setite
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Posts posted by setite
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I just got a rejection from Clemson...I withdrew my application weeks ago. I wished they had just taken me out so that they didn't consider me along with other applicants
Isn't that fun and confusing. Maybe they read that letter where the girl rejected her Duke rejection and decided to reject your withdrawal from consideration. I haven't withdrawn myself from any applications, but I did get rejected twice from USF, once on February 11th and on again on March 11th. It was sort of upsetting because I thought, for an instant, that they had changed their minds. Ah well, all's well that ends well.
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Just so you're aware, this is absolutely not universally true. I personally discussed the issue with several members of AdComs when I still had my soul and thought I'd go onto an I/O PhD after my MS. Particularly, Akron's rep explained to me that she almost always chooses to start fresh with someone rather than invest in someone who they'll have to retrain and start on shorter-term projects with.
You are 100% correct that some programs look poorly on a PhD applicant with a Masters. I've never heard the short-term project argument but I know that some programs will take no transfer credit and you have to start again. This is not all programs, and I mentioned it to Cray specifically as an option if he/she could bolster their application during the gap OR go for the MA and re-apply. This also applies to the program Cray was offered an MA for, as I believe most of the MA offers on PhD applicants are given with the understanding that the applicant can/might re-apply after proving themselves in the Masters program. I don't know what program offered him an MA, but all the PhD programs that offered me Masters did so under those conditions.
The only fact is that all programs are different, and most have a policy or two I think is weird and/or stupid despite making sense. The retraining thing is silly, though true, because you can just tell the applicant they have to redo everything. When I was considering the MA and reapplication (to outside programs) option I was doing so fully aware that I'd have to redo everything. In this situation the point is to prove quantitative skills that didn't show through in the GRE.
Given your point, the best advice would be to try and talk to someone at all the programs you want to apply to see if getting an MA will help or hinder your re-application. IO Graduate, thanks for the tip about Akron.
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You may get more than one offer before April 15 and may receive a few statements that you are listed as an alternate. In fairness to the graduate programs, as well as the other applicants seeking admission, you are strongly urged not to hold more than one offer pending at a time. To protect a candidate against premature decisions, graduate schools currently have agreed to allow the applicant until April 15 for a final decision. This is in accordance with a resolution adopted by the Council of Graduate Schools in the United States in 1965 and further modified by the Council of Graduate Departments of Psychology (COGDOP) in 1981. The 1965 resolution of the Council of Graduate Schools in the United States was supported by 317 universities and colleges and by the directors of four granting agencies, both public and private. It reads as follows:
Acceptance of an offer of financial aid (such as graduate scholarship, fellowship, traineeship, or assistantship) for the next academic year by an actual or prospective graduate student completes an agreement which both student and graduate school expect to honor. In those instances in which the student accepts the offer before April 15, and subsequently desires to withdraw, the student may submit in writing a resignation of the appointment at any time through April 15.
However, an acceptance given or left in force after April 15 commits the student not to accept another offer without first obtaining a written release from the institution to which a commitment has been made. Similarly, an offer by an institution after April 15 is conditional on presentation by the student of the written release from any previously accepted offer. It is further agreed by the institution and organizations subscribing to the above Resolution that a copy of this Resolution should accompany every scholarship, fellowship, traineeship, and assistantship offer.
The above comes from https://sites.google.com/site/cdspphome/cogdop-rules-on-acceptance-of-offers-of-admission-and-financial-aid
Also, I/O is small, I have been told by professors that things you do during the application season follow you. It was more about people who are disrespectful when interviewing at school. She gave me examples of snooty students who acted better than the current grad students. They didn't get in, in part because of the sway of the grad students they offended. The fact that she remembers these people over a decade later is important.
I wouldn't decline an MA offer for a job offer unless you can't handle the money situation during the 2 years it takes to finish the MA. I can't imagine a job you can get, with what I assume is a Psych BA/BS, that would be comparable to what you will get after you finish the MA even considering 2 years of promotions.
