Anita

Do you know anyone, maybe yourself, who didn't get in anywhere? And what happened to them? Bonus points if their story resembles mine in any way. I'm applying to 15 programs, all in Social Psychology (most competitive among psyc subfields) which I'm not sure is a good antidote for the fact that my credentials are pretty uneven. For a lengthy summary, see my first post on this board (TLDR: foreign student, US degree, low-to-average GPA, probably lackluster recs, relying entirely on university funding, high GRE is only highlight). Now it's sinking in that the ~$2000 I invested in this whole application business may have been wasted. People applying to the same programs are getting interviews and whatnot, but I'm not hearing anything. Reality also kicked in: the economy, my lack of research exp, my grade in stats, gloomy employment prospects, etc. Lots of anxiety flying around here: what will people who know I'm applying think (especially people who've only known me as the superstar I was in high school), what will I tell them if I don't get in anywhere, do I stick around the States or go home, get a job and forget about the whole academic pipe dream, should I blow my savings on a year or two of world travel or something equally crazy, should I go into hiding in my home country for a couple years and do all the reading I've always wanted to do, then try again, how do I get research experience if I can't find an RA job stateside, yadda yadda yadda. And then there's the whole self-blame thing (should have worked harder, facebooked less, gone to office hours more often etc.). In summary, this is just a pretty bad time all around. Before this post devolves into more ranting, I just want to say I'd really appreciate stories and perspectives from you all. Oh and happy new year - hope everyone enjoys the fireworks show tonight PS: since this post is already lengthy and unfocused, I figured no one will be angered further if I make it even more so by posting my school list Maybe there's a social psychologist lurking here who has a thought or two. My research interests are close relationships and academic motivation. All these schools have at least one advisor whose research I'm fairly crazy about and who is taking new students. Dream schools are UWisc, UMich and Rochester.) U Missouri Columbia Northwestern SUNY Buffalo Mich State UMich Ann Arbor UNC Chapel Hill NYU TAMU Stony Brook U Wisc Madison Rochester Cornell Wayne UNC Greensboro

Close relationships, motivation, positive psychology. MSU, UNC Chapel Hill, UMich, U Missouri at Columbia, Northwestern, SUNY Buffalo. @ all: how come nobody has mentioned Jamie Arndt at UMO? He's pretty influential among TMT researchers.

Thanks a mil guys I'm feeling a lot better now. Funny that you should mention Maya Tamir. I was going through a list of pos. psy. researchers, looked her up and fell in love with her research, then I checked this thread and there her name is More questions coming up. First, how to pick schools. As I said, each school translates to several hours of putting things together, and $100 in fees (app fees as well as GRE score reports). So we probably have to put a cap on it, say 7 schools. My strategies for finding interesting professors has been: - this list: http://www.ppc.sas.upenn.edu/ppfaculty.htm. - collaborators of the superstars mentioned above. - people heavily cited in positive psychology books - people published in journals such as J. Pos. Psy. and J. of Happiness. This translates to not 7, but 70 schools. The thing that makes it hard is that I don't have specific interests, so I'd look at someone's research interests and think, "Hm, interesting, I'd like to know more about this." But that's not enough to keep me fired up for 5 years, I don't think. So, I need some kind of more restrictive criteria. Let me ask you a question. Were you so excited about your research interest that you "can't sleep at night" (from UMN's department website)? I can't say the same about myself. So yeah, school selection first, and then we'll see if I'm required to take the subject test. Another question: with programs that only "recommend" the subject test, is it worth it? It's $150, hours and hours of studying and lots of transport arrangements to the test site because I don't have a car. Everyone recommends writing to professors I'd like to work with. I'll be honest again. I feel pretty bad doing that, because my interest in most people's research is pretty shallow. Not to mention they are superstars. At least people like Ed Diener and Mike Csikszentmihalyi are. So, IDK if I should write those people. Oh also, is now too late to write professors? Also, does school ranking matter? On PHD.org, two programs I'm interested in (Positive Psy at Claremont U. and Boston College) have an "educational effectiveness" below average. I tried to dig up the research methods that led to that rating, but couldn't. Should this matter? I think it's at least somewhat accurate, b/c Stanford, UMich and Harvard are all on top as we can imagine. Meh, I'm a walking conglomeration of insecurities. I hope they'll disentangle themselves one by one. In any case, thanks for all the help

Hello Psychology posters! The title is rather ambitious, it seems, but all it really means is that I don't know anyone else with a similar situation :| This is a looooong post, but I hope it's entertaining. If you feel inclined to respond, please do read the whole thing somewhat closely first, because I've tried to make all the info here count, and not having to clarify would save time for both of us Sooo...I'm a senior at a very elite New England private liberal arts college. I'm thinking of grad school, and change my mind about it pretty much every other day depending on how I feel about my chances and the research process. The reason I'm so unsure is because my situation is pretty unique AFAIK. It got to a point where I found the career center and my own advisor to be of no help at all, and am hoping you guys would have better and more friendly advice OK, so I'm an international student from SE Asia. English is my second language, but somehow I achieved near-perfection in it, according to people. Anomaly #1. This leads to a very high GRE score, again according to people (770M, 720V). Anomaly #2. I'm the only Asian int'l student I know who majors in psychology without any other, more "practical" backup major such as econ. Anomaly #3. Somehow, I kept screwing my psyc classes in my last 3 years at college, leading to a rather mediocre major GPA of around 3.4 (never bothered to calculate because it's depressing), and a cum GPA of 3.54. Keeping in mind my school has an insane grade inflation problem, especially the psyc department, so when I say my GPA is low, it really _is_ low. You won't find many foreign students, especially at a school like mine, who does such a mediocre job (got a C+ in stats, no kidding). Anomaly #4. Finally, not really an anomaly, but it does complicate things so I might as well mention it. I need a full ride at whatever school I'm going to. Neither my family nor myself can shell out a cent toward an advanced degree (I'm already on a full ride here at college). Anomaly #5. Oh and since I'm on a roll, here's #6: I have no professor who can definitely write me an impressive rec, because, well, AFAIK I don't think I managed to impress anyone in the dept. Maybe my thesis advisor, who I'm at least friendly with and don't feel awkward around. I didn't take the GRE Subject, because I forgot that one needs to register a month in advance for the paper tests. So, no GRE Psy Subject. I'm writing an empirical thesis, but it's about the only research experience I've had, and I haven't even started running trials yet. I have a few research interests, none of which overlaps with my thesis topic. And they're in the most general of terms. Intelligence, romantic interpersonal relationships, affective forecasting, positive psychology. Basically they're things I enjoy pondering on, and things studied by psychologists I admire, e.g. Dan Gilbert, Robert Sternberg, Martin Seligman, Howard Gardner, Mike Csikszentmihalyi, etc. Now the question is, should I even bother to apply, and if so, where? Keeping in mind each school on the list translates to $100 in application expenses. No fee waivers, of course. Someone will probably recommend taking a year off. The pre-emptive answer is, I'd love to, but it's very hard, because of visa issues. Heavens knows I want to stay stateside, because home is unbearable. I can't help feeling, as I write this, that I've screwed myself in several different bodily orifices. Up to you to judge though. Phew, there, that's all my fears and insecurities laid out on the page for all of you to see. Any and all feedback is appreciated! Seriously, if things work out, I'll actually send you real cookies in the mail!