Maziana

I definitely don't want kids! It'd be cool to be married without kids. I once had these 3 friends who were kind of in a relationship. I thought that if I were in a relationship with two other people, I might consider raising a kid. Three people splitting the child-rearing duties and work is def the way to go; would make it all so much easier. No being exhausted and having to do all the chores; more financial security... Uh. Sorry this is kind of off topic, but that is what that article made me think of.

You should call him if you can't see him in person. I did that once when a professor wouldn't respond to my emails. I don't think she liked that, but what can you do? I actually asked Dr. Ryan if she was accepting grad students, and she said she probably wouldn't be in 2014. I'm most interested in working with someone new to MSU though.

Finished applying to: UMinn Penn State Michigan State UIUC Tulsa George Mason DePaul USF Rice I might cave and apply to a Master's, but two of my recommenders kind of didn't want me to... And I'm already having a hard enough time getting my procrastinating professors to send out their recommendation letters on time! Well, those deadlines are in February/March anyway; so I'll think about it. I'm just glad to be (kind of) done! Good luck, everyone.

Suddenly I really regret not submitting an optional writing sample for my first choice program. There was a place to upload it, but I assumed they wouldn’t read it since there was no mention of it being required/allowed. Agh. Now I realize I should’ve uploaded it just in case someone wanted to check it out. Probably nothing I can do now, right? I should stop stressing.

Honestly, I'm probably going to just forget about the NSF until April. I have other applications to focus on, and I can't do anything about this right now, so whew! It's out of my hands! Although I will stress about my two procrastinating professors until the 14th. They support me and will definitely get their reference letters in, but they always do things at the last minute, so I will have to remind them a ton.

I think being single at 30 wouldn't be so bad! Then again, there's no way I want kids. It's ok to have a plan for your life, but there's no need to set such arbitrary goals at each age like that! I don't think the cut-off for terrible egg quality is 30... Probably more like 40! I'd do research on that if I were you. But I agree with Joey that it's not such a serious issue, especially for people in their 30s! haha, you could always freeze your eggs... Also there is some evidence that it's not good for older guys to have kids; although true, it probably is at an older age.

I asked one of my professors to look over my research statement... last week. Just last night she finally responded telling me to send it. I sent it but haven't heard anything yet... -__- Well, I got another professor and some others to look at it, so I guess it's probably fine. I'd rather just submit it right now and get it over with, but agh, I feel obligated to wait a little while longer...

Haha, no it's not weird and bad. There are plenty of 22 year olds (like me!) who are very far from engaged or married. I'm just saying... there's no hurry. I literally just hurried into a relationship and now I'm kind of reevaluating it right now. I think I did it just so I could check that off my list... "one serious relationship; check". I can understand wanting to be in a relationship; go for it - but don't compare yourself to others or feel like you're behind. The former never helps and the latter isn't true.

I know it isn't required to list study abroad universities - but do you think it would help? My U only lists the number of study abroad credits and that I passed them. Do you think it would be good to list my study abroad university so I could attach that transcript, which has grades and course names listed? I did mention my study abroad experience in my personal statement.

Applying to 9 PhD programs. Maybe I'll add a Masters, but that one's due in February, so I'm gonna think about it some more. I sent most of my transcripts and GRE scores... I might wait until my next paycheck to send out the ones for the schools with deadlines in January! CV is done. I'm applying to the NSF fellowship, so most of my time these last few weeks has gone into that. But at least I now have two personal statement drafts I can work off of when creating all the others. I also need to edit my thesis so I can submit it as a writing sample. But I went through all the applications, uploaded unofficial transcripts when I could, and noted all the weird and dissimilar requirements... How early are y'all sending out your applications? Ideally I'd send mine out soon, but my schedule is kinda crazy for November, so probably not.

I'm going to make a post here, because, procrastination. I'm applying for I-O psychology programs. Minnesota, Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Penn State, Rice, South Florida, Michigan State, Bowling Green, DePaul, and UNC Charlotte. I hope 9 is enough! I used to have 2 others that I eliminated for various reasons. I'm considering throwing in a masters program for good luck. I've contacted 7 POIs - one briefly said he was accepting grad students, three seemed to glance over my CV and encourage me to apply with a few kind comments, one said she wasn't accepting grad students, and two have not replied. I haven't had any intensive conversations, which I am ok with. I feel like I got a good sense of their research by going through their published papers and websites. And since I mentioned my research interests and suggested working with them, maybe they'd tell me if they felt my interests were too different to work with me. But that could just be my justifications... Once I take my Psychology GRE tomorrow (!) I will contact my other POIs! I pulled together a draft of my personal statement, but I think it needs a lot of editing before I am willing to even show it to anyone (my English MA friend wants to look over it for me, and I had to tell her noooo not yet!). My professor wants me to apply for the NSF fellowship, although I honestly feel too overworked to actually develop a proposed research plan. Maybe once I get the Psychology GRE over with I will have more time to consider it.

