You've made it obvious that you don't have any concrete career plans. When you say " I'm passionate about science and technology, and I don't think I can get a satisfying career with just a bachelors degree ", it seems like you don't actually know what you want to do. Getting a PhD is a long haul and if you don't have specific career plans with which you know the PhD will help you achieve, you're setting yourself up for disappointment when you graduate if you don't have something very specific to work towards. Of course, your plans can change as you go through school, but you should at least have a more solid idea of what you want to do than being passionate about science and technology because that's a very big world with a lot of things in it. If you don't have those plans, you might as well be doing it for fun.
About your dog: I think that depends entirely on you and your program. I am in a social science program where the majority of my analysis and writing can be done from home, and I prefer to work from home or from a library (as opposed to my cube in the windowless cube farm). When I was taking classes I was generally there from 9-6 or so, but now that my coursework is finished I am rarely at the school itself. I go for meetings, seminars, interesting kinds of things and I do most of my work remotely. My time is verrry flexible, and if my building didn't prohibit it I would get a dog in a heartbeat. Another thing to keep in mind: a dog can be a great comfort when you're all stressed out over graduate school.
Advice?
Age:
-Don't feel like you have nothing to offer just because you are younger. I was 22 when I started graduate school. You got accepted to the program for a reason, and chances are you are just as equipped as any older students are to successfully complete the program, just in a different way.
-Your older classmates may be just as terrified as you. Talk to them. You have a lot in common. You are, after all, in the same place.
-You will feel like an imposter, like you don't belong, or like you are constantly behind. Or all three. It's normal. It will pass. (Well, sort of.) People of all ages go through this.
Adviser related:
-If you are lucky enough to get both research interest fit and personality fit perfect, congratulations! But sometimes, personality fit is more important than research interest fit as long as the research isn't too different. A great adviser is interested in your career development, likes you as a person, advocates for you, and wants to hear your ideas. Even if his or her research is quite different from yours, they may give you the autonomy to work on your own projects and just supervise you. A bad personality fit will drive you nuts, even if you love his or her research. Consider that when evaluating your adviser fit. (This will vary by field: research fit may be less important in the humanities, more important in the natural and physical sciences. Social sciences are somewhere in-between.)
-Don't be afraid to be straight up blunt with your adviser when it comes to asking about your progress. Ask if you are where you should be both academic program wise and getting-a-job-after-this-mess-wise.
-Be proactive. Advisers love when you draw up an agenda for your one-on-one meetings, come with talking points and progress to share, have concrete questions to ask, and have overall shown that you have been thoughtful and taken control of your own program. Of course, this won't immediately come easily to you, but in time you will work up to it. Every semester I type up my semester goals, and at the beginning of the year I type up annual goals. I show them to my adviser and we talk about whether they are too ambitious, or whether I need to revise them, and how I can meet them.
-Don't expect your adviser to actually know what courses you have to take to graduate. They will know about comprehensive exams and the dissertation, but a lot of professors don't really keep up with the course requirements, especially if their program is in flux. Get you a student handbook, and find out what you need to take. Map it out in a grid, and check off things when you finish them. Show this to your adviser every semester. You may have to explain how such and such class fills a requirement.
-Nobody loves you as much as you, except your mother. Keep this in mind as you take in advice from all sources, including your adviser. Your adviser is there to guide you, but that doesn't mean you have to do everything he says.
Studying:
-You will have to read more than you ever did before, in less time than you ever have before, and you will be expected to retain more than you ever have before. The way that you studied in undergrad may need some tweaking. Be prepared for this.
-Corollary: you may find that your methods change with age or interests or time. I preferred to study alone in college, but in grad school, I prefer to study in groups. It keeps me on task and the socialization keeps me motivated. You may find that you shift from being a more auditory learner to a visual learner or whatever.
-You will feel behind at first. This is normal.
-At some point you will realize that your professors don't actually expect you to read everything they assign you. This, of course, will vary by program, but there will be at least one class where the reading is actually impossible to do in one week. The point is to read enough that you know the major themes and can talk intelligently about them, and then pick some of the readings to really dig into and think more deeply about.
-For most programs, don't worry so much about grades. If you stay on top of your work and do what you're supposed to, you will probably get an A. How much grades matter varies from program to program. In some programs, a B is a signal that you are not up to par, and more than a few Bs will warrant a discussion with your adviser or the DGS. My program isn't like that - A, B, it's all meaningless. My adviser doesn't even know what my grades are. But at almost all programs, a C means you need to retake the course, and two Cs means you have to convince the DGS not to kick you out.
