Dedi

I'm sure you're not the first. I would call the school tomorrow about revising your SOP. The worst they can say is no.

Thank you for sharing this! I found this to be insightful and I feel much better about the graduate school admissions process. I'm more confident that I will get in!

My applications are really dispersed in terms of deadlines and they don't send the emails until I pay the fee...so my recommenders are getting the emails at different times. Can't really do much about it--I'm not made of money.

Looks like another person got an interview invite from UCSF (in case people have applied to that school). I'll probably start getting nervous in January. Most of my applications are due later and I won't get response from most of them until March. Just trying to keep rational (at least for now).

I've been a summer student that volunteered at a POI's lab. My situation is slightly different than yours in that I was not intending to stay a summer at his lab when I first chatted with him. However, here are a few tips/things to consider: As Vene said, do some background reading on what the lab has published. Why do you want to work in this lab? What can you contribute to the lab (intellectually, skill-wise, etc.)? Is there another professor that can advocate for you (the POI wanted recommendation letters from profs that I've researched with)? I can add more, but I have to leave for something. Feel free to PM me.

Yes, and they were of no help. They just told me that after December 5th the application closes and my recommender would not be able to send in the letter. I don't know if it's because they can't do anything about it or what, but I've contacted the administration before and I've gotten bad vibes from them. The POI reassured me that not everyone in the department is like that. I hope he is right.

I just searched for the school and program I want to know about and they give you the results from years past.

Yeesh, there it all is. I can't stand that my GPA is just too low to not really be competitive. Any thoughts? Some days I feel confident that I'll get in somewhere, and other days I feel like I'm totally boned. Should I apply to UGA as a safety? I don't really want to go there, but if I don't get in anywhere else I'm basically stuck around here in the cold for another year and I'm itching so badly to get out. I wouldn't apply to a school you don't want to go. You may want to consider getting a research assistant position if you don't get in anywhere. Most schools hold research experience in high regard and that may offset your GPA (plus you can try to find someplace warmer). I feel like I should be more stressed in terms of the grad school process. Besides a letter coming in a day before the deadline, I'm not feeling too bad about the process. I kind of wish it didn't suck up my earnings, though.

There will be some conferences that are more popular than others and therefore you will get a lot of people looking at your poster and making comments. APA (American Psychological Association) is hosting its conference in Toronto for 2015, but the call for poster presentations has passed as of last week... I think that SONA (Southern Ontario Neuroscience Association) might be a good venue (held at McMaster university next May-ish). It's not as popular as Society for Neuroscience, but not necessarily a bad venue. I'm not sure if there are really "high impact" conferences. An undergraduate conference is little lower on the ladder than regional or national conferences, but I think the experience is invaluable no matter which conference you go to (And it goes on your CV).

I'm not sure how much they will scrutinize the letter. You'll probably be fine though. Most likely they've seen worse. I see you applied to U of T's psychology program. Maybe we'll see each other at the recruitment weekend (if we both get invited, of course). Do you have a POI in mind there?

According to the results search, U of T's psychology program does invite applicants to a recruitment weekend. I won't know until the end of January if I am invited. Still will sit here and twiddle my thumbs...

None of my programs do interviews (as far as I'm aware--must be a Canadian thing). So I'm going to be sitting here twiddling my thumbs until spring.

Glad it's helping! I don't have much news to report. My PI/POI sent in his LOR, making my first application complete. This was the email I got when he sent in the LOR (which still makes me flustered every time I read it): Submitted. I basically told them you walk on water (so don't let me down if you come here!). As I said, it is difficult to know what chance you have in this competition, but I gave it my best shot. My advisor is freaking out, under the impression that I'm going to be accepted into the program. I'm just relieved that he turned in the LOR on time.

Yes. In fact, I'm only applying to places where I received very positive feedback from the professor. I got phone calls from three professors, and I spent a summer working in the POI's lab of my top choice program. Some programs only accept you if a supervisor decides to take you into their lab. Does it make a difference? It depends on how involved the professor is with applications, and how your relationship with the professor developed. For example, my application contains a very strong (apparently. I haven't read it) LOR from the POI I mentioned. It does not guarantee admission, of course, but it may help having a professor advocate for your application.

I don't think it matters as much as when applying for undergrad. You'll be fine.

