Maziana

Try Robert Sawyer for philosophy/consciousness.

haha... I also can never stick to my food budget. Maybe if some month I never eat out (or if I cave and make my budget more realistic).

After taking another look at your stats, I wouldn't worry too much. I'm pretty sure you can get in somewhere decent as long as you fulfill all the basic application recommendations (apply to enough schools, have good reccs, etc) and identify an area(s) of IO psychology that you'd like to focus on. When writing your personal statement, you could try to think about how your previous research guided you to IO psychology, prepared you for grad school, or how your previous research might be related to IO psych - in terms of statistics, general research questions, future applications of your past work, etc. I work in a psycho-linguistics lab. I started out with research that wasn't related to my interests, but now I'm working on a project about individual differences in reading and measurement of reading-related variables. My thesis was more social psychology oriented, but like Munashi, I added some workplace behavior measures to my survey battery. I'm going to be entering an IO program this fall, where I'll be focusing on a lot of measurement issues in personality and cognitive testing, individual differences in the workplace, and personnel selection.

Think about what areas in IO psychology that you're interested in, and do some outside reading about these topics. Maybe you can direct one of your research projects to be related to these interests. Having a specific research area is very important. However, professors tend to be understanding if you don't have experience directly related to IO, since so many schools don't have IO psychology programs/classes. Personally, I worked in a cognitive lab and never had an IO class, but it is such a broad field that I was able to direct my research towards my interests in IO psychology. I think you have a definite chance!

I can listen to anything when I'm doing data analysis (sometimes podcasts!), but when I'm reading or writing papers, either instrumentals, nothing, or the sound of rain. SimplyRain is nice.

I guess it only is 2 months, so it's not so bad. But I do think that someone who does not immediately clean up dog pee/poop needs to know that is not normal/alright. One of my past roommate's would leave cat throw-up on the floor for days... I think that's less smelly/gross, but equally unacceptable. In my case, I think she knew that not cleaning up after her cats was not ok. She did a much better job when living with people who she felt mattered more than me (significant others, for example). I just don't think it's good to let people pretend like your hygienic concerns are not valid! Because I think either (a) they *know* it's not ok but know you'll deal with it or ignore it, so they don't clean, ( they know it's not ok but have their own issues that make it hard for them to clean, © they have no idea this isn't normal and that's perhaps a bigger issue that I fortunately have not run into.

That's disgusting. I'm sorry. I once had a dirty roommate, but at least she tried to clean every once and a while. Seems like you have a decent relationship with her - are you sure you can't talk to her about this? Does she have mental health issues? My previous roommate had some issues that caused her to procrastinate on cleaning. It's not normal to live with dog crap and pee everywhere.

My High Sierra backpack is kind of ugly after 5 years, but it has a feature that I find so useful that I'm loathe to get rid of it - it has a plastic covering and a little pouch for it in the bottom of the backpack that I can pull over the backpack when the rain is coming down hard. Useful for keeping my electronics dry. I do have a small Sherpani backpack for when I don't need much stuff. It's very nice - can't find its exact design online though. My friend recommends timbuk2 for bags.

So, should first or second years just not say anything? Or is there another term to use? Just curious; thanks!

Archive-binging incredibly long webcomics instead of doing work. Also, chocolate.

Hmm, my roommates once found a place in Chapel Hill in May, but that's because they needed to move in June. This year, I signed a lease in mid-July to move in Aug 1. That was cutting it way too close, but hey, it worked. In the past, I've known people who signed a lot earlier than I have... Try putting up a craigslist ad looking for roommates and/or places. You may get responses. If not, I wouldn't worry too much about it. I wouldn't recommend waiting until July, though. But I don't think Chapel Hill is as bad as some other places where you have to start really early.

Yes! One POI at my second choice school seemed like he *really* wanted to work with me. The department head, after I declined, said something like "we're all disappointed that you aren't going to be joining us; but we understand..." Oh, the crushing guilt. I hope it won't be too awkward when I see them at conferences!

Thanks for the input, you guys!

Yes, it would make sense if the part that covers tuition is either the same or more for the fellowship. I would definitely say go with the fellowship! I am guessing that they offer everyone (or nearly everyone) a TAship, but they offer fellowships for people they want to support more. I would guess that most first years take 3 classes (3 credits each, 9 credits total), and that the fellowship will be in effect as long as you take the normal amount of classes. If first years normally take 2 classes, or something less than the minimum number required to have the fellowship, then I might reconsider, based on how able you think you are to take and do well in multiple classes. I'm not a grad student yet though, so if anyone else has advice, feel free.

Is the fellowship equal to the TAship in terms of amount of funding? Edit: how many credits do first year students usually take? You may find that they normally take 8 already. I would personally go with the fellowship, because of the reasons you mentioned (focusing on studies; time to acclimate; later opportunity to teach).