mb712

I sent an email to another school thanking them for the notification and that I look forward to the visitation weekend type thing they mentioned along with my acceptance. (My current research advisor thought it was in good form to at least say something.)

I think I'm fairly desensitized to the farmer/nascar/conservative/religious crowd(s) thanks to Nebraska, ha. Thanks for all of the input! The air quality thing hadn't even crossed my mind yet, I'll have plenty to pay attention to when I visit.

I guess we're both crazy for considering the move then! What are your qualms about the city?

Awesome, thanks for the input!

Finally received my first official decision from a social program. That was a long and painful two months of waiting.

Thanks for the information!

This is about the last place on the internet I thought I would see things (like "reverse discrimination") that make me do extreme eyerolls and facepalming. ANYWAY. I've only seen one Minnesota response on the results page and this seems weird to me. Anybody have any Minnesota information?

This is exactly why December and January were basically miserable months for me! I'm late to the party but other than retaking the GRE, I would suggest you do what you want to do. Not only because you will probably be bummed out (if you don't get accepted anywhere) and need something you enjoy but because there are quite a few pros and cons to both a lab position and a master's program. For example, when I was making my backups plans I basically ruled out master's programs because I couldn't find any that interested me that also fully funded their students. In all reality, both a lab position and a master's program would be an application boost but don't do something that is going to absolutely drain you... Remember you still have to complete a Ph.D. after!

I thought that might be the case since Merced websites seem to focus more on what's around Merced rather than Merced itself. The lower cost of living while still being in driving distance of all of the things that make the cost of living in other areas so much higher is definitely appealing, though. What is there to do around Merced other than the more generic touristy stuff that would be mentioned on the city/school website? Yep, I'm one of the polisci admits. The graduate handbook is actually really thorough so I don't have many questions! There's a month until prospective student visitation weekend so I'm sure I'll think of something program/department related before then.

All of the political science programs I applied to pushed their application deadline back by at least two weeks, some an entire month. Might be worth checking that same thing for places other than Irvine too.

This this this. I turn 27 this year and if I hadn't been admitted somewhere this year I'm not sure I would try in years to come mostly because I want to have kids and the advice I've heard echoed the most is to have your first during your last year of graduate school (especially if you're planning on entering academia). My own personal preference is to have one by the time I'm in my mid-30s. Purely anecdotal but an advisor of mine said late-20s is a preference because of the maturity factor + that age groups tends to be there because they really want to, not because they've been told they need to at 22 straight out of undergrad because psych bachelor's degrees don't get you anywhere.

Any of the people who posted UCSD rejections yesterday with just "psychology"... Were you also cognitive like some of the other rejection posters yesterday?

Yep, especially since the psych forum creates a new thread for basically every possible topic. It's interesting to go back and forth.

At the only program I've been admitted to so far, (according to the student guidebook - I haven't received the official financial package offer yet) they fully fund 5+ years based on students doing both. At least two semesters of TA is required, the RA portion is less specific. I have a lot of research experience already so if I'm making assumptions, I'll do better during RA times than TA times but I've never taught so who knows. At the school I'm at now most of the graduate students seem to prefer RA appointments but due to funding it isn't as common in the first couple years before candidacy. So basically what I'm saying is, I'm absolutely no help because I think it's different everywhere and really depends on a lot of circumstances. Ha.

"Or with so much shouting" haha! Congrats!

Hang in there guys! Other than the GRE situation already mentioned, keep in mind that the decision is just as much about the school as it is about you. You very well could be doing absolutely nothing wrong but something on their end makes the relationship unlikely to be a match. You never know, next year the circumstances might be wildly different at the very same programs & you would be at the top of their lists. Social programs are insanely competitive, so 90% of applicants feel totally deflated. We all have an empathetic support system here!

Damn, I'm sorry! This whole process is kind of excruciating. I hope you hear from the other programs you applied from soon so you don't have to play the uncertainty game for too long!

Nebraska

Big school perspective: I let two of my letter writers know the day I got my first acceptance letter because I have a closer relationship with them than the third writer. They were thrilled so my plan going forward is to keep that up (if I'm accepted anywhere else) then give all three a small gift when I tell them my final decision.

I'm bumping up this thread in hopes that a current graduate student sees this and can give some input about life at/around UCM from the perspective of a grad student. I'm not necessarily concerned about there not being as much to do (I grew up in such a place, I'm used to it) - but more of what the city is like and how UCM incorporates into the things online about Merced like recent housing value drop, unemployment staying higher, the general "well-being" of the city. Or really anything that anybody thinks would be relevant to someone considering making the move to Merced for UCM.

Nope

Also good points. I didn't consider some of what you're both saying about rejecting people immediately when I made my original efficiency comment. I think my anxiousness and lack of administrative experience shaped my thoughts too much

Could be. There are also dozens of posters on this forum talking about calling and email admissions administration trying to figure out what their status is because they haven't heard anything, so things are getting in the way of smooth communication with those invited for interviews and being sent acceptances regardless!

Sure. For efficiency's sake on both sides it would make sense to severe ties with the bottom 50% that don't have a chance early on in the process, though. Oh well.

I have a friend currently teaching English in a town about an hour from Seoul, she knows absolutely no Korean. With a lot of programs that send English speakers to Asian countries to teach, the kids already know super basic English so you can get by without knowing their first language.