Extracurricular activity: What's that? No, seriously:
-A lot of your time will be unstructured. You will have coursework, but most grad classes meet once a week for two hours and you may have three classes. You may have meetings with your adviser every so often and some seminars or things to catch (like we have grand rounds and colloquia that are required), but a lot of time will be unstructured. However, since you have so much more work than you had in undergrad, you actually will have less free time than you had in undergrad. This may initially cause you great anxiety. It did for me. Some people love unstructured time, though. (I don't.)
-Because of this, you'll have to be planful about your non-grad school related stuff.
-TAKE TIME OFF. DO it. It's important for your mental health. However you do it doesn't matter. Some people work it like a 9-5 job. Some people take a day off per week (me) and maybe a few hours spread across the week. Some people work half days 7 days a week. However you do it, there needs to be a time when you say "f this, I'm going to the movies."
-Find your happy place, something that keeps you the you you were when you came in. I love working out. It gives me energy and I feel good. I stay healthy. I also love reading fiction, so sometimes I just curl up with a good book, work be damned. You have to give yourself permission to not think about work, at least for a couple of hours a week. You may also discover new hobbies! (I never worked out before I came to graduate school.)
-Your work will creep into all aspects of your life, if you let it. This is why I hate unstructured time. You will feel guilty for not doing something, because in graduate school, there is ALWAYS something you can do. ALWAYS. But since there will always be more work, there's no harm in putting it aside for tomorrow, as long as you don't have a deadline.
-You may need to reach outside of your cohort for a social life. None of my close friends are in my doctoral cohort. I've met master's students in my program, master's students in other programs, and I know a few non-graduate students I hang out with, too. Go to graduate student mixers. (If your university doesn't have any, organize some, if you like planning parties.) Join a student group that doesn't take up too much time. I had a doctoral acquaintance who kinda laughed at me because I joined some student groups other than the doctoral student one, and I was usually the only doctoral student in those groups, but I met some close friends (and future job contacts) and had a good time.
-DO NOT FEEL GUILTY FOR WANTING A LIFE OUTSIDE OF GRADUATE SCHOOL. This is paramount. This is important. You are a well-rounded, complex, multifaceted human being. NEVER feel bad for this. Everybody wants some kind of life outside of work. Yes, you may loooove your field, but that doesn't mean you want to do it all day long. Some other doctoral students, and perhaps professors, may make you feel bad about this. Don't let them. Just smile and nod. Then disappear when you need to.
Career:
-This is job preparation. Remember that from Day One. Always be looking for ways to enhance your skills. Read job ads and find out what's hot in your field, what's necessary, what's in demand. For example, in my field statistics and methods are a hot commodity, and they're not a passing fad. I happen to really like statistics and methods, so I have pursued that as a concentration of mine.
-Don't be afraid to take on volunteer work and part-time gigs that will give you skills that will be useful both inside academia and out, as long as it's not against your contract. Your adviser may be against it, but he doesn't have to know as long as it doesn't interfere with your work.
-If you want to work outside of academia - if you are even *considering* the possibility - please please definitely do the above. Even if you aren't considering it, consider the possibility that you won't get a tenure-track job out the box and that you may need to support yourself doing something else for a while. You will have to prove to employers that you have developed usable, useful skills and this is one of the easiest ways to do it. But don't overdo it - get the degree done.
-For more academic related ones - always look for opportunities to present and publish. Presentations look good on your CV. Publications look better. When you write seminar papers, wonder if you can publish them with some revision. Write your seminar papers on what you maybe think you may want to do your dissertation on. Even if you look at them three years later and think "these suck," you can at least glean some useful references and pieces from them. Discuss publication with your adviser early and often, and if you have the time and desire, seek out publication options with other professors and researchers. But if you commit to a project, COMMIT. You don't want to leave a bad impression.
-If you can afford it, occasionally go to conferences even if you aren't presenting. You can network, and you can hear some interesting talks, and you may think about new directions for your own research. You can also meet people who may tell you about jobs, money, opportunities, etc.
-Always try to get someone else to pay for conference travel before you come out of pocket. Including your adviser. Do not be shy about asking if he or she can pay. If he can't, he'll just say no. Usually the department has a travel fund for students, but often it's only if you are presenting.
