Hopeful678

Hello, my query is about whether you think direct research experience in the area you want to do your PhD work in is essential to being admitted to a PhD program. Over the last 5 years I have been involved in many different ares of research in Linguistics, Psychology, and Neuroscience, which has resulted in a few publications. I now want to do cognitive based research in autism spectrum disorders, however, I don't have direct research experience in the population nor have I worked in the population. My only involvement has been in theoretical autism papers derived from the literature. Do you think this is a fools errant or is it possible for me to be admitted to a PhD program switching research areas?

Hi man, this is my 3rd year applying and I already got notification I didn't make short list for one of my places. I don't even know what to say either, this is my dream i'm not going to give up on it, but honestly, how many years may I have to apply? 5? 6? Yea, it's depressing.

Would anyone like to read my statement and help with editing, I'm limiting to a few people because its extremely personal and I've had work stolen before.

I also had heart palpitations about this test, took it 3 times and my 3rd time still did badly, 302 overall, 153 v 149 q 6 aw. I don't know what to do either, i'm just going to apply to my top choices, I'm not a bad student either 3.73 and 2 ivy league degrees and nothing I post on this site gets addressed ever. I wish you the best of luck though, I'm tired of making myself sick trying to get in a Phd program.

Why does noone ever reply to my posts?

Psychology and neuroscience phd 149 q, 153 v, 6 AW (1st time was 145v/143q/3aw 2011, 2nd 153v/144q/4.5 aw 2013, 3rd current scores) 2 publications, 1 single, 1 2nd author 1 conference 5 years research 1 national award, simulation and modeling MA Columbia 3.59 MS Upenn 3.73 First generation college student Learning disability appling to: princeton, harvard, mit, penn, vanderbilt, columbia

You can retake and just send the writing score from your previous test if you don't get another 6.

Have you tried phoning them and asking?

Hey, I'm just throwing this out there, my background is in Psychology, but I went to two Ivy's so far, applying to phd's this term. However, I've done a lot of research in what it takes to get into programs, just know computer science is not my area. From the people I've talked to on admissions committees, along with professors and admissions advisers, being barely under a certain number like 90th percentile isn't going to make or break you. They are looking at the full application not 1 score. I can tell you that one number being the average means that many people get in below and above that number it’s just a baseline. The most important thing is having good letters writers, research, conferences, awards, personal statement, and decent gpa, from my experiences 3.5 neuroscience (9% acceptance) 3.7 clinical psychology (2% acceptance), average again. Besides that point, I also wanted to stress to you that I work with PhD students at a top Ivy and some of these students have gotten in at 65th percentile in math, and 94th in verbal, I even had one person tell me they had a 80th in verbal and 60th in math. So really, it depends on a multitude of factors. Best

What are my chances Undergrad Psych GPA 3.52 Undergrad Cumm 3.01 Masters Cognitive Science: 3.59 Masters Neuroscience & language 3.73 5 years research, Many specializations PTSD, Creativity, Embodied cognition, I/O, Physiological Psychology (3 years), last year worked on Glioblastoma for department of Neurosurgery in an adult hospital. 1 Conference 1 article single author 1 article 2nd author Journal of Neurosurgery GRE 153 V 144 Q 4.5 AW (retaking on the 1st) Won 2013 National award for Simulation and Modeling.

Irregardless, he needs to focus on other parts of the application not GRE at this point.

I think you are fine. It's rare to have 2 second author publications and your gpa is well above average even at those schools. The Quant is still 88th percentile and when I was talking to professors at both Princeton and Harvard they are looking for 80th percentile or higher.

Dear Grad Cafe future Psychologists, Sometimes, I look at these messages and think that they are way less personal than I feel like they should be, the people applying to these programs are people, with different backgrounds and experiences. I believe by understanding someone’s history you can better assist them. Here is my story, growing up I struggled a lot in school. I was diagnosed at an early age with a learning disability that affected my ability to read and write, I was also diagnosed with a communication disorder. I was stratificated into lower educational classes, yet managed to graduate from high school. Upon graduating, I got kicked out of my dad’s house. This subsequently lead me to a lower GPA than I had hoped. This was at the start of my college career, which just so happened, to be at a community college. At the time I was living on my friends sofa and often times was unable to even attend classes, somehow, I still ended up graduating. I ended up transfering to a strong undergraduate university with a 2.8 to study psychology. During my first semester at university I met a professor who invited me to do research with him. We studied physiological psychology and PTSD, I accompanied him on this work for two years. I fell in love with the research and knew at that moment, I wanted to be a research scientist. This became my impetus for future courage and tenacity which I leveraged to be a better student. My grades improved, and I ended up graduating with a 3.78 in my last 60 credits, and a 3.52 GPA in psychology, however, my initial performance when starting college still haunted me and I still had a 3.1 cumulative GPA, tantamount to a demon on my back. Determined to prove myself as a graduate student coupled with this new sense of purpose for my future career, I decided that I wasn't ready for a PhD, so I applied to Columbia University in New York for a terminal master's degree which I thought would show the admissions officers that I was capable of graduate work despite my prior academic performance. I ended up working in 2 labs for the 1 and 1/2 years while I was there and ended up finishing the program with a 3.6; my master’s thesis was on dyslexia. Admissions season came along and with my previous GRE's being as abysmal as they were, I only applied to two schools, needless to say, I did not received any offers for PhD programs, So, I applied to Upenn and soon thereafter, I was given a scholarship to attend for a Master’s of Science in Neuroscience & Language, which I allowed me to improve my research background. Since then, I have maintained a 3.73. After much pondering, I felt the time was right to decide to apply for a PhD in Psychology & Neuroscience, which I initially felt not ready for in the previous years. Since, that meta-cognitive moment, I have made strides to build rapport with many different professors, and have met with professors for a few top schools and am applying to work with them Harvard, Yale, and Princeton in Psychology; Upenn, Stanford, and Vanderbilt in neuroscience. Throughout my academic career, I have accumulated 5 years of research experience and have gotten 1 paper published, additionally; a project I worked on at my old university won the 2013 NTSA Governor’s Award for Excellence in Modeling and Simulation from the National Training and Simulation Association. I am currently working at the Penn Hospital doing research in Glioblastoma, got second author and this paper is being submitted for publication in the Journal of Neurosurgery. I have a proposal to speak at a conference waiting to be approved also. However, my GRE's still worry me (154V 144Q 4.5W). I have never been a great test taker; I am studying the quant, and am taking the GRE again on the 1st of November. Best, Hopeful PS. Sorry for the long message!

