kaswing

I'm really glad to hear this good news! Thanks for bringing up this subject as well. I'm moving for grad school I'm a month and a half, and I want to be as prepared as possible. I have a history of depression and have been doing well lately, so I want to be sure that I remain healthy! I enjoyed reading about what others do to keep themselves balanced, and it was helpful to note that switching therapists to one who understands your situation better can be helpful! I wanted to see what else I can learn from you all about managing consistent stress. The cats are a great idea-- I'm considering pets as well. Anyone else have thoughts? It's been a few years since I got my masters, and I've grown a lot, but boy, that did not go well in the stress department! I also wanted to add that when my dad was in grad school, he suffered from chronic, excruciating jaw pain. Like, pull over on the side of the road because you can't see pain. None of his doctors could figure out what it was, because there was nothing physical going wrong, and finally, they diagnosed it as stress. He said he didn't believe it until he did what they told him and it worked. Remembering that stress can do that has helped me remember to manage it, rather than accept and identify with it, and also helps me remember to calm down when I feel my jaw ache

I would tend to agree! I suppose it's a way to adjust incentives and avoid people who drop out after a few months making off with $1500? Perhaps they sell it or use it for parts in the engineering dept? When I did experiments in psych, we ran the "game" on a very very old machine. Perhaps that's where they go. Knowing universities, though, it probably sits in storage somewhere.

Ask your advisor about computer requirements!! I emailed my professor to see what kind of software is need to run, and whether the lab was Mac or PC. She had lots of useful information, the most useful of which is that **they have funding for graduate students' computers!** I tell them what I want (up to $1500 for computer and peripherals) and they will buy it. I return it when I leave, but hey, it's definitely worth it. All the graduate students I know (social science FWIW) had their lab buy their computers. In sum, I don't recommend buying your own computer without a least testing the waters with your advisor. This is such a great thread: so much I haven't thought about yet. I need to find an apartment!!

Hi! Late to the party, but I'm moving from southern CA to maryland and looking for housing now I'll be there for a PhD in information studies.

Just wanted to throw my hat in here and say that i'll be moving to MD to go to UMCP in the fall. I was planning to live in DC, but it's starting to look like it's out of my price range. Reading here helped, and so did going to the transportation section of Maryland's website, and (strangely) under the parking tab, and finding this interactive map http://maps.umd.edu/map/. if you go in to the menu, you can add all the shuttle routes, which helped me find some less proximate but still reasonable neighborhoods. how early in advance can we find housing? People in umd's reddit forum are saying for example that you need to find housing really early, but everything i can find so far wants someone to move in ASAP. thoughts?

Re: UCSD. I don't know about Psych or Neuro, but CogSci profiles are still being reviewed.

Just had my first (skype) interview with a POI yesterday. It went really well! I am super excited about her work and the kind of department it is, and the more I think about it, the more I want to go! Help! Now I have 3 favorite schools! Two was already pushing it.

For me, honestly, I tend to let fear prevent me from starting large projects. Obviously, super bad for graduate school. So, before I started applying, I started confronting this issue. Now, I have concrete, intentional examples of overcoming these weaknesses that I can talk about in interviews, namely losing (by then) 30 pounds and teaching myself HTML, CSS, and Javascript. I chose these because 1) I wanted to do them and 2) they are relatable (in the first case) and relevant (in the second case).

Great question! I work in a lab, and there are several current grad students and post docs with fun-colored hair, so it's clearly not too big of an issue. That said, I with *hopefully* be interviewing at a variety of places that I don't yet know much about-- different coasts, cultures, who knows. I've made the personal choice to wait until after interviews to do something fun with my hair, and to make it a sort of celebration of being done with that part of the process. I've decided that, although I really like it, and it reflects me, it doesn't reflect something that's so essential to me that i must have it when making a first impression. Also, none of the schools I'm applying to are in Saudi Arabia, so I don't expect they will be able to stop my attending if I dye my hair after I've been accepted It may be worth it to stand out, if it's tasteful, but I'm a 6'+ woman, and i will stand out (far too literally) no matter what I do. I don't get to do anything about being the "freakishly tall one," but I can avoid being the "freakishly tall one with the crazy hair."

I don't have an answer for you, but it's certainly good news! They wouldn't spend the money on you unless they were serious.

I don't know specifically about CS, but I went to a CSU for undergrad and UC for a Master's in another field. CSUs are "not allowed" to have doctoral programs, unless they are joint programs, and most UCs are research-focused. That would support your point-- a CSU is more likely to be professionally-oriented and a UC has more opportunities for research. That said, I think it depends pretty heavily on the programs to which you are applying: my master's from a UC is very industry-focused.

Shout out to UCSD Cog Sci, Tolman's Rat-- I applied there, and I'm currently working there with in the new Design Lab. I don't know much (/anything) about Neuro or really anything other than HCI, but if you have general questions about UCSD/San Diego, send me a message! I applied to a few different types of schools ( i want to study how we can design environments, from work culture to software, around goals like creativity.) 1. UCSD CogSci, like I mentioned 2. UNC Charlotte Computer Science (there's a researcher there I really like) 3. Harvard Org Behavior 4. UMD Information School 5. Georgia Tech HCI 6. Penn State I/O Psychology 7. Stanford Work, Technology and Information (in MS&E)

I disagree-- I think the additional points on the other two sections are valuable, whereas the AWA is generally seen as a poor reflection of writing skill. Additionally, you'll have an opportunity to sell your writing skill in the SOP.

We can't help you find PIs-- you haven't even told us what field you're applying in, let alone your research interests. Also, this is a general forum-- ups be better off asking the PI question in a forum specific to your field.