-If you are interested in academia, you should get some teaching experience. There are two traditional ways to do this: TAing a course, and teaching as a sole instructor. If you can help it, I wouldn't recommend doing a sole instructor position until you are finished with coursework. Teaching takes a LOT of time to do right. You should definitely TA at least one course, and probably a few different ones. But don't overdo it, if you can help it, because again, it takes a LOT of time. More than you expect at the outset. If you are in the humanities, I think sole instructor positions are very important for nabbing jobs so when you are in the exam/ABD phase, you may want to try at least one. If your own university has none, look at adjuncting for nearby colleges, including community colleges. (I would wager that the majority of natural science/physical science students, and most social science students, have never sole taught a class before they get an assistant professor job. At least, it's not that common n my field, which straddles the social and natural sciences.)
-Always look for money. Money is awesome. If you can fund yourself you can do what you want, within reason. Your university will be thrilled, your adviser will be happy, and you can put it on your CV. It's win-win-win! Don't put yourself out of the running before anyone else has a chance to. Apply even if you think you won't get it or the odds are against you (they always are), as long as you are eligible. Apply often. Apply even if it's only $500. (That's conference travel!) Money begets money. The more awards you get, the more awards you will get. They will get bigger over time. If you are in the sciences and social sciences, you should get practice writing at least one grant. You don't have to write the whole thing, but at least get in on the process so that you can see how it's done. Grant-writing is very valuable both in and outside of graduate school.
-Revise your CV every so often. Then look and decide what you want to add to it. Then go get that thing, so you can add it.
-The career office at big universities is often not just for undergrads. I was surprised to learn that my career center offers help on CV organization and the academic job search, as well as alternative/non-academic career searches for doctoral students. In fact, there are two people whose sole purpose it is to help PhD students find nonacademic careers, and they both have PhDs. This will vary by university - some universities will have very little for grad students. Find out before you write the office off.
-It's never too early to go to seminars/workshops like "the academic job search inside and out", "creating the perfect CV," "getting the job," etc. NEVER. Often the leader will share tips that are more aimed towards early graduate students, or tidbits that are kind of too late for more advanced students to take care of. This will also help you keep a pulse on what's hot in your field. It'll help you know what lines you need to add to your CV. And they're interesting.
Other:
-Decide ahead of time what you are NOT willing to sacrifice on the altar of academia. Then stick to it.
I'm serious. If you decide that you do NOT want to sacrifice your relationship, don't. If it's your geographical mobility, don't. I mean, be realistic, and realize that there will always be trade-offs. But you have to think about what's important to you for your quality of life, and realize that there is always more to you than graduate school.
-If you don't want to be a professor, do not feel guilty about this. At all. Zero. However, you will have to do things differently than most doctoral students. Your adviser will probably never have worked outside of the academy (although this may vary depending on the field) so he may or may not be able to help you. But you have a special mission to seek out the kinds of experiences that will help you find a non-academic job. Test the waters with your adviser before you tell him this. My adviser was quite amenable to it, but that's because I told him that my goal was to still do research and policy work in my field just not at a university, AND because it's quite common in my field for doctoral students to do non-academic work. If you're in a field where it's not common (or where your professors refuse to believe it's common, or it's not supposed to be common)…well, you may be a little more on your own.
-Every so often, you will need to reflect on the reasons you came to graduate school. Sometimes, just sit and think quietly. Why are you doing this to yourself? Do you love your field? Do you need this degree to do what you want to do? Usually the answer is yes and yes, and usually you'll keep on trucking. But sometimes when the chips are down you will need to reevaluate why you put yourself through this in the first place.
-To my great dismay, depression is quite common in doctoral students. Graduate work can be isolating and stressful. Luckily your health insurance usually includes counseling sessions. TAKE THEM if you need them. Do not be ashamed. You may be surprised with who else is getting them. (I found out that everyone in my cohort, including me, was getting mental health counseling at a certain point.) Exercise can help, as can taking that mental health day once a week and just chilling. Don't be surprised if you get the blues…
-…but be self-aware and able to recognize when the depression is clouding your ability to function. Doctoral programs have a 50% attrition rate, and this is rarely because that 50% is less intelligent than, less motivated than, less driven than, or less ambitious than the other 50% that stays. Often they realize that they are ridiculously unhappy in the field, or that they don't need the degree anymore, or that they'd rather focus on other things in life, or their interests have changed. All of this is okay!
