zigazowohnow

Always go for the PhD. PsyD's arent very respected and limit your possibilities. If you have a PhD you can work in any setting but a PsyD you can only work in one.

NYU is notoriously late with sending out notifications! I would call, they're late.

We're in the same boat buddy. The graduate programs cannot notify you until the accepted students have notified them whether they are attending or not. The applicants are not required to let them know their decision until April 15th. That is why they cannot guarantee a word prior to April 15th, they're not psychic. So it's really out of the grad. programs hands and now in the hands of those first choice applicants that have been accepted. If you find out after April 15th, there is no deadline of acceptance as far as I know, but you should ask and see because they may have others on the wait list who they can accept if you turn them down. I find myself tempted daily to call and see if a spot opened up but that would be utterly pointless and annoying. Now we're just left with waiting. Best of luck on gaining acceptance, I'll have my fingers crossed for you!

I saw on the news last night that because of the recession and states portfolios decreasing rapidly construction projects have been halted mid-stage and cutbacks have been made all around. I can't help but to assume that some of these cutbacks would be effecting Public Universities funding of PhD programs as well, while the states look for ways to trim the fat. :|

If you haven't heard back by now call the department and ask, tell them (lie) that you were accepted to another program and they would like a response by March 31st therefore you would like to know your status before you make a decision. Some schools rudely send rejection letters really late (i.e. NYU) and some schools may have you on an unofficial wait list...either way just call and find out, it's late and decisions need to be made in 3 weeks so they will have no problem letting you know. Masters programs have late deadlines so maybe you can still apply, search the schools websites and find out. If you can't find a MA program with a late deadline then start applying to research assistant jobs so you can strengthen your application for next year. At least this way you can forgo being broke for a year while gaining experience that will make you more competitive as an applicant. Also if it does not work out, you can always study for the GRE again, take another look at your statement of purpose and re-write it, and have your future new boss submit a letter of recommendation on your behalf to the new programs you will be applying to. If you're still considering applying to the schools that rejected you again, call and ask to see if they can keep your app. on file for next year and if they have any advice about strengthening your application.

call tomorrow, if they really want you they will be happy to tell you your status. Also they should be sympathetic to the fact that this is crunch time and people need to be making decisions....and they are behind in the game. I wouldn't worry and think I was pestering them, it's not like it is going to change your application...either your accepted or your not. also they should be answering their emails so they must really want a phone call.

I disagree, it seems that most people involved in finance acknowledge that the subprime mess really began to take a toll last summer. Wall Street was aware that the summer was the start and no one knew how long it would last or when it would end. It is only since January that the general public became deeply concerned about the status of our economy. When you reach that point your nearly half way through the turmoil. Therefore, I think when programs were notified of funding by their finance people this fall, they're allotment would have been based on the status of the economy which has been shaky since last summer. Full disclosure: I am an avid watcher of CNBC and Bloomberg Television.

Well we are trying to get into grad school to learn...but maybe by not getting in we're learning....macroeconomics.

On top of that someone on livejournal says that when there is a pending recession more people want to continue their education....so applications go up, and the number of students a school can accept go down (Yea I'm caffeinated now...Caramel Macchaito all the way baby!)

So I've been hearing from multiple places that the "recession" is having an impact on the number of graduate students a University may accept this year. It seems as though everyone is worried about what there financial status will be ten years from now and would not want to accept students that they could not afford. Therefore, they are accepting less than they do in other years. Do you think this is true? I know for the program that I am wait listed on they can accept up to 7 students but this year 7 of us interviewed and they ended up needing a wait list. No one has said why but I'm thinking that it is the financial crisis because their policy is to only accept the # of students they can fully fund throughout their years. So maybe that's why so few this year? Darn people and buying homes they can't afford! Who would have thought this could affect whether I get a PhD???

Fletchers reputation is great, it's right up there with Harvard. Also concerning quant. don't you get to design which classes you would like to take in some sense. Have you spoken to the schools about the courses offered. At Fletcher because the program is shared with Harvard and MIT between the three I'm sure there are a variety of quant. classes. I think Fletcher seems great, the students LOVE their time there, they work hard but fletcher has a really unique student body that really look out for each other and have an amazing since of camaraderie. I've really never seem this replicated anywhere else, you should really consider visiting so you fully understand what I'm talking about it. It's hard to put it all in writing. They also have top Profs. and a lot of resources. If I died and came back interested in IR you bet i'd be at Fletcher! (Full disclosure: I did my undergrad. at tufts) However when going into a field based on pure benevolence and altruism you don't get paid much so I would be concerned about the amount of debt you would accrue. Lastly, I would really recommend asking for email addresses from students and alumni at the schools your considering to be able to have in depth chats about all of your concerns. I know visiting would be quite expensive.

