soccerplaya

Hey nerds, just wanted to add a random note of encouragement! I got accepted last year to two of my dream programs, and even though the other students in my area are excited for recruitment weekend because it's two days of free real food (rather than our usual peanut butter sandwiches and apples..) and hanging out with the whole area, I really feel for the interviewees - I remember how horrifically anxiety-inducing the whole thing was. But the grad students are just there trying to get to know potential new members of their family, nothing more. Anyways, I managed to make up for my 3.1 undergrad GPA with two years of volunteering in labs (post-graduation) followed by two years of being a lab manager for two awesome social psych professors. I thought I had no chance when I started out, but thankfully for social psychology, it's the grittiest people who aren't willing to let go to the dream who win in the end. So many of the current students applied multiple times (I applied three times total), so just because you maybe weren't the strongest candidate last year doesn't mean anything for this year.

Hmm just wanted to give random input, but for social psychology programs like UVA, Umich, business casual is totally great and business formal is totally great, so I'd recommend whatever you feel your best in. For programs like Yale, Harvard, Princeton, I would recommend business formal. Note I know nothing about clinical psych dress code.

The results page shows that one person reported getting a rejection, so I assume we're waitlisted.

Heh I got a personal email from UC Davis's coordinator basically telling me "just FYI you're not invited to the interview weekend. But...we will be 'making decisions' in the next few weeks regarding acceptances." I thought it was quirky that they didn't just outright say I was waitlisted, like I've heard from some programs.

Nosek et al, 2010. Cumulative and career-stage citation impact of social-personality psychology programs and their members. or https://www.socialpsychology.org/gsocial.htm (these were ranked in 1997 so a little outdated)

Don't lose hope~ I had a terrible GPA (3.0) from having an undiagnosed medical condition for my entire life, but I've gotten treatment and for the past few years have been working really hard to prove to people that my GPA is not actually reflective of 1) my intelligence/competence or 2) my work ethic (I've gotten feedback from a few professors in my program that GPA is thought to reflect mostly work ethic and sometimes intelligence). I was able to get accepted to a top 20 program (one of my very top choices in fact ), and I'm a very strong believer that at least for social psychology, grit trumps a lot of other factors. I did have one professor recommend to me that if I didn't get into a program this year, he thinks it would likely be because programs are unsure if I have the intelligence to perform well, and I should take some sort of quantitative course or get some sort of certification to demonstrate that I do, in fact, have good quantitative intelligence (I had bad grades in quantitative courses in undergrad, even though I was 90th percentile for GRE).

ASU for ev psych? I just happen to work with two people who graduated from there.

I love extrapetite's take on repurposing sheath dresses: http://www.extrapetite.com/2014/03/wardrobe-staples-series-styling-sheath.html

Mm I've failed two application cycles (in 2013 and 2014). I don't really know why but I just didn't care too much and knew if I kept working hard I'd get in eventually. Maybe read some of Duckworth's grit papers as a pick-me-up. It's normal to apply a few times before getting in; the two grad students in my lab needed to apply 3 times before they got into any of the top 20 programs.

Sometimes applicants decline interview weekends (because they got into their top choice or something) and the POI has to choose whoever was next on their list.

The good thing about psychology PhDs is that it's a war of attrition, really (maybe the exception is if someone has exceptionally low GRE scores). If you really care about it, stick with it, find good mentors, and you will get in. If not this year or in two years, then in four.

Ayy cyber high five. I'll be seeing you at the umich recruitment weekend. I also applied to NYU but I guess I didn't get an interview. I emailed my POI at umich 3 separate times and he never responded, but it worked out still. I've also gotten two skype interviews with POIs who I emailed but never received a response from, so sometimes it's because they're busy and only sometimes is it because they're not interested.

Ugh. I just got an informal acceptance into umich social psychology. Sobbing at work. I graduated with an undergrad GPA between 2.9-3.2 and have been working for five years to make up for it.

Congrats, they're an awesome group. Say hi to Emily (one of the 3rd years) for me.

I kind of wish people would actually specify which specific program they got accepted into. :| For example, UMich's social psychology area and personality/social contexts area are really distinct and send out their acceptances at different times, but then you see acceptanceresults where people put down "social/personality psychology" which isn't helpful. Joint programs are also handled differently, although they usually specify more clearly which areas they're in when they're accepted on the results page. I interviewed with someone in umich social recently and am currently dying of nerves. -sigh-