-You will, at some point, be like "eff this, I'm leaving." I think almost every doctoral student has thought about dropping out and just kicking this all to the curb. You need to listen to yourself, and find out whether it is idle thought (nothing to worry about, very normal) or whether you are truly unhappy to the point that you need to leave. Counseling can help you figure this out.
-Don't be afraid to take a semester or a year off if you need to. That's what leaves of absence are for.
Lastly, and positively…
…graduate school is great! Seriously, when else will you ever have the time to study what you want for hours on end, talk to just as interested others about it, and live in an intellectual community of scholars and intellectuals? And occasionally wake up at 11 am and go to the bank at 2 pm? Sometimes you will want to pull out all of your hair but most of the time, you will feel fulfilled and wonderfully encouraged and edified. So enjoy this time!
Hey I'm bumping this thread! My boyfriend and I are most likely moving to Lubbock for my MA. We are young but we don't want to be surrounded by undergrads. We also would like a quite and safe neighborhood. We are looking to rent a house. Any recommendations? Also how is the pace of life? We would think it would be slower, which is what we want. How's the overall vibe of the culture? Does the city feel safe and friendly? We are mainly democratic when it comes to social issues (lgbt rights, pro-choice, anti religious laws) but aren't organizing rallies. Thanks for any answers!
To the person who posted the interview for Texas Tech's counselling program: could you PM your POI and whether you received the email from the grad administrator or from the POI?
Verbal: 148 (32nd)
Quantitative: 152 (48th)
Writing: 4.0 (56th)
I am horrible standardized test taker but I'm an excellent student. I was nervous about applying to PhD programs but I went for it anyway because I have a lot of hands-on experience and research experience. I also recieved excellent letters of recommendations and was told my statement of purpose was really good. I don't know how bad you did but I would just make sure (1) the scores are above the cut-off because even if the rest of your application is great, they will not look at it. (2) the rest of your application is amazing. The program may look past your scores if they can see that you have potential from all of your experiences and recommendations. (3) It also depends on the type of PhD program you are applying to. Some are more competitive than others.
I performed horribly on the GREs. I applied to 9 schools. I received 6 interviews and 2 acceptances so far.
One of the greatest things about Bio medical PhD programs, is the fact it is paid for, plus you get a stipend. Even so, I anticipate needing more than the stipend will provide. What advice is out there about taking out student loans (federal or private) or other ways of financing graduate education?
I have done the standard google searches, so I am mostly looking for what people have experienced personally and what their recommendations are.
I would visit both schools, if possible, before making your decision, @rabbitfeet. That will help ensure that you know school A is the right one for you. I assume you've already gotten your funding package at each place?
I found this article online while I was trying to figure out what questions I should ask graduate students and what things I should pay attention to during program visits. I think it's pretty helpful:
https://tenureshewrote.wordpress.com/2015/02/16/prospective-students-and-lab-culture/
I was very happy when my first and only offer came in my email today, but now I'm really worrying and get stuck in an dilemma. They asked to reply whether accept or withdraw the fellowship asap, "preferably within ten days of receipt of the notification"!! They also said "cannot guarantee funding will be available after April 15, 2016". The situation is I'm still waiting for other programs' interviews, and have no idea whether I would get other admissions, but this offer is not in my top list (unfortunately is at bottom among my applications). What should I do then... I'm really losing my calm now! Could I just wait for the other applications and reply to this offer sometime before April 15? Would that influence the fellowship thing? Thanks very much!
I agree.
What you said was cordial. If your POI get's upset about it, maybe that's something telling about their personality. I didn't think you did anything unacceptable, at any rate.
While I am not 100% sure, I don't think so. I work in a social lab so I know they are still considering applications. And I know that the interviews this past weekend were only for clinical. Good luck & Gig' em!
So, I combined all of the results that have been posted so that people don't have to scroll thru every post to see what schools have sent invites. The other acceptance post is more detailed so people should still use that to post new acceptances. If you would like, you can also add to this list and just make it a different color so that people can see which school was added (if not I can try and update this list once a week or something). Please also try to keep it in alphabetical order! Thanks, I hope this helps!
ps.....it was long day at work!
