TXInstrument11

If you applied to the PhD like I did, you should have heard something by now, as I was accepted into the Masters program after being rejected for the PhD. You could be on the waitlist though.

Up north

I'm in a very similar boat. I got accepted to good options in both fields and it's decision time.

Damn, that song is especially on point. I think we've found a winner!

I agree that may be a good general guideline, but I wouldn't be so definitive. It is funny that you mention 70% and 2-3 hrs/day for 3 months because that was exactly my situation. I took the GRE twice and used that exact study schedule with absolutely no improvement on my Quant score of 158 (71%). By contrast, I did a lackadaisical 1-month prep in HS and jumped from approximately the 60th to the 85th percentile on the SAT. So, I doubt my study skills were lacking this time around or that I have some kind of math disability. I am aware that I'm probably an outlier, but it doesn't make my (lack of) results an impossible outcome.

Hi, so I've had the good fortune to get accepted into both Illinois at Urbana-Champign for psychology and FSU for criminology, both great programs in their respective fields. I am a psychology major interested in studying bio factors in violent aggression, which I would be able to do at either school with my POIs. However, one tradeoff is that secondary interests of mine in social networks and political psychology would be effectively cut off to me as a criminologist. At the same time, though, I think I would be able to more consistently focus on violent aggression, which is ultimately preferable. [social psych is dominated by a lot of pure-cognition folks and I get along with very few on the subject of aggression] Now, I have been advised in the past that the academic job market is stronger (or will soon be stronger) for criminologists than psychologists at the PhD level. Is this true? Are there stats to decide this one way or the other? I just want to anticipate which route would better guarantee that I can study what I want. Since research focus flexibility problems look like a bit of a wash, I though job prospects might be a better way to look at this instead.

I would interpret that to mean that faculty there or the department as a whole is controversial. However, since I was already incorrect about NRC rankings once, that's just my best guess and should be taken with a grain of salt. I wonder if the NRC would be willing to give feedback on how such a situation would best be interpreted.

Yeah, idk what the hell she thought she was doing with that, but it's something I used to get before. That talk was generally less annoying and frequent than the "Oh, so you're going to be a therapist?" stuff I get now as a psych major. I guess I should have counted my lucky stars then, lol.

Hm. About politics, I think I know what they were trying to get at. If so, this person is an asshole, IMO. The mom of a friend basically said, "Oh, so you're going to be one of those spin doctors on TV that spins all the news stories and lies!", when I was a poli sci major. She wasn't even kidding. She didn't like me very much, obvs. As for the kids thing, a lot of my family is now convinced that I am really after the PhD as an MRS degree. My grandma even had the audacity to say that she was sure I was interested in going to one school because my POI is a relatively young (30s) man. I had to explain, "No, grandma, I'm not at all interested in him like that. I think he's married anyway and just no. No. Sleeping with your adviser is really not okay." [insert a "She's after the (Ph)D!" joke here] I guess it beats the fam thinking I'm destined to be a crazy cat lady. Maybe.

This was funny, but did you mean to post this in another thread by any chance? The only thing I can think is that you meant Coldplay's "X & Y" somehow.

LOL. Taylor Swift is the obvious star of this thread. She's practically the queen of overly-dramatic breakup music. Now "Shake It Off" is stuck in my head, thanks.

I don't see why that would be a problem. Just call the admissions coordinator or shoot them an email. As for advice on Skype interviews, I would advise you to test out the lighting in the room you're going to be using. Light behind you creates shadows over your face with sometimes hilarious results. I think I kind of looked like a ring wraith from LoTR in my interview, lol [i'm very pale - almost an honorary Twilight cast member]. You can compensate for this by kicking up the brightness on your monitor to an extent, but the blue glow at higher settings will then make you look like a disgruntled hacker smurf, so moving around a semi-bright desk lamp might work. One thing nice about Skype interviews is your clothes don't have to look nice, not even your shirt, if you're a bit up close and personal with the camera. I was dressed pretty well, but either of us (me or my POI) could have made it work wearing ratty PJs and the other person wouldn't have known. So, if you want to pull a Mark Zuckerberg and wear your middle school basketball shorts w/ a ratty old sweatshirt, by all means do. That fabulous getup may or may not be my go-to Skype interview uniform from here on out.

Haha. The Matt Nathanson lyrics you posted look pretty spot on. I also feel like the Robyn one could be from the school's or a POI's perspective too, couldn't it?

