mb712

Thank god I'm not the only one. I assumed that once applications were over and decisions were out, the stress would go way down. NOPE! I go through an internal struggle daily over what school I want to go to and the countdown until April 15th feels way worse than application deadlines. Like you said, it's a great problem to have, but I'm also so worried about making the wrong decision. I was pretty sure I was leaning towards School A, then I learned faculty at School B had a million great things to say about me which of course caused irrational tears and a reevaluation. Sometimes I wish I had only been accepted at one place haha.

Just because you've had a bad experience doesn't mean everyone else is doomed to fail too.

Plenty of jobs pay for moving expenses, I'm not sure why asking if grad schools do this makes anyone entitled, helpless or a brat. It seems like a perfectly valid question that I'm sure a lot of people have.

Who has more social obstacles to break through, a white woman first-gen student from a low SES or a black woman first-gen student from a low SES? Just because things happened to work out for you when you put in the time doesn't mean that everyone from any minority or disadvantaged group has the opportunity to even attempt to do the same.

Say I'm at a concert with two friends, one who is 5'0" and one who is 6'2". I let the shorter one stand on my seat in order to see the stage. Does that mean I'm altering the advantages or disadvantages of/creating a bias against the taller friend? No.

I had weekly email exchanges with a POI for almost three months then got rejected. Also emailed a few times and had two Skype convos with another, also rejected. On the other hand, I got basically a "yep, please apply" and nothing else from two of the schools I was accepted at. Application season was a rollercoaster ride for me haha

(Assuming everything else is decent-outstanding) You can get into Iowa and Nebraska with those scores and GPA, probably CU Boulder too but I'm speaking from more direct knowledge in regards to the other two. 
People may disagree with me on this but I wouldn't suggest taking it again especially if you don't think you can afford it. I took it twice, the second time being rushed and last minute while panicked about my first scores, and although I raised my quant score a little, my other two scores dropped a little. In the end I just sent my first scores.

I had weekly email exchanges with a POI for almost three months then got rejected. Also emailed a few times and had two Skype convos with another, also rejected. On the other hand, I got basically a "yep, please apply" and nothing else from two of the schools I was accepted at. Application season was a rollercoaster ride for me haha

Some advice I was given was to make sure you phrase the research fit part of your email as your interests fitting into theirs, not their interests fitting into yours. It sounds trivial but you are essentially trying to prove why you're a good fit in their world, not how they're a good fit into your world.

Some advice I was given was to make sure you phrase the research fit part of your email as your interests fitting into theirs, not their interests fitting into yours. It sounds trivial but you are essentially trying to prove why you're a good fit in their world, not how they're a good fit into your world.

Relevant:

I guess it's all relative. Compared to other psych fields, clinical could potentially have the best job prospects since you won't be limited to an academic or research job. Otherwise, APA seems fairly optimistic (and this was written mid-recession): http://www.apa.org/gradpsych/2011/03/cover-sunny.aspxas does the Bureau of Labor: http://www.bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/mobile/psychologists.htm

This may not be entirely universal and very dependent on the rankings of programs you apply to, but, it seems like GRE scores are most frequently used as a filtering system then an indication of whether or not you deserve funding. So I think the answer to your application throwing out question is "maybe, potentially."

In a hyper-competitive field like clinical psychology, GRE scores will matter. On the other hand, since there are SO many applicants that all have decent-great stats, research fit is going to matter that much more. My completely subjective advice is to still apply but make sure you're applying to places/faculty with excellent fit. GRE scores will still matter but they might not matter as much if you can demonstrate great research fit in your SOP/keep up communication with faculty.

As far as my experience, I applied to programs in two fields with quite a variety in rankings with a GRE verbal score that was good, writing score that was decent and a quant score that was passable . My rejections were 1) the top ranked school I applied to (probably immediately filtered because of my quant score) & 2) a few programs all across the board (as far as rankings go) that I either didn't exchange more than a couple emails with a POI or was reaching pretty far to relate my research interests to theirs. My acceptances were 1) the second highest ranked school I applied to & 2) a few programs all across the board that I either kept up conversation with a POI or fit into the program perfectly. I could be wrong but I don't think it's a coincidence that some places, regardless their ranking/average GRE scores of admitted students, were willing to take a shot on me even though I had an average quant score. This is also where my subjective advice above is coming from so you can take it or leave it.

Friendly reminder via @rundavidrun on Twitter.

Political, so I'll be doing a lot of cognitive research (that looks like social research) and hopefully incorporating some cognitive neuroscience. Apparently I like to be difficult/do all the fields, haha.

This also might be helpful, both the linked website and looking through publications in the journal: http://www.apa.org/about/division/div44.aspx

I think a lot of people here are clinical or social, which are basically the two most competitive graduate fields that exist. So, you're going to be met with a lot of (rightful & warranted) cynicism when asking these types of questions. Just keep that in mind, and I say this as someone who applied to a lot of social psych programs.

I have a friend who got into a top 10 I/O program with stats a little less impressive than yours and one year of research experience. He also had research interests hat fit perfectly with people at the program so as someone said above, fit is important. In my personal opinion, I think it's always good for people in psychology to have research experience before graduate school not only because you probably won't get in otherwise, but also because graduate school IS research and unless you're clinical then your career will be too. What if you start and realize you hate research or it's just not your thing?

Something you may want to consider: instead of emailing faculty this fall to ask if they're accepting graduate students next year, email and ask if there are RA opportunities available for recent graduates. You might luck out and find an I/O person who has work you can do for a year until you apply for graduate school. You could even start emailing now and see if anybody in your area has an opportunity for undergrads that you can take on in addition to whatever you're doing for your thesis.

FWIW, I don't think it's outlandish for you to apply this year. It's competitive, yes, but it will always be competitive. If you're confident in your interests and talk to faculty you want to apply with and they give you the green light, no harm in trying, right?

I/O is out of my comfort domain but it looks like the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology has all sorts of helpful information on their website:
https://www.siop.org/
 
Otherwise, use keywords related to the topic in I/O that interests you to do Google Scholar searches and find people who are researching that topic/similar topics. Alternatively, SIOP has a list of graduate programs in I/O: http://www.siop.org/tip/backissues/tipapr02/02gibby.aspx Youcan look through faculty pages at the schools on this list and find out what they're researching and if anything interests you. 

Couldn't help but read the initial post in Glenn Beck's voice.

I'm just here for the cheese dip.

Personally, I'm here for the Fonzie scheme.

That's amazing.

That's amazing.

My suggestion would be to add whatever tasks you've done there to your CV and what you plan to do between applying & the end of your time there in your SOP.

I'm about to start at a UC (which fully funds all students - not sure if that's true for the other 9 campuses) and my understanding is that funding is better right now than it has been for a decade. As TakeruK mentioned, there was some worry recently about cuts, but that's over now and UC regents expressed content with the funding allotted (well, initially, apparently they've now asked for a little more but not much). It seems like on a national level, at least right now, public university/school/research funding is always on the chopping block or at least used as a bargaining piece. It's smart to be thinking about these things as you consider UCs, but any concerns you have about the UCs probably apply to any other public university in the country.

What kind of forensic programs are you looking into? Would you prefer clinical or forensic?

Clinical is a beast of a field to get into even for people with extensive psych backgrounds. Not to discourage, just some honesty.

Either way, all of the research experience suggestions above are applicable.