Hope application season is going well for you all! I thought I'd write a little update to my previous list of schools, etc., since it's completely changed. I'm interested in creativity, and how we can design environments (i.e. workplaces, organizational culture, and especially software) to foster more specific organizational goals (like creativity). Therefore, not all the programs I am applying to are I/O Psych. UCSD (Cognitive Science)* UNC Charlotte (Computer Science)* Penn State (I/O Psychology)* Harvard (Organizational Behavior)* Stanford (Management Science and Engineering; Work, Technology, and Organizations)* U Maryland (Computer Science) Georgia Tech (Human-Centered Computing) *-- I've already submitted this application My POI at UNC found funding for me, so I only applied to schools I'd like to go to as well or more than there, even though I'm not as sure as I once was that that means I'm in. I have more than one POI at every school except UNC. My recommenders are all from UCSD. I have a phone call scheduled with a POI from Stanford. Research Experience I have about 1.5 years research experience in semi-related fields (Psychiatry in decision-making, Cog Sci in human-computer interaction) 1 Paper (3rd author) currently under review GPA: 3.26 undergrad (CSU school) and 3.45 graduate (UC school, professional program) BS in Business Marketing, MBA GRE: 161Q / 170V / 5 AWA (81st%, 99th%, 93rd%) (a little worried about that Q score for the computer science programs) I am worried that I didn't apply to enough schools, that my recommenders secretly hate me, that my CV is embarrassing and looks padded, that my SOP is missing something super important, and that I don't know what I will do if I am accepted to any number of schools other than exactly 1. I am happy that I have 5 applications in, that my Stanford POI wants to do a phone call, and that 170 sounds sexy. What are you worried and happy about?

We don't know, but the physical sciences forum may

Haha, I'm surprised to hear that! I'm certainly not applying to that many schools (7, I think), but searching around in these and other forums, it's not that uncommon to see someone applying to 15.

Wasn't sure with the title, but this blog is super useful. Thanks for sharing!

I have a friend in another social science field whom I've always been in awe of and who convinced me that I could do this. She got a TT, R1 job at a school with a very relevant and powerful institute in her specific field after graduating last year, but she had to put it on hold for a year to take a post doc at Harvard. I was telling her how afraid I was of being shut out, and she told me not to worry: she didn't get into her school (one of the best in her field) until her 3rd year of applying. Surprised and encouraged me, hope it might help with the inevitable anxiety in this thread

Thanks, munashi! I'm sure I speak for everyone here when I say that applications are super fun, all my recommenders are on top of it, and I am definitely not panicking about anything, why do you ask? Should I be panicking? Do you think I didn't apply to enough schools?? What if everyone rejects me and blacklists me for all time and I never get a job and I have to live on the streets?? How are you?

Pm me

I've had a motivated couple of days! Applied for 4 programs in two days, bringing my submitted total to 5. I had 7 "for sure"s and 3 "maybe"s, but I'm starting to wonder about a few of them. I don't want to apply to too few, though: wanted to get a sense of how many you were applying to and why, if you want to share. I'm sure this goes without saying, but I would REALLY prefer to not have to do this again. Feeling nervous already, of course: shit's getting real!

Angelina, From what I know of the research being done at my school, your research interests sound right in line with the kind of thing they work on (I'm a little burrowed in my department, but we did some interviews with other grad students in the department From what I can tell, there's some pressure, but not from politics or over-competitiveness. Just that the standards are high. What info are you looking for specifically?

Allen_iit: I don't know what the protocol is about warning them about your GRE, but my intuition says, don't bother. I think bringing attention to something you're not thrilled about won't help you. They'll be looking at lots of apps, and yours will stand out since they know your name, and you have the opportunity to make it stand out for great things. Let the numbers you are less happy about have the chance of blending in the background I'm afraid I can't reproduce your name, second person, but good luck! I like Germany a lot, and I hope you do, too! The Cog Sci department I work with does a lot of linguistics-- it seems like a good fit!

I'm planning to apply to 10-12 schools in several departments: I want to study Human- Computer Interaction, and that can be in psych, cog sci, computer science-- all over the place. I'm focusing on psychology, I/O psych, and cognitive science programs, since I don't have a background in CS. One of the psych programs I'm planning to apply to "desires, but doesn't require" the subject test. I haven't taken it or studied for it yet, and I don't have a psych degree. The advantage of this school is that they study HCI in many labs in several departments, and their areas of specification leave plenty of room for me to pursue my secondary interests. It is one of my favorite schools, but it is only one of many, and the time I'd spend on the subject test is time I wouldn't spend in the lab making progress on a potential conference paper-- my first. Is it worth it to start studying for the test? Is it too late? If I don't take it, and I don't have the background, am I wasting an application fee? To answer this specific question, you might want to get a sense of my other qualifications, I have a BS in Business, Marketing, and an MBA with 3.4 and 3.6 GPAs respectively. (I realize the MBA won't be of much use anywhere except the I/O programs-- the school in question does have an I/O track.) I have worked with a psychiatry lab in decision-making (one of my secondary interests) for over a year and a human-computer interaction lab since February, where I now have a paid position. By the time I apply, I may have a working or perhaps conference paper if all goes as planned, but not a publication. My general tests scores were 170V/161Q and something reasonable on the AWA, but I forget specifically what it was. More generally, there are some things that not all schools require but one or two do: subject tests, writing samples, etc. I'd hate to not apply because of something so minor, but if I don't have it, I don't really want to invest the time in doing it (and doing it well) for one school when I could be in the lab! How do you make these decisions?