Vejas

Yes, you are a result of your past, whether you want to admit it or not. What kind of past that was and how you choose to deal with it is another matter. There is no need to attack every person who mentions having a hard childhood. Nobody's using their upbringing as an excuse. But if they manage to see how certain things in their past have influenced their current personality/behaviour, good for them. It helps to move on and change things you don't like about yourself. If those things really did happen to you, I applaud you for overcoming them and succeeding in life. But there is no need to act like a tough guy and belittle other people.

Hi Pretty_Penny, I've been struggling with very similar issues for a while now - I could have written your opening post. I'm so sorry you're feeling this way. Others have already said it but it's the truth - your health comes first and no degree is worth it. Don't be afraid to change supervisors or discontinue yours studies (whichever you choose to do) - it shouldn't be political. I doubt any school/programme would be happy to hear that their students are having such a hard time - unless of course you're unfortunate to be dealing with some truly horrible people. If you're afraid of talking to your supervisor, maybe you could contact your programme coordinator and ask her/him what the best course of action would be? I'm currently doing a masters degree and when things got too hard and I realised I couldn't deal with this on my own anymore I contacted my programme supervisor and told him exactly what was going on. My department has been nothing short of amazing since then. They suggested I change my thesis project and told me it was completely fine to do so. I understand that a stand alone masters is a lot different than a PhD but my point is - do not be afraid to talk to people about your problems. Tell them you're seeking help - maybe they'll know other ways to find help? A lot of students go through these issues and your department might have experience in dealing with it. Btw, I'm always available for a chat if you're feeling like talking to somebody

Unless they also included NYU masters programmes. I've heard of people being rejected for a PhD but receiving an offer for an unfunded masters (ha ha ha). It might be possible that NYU admits a lot of people knowing that only a small percentage of those will actually choose to enrol?

Do you think the acceptance rates reported on petersons.com are accurate? According to them, NYU Department of Psychology has an acceptance rate of 45%. That cannot possibly be true, can it?

I just wanted to wish you all the very best of luck! I'll be applying to Cog Psych/Neuroscience PhDs for Fall 2015 and am starting to feel a bit nervous already. Good luck, guys!

I did Psychology as my undergrad, so not exactly related. I'll be applying for Neuroscience PhDs. I might as well try, it can't hurt. I've heard that the Bio one is the easiest of the three. My programme recommends either Bio or Chem, and the Bio one sounds a lot easier.

I'm thinking about taking GRE Biology - one of the programmes I'm planning to apply to highly recommends it (ugh.....). I didn't do any biology during my undergrad (I studied in the UK and you can't choose your classes there) but I'm currently doing Masters in Cognitive Neuroscience so I'm pretty familiar with cell biology and stuff. Everybody keeps mentioning the Campbell book - I used it in high school and remember some of the topics. How feasible is it to take the test if you haven't actually studied biology at university level?