A. sesquipedale

http://www.training.nih.gov/student/pre-irta/previewpostbac.asp This is a pretty cool program which could lead to a very prestigious RA position. I'd say it is worth applying to if you meet the qualifications (e.g., you have to be a recent college graduate, I think after being out of school for one year you can no longer apply, if I recall). Your name goes into a database where researchers can search for RAs when in need. They can find you based off of GPA, research match, and undergraduate institution (I think, on this last one). Your application stays in their database for one full year.

I do like this idea, but the volunteer thing is just too crazy when it includes moving to a new State with 0 dollars to your name (as is my case). Unless you are willing to sleep on the street at night and be reallllly smelly at the lab, though it would for sure be a great diet. So volunteering locally is definitely an option, I don't know the logistics of people moving somewhere to volunteer. What do you do? Pick up a job at Starbucks and hope the lab eventually pays you?

Hello - Does anyone know of any webpages, listservs, forum posts, or any other applicable resources for finding full-time paid RA positions in psychology. I thought we could compile a list here for people who need full-time research experience before applying to graduate school in various areas of psychology. The one resource so far I have found is visionlist which has some RA positions listed, mainly for neuroscience and cognition studies, dealing with visual processing. http://visionscience.com/pipermail/visionlist/2010/subject.html#3704 you have to scroll around and find the RA positions since this is not the sole purpose of the site. Anyone else have any juicy info?

Thanks for the advice OrgScienceGrad. What you suggest is definitely the route I am most considering at this point. Congrats on ending up in a nice program!

Thanks for the advice skiergirl. Sorry to hear you are in the same boat as me, or should I say small dinghy up *$&@'s creek ! Hmm, I am also looking for what people think about the MS in an unrelated sub-discipline, so others can feel free to chime in as well!

I am interested in evolutionary psych research and applied to PhD programs but have received mostly rejections though I am still waiting to hear from 2 programs. As a back up I have been thinking about applying (late) to my UG institution where I could work with an adviser but in an unrelated area (my thesis would be in clinical/counseling psychology). So here are my choices so far: 1. Don't go anywhere, study to re-take the GRE, apply to paid RA positions, find volunteer RA positions, etc. 2. Apply late to MS in experimental psychology program at my undergrad institution which would be fairly cheap and they offer some funding (maybe though cannot get anything in writing) 3. Accept MA offer from a PhD program I was rejected from but with NO funding. This seems like a really hard decision because it is in evolutionary psychology but the amount of debt I would accumulate seems absurd (probably 40,000 if you include living expenses). They often accept students into their PhD program from their MA. My big question is, and you can think of it in terms of applying to the sub-discipline you are interested in if you are unfamiliar with evolutionary psych, is it a bad idea to get an MS in an unrelated sub-discipline? (e.g., say you are interested in social psych but studied neuroscience for your MS). Pros: most likely a published thesis since I would jump on profs existing research and he has 100% track record of being published in top journals of clinical/counseling area. Have an MS under my belt with not a lot of debt. May help me get into PhD programs. Cons: very difficult to commit to a thesis on a topic you aren't very interested in. I am the type that would work my hardest even if I don't enjoy it, so it would probably be really emotionally draining. Uncertain that it would increase the likelihood I would be accepted to PhD programs next round in my area of interest. Little to no classes in my area of interest offered. I would really appreciate some feedback especially because with the late application I have to make a decision pretty quickly, as they could stop accepting late applications any time. Thanks all! By the way this process is friggin' stressful! I really don't want to make a decision I might regret.

Blaming the Brain: The truth about drugs and mental health (Elliot S. Valenstein) really enjoying it so far

Going on walks, checking grad cafe at Barnes and Nobles sipping on some Starbucks. Just got my second rejection with no acceptances or interviews and am really bummin'!

Yeah, sorry, I meant faculty. Thank you for the info yet again!

Any idea who the POI is? Also, thanks for the info!

Here is some information about places to study EP: http://www.hbes.com/resources/places_to_study.html The Selfish Gene (Richard Dawkins) and How the Mind Works (Steven Pinker) are two great starting places I would recommend if you are exploring EP as a possibility. To answer your other question, while I am generally interested in the gamut of evolutionary theory my real interests lie in evolutionary perspectives on emotion and on morality.

For those of you applying to EP programs or POIs focused on EP within a different sub-discipline let's get a conversation going. Has anyone heard anything from their programs? So far all is silent on my front (apart from being rejected from U Mich). It is funny because a week or so before I got rejected from U Mich I had a pleasant dream where, in the dream, I got in to U Mich. It reminded me of something you hear in movies from time to time when confronted with life and death situations (and we all know applying to grad school is such a situation!). If you are caught in extreme circumstances (like in The Road for example), the message goes, having unpleasant dreams means you are still fighting! If however, you have hopeful dreams it means you have given up! I suppose since U Mich was my reach school I had, according to this cinematic interpretation, given up! Best wishes to all you applicants and hopefully we can get some information flow in this thread.