For the true opinion piece if you don't plan to follow through I wouldn't take the spot of someone who will. In your case, the question depends on what you'd do if you stayed in. Getting into 0 PhD programs means you can take a gap year to strengthen your application if you think you can, or finish the MA and reapply. If you do well in the MA getting into a PhD should be much easier. BTW, does your unfunded MA offer have a funded PhD you could apply for in a year or two? I was initially in your boat and I was going to decline the unfunded MS from IIT and take a gap year. However that was only after I realized that their PhD was also unfunded which doesn't interest me. The APA grad guide led me to believe they were just funded at 10 hours but I guess they use some sort of merit based funding which seems to equate to a crap shoot each semester. I'm sure I can do well, but that creates a zero sum game of competition I'd rather avoid.
I ended up going with an MA at another PhD program I applied to. I don't know specifics but they are good at finding work somewhere on campus and either way the goal is to reapply for their PhD upon completion so I consider the money situation to be the only difference between the acceptance I have and the one I'm hoping for (shortlisted still).
As a last note. If they really have no waiting list then you won't be hurting much. Also I suspect pulling out of an offer from an unfunded program ruffles far fewer feathers than if it were funded. All in all it's a hard decision to make. Be true to yourself while trying not to be selfish and you should come upon a good choice.
P.S. I typed way too much.
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I got my rejection from Portland March 19th via e-mail.
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I mean, why would you want to oust yourself and air your dirty laundry out for the whole internet to see? This is why we have PM.
Maybe I'm wrong but I felt such vagueness was essentially useless. I appreciate the intent and perhaps some people will find it useful. I suppose when initially deciding on schools you need a reason to exclude some schools just to make the list manageable, so his/her post could help someone. PM didn't occur to me, I guess PM is more private but I wouldn't say something in PM I wouldn't say in the open thread. If you guys want to say something you don't want to get out, dont! Nowhere on the Internet is safe.
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Hi everyone-
I just wanted to swing by for a minute and caution anyone considering it against the St. Cloud State University MS program. I was very conflicted about posting this, but today's incidents just cemented my opinion. This program is horribly run, and there have been countless issues I will not publicly hash out. I cannot explain the degree to which I dislike bad-mouthing people, or really anything in general, but I would have loved it if someone had warned me.
I appreciate the sentiment. I have never heard of the program but I don't know that anyone will listen unless they are already on the fence. I don't mean to say I don't trust you, it's just that saying a program is bad with no explanation is hard to listen to. I understand if perhaps revealing your experiences would identify your, but you should be clear about how it's horribly run.
Thank you for providing an honest opinion. I had a phone conversation with a student from that program and they pretty much echoed your cautions against the program. It's extremely helpful to see how current grad students evaluate their program's shortcomings.
Since your account sounds less personal, do you mind elaborating on what is wrong with that program? Are there cultural problems, bad interpersonal politics, or is the administration just unorganized. I didn't get any of these accounts this time around but I heard a few people mention that they did, though they didn't say which schools so it was similarly unhelpful
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I just declined an offer from Akron (I was previously on the wait list and received the offer yesterday) so if you are on that wait list, you might get a call pretty soon. (masters)
But did you know you were on the waitlist? I haven't heard a word from Akron about my application in either direction. Someone on the previous page said they were indeed notified of their wait list status. The fact I have heard nothing makes me assume I am rejected and they just didn't have the courtesy to let me know, but I could be on the deep wait list, though the poster I mentioned said they have a super small short list only.
KW58D, what is an ADCOM? The most common confusing decision I have seen is high end applicants getting rejected from their self-proclaimed safeties. I imagine a bit of that is realistic fit mismatch, but also that programs know there are some applicants who will get better offers and it might be a waste of time to give them an offer. I learned in my Org Psych lab last week that rejecting someone for being too qualified is perfectly legal and accepted despite the silliness of such a thing. Though the case I mention was someone rejected from the police academy for doing to well on the cognitive ability measure which differs from grad school applications but a similar principal applies.
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Yup, like I said, this time of year you have to check your spam folder. I wonder how many people have missed acceptances completely over the years due to SPAM folders.
