my research methods course one semester and taking this Sport Psych elective right out of the gate.
Thanks for all the help! Everything was settled this morning. Turns out that I am only being supported for 8 hours this first semester, which is why I didn't think it would be covered. This is because all first years in my program are only expected to take 8. She is absolutely fine with me taking it, and was willing to even have them add funding if needed. I am just pushing back my research methods course one semester and taking this Sport Psych elective right out of the gate.
About your dog: I think that depends entirely on you and your program. I am in a social science program where the majority of my analysis and writing can be done from home, and I prefer to work from home or from a library (as opposed to my cube in the windowless cube farm). When I was taking classes I was generally there from 9-6 or so, but now that my coursework is finished I am rarely at the school itself. I go for meetings, seminars, interesting kinds of things and I do most of my work remotely. My time is verrry flexible, and if my building didn't prohibit it I would get a dog in a heartbeat. Another thing to keep in mind: a dog can be a great comfort when you're all stressed out over graduate school.
Advice?
Age:
-Don't feel like you have nothing to offer just because you are younger. I was 22 when I started graduate school. You got accepted to the program for a reason, and chances are you are just as equipped as any older students are to successfully complete the program, just in a different way.
-Your older classmates may be just as terrified as you. Talk to them. You have a lot in common. You are, after all, in the same place.
-You will feel like an imposter, like you don't belong, or like you are constantly behind. Or all three. It's normal. It will pass. (Well, sort of.) People of all ages go through this.
Adviser related:
-If you are lucky enough to get both research interest fit and personality fit perfect, congratulations! But sometimes, personality fit is more important than research interest fit as long as the research isn't too different. A great adviser is interested in your career development, likes you as a person, advocates for you, and wants to hear your ideas. Even if his or her research is quite different from yours, they may give you the autonomy to work on your own projects and just supervise you. A bad personality fit will drive you nuts, even if you love his or her research. Consider that when evaluating your adviser fit. (This will vary by field: research fit may be less important in the humanities, more important in the natural and physical sciences. Social sciences are somewhere in-between.)
-Don't be afraid to be straight up blunt with your adviser when it comes to asking about your progress. Ask if you are where you should be both academic program wise and getting-a-job-after-this-mess-wise.
-Be proactive. Advisers love when you draw up an agenda for your one-on-one meetings, come with talking points and progress to share, have concrete questions to ask, and have overall shown that you have been thoughtful and taken control of your own program. Of course, this won't immediately come easily to you, but in time you will work up to it. Every semester I type up my semester goals, and at the beginning of the year I type up annual goals. I show them to my adviser and we talk about whether they are too ambitious, or whether I need to revise them, and how I can meet them.
-Don't expect your adviser to actually know what courses you have to take to graduate. They will know about comprehensive exams and the dissertation, but a lot of professors don't really keep up with the course requirements, especially if their program is in flux. Get you a student handbook, and find out what you need to take. Map it out in a grid, and check off things when you finish them. Show this to your adviser every semester. You may have to explain how such and such class fills a requirement.
-Nobody loves you as much as you, except your mother. Keep this in mind as you take in advice from all sources, including your adviser. Your adviser is there to guide you, but that doesn't mean you have to do everything he says.
Studying:
-You will have to read more than you ever did before, in less time than you ever have before, and you will be expected to retain more than you ever have before. The way that you studied in undergrad may need some tweaking. Be prepared for this.
-Corollary: you may find that your methods change with age or interests or time. I preferred to study alone in college, but in grad school, I prefer to study in groups. It keeps me on task and the socialization keeps me motivated. You may find that you shift from being a more auditory learner to a visual learner or whatever.
-You will feel behind at first. This is normal.
-At some point you will realize that your professors don't actually expect you to read everything they assign you. This, of course, will vary by program, but there will be at least one class where the reading is actually impossible to do in one week. The point is to read enough that you know the major themes and can talk intelligently about them, and then pick some of the readings to really dig into and think more deeply about.
-For most programs, don't worry so much about grades. If you stay on top of your work and do what you're supposed to, you will probably get an A. How much grades matter varies from program to program. In some programs, a B is a signal that you are not up to par, and more than a few Bs will warrant a discussion with your adviser or the DGS. My program isn't like that - A, B, it's all meaningless. My adviser doesn't even know what my grades are. But at almost all programs, a C means you need to retake the course, and two Cs means you have to convince the DGS not to kick you out.
