ihatechoosingusernames

@Psychological Yam @ikillberejected Well shoot! That's not very helpful! See if this PDF version works. aptguide.pdf

Hey! I'm attaching a spreadsheet of apartment recommendations (and anti-recommendations) for you, @ikillberejected, and @MrSergazinov that some grad students have put together. Always feel free to reach out to current students in your new departments for recommendations as well! Jobs in the area aren't bad, but if he does need to move away Houston is a little bit closer than Austin (and definitely closer than Dallas). He might consider trying to find a job within the university system. @ikillberejected: if you're planning on biking only, I'd consider getting an apartment closer to the grocery store. There are quite a few behind H-E-B including Tower Park, Scandia, The Enclave, and Lexington Apartments. Those are definitely within biking range of the school. Grad Student Apartment Guide.xlsx

Ally also has some of the best interest rates on savings accounts! I love that bank

That's a lot! I'm relatively new to podcasts. I started listening with the first season of Serial, and went from that to Undisclosed. I also listen to the TED Radio Hour, This American Life, Invisibilia, and The West Wing Weekly. I've loved all of those so far, but I think Serial and Invisibilia are my favorites.

Did anyone else know that it's National Moscato Day?!? Well, happy National Moscato Day! Does anyone have any good podcast recommendations? I'm getting ready to go on a cross-country road trip and I need something to keep me occupied Bonus points if they're psychology related!

Also! Depending on the school, you'll have to see if the email links for your letter writers get sent before or after you formally submit the application. There were a few schools I applied to where you had to complete the entire application and submit/pay before an email link was sent to your recommenders. One application (for a public school in Texas) used something similar to the Common App where I had to submit my application, then wait up to two weeks for a personalized code/link for a secondary application that I could use to finish the app and send email links to my letter writers. I didn't realize it until about 4 days before the deadline. Thankfully the turn around on getting the code was quick, but I wish I had built in more of a buffer period lol. Just make sure you check out each school's process when you're creating a checklist.

I did an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of the programs and application costs. I'm attaching a link, and it should take you to Google Drive if it works I also had a checklist for Microsoft Word that I printed out. It helped to have it attached to my fridge so I could physically check this list off as I sent stuff in and as my recommenders sent in their letters. Finally, I made a checklist for my recommenders. It had my name, GPA, GRE scores and percentiles, classes I had taken with them and the grades I earned, info on if I was in their lab or in a club they were active in, and a list of the schools and dates. I sent this in an email, and attached my CV and a copy of my generic personal statement. I also sent them reminder emails as I applied to make sure they knew when a deadline was approaching. Excel Spreadsheet Word Checklist Reference Writer Checklist

@th3rdthatcher - A lot of the I/O programs I applied to asked for both my cGPA and my last 2 years' GPAs in the application. Both were around a 3.3, and my GRE was a 320 combined. I got into three top 20 schools. Personally, I think your profile looks great. I'm not on an admissions committee though, so take it with a grain of salt I'd start studying for the GRE now, and try to take it by the end of the summer so you have enough time to take it again by the end of October if you need to. You can also address your GPA in your personal statement by saying that you got off to a rough start, but buckled down your last two years. Definitely take @Oshawott's advice though. Fit is super important! You could have a 4.0 and perfect GRE scores and not get in to a program where you lack a strong research fit. I made a list of schools based on states I could live in, then looked at each professor's research interests. If you don't already know, SIOP's website has a database of graduate training programs.

No, OP expressed interest in the Business Psychology program. Did you look at the CSPP's website? There's an I/O track, but there's also a consulting track or an organizational leadership track. That's also why I asked the follow up - What are OP's research interests? Why business psych? Why international psych? There isn't a lot of overlap between the two programs. Not to mention the whole goal of the International Psych track as stated by the program itself is to send people off to applied settings. Both the Organizations & Systems and Trauma Intervention concentrations require a master's degree AND work experience. The Business Psychology program is the same way. SIOP says that 100% of their most recent graduates have gone applied, with 80% working as consultants. They're not grooming professors, they're grooming business professionals. If OP's goal is a tenure track position, they should most definitely look elsewhere. You're right - APA accreditation is only immediately relevant to clinical, counseling, and school psychology programs. Except, if I look at an "established" school and see that their clinical and counseling programs aren't accredited knowing how important that is for clinical/counseling/school psychology graduates, I get concerned. There's an internship crisis as it is, and sending your students out into the workforce without having an accredited program is ridiculous. It makes the student's job that much more difficult, and I think it speaks to the attitudes of the psychology program as a whole. Did you read the article @thegradcafebarrista referenced? @psychhopeful334445 - If you're interested in I/O psychology, check out SIOP's website. They'll have some good stuff for you Here's what I was referencing in regards to the business program having an applied focus: http://www.siop.org/gtp/gtpDisplay.asp?program=467.

Yeah...I'd say find a different school. The article @thegradcafebarrista mentioned does say that the Chicago campus (and ONLY the Chicago campus) is APA accredited, but that article and several bad reviews are stuff that pops up right away when you google the place. That leads me to believe that the CSPP doesn't have a great reputation in the community. Also, business psych isn't really a field - I/O psych is. Follow up question though - what are your research interests? International or business psych seem like different fields. What are you hoping to focus on?