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Hi all, I've been lurking for the most part, but have made some decisions recently. Hopefully this info helps someone out.
Accepted at (and accepted an offer from): Bowling Green State University
Interviewed at: Portland State University
Wait-listed at: George Mason University, University of Central Florida
Best of luck to everyone still waiting to hear back!
Rankings are a funny business but it seems interesting that you'd be accepted to BGSU and waitlisted at GMU and UCF. Do you think it's a fit issue? Though there is no standard I thought BGSU was the hardest to get into, or am I way off base on that?
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It's funny how you mentioned checking your spam folder, I got a call today from a number coming from a state that I did not apply to school in. I was at work at the time and was contemplating on calling it back since I had no clue who it was. I decided to call it back after work and it turns out that it came from a professor at one of the schools I applied to asking me if I was still interested in their program, and if I had received an email they sent to me a few days ago. I told them I didn't receive an email and would check again when I got home. Upon looking through my email, it turns out his email go sorted into my spam folder!!! If my professor hadn't called me, I would likely have never saw the email and they'd probably think I wasn't interested or accepted an offer elsewhere.
Man google needs to get on top of their game this time of year. I know a lot of Nigerian Princes send emails from .edu but still, I don't get out a personal email from a professor ends up in the Spam folder. I trust my spam literally 99.9% of the time, used to be 100%. I'm going to go check it again, just in case
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Hi all,
I have released my offers at Florida Tech and Central Michigan, and have decided to accept my offer to Portland State. It came down to PSU and CMU, and it was an extremely difficult decision. I probably spent most of the past two weeks just sitting and thinking about this decision, so if someone gets into CMU off the wait-list or is still mulling an offer, I would definitely vouch for them. It came down to me feeling a slightly better research fit at PSU and I just went with my gut. I hope these offers reach someone in need!
Must have been nice to have that sort of problem. I never heard of CMU until you and others posted it in this thread, though in looking at it now I recognized Dr. O'Brien so maybe I did look at them at some stage and just can't remember the school name. PSU is a great choice, but you mean PDX right? I know there are shared acronyms but Portland calls themselves PDX in everything I saw. I guess you need to go on Netflix and binge-watch Portlandia if you haven't already.
Looking at your signature I forgot that I haven't heard from GMU about my MA application either. Though they were good about communicating my rejected PhD app and seeing if I still wanted to roll over my application to MA. Ah well, que sera sera.
EDIT: Anyone going to UMSL PM me, I'm not in as a PhD yet but I'm going at least as an MA so we'll be in the same cohort.
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Just to shed a little light on Akron: I've been contacted by them a couple of times and I'm in the 2nd or last place on their Wait list (that's right, their wait list is 3 people). According to the program director, she thinks, based on the responses they're getting from the initial offers sent out, that she's going to go through all the people on her wait list (this is just a guess though, anything could still happen). Since I'm in potentially the 3rd place out of 3 places on the wait list, I would assume that if you were in either of the other two spots that you would've been contacted by now. Were you contacted in early March/late February about their short list?
I don't want to dash any hopes, but I'm just hoping to provide some insight, so you don't feel completely in the dark.
This is what I suspected. I haven't heard anything from them and I have even checked my SPAM folder. I never check my SPAM, like NEVER, but I clicked it on accident one day and saw an email from a my NIU POI about an interview, so now I've been living in fear of an acceptance going to SPAM. So far the NIU email was the only one that was spammed by google.
Anyhoo, I appreciate your information as it makes me more sure that I was rejected by Akron as I suspected. Even if I wasn't rejected, at this point I would probably only even consider them if the offer was epic. I was interested in Akron because Diefendorff is there, his cross-cultural research is what sparked my current research angle. He sort of disappointed me though because when I emailed him last semester to see if he was taking a student, he neglected to mention he would be on sabbatical this semester. Perhaps he didn't know, but when you consider that Akron didn't bother to send out rejections it's extra evidence that Akron is not meant to be. Plus to be honest, while Diefendorff is taking a student, he is no longer doing cross-cultural research so while he has the experience that could help me, fortunately UMSL has people currently doing cross-cultural research so it ended up being better.