Extracurricular activity: What's that? No, seriously:
-A lot of your time will be unstructured. You will have coursework, but most grad classes meet once a week for two hours and you may have three classes. You may have meetings with your adviser every so often and some seminars or things to catch (like we have grand rounds and colloquia that are required), but a lot of time will be unstructured. However, since you have so much more work than you had in undergrad, you actually will have less free time than you had in undergrad. This may initially cause you great anxiety. It did for me. Some people love unstructured time, though. (I don't.)
-Because of this, you'll have to be planful about your non-grad school related stuff.
-TAKE TIME OFF. DO it. It's important for your mental health. However you do it doesn't matter. Some people work it like a 9-5 job. Some people take a day off per week (me) and maybe a few hours spread across the week. Some people work half days 7 days a week. However you do it, there needs to be a time when you say "f this, I'm going to the movies."
-Find your happy place, something that keeps you the you you were when you came in. I love working out. It gives me energy and I feel good. I stay healthy. I also love reading fiction, so sometimes I just curl up with a good book, work be damned. You have to give yourself permission to not think about work, at least for a couple of hours a week. You may also discover new hobbies! (I never worked out before I came to graduate school.)
-Your work will creep into all aspects of your life, if you let it. This is why I hate unstructured time. You will feel guilty for not doing something, because in graduate school, there is ALWAYS something you can do. ALWAYS. But since there will always be more work, there's no harm in putting it aside for tomorrow, as long as you don't have a deadline.
-You may need to reach outside of your cohort for a social life. None of my close friends are in my doctoral cohort. I've met master's students in my program, master's students in other programs, and I know a few non-graduate students I hang out with, too. Go to graduate student mixers. (If your university doesn't have any, organize some, if you like planning parties.) Join a student group that doesn't take up too much time. I had a doctoral acquaintance who kinda laughed at me because I joined some student groups other than the doctoral student one, and I was usually the only doctoral student in those groups, but I met some close friends (and future job contacts) and had a good time.
-DO NOT FEEL GUILTY FOR WANTING A LIFE OUTSIDE OF GRADUATE SCHOOL. This is paramount. This is important. You are a well-rounded, complex, multifaceted human being. NEVER feel bad for this. Everybody wants some kind of life outside of work. Yes, you may loooove your field, but that doesn't mean you want to do it all day long. Some other doctoral students, and perhaps professors, may make you feel bad about this. Don't let them. Just smile and nod. Then disappear when you need to.
Career:
-This is job preparation. Remember that from Day One. Always be looking for ways to enhance your skills. Read job ads and find out what's hot in your field, what's necessary, what's in demand. For example, in my field statistics and methods are a hot commodity, and they're not a passing fad. I happen to really like statistics and methods, so I have pursued that as a concentration of mine.
-Don't be afraid to take on volunteer work and part-time gigs that will give you skills that will be useful both inside academia and out, as long as it's not against your contract. Your adviser may be against it, but he doesn't have to know as long as it doesn't interfere with your work.
-If you want to work outside of academia - if you are even *considering* the possibility - please please definitely do the above. Even if you aren't considering it, consider the possibility that you won't get a tenure-track job out the box and that you may need to support yourself doing something else for a while. You will have to prove to employers that you have developed usable, useful skills and this is one of the easiest ways to do it. But don't overdo it - get the degree done.
-For more academic related ones - always look for opportunities to present and publish. Presentations look good on your CV. Publications look better. When you write seminar papers, wonder if you can publish them with some revision. Write your seminar papers on what you maybe think you may want to do your dissertation on. Even if you look at them three years later and think "these suck," you can at least glean some useful references and pieces from them. Discuss publication with your adviser early and often, and if you have the time and desire, seek out publication options with other professors and researchers. But if you commit to a project, COMMIT. You don't want to leave a bad impression.
-If you can afford it, occasionally go to conferences even if you aren't presenting. You can network, and you can hear some interesting talks, and you may think about new directions for your own research. You can also meet people who may tell you about jobs, money, opportunities, etc.
-Always try to get someone else to pay for conference travel before you come out of pocket. Including your adviser. Do not be shy about asking if he or she can pay. If he can't, he'll just say no. Usually the department has a travel fund for students, but often it's only if you are presenting.
