Munashi

No posts since pre-April 15th! How are you guys doing? Did anyone get accepted from a wait list at the last minute? For those of us moving on to programs this fall, how is the prep work going (moving, etc.)?

TakeruK is right - give your first choice school a call and see if their offer still stands. The space may have already been filled, but you never know. Get in touch with your POI there ASAP and check.

I wouldn't think so, as long as you're polite. Your rationale of wanting to plan your budget for next month is perfectly reasonable. Worst case scenario, you won't get a response. But hopefully they will reply and at least give you a ballpark estimate.

I don't think this is weird. I did this with the department admin at one of the programs I applied to. I just sent him a note saying that he'd be very helpful throughout the process and that I appreciated all his time and help. I doubt it would be seen as irritating.

Old TV series from the 1980s. So cheesy, yet so wonderful.

Best of luck! Hopefully the official decision will reach you quickly, but I don't think you have much to worry about.

This is typically just a formality, unless your application has some oddity. For example, if the graduate school has a "cut off" of a minimum 3.5 GPA, and you've got a 3.0 this has the potential to pose a problem. This situation is pretty rare, though. Sounds very likely you'll get an official offer pretty soon!

I'm not in grad school yet, but hell - this is amazing advice, please take it seriously. My teeth have many awful stories they could tell you. Take care of them and save yourself the pain/expense...

Check in with the school about this for sure. I suppose it might vary by program, but you should be able to get a waiver if you can prove you already have health insurance coverage (I did this for part of my time in undergrad). This would save you a few thousand bucks per year until you come off of your parents' insurance.

Honestly, if I were you - I would reach out to this POI, introduce yourself, express your interest in working with them, note your puzzlement/conundrum, and ask for their input about how to best go about applying to work with them in a situation where you're genuinely interested in both lab areas. They will likely tell you something similar to what you already know - choose the area you have more interest in, because I would hazard a guess that the different areas might have different requirements for coursework, etc. But you never know! They will have more insight about the program. Hopefully someone in one of these two areas will come along and offer some additional insight/advice for you.

I just want to add a "+1" to what Bren said. You guys have been great, and it's been awesome going through this as a group. I wish you all very happy futures and I'm sure we'll cross paths at some point in the future. After all, ours is a very small field!

Please, please elaborate on this. Inquiring minds need to know, man.

Congrats, Chops! I'm glad you were able to reach a decision.

^ Definitely this. But now I really want to know how the digimon fandom has been impacted by the Obama administration... EDIT: Just wanted to note that it's definitely not the username that makes people think it's a troll. It's the content of the post (m-ttl pointed out a lot of what makes the post hilarious). I enjoyed the original post, it made me laugh and is almost clever.

The best thing you can do is raise your GPA as much as possible this semester and during your 4th year. Are you hoping to go for a Masters or a PhD? Do you want to apply to schools in the US or in Canada? I don't know much about Canadian admissions, unfortunately. Although a lot of US schools will ask for your psychology GPA separately, getting in with a *GPA below 3.0 is a significant challenge since most programs are looking for a bare minimum of a 3.5. I do believe that a change in major might make the low GPA seem less unfavorable (especially if you continue to do well in Psych), but I'm unsure. *I am sorry, I have no idea how Canadian GPAs translate into US GPAs. Hopefully someone who knows something about this can respond too, you may also consider asking in the international sub forum. Additionally, if you're USA-bound, do your absolutely best to get top of the line GRE scores. These can help compensate for poor school performance. Finally, get some research experience. This does now have to be I/O specific, but working in a psychology lab would be great. Volunteer or try to get a paid lab position over the summer. Work/volunteer in a research lab during your 4th year. Gain as much research experience as you can, hopefully with a publication or some posters if you're lucky. This is one of the best things you can do to bolster your application. As for the double major, if you think you can take the final bio course without sacrificing your GPA, do it. If not, just focus on maintaining the absolute highest grades you can.

Congrats on making your choice! I feel you with the imposter syndrome thing, though. Oy.

You might want to start your own thread for this. This is a tad off topic and you likely won't see many helpful replies since people here are mostly posting about admissions results (especially with April 15th only a week or so away).

I imagine this varies by field and would also depend on what you do while you're in grad school. In my field, a lot of people end up with industry experience through required internships etc. as part of their program, so you do end up with "real experience" in addition to the fancy degrees. But hell, in general? I'd say it counts.

Is this question purely hypothetical? I suppose my answer is "I'm not sure". It would largely depend on the surrounding context.

Same. I don't think I'll get to register for a while now...

I am already catching flack from relatives I have never even met in person about this. We're trying to go for 50 tops... lol You give some good advice here, TakeruK. The mini-celebration with grad school colleagues is a nice idea, and I might steal it myself.

This happened to someone I know. The department extended an offer of admission, but my buddy was rejected by the graduate school for not meeting their minimum GPA requirements. Ultimately, the department fought for them and got them a spot in the class so it worked out.