CatLady4Lyfe

I'm not going to argue with you here because it's highly inappropriate. Feel free to send me a personal message if you'd like to continue this conversation. Good luck to you in this process.

That's interesting. I've never seen anything like that. I don't see how it's any different than having a mentor help you on your essay. And believe me, I couldn't afford it like it was just a regular day, either. Really? Grossly proportionate advantage? Hardly. It's prepping for academia. These people are cutthroat and we're crazy enough to want to be their colleagues. It would be naive to assume that the thousands of applicants just submit their application without having friends/family/professors read over our writing and listen to our elevator pitches about our research interests.

Having your master's definitely puts you and I in a minority group, but I don't think it's the degree itself that makes/breaks you, it's what you do during your time getting your master's. When I graduated from undergrad I had virtually no research experience and 1 conference presentation. That's it. Nothing. By the time I was done with my master's I had 9 conference presentations, 3 semesters of graduate teaching experience, 1 semester as an adjunct, and 3 years of serious lab work. AND, more importantly, I was just as surprised as anyone that I ended up choosing Social as the direction I wanted to make a career out of. It took me having all those years of experience to know for sure what I wanted to do, and that makes me a more mature applicant and realistic investment from the school's perspective. I'm not going to enroll and drop out, mess up their funding, or harm the school's reputation in an any way. They want to be able to say that we offered x number of students acceptance, and that same number of students finished the program 5 (or 7 depending on the area) years later. It's the way you present yourself, also. You can have a master's in clinical and previous practicum experience and blah blah blah and still manage to say, "I have developed ideas of my own, but I am certainly open to the methodology and approach that your program can teach me." One of the best decisions I have made was hiring a consultant to help me on my essay/cv/interview prep. It was pricey but the company is legit. The founder of the company has held 2 tenure position at top tiered universities (U of Oregon and U of Illinois - Urbana Champaign) and left academia because of all the politics. She tells you straight up, sentence by sentence, how to not sound like a poor applicant who desperately wants to go to grad school, even if that is the case. I knew I was a strong applicant but it wasn't coming across in my application packets. And now it has and I am much better for it. I've been surprised that I haven't heard others talk about doing this? The services are infinitely better than anything I've ever seen offered at a university career services center, or even previous professors of mine that have offered to help.

This article induces a lot of emotions (probably completely related to interviews and this whole waiting game, ha). My first response is, "well, that's not fair!" but I don't think it's necessarily fair to the committees, either. That has to be a tough decision. We all look good on paper. Period. We wouldn't be applying to PhD programs if we didn't already stand out and have at least one person tell us we were worthy of that elite status. I can't imagine how you could feel 100% sure that you're being fair to applicants and providing an equal opportunity while keeping in mind those who have excelled in a variety of environments (big schools, small schools, private schools, professional settings, professional memberships). And that's not even touching the areas of funding availability and politics within the department as far as which professors get first picks. I had one professor from U of Maryland tell me he didn't even consider potential students unless they had previous fMRI experience. Well, that sucks for me. Where I completed my undergrad and master's didn't have that kind of equipment. I had to fight to get basic physiological equipment, and while I succeeded and tried to highlight my resourcefulness, it's just not enough. In regards to increasing diversity - yikes. I think diversity is great, but wouldn't that feel just a little crummy thinking in the back of your mind that you were only accepted because the school wants to show off their multicultural cohort? I want to get my PhD more than anything I've ever wanted in my whole life, but geez the system is so flawed. You have to get your undergrad at a great school, hopefully work in someone's lab who is a good name to drop, and score in the top percentile for the GRE. Isn't college supposed to be a place to explore your interests? I took piano class and loved it! And I took some philosophy classes and some counseling classes and some psychology classes...if I had stuck with what I thought my dreams were at 19 I would be so miserable today! That's all Thanks for the article, haha

For the person with the Social invite from U of Oregon, was wondering your POI? Anyone want to claim? PM me, please! Thanks! And also, congrats

I hear you, and that's a pretty accurate description of how I've been feeling the past few days, also. It's that "hope for the best" part I don't have a ton of confidence in. The good news is that my boss has already told me to call in tomorrow, so I will prep as much as possible today and just have to pull it together for about an hour tomorrow morning (it's a Skype interview) and then can sleep the rest of the day. I will mention to the PI that I have bronchitis, though. Just in case.

Gosh, I am still so torn. I just left the doctor's office and I have bronchitis : / They did prescribe steroids, which will provide some quick relief, but for the most part it is going to take a few days before I'm back to myself. I know what you're saying is logical...but part of me sees this going horribly wrong. Thank you for your input!

I've been sick for a week now - so miserable that I had to miss 3 days of work last week. I've been to the doctor and am on medications, but definitely not better. I have a Skype interview Monday morning at 8 am...If I were to do the interview in today's condition (assuming I don't get any worse) I would absolutely bomb it. Trying to prepare for just an hour today completely wiped me out. The other alternative is to cancel at the last minute. Even if I were to send an email to the professor tomorrow morning explaining the situation it's likely she wouldn't see it until Monday morning when she is expecting to meet with me. Please help! Ideas on how to handle this???

Alcohol, mostly Trying to balance between continuing to live my life and realizing that Plan B may turn into a reality if things don't work out. Lots of self-care. And spending time with my cats

Skype interview for Social from Wayne State University. Yay!

I was doing so well with the not panicking thing, and that has all gone out the window, haha.

Anyone want to claim the interview from U of Texas? Would like to know your PI, if you don't mind

Cool, I'll PM you

So, I've lived in Santa Cruz and live in Houston now. If you end up going to either one of these programs and want to know what it's really like to live there, I'd be happy to tell you what I know

I have 1 professor that did the same thing (and is doing the same again!). I was surprised to find out that schools are a lot more forgiving with the letters of recommendation coming in late than I ever expected. As long as you submit the documents that you're responsible for, you should be okay.

Are you kidding, I'd love to hear about it I'll PM you. Thanks!

May the best applicant get in...mostly if that applicant is me. Haha, I kid, I kid. Good luck to you

Hello, my people! Ditto to everyone else - good luck to all, and I'm so ready to get this show on the road. Submitted my last application last week, and now to play the waiting game. This is my first time applying to Social programs, but second round applying to PhD programs (long story, thought I wanted to go Clinical...). It's been a much calmer, more strategic process this time - hopefully it pays off Where are y'all applying? I'm looking at: University of Oregon University of Texas Wayne State University University of Florida University of Georgia University of New Orleans