University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) - Clinical: January 19-20
Brown University - Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences: February 5
UC Davis - Social & Perception, Cognition, and Cognitive Neuroscience: February 1
UC San Diego - Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience: February 4-6
UC Santa Barbara - Clinical: January 22
Carnegie Mellon - Cognitive: February 19-20
University of Central Florida (UCF) - Clinical: January 29
University of Colorado – Colorado Springs - Clinical: February 1
University of Connecticut - Clinical: February 10 or 12
University of Delaware - Clinical: January 29 or February 1
Georgetown - Lifespan Cognitive Neuroscience: February 18-19 or 25-26
University of Houston - Clinical: February 12-13
Indiana University - Bloomington - Social: February 5
University of Iowa - Clinical & Cognition and Perception: February 6-8
Johns Hopkins - Biopsychology: February 11 or 18
University of Kansas – Clinical: February 12
Louisiana State University - Clinical: January 28-29
University of Louisville - Clinical: January 25
University of Nebraska-Lincoln - Clinical: February 19-21
NYU - Cognition and Perception: February 5 or 19
UNC Chapel Hill - Cognitive: February 12
UNC Charlotte - Clinical: January 29
Northeastern University - Cognition: February 13
Northwestern - Feinberg School of Medicine - Clinical: February 8
Ohio State University - Clinical: January 15
University of Oregon - Counseling: January 28-29
University of Pittsburgh - Cognition: February 18
Princeton - Cognitive: February 4-6
Sam Houston State University - Clinical: February 12
USC - Social: January 15
Southern Illinois University (Carbondale) - Clinical: February 7-8
Texas A&M University - Clinical: January 10-12
Vanderbilt - Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience: February 11-13
Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) - Clinical: January 29 or February 26
Virginia Tech - Clinical: February 5
University of Washington - Cognition and Perception: February 25-27
University of Waterloo - Clinical: January 8, 11, 12, or 13
WashU/WUSTL - Clinical & Cognition: Feb 11 & 12
Wheaton College - Clinical - PsyD: February 5
Yale - Cognitive: January 25
I go to A&M as an undergrad and I know for sure that they only held interviews for clinical this past weekend. The social department plans to hold it sometime in Feb. I believe, and they have NOT sent out interview invitations yet. Good luck!
I am with VulpesZerda. I got a few acceptances also and would love to help any person in need or just want to chat about the process. PM away. I'm at Rutgers University if that matters.
I was glued to the 2015 Social thread last year. I ended up with a couple of acceptances, so I'd like to "pay it forward" by offering to PM back and forth with anyone who has questions!
1. Direct the conversation. Should I be asking questions conversationally? Should I be asking about the direction of her future research? Should I let her drive the entire conversation? I want to be engaging, but also send the message I'm motivated and have the potential for research in graduate school.
Technically, you should be interviewing them as much as they are interviewing you--you are going to be investing 4 - 6 years of your life in their program. With that said, keep the tone conversational because you want to appear approachable. Definitely ask thoughtful questions about their research, but be prepared to go off-script (realistically, you should have a strong enough grasp of what they do that you can hold a conversation on things you didn't necessarily prepare for).
While its good to ask questions about funding, don't ask if the information is available on their website. Instead, ask about what resources the school has to facilitate research (e.g., research labs, equipment).
2: I already know that she want to talk about my summer internship with her former graduate advisor. Their respective areas of research are very similar, but other than that internship and one other poster I presented as an undergrad, all of my other research experience (two years undergrad and three years working at a university/ research institution) aren't really related to social psychology. Has anyone else gotten admitted into a program of specific interest while having a wide range of other experience? How do I convey that although my CV doesn't show it, I really want to pursue SOCIAL psychology.
If its a "wide range of experiences" and not necessarily one specific field, then its justifiable--you experienced many areas of psychology in your undergrad, and found your interest to be in social. Additionally, if you can spin your diverse experience in a way that informs your research interests in social psychology then I'd say it puts you at an advantage.
3. Any other tips to prepare for this meeting?
Remain calm and confident. Keep brief notes on talking points in front of you--that's one of the benefits of a phone interview.
The fact that (I'm assuming) you have chosen social psychology projects whenever you can (i.e., your undergrad poster and the internship) shows your interest. If you are able to carry on a good conversation about your interests, you should be fine. No one can blame you for not having tons of social psychology opportunities thrown at you, and you have a lot of experience showing you know the process. I'm in the same boat, but with much less than five years of experience.