isilya

It does matter to some reviewers, unfortunately. When I applied last year as an undergrad all 3 of my reviewers mentioned lack of publications being a negative for my application. And that was as an undergrad!! So it probably depends on who you get as a reviewer.

Last year I got the email notification at 2:55AM, so it coincided pretty directly with the end of maintenance.

How's the new semester starting out for everyone? I'm writing a conference paper with my undergrad PI which I'm super excited about, but I'm also feeling pretty stressed because it means I've been neglecting the projects with my advisor here :/

I know it's hard, but you need to talk to your PI about this NOW or it will become a persistent issue. Your advisor will have suggestions for where to get started for learning statistics. The earlier you address this problem, the better.

Is anyone else feeling sort of overwhelmed already? I really like what I'm doing so far but I have this nagging stress in the back of my mind that I'll move too slowly on research and fall super behind. Also, everyone in my cohort is significantly older and more experienced than me and I feel like a stupid little kid...

I believe working insane hours is not only bad for your mental and physical health, but also isn't even that productive. I've had days where I got much more done in 8 hours of productive work than days where I work for 12 hours. Being constantly tired and burned out is not a good idea for a PhD - it's a marathon, not a sprint. I haven't started my program yet, but this last year of undergrad I worked between 40-50 hours per week completing two honors theses and multiple grad classes every quarterquarter in addition to my undergrad coursework. It's all about efficiency.

Thanks for the detailed response, that was super helpful!!

Great so far!!! I moved across the country a couple weeks ago and I've been getting acquainted with the city and my labmates. I also have some new projects going that I'm very excited about!! For some reason almost everyone in my cohort isn't arriving until this week even though our orientation is already on Thursday. I'm excited to meet them all (I know a couple of them from interview weekend but for the most part I don't know anyone). Excited and scared for classes to start next Monday!!

Out of curiosity, how did you get these side data analysis jobs? That's something I'd be interested in but I have no idea where to start.

I also have a question about LORs. I'll have two good ones -- one from my undergrad thesis advisor, and one from my new PhD advisor. But I'm stuck on who I should ask for the third. My other two grad school application letter writers aren't super relevant to the research I'm doing now (plus I'm not on good terms with one of them, long story). Should I pick a different undergrad professor? A new grad school professor who doesn't know me that well? I'm torn...

Nope, not tied up at all! As far as I'm aware, the only time you have to notify a change of research plans is if your primary field completely changes, which is unlikely. Actual fellows should respond though

Get more research experience this year!!!!! That is the number one.thing you can do to improve your application. You might want to improve your Q more since you're applying to math programs, but do not prioritize that if it means doing less research.

What kind of program is this for? Seems like psych, but is this a Masters? PhD? What subfield?

Yay I'm so excited!! Earlier today I did all the boring stuff -- filling out the easy bits of the application, uploading transcripts, etc. Now time to attempt to remain calm and craft the most kickass statements possible!

Seconding Jay's Brain, most vision labs use Psychophysics Toolbox for MATLAB. Another thing that I see some people use for stim presentation is psychopy for Python. Python is pretty easy to pick up if you already know another language. R is amazing for statistical analysis, and it's the only thing I use for analyzing data. However, you should ask your advisor what they use, because if they only use, for example, SPSS, you should probably learn that instead of something else.

Hey all, I vaguely remember hearing somewhere that some honorable mention recipients might get the award if others are declined. Does anyone know when these are announced and how it works? I know my chances are pretty much 0 but I can dream

Yeah, I think this is a public/private problem as well. I got four offers this year, two from public schools (one being Berkeley) and two from private schools. My offers from public schools were 9-month stipends of $22K and $25K in expensive areas with no summer funding and no health insurance. My offers from the private schools were 12-months stipends of $27K (in a cheap area) and $37K, with health insurance paid for and also access to a good amount of travel funds. The difference is mind-blowing!

I'm sure there are plenty of people gearing up for Fall 2016!! This is the 2015 thread though. It looks like a 2016 thread hasn't been started -- go ahead and start one if you like, although there might not be too much activity before August probably.

Yep, my funding package includes health insurance!

You guys are going to have so much fun here!! I'm about to graduate undergrad from UCSD this week so I'm feeling all sad and nostalgic :') Anyway, if you want to live off-campus, I highly recommend Hillcrest -- it's cheaper (as in, $1100-$1300 for a one-bedroom instead of $1500-$1800 in La Jolla). It's also right near the Hillcrest Medical Center shuttle to campus. If you have a car, I also recommend North Park, University Heights, and Normal Heights. Slightly cheaper, cool neighborhoods, and not horribly far away.

Don't waste your valuable time and money -- those scores are high enough to get you past cutoffs and they'll never be looked at again. Unless you plan on applying to very quant-heavy programs, in which case you might want your Q score to be a few points higher.

Serious question: who cares?!?! McGill has departments that are better than Harvard, Harvard has some departments that are better than McGill. Even departments that are "better" at one school might not be a good fit for someone. We're no longer undergrads, overall rankings really don't mean much, past some arbitrary threshold of being "top tier".

You might consider going somewhere else for your MS so that you can expand your academic network. But on the other hand if you get your MS at Chicago then maybe you won't have to retake a bunch of coursework once you start the PhD program. Sorry if that wasn't of much help, just throwing out some thoughts!

Congrats!!

I would personally would feel extremely uncomfortable living with a man who isn't my boyfriend, unless we are already good friends and I know him well...