An update for those in a similar position: The University of Akron just told me my the certified photocopies would suffice. So this might be a thing where individual programs differ; thus I will ask admissions for other graduate programs that I apply to. Here's my email, so you can be sure that your situation is similar: I have a question with regards to official transcripts. I studied abroad for a semester, and sent a transcript from that abroad university to my home university (where I completed my Bachelor's). My home university offers their service in sending certified photocopies of that transcript to graduate programs. My question is, may I send a certified photocopy of the transcript from my home university, or must I contact the abroad university to directly send a transcript to Akron's graduate programs? Thank you. Their response: Please be advised that because your home university offers the service of certified copies of the original transcripts, the certified copies will suffice.

No, it school B assigned the grades. :/ Thanks for the advice; I guess I will contact B now.

I found out that my school (A) offers "a certified photocopy of my official transcript" from the university B that I studied abroad at for a semester. However, if I need an original, official transcript from school B, then I will have to contact B directly and get transcripts sent from Europe to the grad programs I am applying to. Do you think I have to contact B? Or will it suffice that school A guarantees that the transcripts they send out are certified?

Thanks for the advice! Wow, 6 transcripts... that's pretty crazy. At least I remembered my study abroad transcripts now and not in November; I'll get on that...

I wasn't an office-holder, but I guess I have a leadership experience or two I can mention. Good luck on your applications! That's cool you're into personality as well. I was so excited when I realized so many I-O people specialize in personality assessment and indiv diffs... I was planning on contacting people later this week. That is an excellent idea about the in-progress listing; thank you! Hmmm, okay! I will take both of you guy's advice! Off to find a Master's program or two. Thanks so much; I feel a little better now.

Do you think I need a CV to send to POIs? I’m preparing to contact them; I only have a resume right now. I doubt a CV would make my resume experience look much better… but does anyone have any opinions? Huh, I just realized I probably have to send my transcript from a semester abroad to graduate programs? Since my first transcript only lists the credit hours from that semester abroad, not the classes and grades… That seems annoying; who knows how much that will cost to send transcripts from Europe to the US…

I graduated summa cum laude May 2013, majored in psychology and minored in biology and sociology with a GPA of 3.913 (psychology GPA of 3.955): Phi Beta Kappa, university scholarship. GRE: Quant: 159, Verbal: 164, Writing: 5. About to take the GRE Psychology subtest this month. I completed my honors thesis, which was somewhat related to my interests in IO psych (personality’s ability to predict workplace success and behaviors). Note there is no IO program at my university. I had two poster presentations. I might run another experiment and edit my thesis, but I don’t think that would be ready to report in grad school applications. I have a lot of experience with cognitive psychology research: I worked in a lab all 4 years, spent a summer on an independent project, and am currently working in a cognitive lab full-time for a year. However, I am gaining analysis experience –R, SPSS, multi-leveling modeling – and I am focusing on a project about individual differences in reading, which is kind of related to my interests. (I’m interested in individual differences in cognition, although I’m more interested in differences in personality, as well as teamwork, personnel selection, etc) I might be able to be an author on a paper in this lab, but definitely the last author listed, and I’m not sure if it would be in review until spring 2014. My extracurricular experience is low – I did some things, but it’s hard to create a substantial narrative from those infrequent things. I have two great recs from people I’ve worked for long time and had classes with, although I'm a bit worried the third one won't be as great. I do have a decent narrative for explaining why my interests shifted from cognitive to I/O psychology. I’m applying UMinnesota, U of Illinois at Urbane Champaign, Purdue, Penn State, Michigan State, Bowling Green State, DePaul, UNC Charlotte, maybe Clemson. I’m researching additional universities to add right now. (Ideas welcome; I’m definitely a bit behind in terms of prep) How do you think my chances are? And how many programs should I apply to? This is looking expensive! And how're other 2014 I/O applicants doing?