The observership may not help with research credibility, but it is a great experience to have on a CV and to list in your personal statement. Hopefully it'll be a good way to network as well. I had a 3.3 GPA out of undergrad, and I found it helpful to aim for at least a 320 overall GRE score. For the most part your GRE is what's going to get your foot in the door; it's what keeps your name on the list during the first cut. I don't think it's critical that all three areas are 90th percentile, but it's a good goal to have. I didn't actually even win the grant! One of the things my mentor mentioned (and she's pretty early on in her career) is that some schools/programs just want to see that you know about these opportunities are are willing to put in the work. It shows you can take initiative and you're aware the funds are limited. So I applied for the NSF GRFP and didn't get a single cent. However, it was brought up during almost all of my interviews. Obviously, it's great if you can win the funds, but not totally necessary in this case. I went through the University of Massachusetts. I took four online courses. You could also google your field of psychology + graduate certificate, and some sites should pop up. I don't think there's any need to spend a bunch of money on a fancy name brand school's program, but make sure it's not University of Phoenix or some other for-profit diploma mill. Like I said, though, the entire 12 credit course was terribly spendy. It was nice to have a 4.0 graduate GPA on my application to make up for my low undergrad score, though. I also learned quite a bit, which is always a good thing

I can't help you, but I'm trying to do the same thing and would love to see other people's responses!

Last time around I was rejected from all schools, too. It's an awful feeling, but it's not a poor reflection on you personally. Don't beat yourself up. Give yourself time to be sad, and decided whether or not you really want to go to grad school. If you do, fantastic! Here's what I did: I retook my GRE's and spent a lot of time studying. Volunteered in a lab (even though I had graduated). Took an online graduate certificate course from a mildly well known university. Attended two local conferences (undergrad/university level) for a poster presentation. Started a major project in the lab, and hopefully we'll have some publishable results. Wrote an article that was published in a student journal. Attended some online webinars that were related to my research interests. Rewrote my CV & Personal Statements. Applied for an outside grant. Got a paid job with the title of Research Assistant, even though it's not remotely related to what I want to study. Made sure that I had an excellent research fit with the programs I wanted to apply to this time around. Now, I can't say for sure if any of that helped or pushed me over the edge. Application cycles definitely vary from year to year and school to school. I also recognize that I've been privileged to have some extra money floating around so I could spend it on GRE stuff, online courses (which are terribly expensive), or spend time volunteering in a lab. There are other opportunities out there you could take advantage of if you're pressed for time and money, but don't stress out if you can't add all these things in to the mix. I also waited an additional application cycle so I could spend more time building up my CV and making sure I knew what I wanted to study. It's time consuming, to be sure, but I like to think that something in that list made it worth the while

If we can survive the grad application process, I'm sure we'll survive meowing cats! They don't seem to mind too much, but if I'm stopping at a hotel I'll make sure to leave food out for an hour or so. It gives them time to eat, but also restricts them enough that hopefully they've expelled what they need to before we start driving again the next morning. The worst experience I had with moving them was after I shipped them via airplane and had to drive them afterwards. We had to attach little things of cat food to the carriers in case they were delayed/stuck somewhere, and some kind soul decided to feed my cats at some point during the shipping process. Two hours in to our three hour drive, my female cat had a not-so-solid bowel movement that I'm sure happened both because she needed to poop but also was fed while super stressed out. We didn't have a great place to stop, so we just kept going until we hit home. Her first experience in our new home was a bath because she walked all over her mess. My cats won't die on a restricted diet for a few days Water, obviously is another deal. I'm thinking about laying down some disposable pee pads just in case.

My dog does great in the car. I agree with @rising_star about using La Quintas. They're usually great, you get a free breakfast, and they're always pet friendly. I've read too many stories about dogs dying in the cargo holds of airplanes to even consider it, and I have a big ole doggy who would be way to expensive to fly anyways @yayspace - My cats fight sedation too, and it makes them awful to drive with. I found that if I don't sedate them they'll start to settle down about an hour into the drive. If you can make it through that first hour with music/podcasts/selective hearing, you may be fine. I restrict their food the night before and the day of so they're not pooping all over the place, but if I stop for a lunch break I'll give them some water. I'm also doing my longest drive this time around and am going to invest in a Sleepypod carrier that can be buckled in to the seats for safety. One of my cats really likes to be able to see what's going on, so the mesh top is helpful. They're also waterproof and come with a washable liner which I hope will contain any accidents. Like I said above with the dogs, there have been instances where pets have accidentally died or been let loose at the airports. Also, I don't know how the relocation services work, but not only do airlines sometimes restrict whether or not pets can fly in the cargo hold (because of extreme high temps that might be a factor in Louisiana summers!) but sometimes they only fly to the closest major airport. The one time I flew my cats because I didn't have a car, the closest airport I could fly in to with pets in the cargo hold was New Orleans. Then I had to have someone pick me up and drive me and the cats the remaining three hours to my destination. It was a pain!