Thanks. I expect my Animal Behaviour GPA to go up after this semester. My SOP is pretty solid (as I've been told), and my LORs appear to be strong. One of my letter writers is the POI from U of T, and he's been taking his time to write the LOR. The deadline is in 4 days, and I haven't gotten word from him if he drafted a letter yet. It makes me nervous because this is completely out of my control, but I trust that he will get the letter in time. Only U of T psychology's app is due in 2014. Everyone else is either January or February (kind of nice because I can save up for those dreadful fees, which are even more expensive when applying as an international student). How many schools have you applied to so far?

Only one program that I'm applying to requires the GRE. That's why I didn't bother retaking it. Animal Behaviour major GPA - 3.47 Psychology Major GPA - 3.7

I would be surprised if you didn't make the numbers cutoff for any of those schools. However, if your SOP and LORs aren't up to par (which I'm not saying they wouldn't be), then you might run into some problems.

Undergrad Institution: Liberal Arts University that isn't very well known nationally. Major(s): Psychology & Animal Behaviour Minor(s): Biology GPA in Major: Not sure, we usually don't have that calculated. Overall GPA: 3.52 Position in Class: I got inducted into Psi Chi last semester so at least top 35% Type of Student: Female US citizen applying to mostly Canadian schools GRE Scores (revised/old version): Q: 161 V: 156 W: 3.0 (I really don't understand what happened here) B: Not taking Research Experience: Oh, boy. This one is always tricky because the university doesn't have "labs" that I can join. I did an independent biology research project that lasted about 7 months. Preparing a manuscript (1st author out of three). Did two conference talks on this project (single author; one was a regional conference and the other was a university-wise conference) Was an undergraduate research assistant for a probability learning project, but we only got preliminary results. We presented a poster at a state-wide conference (2nd author out of four). Presented a poster at a Canadian national conference on a research course project (single author). This ended up being our research seminar for psychology project. Good results so far. I see myself being 1st or 2nd author on a manuscript. Led my own small project at U of T last summer. I probably won't know until next semester if the results are publishable. A research project in my behavioral ecology class might end up as a manuscript (1st author, maybe). Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Tri-Beta member, Psi Chi member, Dean's list, received a Tri-Beta research grant based on my proposal for my independent biology project Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Head rat caretaker at my university. Used to be a general biology lab assistant. Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: I can't think of anything else... Special Bonus Points: The PI that I volunteered for this summer is my POI for my top choice school. Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I had a poor first year due to adjustment problems. However, my grades shot up in second year and third year. Applying to Where: University of Toronto (top choice) - Psychology and Cells and Systems Biology (Collaborative program in Neuroscience) University of Waterloo - Health Systems University of British Columbia - Animal Welfare I have an interesting list of schools, but I'm applying more for the lab than the program. My main research interest is behavioural epigenetics/maternal care and its implications in animal welfare.

Having a POI that is willing to take you in really helps your application, but I don't think it guarantees admission. I have secured supervisors from three universities, but I'm not expecting to get accepted to all three.

Oh, cool! I plan on presenting a poster there. Maybe we'll run into each other (and not know it! Haha).

Many psychology programs have neuroscience components/faculty, especially if they don't have a separate neuroscience program. Really, you are more applying to the faculty you want to work with rather than the program itself. If you can find faculty in the psych program that match your interests, don't be hesitant to apply to the psychology program. Though I want to go into behavioral neuroscience, one of the programs I'm applying to is in the Public Health area because the professor I want to work with is under that program. Overall, do keep an open mind about the program you may end up in.

I think I'm a bit difficult to chance, but I am curious to see if anyone has any thoughts. My initial post was on the first page. My GRE scores came in since then (161 Q, 156 V, 3.0 AWA) but this is not very worrisome since most of my applications do not require the GRE scores.

I also do well on essays, but apparently my succinct writing style does not appeal to the GRE people. I received a 3.0. Since only one program that I'm applying to requires GRE scores, I didn't bother to retake it. My SOP is a much better indicator of how I write anyways, and the adcomm will see that. It's the least important score in my opinion. There are other ways to show the adcomm that your writing is decent. However, if you're not happy with the score, no one is going to hold you back from taking it again. I personally cannot afford to take it again.