-If you are interested in academia, you should get some teaching experience. There are two traditional ways to do this: TAing a course, and teaching as a sole instructor. If you can help it, I wouldn't recommend doing a sole instructor position until you are finished with coursework. Teaching takes a LOT of time to do right. You should definitely TA at least one course, and probably a few different ones. But don't overdo it, if you can help it, because again, it takes a LOT of time. More than you expect at the outset. If you are in the humanities, I think sole instructor positions are very important for nabbing jobs so when you are in the exam/ABD phase, you may want to try at least one. If your own university has none, look at adjuncting for nearby colleges, including community colleges. (I would wager that the majority of natural science/physical science students, and most social science students, have never sole taught a class before they get an assistant professor job. At least, it's not that common n my field, which straddles the social and natural sciences.)
-Always look for money. Money is awesome. If you can fund yourself you can do what you want, within reason. Your university will be thrilled, your adviser will be happy, and you can put it on your CV. It's win-win-win! Don't put yourself out of the running before anyone else has a chance to. Apply even if you think you won't get it or the odds are against you (they always are), as long as you are eligible. Apply often. Apply even if it's only $500. (That's conference travel!) Money begets money. The more awards you get, the more awards you will get. They will get bigger over time. If you are in the sciences and social sciences, you should get practice writing at least one grant. You don't have to write the whole thing, but at least get in on the process so that you can see how it's done. Grant-writing is very valuable both in and outside of graduate school.
-Revise your CV every so often. Then look and decide what you want to add to it. Then go get that thing, so you can add it.
-The career office at big universities is often not just for undergrads. I was surprised to learn that my career center offers help on CV organization and the academic job search, as well as alternative/non-academic career searches for doctoral students. In fact, there are two people whose sole purpose it is to help PhD students find nonacademic careers, and they both have PhDs. This will vary by university - some universities will have very little for grad students. Find out before you write the office off.
-It's never too early to go to seminars/workshops like "the academic job search inside and out", "creating the perfect CV," "getting the job," etc. NEVER. Often the leader will share tips that are more aimed towards early graduate students, or tidbits that are kind of too late for more advanced students to take care of. This will also help you keep a pulse on what's hot in your field. It'll help you know what lines you need to add to your CV. And they're interesting.
Other:
-Decide ahead of time what you are NOT willing to sacrifice on the altar of academia. Then stick to it.
I'm serious. If you decide that you do NOT want to sacrifice your relationship, don't. If it's your geographical mobility, don't. I mean, be realistic, and realize that there will always be trade-offs. But you have to think about what's important to you for your quality of life, and realize that there is always more to you than graduate school.
-If you don't want to be a professor, do not feel guilty about this. At all. Zero. However, you will have to do things differently than most doctoral students. Your adviser will probably never have worked outside of the academy (although this may vary depending on the field) so he may or may not be able to help you. But you have a special mission to seek out the kinds of experiences that will help you find a non-academic job. Test the waters with your adviser before you tell him this. My adviser was quite amenable to it, but that's because I told him that my goal was to still do research and policy work in my field just not at a university, AND because it's quite common in my field for doctoral students to do non-academic work. If you're in a field where it's not common (or where your professors refuse to believe it's common, or it's not supposed to be common)…well, you may be a little more on your own.
-Every so often, you will need to reflect on the reasons you came to graduate school. Sometimes, just sit and think quietly. Why are you doing this to yourself? Do you love your field? Do you need this degree to do what you want to do? Usually the answer is yes and yes, and usually you'll keep on trucking. But sometimes when the chips are down you will need to reevaluate why you put yourself through this in the first place.
-To my great dismay, depression is quite common in doctoral students. Graduate work can be isolating and stressful. Luckily your health insurance usually includes counseling sessions. TAKE THEM if you need them. Do not be ashamed. You may be surprised with who else is getting them. (I found out that everyone in my cohort, including me, was getting mental health counseling at a certain point.) Exercise can help, as can taking that mental health day once a week and just chilling. Don't be surprised if you get the blues…
-…but be self-aware and able to recognize when the depression is clouding your ability to function. Doctoral programs have a 50% attrition rate, and this is rarely because that 50% is less intelligent than, less motivated than, less driven than, or less ambitious than the other 50% that stays. Often they realize that they are ridiculously unhappy in the field, or that they don't need the degree anymore, or that they'd rather focus on other things in life, or their interests have changed. All of this is okay!
-You will, at some point, be like "eff this, I'm leaving." I think almost every doctoral student has thought about dropping out and just kicking this all to the curb. You need to listen to yourself, and find out whether it is idle thought (nothing to worry about, very normal) or whether you are truly unhappy to the point that you need to leave. Counseling can help you figure this out.