INTJ, but I can tell you from experience, if you know any of these sorts of tests you can make it say whatever you want. on that note I can tell you : This happens in part because many INTJs do not readily grasp the social rituals; for instance, they tend to have little patience and less understanding of such things as small talk and flirtation (which most types consider half the fun of a relationship). To complicate matters, INTJs are usually extremely private people, and can often be naturally impassive as well, which makes them easy to misread and misunderstand. Perhaps the most fundamental problem, however, is that INTJs really want people to make sense. :-) This sometimes results in a peculiar naivete', paralleling that of many Fs -- only instead of expecting inexhaustible affection and empathy from a romantic relationship, the INTJ will expect inexhaustible reasonability and directness. Describes me perfectly

Hi, I would have to retake it for next season's applications at this point. I'm still waiting to hear back from 5 schools. I have 4 research projects I'm working on currently. I hope to get some published and I would like to present on at least one at a conference. I was wondering, do you know of any good preps, I'm better working 1 on 1, where I can ask questions when I'm stuck, and to just have a partner to go over flash cards with I feel would help a ton. I really think I could score high 160s in math, I just haven't done math outside of statistics in so long. Please let me know, Thanks

How impactful is my Gre on my application as a whole? 154 v, 144q, 4.5 aw (GRE) applying to PhD in Top schools in neuroscience and psychology (Ie, Yale, Harvard, Oxford, Upenn, CU; psychology and neuroscience): Rest of application Learning disability 5 years research exp 3.51 undergrad gpa major 3.14 cum 3.6 masters gpa Columbia 3.53 2nd masters gpa Upenn 1 published paper Teaching experience worked on project that won national award for simulation and modeling 2013 Strong letters Faculty fit and support

Hi, your health comes first. You really need to be mentally and physically healthy in a PhD program. Sometimes it's better to leave if its not a good fit, you need a good mentor that you get along with and that fits with you. If it's making you ill to keep going, I wouldn't advise it. You don't want to kill yourself for a PhD. I'm sorry if this is not the news you wanted but I'm telling you the truth. On my campus 4 people have already committed suicide this semester alone. Please at least try to find a adviser that fits with you research wise and personality wise. Best

Thanks Gingin, I really appreciate the reply. Best, Hopeful

Dear The Grad Cafe, I have a question, Growing up I struggled a lot in school. I was diagnosed at an early age with a learning disability that affected my ability to read and write. I was tracked into lower educational classes, yet managed to graduate from high school. Upon graduating, I got kicked out of my dads house, which subsequently lead me to a low gpa at the start of my college career, at a community college. I then ended up transfering to a university with a 2.772 to study psychology after attaining my AA degree. During my first semester at university I met a professor who told me I was one of the best student's he had in his last 40 years of teaching, he invited me to do research with him for which I accompanied him on for 2 years. I fell in love, I loved being an inquisitive person, and answering wild questions I came up with. I became much more confidant and my grades improved, I ended up with a 3.78 in my last 60 credits, and ended with a 3.51 gpa in psychology and 3.19 cummulative. With this new sense of purpose for my future career (which I hoped was a researcher), I decided that I wasn't ready for a PhD, so I applied to Columbia University in New York for a master's degree. I got in and ended up working in 2 labs for the 1 and 1/2 years I was there and ended up finishing with a 3.6; my masters thesis was on dyslexia. Shortly thereafter, I was given a scholarship to attend University of Pennsylvania for a masters of Science in Neuroscience, which I have maintained a 3.53. This season I decided that I had enough background experience to apply for a phd in psychology & neuroscience, so I have decided to apply to many top schools : Harvard, Yale, Upenn GSAS, Oxford, CU Psychology, Stanford, Upenn GSE, UCF psychology, and CU Biomed. Throughout my life I have accumilated 5 years of research experience and have gotten 1 paper published, additionally, a project I worked on at my old university won the 2013 NTSA Governor’s Award for Excellence in Modeling and Simulation from the National Training and Simulation Association.I am currently working at the UPenn Hospital doing research in Glioblastoma, and have 3 additional papers i'm working on. However my GRE's worry me (154V 144Q 4.5W). I have never been a good test taker, but I am hoping my experience more than makes up for it. So, now I ask you all, do you think I have a chance? If I don't, what can I do to prove myself? My research interests are in disabilities (dyslexia and autism), cognitive science, animal cognition, and computational neuroscience, specifically looking at neural networks and modeling the sensory guided development of mirror neuron systems in humans. I am also interested in the interconnection between mind, brain, and education, specifically in children's theory of mind and psychopathology. Best