eucalyptus

I've finally decided where I want to go next year! I am super happy and excited about my decision. I've been given a great financial package at this school. I am thrilled with this package but the pragmatic side of me is saying "at least ask for more, this is your only chance!". However, neither of my other two acceptances come with higher stipends, so I don't feel like I can really use them as leverage. Would it be totally terrible of me to just ask if my chosen school provides money for things like relocation, a new computer, etc. in hopes that they'll offer some? Or is there a way to be more direct? I'm pretty sure one of my other schools wants me enough that I could get them to up their offer, which I could then use to up my chosen school's offer, but I'm not willing to go that far... I don't want to string the prof along when I know I'm not going to go there.

I've seen a bit of advice on this thread about timing for a August/September lease, but I don't think this specific question has been answered. What's the best time between now and September to visit Boston/Cambridge on a house-hunting trip? I interviewed at Harvard last month and went a few days early to check out the city, so I have some ideas on where I want to live. I'm close enough that I can make another trip to house-hunt, so when should I go? When are the most/best houses available? I'm looking for a lease on a 1- or 2-bedroom in Cambridge/Somerville (to share with my boyfriend) starting in August or September. Also, how does one find out who the major realtors/agents are? Thanks a bunch!!

Well I applied to Developmental at Harvard and they do their admissions somewhat separately (we had interviews, and I don't think other subfields do), so I don't think you would necessarily be rejected. Cognitive might just be on a different timeline?

Yeah, I interviewed with JHU cognitive psych a few weeks ago and got my admission letter last week.

I'm in a somewhat similar position (higher ranked school likes me and has accepted me, lower rank school is obsessed with me and actively recruiting hard), and I'm trying not to let the flattery and attention from the lower-ranked school cloud my judgment. Obviously it feels good to have someone chasing me that hard, and I'm sure that would come with some benefits if I attended that school (more attention from profs, big fish in small pond, etc), but I'm trying to remind myself that that feeling is not going to last. They're not going to continue showering me with attention for the next five years, and I can't pick a school based on how good it makes my ego feel!

Yup, they had their interviews last weekend and this weekend.

I'd first ask the school that accepted you for an extension to their deadline. They should be happy to give you one, and it hopefully won't affect your funding chances. I'd also ask the other schools for an update on your status. If, however, you would risk losing the offer or the fellowship and you are very seriously considering going to this school, accept the offer and back out of it if you decide to go somewhere else in the end. As long as you back out before April 15, the school can't stop you. However, you might annoy your POI there so I would only do this as a last resort.

Honestly, I care if my friends are rejected, but not about the anonymous mass of other applicants. I don't wish for everyone to get into all the programs they want; I like that PhD admissions are competitive and selective, and I don't think that everyone who wants a PhD should get one.

Definitely find people to help you move your heavy stuff, and pay them if you have to. You can find people willing to do this on craigslist or just randomly; when we bought a huge TV like 15 years ago before there were flat screens, my dad went to the closest gas station and paid two guys $10 each to help carry it down to our basement.

I just got back from an interview at Hopkins PBS for cognitive psych. There's another set of interviews next weekend but if you haven't heard yet, it's probably bad news.

I've definitely never needed my CV at an interview so I don't know about that, but at most of my interviews they've given us each a folder with our schedule and other school/program info in it. I'm glad I had a fairly large purse so I could tuck the folder into it, instead of having to carry around multiple things.

I'm not sure whether you meant to post this question to the compsci board or not but if you're looking for a wider array of answers you might want to repost to a more general subforum

I think you may have been unclear about what aspects of the interview weekend your partner would be attending. If it's anything like the interview weekends I've been to, I think it would be quite strange and somewhat inappropriate for him to attend anything where professors are present (including social events). I'd probably find it much less inappropriate, although still a little bit strange, for him to be at events with grad students (tours, social events, etc). It makes sense that he'd like to see the place for himself if he's relocating with you, so if you just want him to come to town with you and he's planning on exploring the city/campus by himself, that's totally cool. If the department got the idea for whatever reason that you were asking for him to attend official events with you, I can somewhat understand the response you got (although the random-grad-student-emailing-you thing is pretty odd). Clarify exactly what you mean and see if they're receptive to that. As a side note, I don't agree that you should consider this email exchange as a big red flag without more information. This is a pretty small snag and could easily have just been a misunderstanding combined with a single bitter grad student. Go on your visit and get a feel for the department yourself!