I promise I am not a rankings junkie but honestly it seems like the program you should attend would be the top 5. You don't want to take gambles on your career and it seems as though you know that's what you would be doing at #49....besides that you want to be happy and a lot contributes to your happiness. Setting (urban settings seem to be easier to be happy in) and diversity (a lot of minorities struggle in their programs due to a lack of social support from people who look like them and have their shared experiences) are important factors to keep in consideration. I know you want to give #49 a chance and I admire your compassion however you have worked so hard to make yourself competitive now is not the time to be taking chances...especially chances in the middle of nowhere. Lastly funding is never something you should choose one school over another for provided that your fully funded at both. A couple thousand dollars now is not worth risking many lucrative job opportunities that the school with less funding could get you. Graduate school is not the time to live comfortable, therefore money matters should be the very last of your concerns. Be content with being broke during graduate school.

I would NEVER consider going to Purdue, it is literally in the middle of nowhere/Indiana, they are overly enthused about football, and their social scene only revolves around the local bars which are pitiful. I went to high school in Indiana and a lot of my classmates went there and now when I see them it's very obvious that they've been in the middle of nowhere for the past few years. However, if you really like your program and the professors work then by all means suck it up and go, it's only a few years and Purdue is supposed to have a great engineering program. Downtown Chicago is more like three hours away. Everyone states how short it is between the next big city and campus but they never end up going to the city. Also, you would definitely want to have a car.

Maybe that's what's going on with my program, I know they've been able to accept as many as 7 students previous years but this year they have a wait list and appear to only have 4 funded positions open. They fully guarantee funding for all of your years so maybe they're trying to be cautious considering the economy?

LOL! I was so impressed with this sentence and thinking....hmmm I wonder what field this person is in??? To no surprise...linguistics!

"I hope that you'll join us next year" Then to find out later that I am wait listed....do you REALLY hope so?

I think that's great that someone sued the recommender. It's funny how after you say a certain word/phrase you almost forget the original meaning....it is a 'letter of recommendation' therefore you were only asked to recommend, not berate and denigrate. ...and I really don't understand why you would waste the time writing the letter in the first place either...what a bitter loser. Maybe the prof. felt their reputation was on the line and didn't want to send out bad students? Who knows?!

I think when that happens it can be one of two things: A. The personal statement: This is so important! Maybe there was a typo (admissions committees hate that!) or maybe it wasn't conveying what you thought it was. I noticed almost everyone says that after they look over their personal statement, they are embarrassed that they even submitted it (I am including myself in this category). I think the majority of us mistakenly look @ grad. admissions as being similar to undergrad and that one essay isn't going to make much of a difference. BUT a lot of us find out the hard way that it does! B. Letter of Recommendation: I've heard a story of one professor writing a letter of rec. for a student and after the student got rejected from all the programs they applied to they opened a rec. from a school they decided not to apply. The body of the recommendation was neutral but at the end the professor wrote on the bottom, "I would not recommend this student for a PhD." Personally I would have rather you just say no I won't write you a letter of recommendation than do something like that and waste ALL of my time, money and effort!

Actually I've noticed that a lot of the top ranked programs in Psychology (with the exception of clinical psychology) are more concerned with the entire application...meaning much more than just numbers. Yet when I looked at what are considered the lower ranked programs they are all about numbers and weeding people out based on them. My belief is that this is why they are not as well ranked, they're missing out on some great applicants by being too short-sighted and the top programs are taking them. Prior to submitting my app. to the Ivy I applied to the prof. I applied to work with told me they admissions committee wants to see something over 1100 but after that they're not looking too closely to the scores. Unfortunately I feel like many students will feel they are not competitive enough for a top program because when you look at the middle tier ones they come off as looking so numbers driven and competitive that you think you need to lower your standards and that the mid ranked ones are a reach for you.

I think your awesome! So many people are solely concerned about rankings and put the 'fit' as secondary. I only ended up applying to very few programs solely because I know research interests are #1. Personally I would LOVE to have been able to apply to Stanford or Berkley but there were no faculty doing work that I knew I could fall in love with... and I refuse to be a drop out simply because I made an immature decision.

We're in the exact same boat, however I have yet to get accepted to the top 10 program I'm currently on their wait list :roll: But it's nice to see regular folks out here, after seeing all these overacheivers I've been feeling like schools must be lowering their standards when they consider me.

Lest we forget Cornell and MIT?!!! I think you may be right, our sample is probably compiled of workaholics who stress and worry about their top tier schools and which would make them look the best ten years from now. But there are always us normal folks who are elated with one acceptance to a good university.

I scored less than 100 pts. higher than you, and I was fine about it too....the example was of someone who is complaining about amazing GRE scores....not me.

Do you think most applicants have been notified of their status (either accepted/rejected/wait listed) as of now?

I think if you haven't heard yet it is either a rejection or wait list. So yep there is still hope! It seems people get off wait lists all the time.