-Don't be afraid to take a semester or a year off if you need to. That's what leaves of absence are for.
Lastly, and positively…
…graduate school is great! Seriously, when else will you ever have the time to study what you want for hours on end, talk to just as interested others about it, and live in an intellectual community of scholars and intellectuals? And occasionally wake up at 11 am and go to the bank at 2 pm? Sometimes you will want to pull out all of your hair but most of the time, you will feel fulfilled and wonderfully encouraged and edified. So enjoy this time!
Or you could uh... you know, try to lose weight? I don't know your situation at all and don't mean to be judgmental... but if you have to rest after every 20-30 paces you are definitely not getting the exercise you need and should be more concerned about becoming healthier than finding a campus that have seats with no armrests.
Edit: oh and to answer your original question...stay away from Colorado I guess. Lots of active health nuts here.
I did my Undergrad and Master's at BGSU (there's an S there, by the way), so hopefully I can be of some assistance.
Psychology was one of my majors as an undergrad, but I wasn't in I/O. Despite that, I will say that everything I have heard about it, and everyone I know who was, had great things to say about it. I'm not positive, but I think it is ranked OK. As for the Bowling Green itself, it is quite cheap and quite safe. It is a pretty small town and there isn't a whole lot to do there, but there is a fair amount of things within driving distance.
Just got a phone call from my POI at UMass Boston's Clinical program as well. There are 20 slots available on 2/24 and 20 slots available on 2/28 (that's a lot of interviews!). Super excited!
I just view it all as an investment in myself, and investing in my future.. This optimistic view is subject to change depending on admissions decisions, haha.
Hey everyone,
Check out this blog post on Psychology in Action about interview tips for students applying for grad programs in psych. It was really helpful! The author is from UCLA and talks about interacting with other interviewees, current grad students, and faculty as well as arriving prepared, writing thank you notes, and other general helpful pieces of advice.
http://www.psychologyinaction.org/2014/01/13/interview-tips-for-students-applying-to-phd-programs-in-psychology/
-psychstudent007
Thank you for all of your feedback. Thinking that a rejection letter from my Alma Mater could actually benefit my career helps to ease the anxiety a bit. CBT at its finest
You probably know this, but it's worth noting in case others reading don't: many, many professors and programs prefer not to admit their own students.
The biggest reason for this is cross-fertilization of ideas; the theory is that it is better to pull in graduate students who have had other perspectives taught to them, to keep things "fresher." The follow-up to this is that many hiring committees will wonder whether a student who got a PhD from the same school as her undergraduate degree has been exposed to a sufficiently broad number of approaches. Importantly, this means that many schools will shy away from admitting their own students "for their own good" (and also with an eye toward the program's hiring statistics) -- if it could be an impediment to getting you placed, they will think twice about doing it.
Certainly, not all programs and professors think this way -- some think it is downright stupid. But if you applied to your own school, where you are a superstar, and you are not accepted, keep in mind that it may not be your fault!
Informant's advice is good for all applicants- make sure that you talk with the professor AND - especially - his/her graduate students about mentoring style. Ask grad students how their relationship (pros/cons) is with the advisor!
I already have an account on GC but I created this one with the intention of sharing my knowledge about the program without having my name linked to the information dispersed.
Anyway, I have thoughts I can share about the department/school/funding/city but mostly what I want to let you guys know is about POIs. There is information that I think candidates should be aware in order to make an informed decision about where to go. The department itself is good, but mentoring styles... differ, to put it lightly. If you get an interview MAKE SURE YOU ASK THEM DIRECTLY ABOUT MENTORING STYLES. They may lie to you though, or even misrepresent themselves without realizing it. Honestly some are pretty oblivious.
If you PM me I can answer your questions. I really want to share what I know, but I won't exactly be in a position to be blunt during the interview days. By the way, if anyone doesn't know, those should be February 10/11 I think? Invites go out end of this week or early next.
I agree that it would be nice to ask questions. Some have listed results from different schools but without mentioning the specific program they applied to. Should I be concerned that interviews have already gone out or was that in a different department that is on a different schedule?
I just view it all as an investment in myself, and investing in my future.. This optimistic view is subject to change depending on admissions decisions, haha.
I accepted the interview at the first school that extended me an invite, and explained to the second school that I had already accepted another interview on that date. They were very accommodating and I've set up a different date for the second interview. Granted, the first interview was at a higher priority school so I'm not sure if I would have tried to reschedule if it was the other way around.
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