The irony, and the reason I mentioned fate, kismet, and The Force earlier is because I applied to UMSL on a lark. That is not to say that it was It was a school I had not heard of, and the only school on my list where no one in my current program knew anything. But I noticed it in previous threads here on gradcafe, so I looked it up, liked what I saw and added it to my list. After being invited to the invite I was put in contact with a student who was very extraordinarily helpful, I can text her and get an answer in minutes. I learned from her who to talk to when I visited and doing that I learned that UMSL really is the best program for me plus it's in a great city for my needs.
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KW58D,
That is exactly what I mean when I say it's unprofessional. I've considered the very real possibility that Akron could dig deep into their waitlist, come to me, and find that it's too late. In the grand scheme of things I take this as a good omen. For fun I like to pretend to be superstitious with small things, so I tell myself that the chips falling the way they have indicates that I would have been unhappy in Akron. Frankly, part of the reason I took an MA offer at UMSL (still shortlisted for PhD) is because the school AND the city just fit me better than Akron probably would have. I don't mean that Akron is a bad place/program, I wouldn't have applied there if I thought that, but believing that there that fate, kismet, and The Force is the reason for events like this hasn't steered me wrong yet. It's fun entertaining silliness like that while being a logical scientist
If I sound more than a little crazy it's because I'm typing this an hour into my sleepy time, so off I go! -
Yea, I find it unacceptable to have heard nothing at all from a program this late in the game. Some were slow with their info but as of now I still haven't heard a single thing from Akron. I figure a straight rejection would have come already but they must realize that people are going to give up at this point. I heard from Utah State University about an Interview yesterday, but I had already accepted another offer. Sure I could wait until the 14th to officially take the offer and wait on Akron, but I'm a strong believer in instinct and feeling, not to mention professionalism. Having not heard that I am rejected or waitlisted by now is something I take as an insult so Akron, originally a top choice with my tip top POI, is now a school that I have written off. I suppose it is a passive aggressive form of rejection. I know I'm not a first choice or I would have heard something by now, but unless you really don't want to accept waitlisters I don't get how they can't even send out a generic BCC to all the waitlisters. I know the schools are the advantaged ones, only the very best applicants are in a bargaining position, but just as no safety school wants to think they are a safety even though everyone knows their overall rankings, waitlisters don't want to feel so unimportant that we aren't worth the time spent sending a proper rejection email. I forget where but a grad student at my undergrad, Colorado State University, this week told me about a decent program that never got back to them, ever.
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MA or PhD?
Well as I have been told, the current offers are holding out so whether they accept or release their offers remains to be seen. Right now they are getting an MA offer to me, though I'm still wherever I am on the PhD short list. So if they find more funding or if some of the current offers are released I expect I'll get a PhD offer instead.
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Yea thats what I thought. The STL market looks a little wonky. It's on an uptick but they have a super high foreclosure rate because prices are still a bit under what they were over the last few years so there are a lot of people only a few years in to mortgages that are upside down. I think maybe I'll just rent an especially nice place for a few hundred over what my current house will fetch on the rental market. I just don't want to start collecting properties like my dad did, he spend so much time managing them, but I think that's by choice.
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This may seem off topic, but are any of you home owners? I have a small townhouse here in Fort Collins, and I'm curious what I should do with it. It's a very strong and stable market so I can sell at any time. I'll be going to UMSL for a MA or PhD. I can rent a bigger/better place in STL for the same or less than I can rent out my current place for. I can also sell my place here and buy a bigger/better place there for the same or less. The smarter option may be to rent for a year and then buy. The smartest move might be long term rental, keeping my current house as my first income property and just buy a house some time after graduation, but I'm sort of looking forward to being able to update wherever I live next, it's almost impossible to get a place with just the right bathroom and kitchen so owning/renovating is the best bet. That said, other than weekend renovations I wouldn't have time to do much.
First World Problems, eh?
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Good news star dude. I didn't even know that Masters programs did that kind of stuff! That's part of why I applied to very few Masters programs. Is that 8000$ is scholarship, tuition remission, or a stipend?
