personalityresearcher

P.S. I got that too - I was noting how absurd it is that a year of in-state public school tuition in the US (15000) costs more than a year of international graduate tuition at a certain Canadian university (~7600)...we are drowning in student loans over here.

Right! I get you're a domestic grad... My friends and I would love to be free of our student loans - it is a burden...but if you really love it - maybe talk to someone with more life experience and/or expertise to find out how much it'd bite you in the butt - I wish I would've done this when I was paying for undergrad.

None of it. Except dreamed of going to grad school - with my 2.8 HS GPA .

That's correct! Canadian international graduate tuition without a fellowship is cheaper than our undergraduate tuition. Because we're ridiculous (with tuition). The recommendation to undergrads here is not to take on a debt load that exceeds your projected income (e.g., if the average income for your degree/experience is 20K, don't exceed 20K). Provided the conditions of your loans are similar to U.S. ones, it's probably a decent rule. The drawbacks...eats away from your savings to buy things like a house...or for some Americans, groceries...

To my knowledge, Canadian admissions work like in the states: GRE, GPA, research experience, strong LORs...My friends who went into I/O focused their attention on quant (e.g., doing a stats minor) to boost their credentials for grad school...I'm not sure if the certificate will help.

My friend got into a top social program with about that score. If it were top clinical programs, I think there'd be more to be concerned about.

I think this sort of thing was more frowned upon before most PhD programs started accepting people directly out of undergrad - before, it was more common to do a terminal masters, then go elsewhere for the PhD.

Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance with Somebody"

I haven't heard that enrolling in Adelphi's MA helps one get into the PhD - I'd check the website and look at profiles of the current PhD students - if none/1-2 of them initially did a terminal MA there, could be a bad sign if you're hoping to springboard it into the PhD there afterward. Some schools are more inclined to take their MAs; others are actually less inclined to admit them for a PhD. I met people from Adelphi at conferences - seemed like they good experiences at the school.

That's great - two years psyc labs, honors thesis, plus the med school labs! I definitely understand - I went to that type of small college, too. My best sources of advice when I applied were my advisor and The Insiders Guide to Clinical and Counseling Psychology Graduate Programs - although I applied to social-personality, the advice in that book was extremely helpful and applicable across all subfields of psychology. I highly recommend it, plus the APA's Graduate Guide to Psychology (yearly publication of admissions stats), if you don't have them already.

It doesn't matter if the psychology profs have a big name. But, you said you go to a small teaching school - is there research going on (i.e. do your profs have labs?)? If not, I'd get research experience in psychology labs at another university ASAP. You don't have to attend the university to work or volunteer in the lab. It's good you have research experience and, if it's health psychology and your skills (e.g. processing assay samples) is useful to their research, perhaps it'd be looked at as a plus. That said, there's still going to be a preference for those who have had long-term experience working or volunteering in a psychology lab.

Finding POIs and programs were more challenging, more work, and more stressful than the SOP and GREs; start looking for POIs & programs early - fit is huge!

Yup - definitely agree. Fit is huge. My friend applied to a handful of psychology programs. The place that took him, or even interviewed him, was Harvard. He was rejected from very low tier "safety" schools.

Psyc adcoms tend to prefer LORs from tenured psychology profs. That said, it's best that your LORs be strong and specific - a general LOR from a psych prof won't be better then a strong one from the endocrinologist. But the psyc adcoms won't know (or care) that the endocrinologist is a big name (unless his work ties into something you're applying for - e.g., health psych stuff - and they recognize the name).

As long as they're normal, I don't care - male or female - I've lived with both and had good experiences (weren't any differences, either).

90s techno/dance music (e.g., La Bouche, Real McCoy); McDonald's fries; Taco Bell; stout floats

Tenure track academia!!!!

Going steady

The research is the most important - I'd (literally) sacrifice my limbs and live in the crappiest of places for what I want to do!

State dependent (learning)

I'm in the same boat. Unless you have other offers, I'd wait till 4/15 or later. I'd also ask my advisor for advice on this one, since it's sort of a sensitive situation.

It's just hard to know why you're being ignored - could be busy, uninterested, or just missed it. I get it, though - it's frustrating - same thing happened to me. I'd wait till summer or a less busy time, then email again. I wouldn't do it a third time, though. If I were ignored a second time, I wouldn't rule out reapplying to them, provided 1) I was REALLY interested in their research 2) it fit the budget - cause it might be a gamble.

I second everything Munashi says. I might also recommend: 1) Develop a specific research interest. The more you know what you want, the better - it'll help you target POIs. This can be helpful because fit plays a huge role in admissions. 2) Do an independent or honors research project where you do everything start to finish. You will develop more specific research skills. 3) Learn stats - take classes, do a minor (don't tank the grades, though!), maybe. 4) Learn different softwares (e.g., SPSS). 5) Work in at least two (ideally three) professor's labs for at least two semesters. Whatever you do - make sure you get to know at lesst two, but ideally three, psyc profs enough that they can write you strong specific LORs. 6) READ the literature. 7) GO to conferences. Network. And present your work. 8) Apply widely - the closer to 20, the better since you're compensating for a lower GPA. Make sure your apps aren't all tier 1 research schools - that's risky.

United Nations

Has anyone been rejected from U of Missouri-Columbia clinical?