psych face

I am also a person who gets this inaccurate age-guessing. I'm usually 10-15 years older than people guess. And I do think it hurts my chances, because anyone who has researched genius knows the spark is most likely to die out before 35. I don't blame them for assuming the same of me from the age stated on my materials. This only reaffirms the necessity for some of us to network in person. And I do think there is some judgment done based on age. I can get people who already know me to throw jobs at me, but I can't convince on paper very well. Compound this with the fact that current graduate students here on this website have admitted to being the application filtering committees via "googling parties" before the professors get what remains (the dumbest way to gauge a person's worth, in my opinion, but whatever) - all of this suggests a very relevant difficulty for some of us. And before that cohort goes back into self-defense mode, filled with ego, stop pretending you aren't judging from a place of your own personal bias, we all do it. If your entire lab is fresh and young, you will pick people you are comfortable with and most likely think less of someone who is a little behind in their educational persuits. You can't help it. You are humans. As far as the competitiveness discussion earlier about what is and is not a factor in your application; I'm surprised that race hasn't been brought into this. There is a former Harvard department chair here who tells stories about how the top tier schools fight over members of rare minority groups. It's quite revolting, but certainly brings in a factor that can't be ignored. A white male I was recently talking to expressed a lot of apathy about applying to graduate schools due to some of the stories that have been coming out about reverse discrimination. I feel for him and it bothers me a lot. Take it for what you will, but to ignore race (or gender, perhaps) as a factor in admissions is stupid. I also leave room for a lot of fairly stupid factors being used to make judgments; for example, depending on your emphasis and POI there are going to be quirky little idiocies that are unpredictable and probably unfair. But because we don't want to scrutinize our own failings (or the stupidities of others) too much, we call it luck.

Some of the people at my school appear to use alcohol rather than coffee. They think it makes them smarter. But I've been there when it happens, the "epic conversations", and they are terrible, stupid, and nonsensical.

not a peep (for certain emphasis...)

You guys are so cute, with your "I'm getting so old, rawr" and beard stroking. heart

That's weird, I've got Taylor Swift's Blank Space...

I also did that. Also other things I applied to. Also, there's always Vegas.

Meh, I applied to worse, so they ain't impressing me with that. Now, If I get rejected from a school that had ten applicants, that would be unfortunate. As VulpesZerda said, I also gave heads up to letter writers months prior (summertime or sooner) and created a statement that had set parts and then parts I changed for each school. Also, I probably did a really crappy job of giving each school's application the attention it deserved, which made it easier to apply to several. I'm not sure if that was supposed to be funny. If funny, then laugh. Also as stated by VulpesZerda - I saved up for it. The key is preparation. And if you want to apply to that many it's only fair to have heads up to your letter writers months in advance and spend the summer looking at websites. Gin. Whisky. (?) I think it's funny that cheaper schools have cheaper application fees, like it's so much harder to click buttons and flip over a piece of paper if you're at a bigger or more prestigious school. I think they get soft at the top tier schools, their muscles are feeble, so it requires more energy to look at apps. This takes a lot of time, because they are weak, so apps read per hour is down and therefore more hours are required. This requires more imbursement to choose appicants. This has been my best guess at a plausable, although totally lame, explanation. mmm... I think they get a lot of garbage anyway. And I think there's a joke about the correlation between how much money you have and how worthless you are. Something from a movie? This is the best suggestion ever. I forked out all this dough. To what? 600 applicants X $80(?) = $48,000 WTF!!??? Is this how they pay for their office staff or what? That's just one department, think about how much a graduate college office makes off of application fees each year. Holy F@#$%! Edit: I just remembered, it was the first Michael Keaton/Tim Burton Batman, when Kim Basinger was in the hall of weapons with the Jimmy dude.

Yeah, it was super nice. Clever too. Kept them in my mind and stuff. I kept thinking, 'oh, UC Davis, they sent me another cute email, they must be cool.'

ROFL

I think of all the ones I applied to, UC Davis was the best about maintaining contact. They sent these cute little messages now and then telling me cute stuff to think about their campus. All very nice.

I didn't know this. If that's true, I'm going to hold out hope for one of my top choices. Most of my schools haven't notified of anything yet, to anybody, so it's really annoying. Not all the programs I applied to are Social. And I applied to some backups as well, so I'm not that worried. But, word, not to interview, how can a "Social" program resist it? /tongue in cheek