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Surface Pro is your best bet. I carry a 15" retina MacBook Pro, iPad Air, and a Surface Pro 3. If you want to take handwritten notes or annotate PDFs get the Surface. I am a fan of the Apple Ecosystem but I have been thoroughly disappointed with PDFS annotation. With the Surface I can store a PDF on Dropbox and write on it and view it from other computers. iPad storage is too sandboxed so even with iCloud Drive I couldn't find a good way to centrally locate and edit PDFs. I like OSX better but Windows still does more in my experience.
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goemg, when did you hear back from the GMU MA? I have been waiting to heard back from them and have heard nothing. Perhaps because my application was a failed PhD that rolled over?
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Ph.D Programs:
1) Central Michigan University (Rejected by email on February 18th, 2015)
2) Wright State University
3) Virginia Tech (Rejected by email on March 18th, 2015)
4) University of Houston
5) University of Missouri, St. Louis (Made the short list by email on February 13th, 2015)
6) Florida Institute of Technology (Rejected by email on March 24th, 2015)
7) Claremont Graduate University (Accepted to the Masters of Arts in Organizational Behavior Psychology & Evaluation by email on March 18th, 2015)
8) Roosevelt University
9) Louisiana Tech University (Got an interview on March 19th, 2015)
10) Illinois Institute of Technology (Accepted to the Masters of Science in Personal and Human Resource Development by phone on March 2nd, 2015)
Masters Programs:
1) San Francisco State University
2) Cal State San Bernardino
3) Missouri State University (Made the wait list by email on March 1st, 2015)
4) University of Baltimore (Accepted to the Masters of Science in Applied Psychology by email on March 26th, 2015)
Overall GPA:3.63
Psychology GPA: 3.85
GRE Scores:
* Verbal: 154/170 (63% percentile).
* Math: 148/170 (32% percentile).
* Writing: 5.0/6.0 (93% percentile)
3 Rejections: (Central Michigan University, Virginia Tech, Florida Institute of Technology)
3 Acceptances: (Illinois Institute of Technology, Claremont Graduate University, University of Baltimore)
2 Wait list: (University of Missouri - St. Louis, Missouri State University)
1 Interview: (Louisiana Tech University)
5 Waiting: (Wright State University, Roosevelt University, University of Houston, San Francisco State University, Cal State San Bernardino)
You should put most of that in your signature and just post the changes. Very long post in big letters.
- IOSearching, BCB and BuzzinAround
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Cal State San Bernardino had not replied at all. When I asked them back in February they told me that they will notify us of their decision sometime in April. Spots for the masters program are a little tight this year they said. There are 72 applicants and they are only accepting 12.
There is a new result posted about someone being accepted to the CSUSB Masters program, in case you didn't see it.
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Well if they updated people they wouldn't get the emails. I sent e-mails because there were programs I hadn't heard from yet who I knew had to have made their short lists and their official rejections but I hadn't heard anything from. I don't need constant updates, but tell me if I'm in the running or in the trash already.
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First time poster here. I'm currently applying to the MS program at Baruch. I've already applied to the masters program at SPU. I was invited to a group interview session, but unfortunately I didn't make the final cut. Is anyone else here applying to Baruch's masters program? They're very secretive when it comes to information regarding accepted applicants. As far as I can tell (from SIOP and from speaking with their advisor), my GRE scores fall in line with what they've accepted. My stats are as follows:
GPA: 3.1 at University & 3.3 at Community College
GRE: 159 V & 154 Q
3 years work experience in a research lab, 1 quarter I/O research experience under an I/O professor.
2 glowing letters of rec.
My GPA is obviously a weak point in my application, although there were some extenuating circumstances with regard to my University GPA. I'm not exactly sure how to present that in my application, because I don't want to come off as making excuses (that and it's a very personal matter). Seeing the credentials of some other posters has me a bit worried to say the least.