I had a notebook with questions, which I also used to take a couple of notes when someone mentioned an interesting paper I should read or other fact that I would be likely to forget. The only aspect of this that anyone found weird was the tininess of my writing.

You can ask about your status without actually telling them that you're accepted elsewhere... just tell them you're trying to arrange visits and would like to know the status of your application. If you need to press them more, mention that you live far away and knowing about your status would help you coordinate overseas flights. This won't really tell them whether you've been accepted or just interviewed elsewhere, and it certainly won't give them any specific info about programs. And for the school you're accepted to, they're not going to be at all offended if you wait a while to visit. All programs understand that we apply to multiple programs and they'll also understand your desire to do one big trip instead of lots of little ones. Just thank them sincerely for the acceptance and invitation to visit, and ask if it's okay to wait a few weeks to schedule your visit. You can be straightforward about wanting to do all your visits together (in fact, it'll probably save them some money if you can split up the flight costs between a couple of programs).

Nobody will be offended if you're not in a suit. I've been to three interviews and at none of them did I feel out of place in business casual rather than a suit (whereas there was at least one interview at which a suit was uncomfortably overdressed). That being said, it's really up to you. You won't make a bad impression either way, so it's really up to your own comfort and preference.

I know for sure that some of my POIs have been talking to each other about my application, although I only know a bit of what they've talked about. Two of them are good friends with each other, and I've been told by both of them that they've already discussed it and decided that if I go to one of their departments, I can do some work in the other as well. One of those POIs has also been in touch with a prof at a third school to see if they'll be interviewing me. The weirdest one is that he's also made a deal with a fourth POI to let me do some work in her lab, and even cc-ed her on an email telling me about this deal. The thing that makes this strange is that this fourth POI's department rejected me less than a week before this email. I doubt that I'm an outlier on this, so yes, I think they do discuss applicants!

To add some more data points to what was worn at the actual interviews, at my first visit lots of people were in suits (probably because an email from a grad student told us to dress "business"), but at my next visit it was really a mixed bag. I was in dress pants, a collared shirt, a black V-neck sweater, and boots. There were a couple people in full-on casual wear (jeans, leggings, etc), a couple in business-casual stuff, and one in a suit. I think the latter girl felt overdressed but everyone else seemed okay (although I'm glad I went a step up from jeans). I think a very safe rule (and what I'm planning to do for my other interviews) is business casual for actual interviews and whatever else happens that day, and jeans-with-slightly-nice-shirt for all other activities.

I didn't take anything to my first interview. I'd actually bought a bottle of nice-ish local wine, but at the last minute I decided to fly carry-on only, so of course I couldn't take it. I don't think it was a problem at all, and I'm not planning on bringing a gift for my other interviews. Certainly, nobody brought a gift for the faculty they were meeting and I think it would have been strange had they done so.

So far, February isn't being as kind to me as January. February: 1 rejection January: 4 interview invites, 1 acceptance boooo February!

Some of those programs with a very small number of spots might be taking people they already know, but they don't all do that. I've been informally told that I'm pretty much accepted into a top Ivy League program that is taking 2-3 students this year, and I have no previous ties to the program or school. I didn't even email profs there until early December, and have never met any of them. And to add to that, I don't have a degree from a prestigious/Ivy League school. So it is definitely not naive to think that super competitive/small programs let in applicants they don't know!

Go, and save your receipts. If you do end up getting in / getting on the shortlist, they might offer to cover your expenses, and you'll have the receipts on hand to claim the money easily.

That definitely depends on your field: in psych, every program I've looked at (which granted is not that many: U of T, Queen's, UBC, McGill) do require it

Someone asked about the Duke acceptance on the results page... it was me. I did interview about a week and a half ago and I was applying to work with Liz Brannon.

I found it fairly easy to tell the difference between this genuine warning and the jokey trash-talking that he did with the other schools. With other places, he mentioned things he thought were worse than his department, but also good things about them, and it was very light-hearted. With this one program, he was very clear: don't go there. He didn't tell me the specifics because he didn't want to be spreading rumors, but I've heard other rumors from professors that I've known longer, and all the negative talk seems to center on one program. If it was any more ambiguous, I would agree with you.