I'm throwing in my two cents here because I've recently realized (and just decided to apply to a couple of Master's last second)... That if I take one of these Master's programs, it would leave me with enough spare time to work on my research projects **right now** - which is not the case if I enter a PhD. It sounds odd to hear myself saying this, but I'm really leaning towards the Masters because my first priority right now is to get some of my own research done. The prospect of spending the next two years (starting a PhD) taking all the heavy course load requirements and helping out with others' research while my own sits on a back-burner totally bums me out. Most of the PhDs I applied to keep you on a pretty tight schedule the first two years. This is in contrast to one of the Masters I applied to which leaves a lot of leeway to take extra courses or choose alternatives to those required, while leaving enough spare time to keep my projects moving along. I know most people think that by plugging through the PhD program they will advance their careers, etc. etc. But all I really care about at the moment is getting my research projects moving, this is why I am seriously considering dropping the idea of a PhD, for now, and going to a Masters program that I know will support and encourage me to hit the ground running with the projects I'm working on rather than numb my brain with a heavy course load. Of course, a lot of people don't have things in the pipeline, driving their choices, so I totally understand not having this sense of urgency deterring you from a PhD. But I do think there may be a lot of other good reasons to do a Masters in stead. One of the bonuses I'm looking forward to is to take some extra, related courses in different disciplines that I've always wanted to take, and will ultimately make me more competitive. I think that alone might be a good motivator for some.

Dude, five pages. I wish. I have a whole box. It grows every day. I will die before I get to all of my ideas. It depresses me constantly.

Just for panic's sake, I've been staving that off by seeing how late in the year acceptances went out for my schools last year, which you can see in the results page if you filter properly. Most of my schools don't post this early, so even though a few POI's have posted interviews, I'm not worried.

This is random thought I am having right now, thinking about students I have known... I feel like I must be lucky when I see how things are for some people. My professors keep offering me jobs, so I haven't had to look for anything. Every once in a while I meet someone who has formed zero relationships with their professors and acts like they're being totally victimized by the system because they can't get a foot in the door. And I'm like, 'dude, you gotta get over that independent loner thing or you aren't getting anywere.' Not that everyone who can't get a job is lacking in connections or anything, I know it's hard sometimes, but the benefits of connections are amazing. And it surprises me how some people I've met feel sort of entitled to a good job while simultaneously holding their professors and anyone on good terms with them in contempt. Really, why would they want to work with you? You can't even talk to people. What is so special about you? Does the answer to that question exist only in your mind? Do you treat your professors with respect or are you just faking it and think they're too stupid to notice? What is it that justifies that belief? Your meager education in comparison to theirs makes you better because _? If you can't talk to your teachers, how are you going to succeed in the profession you feel entitled to? -this was directed at people I've known who are probably not here on this board, but, seriously, I treat my professors like my friends and *shocker* they do the same in return... because they are HU*MANs -whatever that means, this funny word about HU and MANs. Treating people like HU-MANs is surprisingly helpful in life. That would be my advice in order to avoid needing to look for a job in future.

Looking at the results page, I just made a decision. If I get shutout, next time around - I'm only applying to the schools that sent out early rejections.

Here's another problem that might occur... People judging you based on your pictures. We know this happens. We can't help it. And it's stupid. And it will affect their judgments. Nothing you can do about it.

I intentionally have avoided all social media using my real name for this precise reason. Unfortunately, I think that some people want to see that you have a social presence of some kind before accepting you because it gives them that stalker-ish fix, about your character. Alas, there is nothing about me out there. I think this is going to be in some way detrimental because... knowing that you are a little silly on the internet might seem better than knowing nothing at all. Sigh. This idiotic world of stalking being commonplace and acceptable. (and expected) It's a little rediculous.

I don't think it's just Psychology. I've seen that attitude from profs in different fields. I hope if I ever get like that I will know it is time to switch professions.

People trying to psych me out like that is one of the things I think about a lot because I'm worried I'll just start laughing if they do it. Like, they give off a bunch of funny cues, just to test me, I just know I'm going to start cracking up and be like "really?" I hope that won't bother them. I hope they don't think it's supposed to be believable and stuff.

Our break here ends on January 12 (when school starts back up). Someone else commented that it isn't the same across a state, but my state does shift holidays as a state. For example, this year the date was moved up over a week, and this was statewide. The reason my state does that is to keep colleges and K-12 in step, for parents who are also in college. This means that when college dates are shifted, K-12 dates are shifted, and vice versa. This is pretty smart planning, in my opinion.

yeah... but I think it's making me more antsy rather than grateful...

The results page is killing me! I think I applied to the slowest schools EVER!! They probably won't notify anyone till March! RAWR

I'll just share my own approach, just for funsies - first, I'm working up the protocol right now, although I won't have it done by the end of the break. I figure, if I get in somewhere I can say "Hey, I already have a protocol ready to go, can we just get this started" - if I don't get in, I've already gotten the support of a faculty member who will help me do it here. This doesn't require coursework, but I will still be taking part-time clases anyways. It's also better that way because the IRB here requires you to be a grad student or teacher to PI your own protocol, so as long as I enroll for something I can be my own PI. I actually have some other job backup plans, but I'm going to conduct this research and write a couple of other papers *regardless* - I think everyone should. But I know it's tempting for some people to chill it out and do nothing for a few months. I've just never been like that.

The schools I applied to have only sent pointy emails so far, like don't forget to do financial aid paperwork, etc.