Definitely address it in your application, I think most advice specifically references a poor GPA as something you need to explain. If you have legit extenuating circumstances than I think it won't come off as an excuse. But don't leave them wondering about it. One thing I did, which you might be able to do, is have one of your recommenders reference it. I did that to address deficiencies in my GRE scores, though it didn't help much I think it will work well, I'm only aware of one or two programs that listened, for GPA it will be better. I think it matters what your circumstances are, also what is your J/S GPA and PSY GPA? If you showed that you applied yourself later and/or did best in your major courses then at least you can show you are capable of a good GPA. You got 81th percentile for GRE-V and 56th for GRE-Q, so if you can explain your GPA you should be good, especially since I think your GPA is close to Masters averages.
TL:DR Below
I'd be lying if I had any idea how much that GPA is hurting you. But the GRE exists because GPAs are sort of useless. Both in the between and within variation GPA is not a standardized or significant predictor. I mean in general a high GPA means you play the game well, whether a class requires you to show up to every class, combine book and lecture material, or regurgitate text or lecture stuff. In this sense it's useful for grad school predictive success, but since you can't control for rigor across professors, majors, and institutions the GRE was needed as a standardized measure of aptitude. Though UGPA is used differently, "the best predictor of future performance is past performance", and the GRE is aptitude.
People weigh in on this, because if I go through another Session my GPAs will be different. In my apps my Cumulative GPA was 3.685, which includes some completely unrelated trade school classes from my brief stint as an IBEW Apprentice Electrician, my J/S GPA was 3.758 and my PSY GPA was 4.0. But with grad school apps, and this weird pre-med class PSY majors have to take at my school I got my first PSY B last semester, a C in a 4 credit hour anatomy course and they did a bait and switch on my second stats class so I'm having trouble with the new professor. So my GPA will take a hit, but I'm sure my current GRE Q of 147 is inaccurate since I took the test wrong (in order spending too much time on stuff I'm bad at and not getting to the stats stuff I'm good at).
I feel like GPA is usually just treated as a minimum (no evidence of this of course) but since I have always had a high enough UGPA I've never given it thought. I will ask these questions to a professor in the known but I'm sure you guys have asked this already. I know Masters GPA can be important if you go for a masters before applying for PhD.
Who else is feeling crazy emotional right now?
in Officially Grads
Posted
I am with you on the emotional side, except my emotions, just like my ADHD brain chemistry, are asymptomatic. I usually don't stress about things so I was super stressed (relatively speaking) during the application process. I remember being super stressed when I opened each letter of rejection, but when I finally got an acceptance I sort of shut down and got super calm. Everyone was super excited for me and I pretended to be too but I wasn't. I am super excited and happy and all that, I just seem to have reacted by being calm. My mother was always super overtly excited about things so I think I adapted behaviors to reign her in that I still have
I am 100% with you on the lack of motivation for the last of my undergrad coursework. I have never missed class so much as I have since my first acceptance came in. The only class that I've decided to put more effort into is my Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences II, because I talked to the grad student who teaches it and he pointed out that he designed the class as a primer for grad school statistics. If I actually learn the things he is teaching instead of memorizing enough to get the grade I want, I'll have a leg up next year.
I had some undergrad research I was going to work on but I've decided to put that on hold. I'll poke it with a stick to see if it can be used for my empirical thesis but I really need to see if it will work. If it works out it could be significant, but it was born out of a brainstorm for a single undergrad course, not sure if it will pan out.
About my atypical response, interestingly, I was poking through my DNA results at 23andMe and found that I have G;G in the warrior/worrier gene Rs4680. Which means I'm a warrior! I also have a C in the other warrior proxy gene Rs909525. I know how questionable these gene things are for self-diagnosing, but I wanted to show my dad that ADHD is a real thing, though he also doesn't believe anything posted in a research journal. It'd be interesting if anyone else here posted their warrior gene results if they have them. I wonder if the calm thing holds out or not.
P.S. Even though the season is over. The guidelines that grad schools follow have suggestions for multiple offers. You are supposed to rank your offers, and whenever an offer of lesser rank comes in you are supposed to decline it and only hold one offer at a time. If you really can't decided between two that's one thing, but future people, try and decide the rank of programs so you don't have to hold multiple offers in limbo.