Don't judge. Humor is how I cope, people. I took a nap, had a weird dream about grad admissions, and decided that there were two great songs for categorizing my reactions to bad news from schools: 1. Reaction Rating ---- Kim Crying Adele ~ "Someone Like You" Applicable lyrics - A. Someone else got the invite "I heard that you're settled down That you found a girl and you're married now I heard that your dreams came true Guess she gave you things I didn't give to you" B. Not hearing back FOREVER Old friend, why are you so shy? Ain't like you to hold back or hide from the light" C. Conflicted feelings & stubborn pride "Never mind, I'll find someone like you I wish nothing but the best for you Don't forget me, I beg, I remember you said Sometimes it lasts in love, but sometimes it hurts instead" 2. Reaction Rating ---- Art History Snapchat That is Soooo Done Skrillex ~ "Stranger" Applicable Lyrics: "I just gotta thank you, all the love I gave you Came and you took it all away And now there is no pain, there's everything to gain here Now that I'm lost I think I'll stay In hell, there's comfort in these flames and I don't feel the pain In hell, I'll forget your name here, you'll become a stranger (Become a stranger) I'll forget your name here, you'll become a stranger (You'll become a stranger) I'll forget your name here, you'll become a stranger (You'll become a stranger)" BONUS - 50 Shades Quote for the Occasion

I'd like to think that I would be able to answer straight, as I have actually done a lot of thinking on the very issue, but I can't guess how I would have actually held up in the moment. At the time, my family was going through some very real financial struggles and I (perhaps wrongly) felt like I would be abandoning them if I just took up and left. That, combined with me being an anxiously uncertain first-gen, made me jump at the opportunity when my local university offered me a full ride. A lot of successful people really look for and respect that single-minded ambition some folks have young and I get that, but I did what I thought was necessary. Knowing what I know now about the competitiveness of my HS stats and my older brother's success keeping my parents afloat, would I have made the same decision? Probably not - but I didn't know then what I know now. I think the best way to answer that question would actually have been to own up to the scared, intimidated high schooler you were and explain that you have since grown and moved on. In real life, I probably would have answered the question a bit too strongly ["If you don't understand, doc, then you're a narrow-minded elitist!"] or too timidly ["I kinda sorta maybe made a bad decision and haven't really moved on....please don't judge"].

Wow, I walked right into that one.

Nah, what is it called over there? Ouch. What the heck did they ask? Those are weird questions. Was that for an Ivy? Besides UPenn, I've never applied Ivy. Like you, my reasons for not applying in undergrad were a bit sad, lol.

Ah, okay. That makes more sense. Revised summary: Haters gonna hate, but not at Harvard.

Inspired by a sister thread in the Waiting-It-Out forum and after bombing an interview spectacularly just now, I thought the time was ripe to kick this topic up. What are your most notable interview failures? Naturally, I'll start. That awkward moment when..... You answer the question, "What would be your ideal experiment?", with a crack about the Hunger Games and Lord of the Flies (I study aggression). ---------- As anyone but me would suspect, this was not the ideal response.

Thanks. Those are great questions, especially for a POI I have who is literally fresh out of grad school/post-doc.

I actually like being asked why I picked the program or faculty out, I suppose because I prepared heavily for it. I have a scary color-coded Excel sheet I created from google-stalking faculty. Content questions are also generally good. I make sure to read folks' papers before I interview and have questions prepared. It's the BS abstract/personality questions like, "What are your strengths and weaknesses?" and ones about the school's location that bug me. I understand the point in asking the latter if it's a really rural area (like Wyoming) because a lot of people would be uncomfortable going there if they're from more urban areas. Instead, the best and probably most effective way to tease out my personality is by asking me a behavioral question about how I've managed working in the lab. Others about why I chose the field I'm pursuing are also fair game.

What do you do if your advisor is brand new though? If it's their first or second year, I don't think they'd really be able to answer these questions with confidence. A lot of my POIs are really young. Somebody leaning over my shoulder in my lab one time asked, "Oh, so you're contacting grad students?" when I was checking out the page of one of my POIs. Even my family has gone in on this, saying "Wow, they look so young! Have they even hit 30?" when I showed them another POI's page.

From what I read online from various sources, I think it refers to the school's ranking based on high importance criteria (e.g. funding, pub rate) vs low importance criteria. S rankings are drawn from survey responses in each field, so the relative weight of each criterion is different for each discipline. So, Harvard in this case would rank #1 on criteria considered important by faculty in your field and #3 on measures considered less important.

Wow, that's great. Kudos to you for posting this! I'll have to read that more in-depth some time. Please take the implied upvote, as I've reached today's quota.

All good points, guys! Thanks. I think I will probably just take the "wait and see" approach. I have a good explanation if she brings it up and I've been reviewing her research closely, so I should be able to make a good impression as far as subject area knowledge goes.