neuropsych76

I've read mixed opinions on this scattered throughout the forum but I was wondering what are the pros and cons of doing this (if possible). The main pros I can think of is getting acculmated to the school/area before you get super busy. The cons is it takes away your last summer to relax and you might not make any money (if you have a a summer job). Any other big pros/cons of starting working in the lab before grad school?

I'm sorry you've run into issues!! I know the house/room search is a tricky thing and I think everyone has trouble with it I only had to look for an apartment once, but it was paid for and I only lived there a couple months so that was easy. Looking for an apartment for a year, that has to be decently priced, close to campus, and livable is tough. I've been emailing some places close to the psychology building (where i'll walk everyday) but haven't heard back yet. I'm hoping to get an apartment sooner than later because I know the good ones go fast!

Similar situation for me. I live with 3 other roommates. 2 of the other roommates and I will be going to grad school, one isn't and didn't apply. The one who isn't going to grad school has always been a bit... egocentric to put it lightly. So, he often likes to bring up how much money he will be making right out of college, how he couldn't imagine being in school any longer, about his wedding, ect. (things that are sensitive issues for grad students, my SO will be 600 miles away from me so the wedding talk is vexing). Additionally, he has been even more overall grumpy during this last semester. To say the least, it is very annoying and he is one person I will be glad to not see after undergrad /rant

Thank you all for the replies! I feel so clueless because I know nothing about college sports and my school doesn't really have any. I'm still in awe when I go to a bigger school and see how much more stuff they have in general. I did check around the website but the pages that I needed to see prices (i think) required a student ID login. I'd probably be attending baseball games more than anything so if its only a couple bucks per ticket, i'd be fine with that!

Thanks! Yes, I don't think it would be worth buying matlab unless you have an extra $100 laying around. I did have some very minor programming experience (visual basic, unix) and it was brought up at interviews so I would recommend even learning some basic programming just to be familiar with it. Best of luck!

So, I'm a pretty big baseball/football fan but only at the professional level. I realized that the grad school I will most likely be attending has very sucessful division 1 baseball and football teams. I've never been to a college sports game in my life (i got to a very small liberal arts school) so i'd like to go to a couple games if i had time. I've been searching my potential schools website and I can't find any explicit prices for tickets and google isn't helpful either. Are tickets free for grad students? I'm guessing it varies but is this the norm?

anyone heard anything from Johns Hopkins psychological and brain sciences program? they are the only school i haven't heard anything from...

My parents also were like I told you so They were really happy I wouldn't have any graduate school dept and still can't believe i get paid in addition to having no tuition (i didn't grow up with a lot of money) i'm almost decided on one school in the south so many people ask if its near a popular beach (its not) but i say they have palm trees there (i'm from the north where its cold until june)

Maybe I'm waitlisted, there was someone from a year ago who got a rejection over a month before now so that makes me think they would have rejected me already. hopefully i find out soon! i hate almost knowing where i'm going to go but i can't make it official!

I hear mixed opinions on this. Some people think a thank you email is all you need or some people buy a small gift. I know one student at my school bought her LOR writer a gift and he outright rejected it. I bought my letter writers each an academic book (i found it really cheap, 6 bucks each) since I know them very well and they helped me throughout my undergrad career. I think it depends on the relationship though

Thank you all for the replies. Hopefully, I'll be doing something decent this summer. That sounds like a great opportunity! And yes, Carolina BBQ is awesome

I'm waiting on ONE school before I can happily accept school X. I haven't heard anything from school Y and I might want to go there if I was accepted there. I haven't heard anything from them and when I emailed I got a reply back saying I would receive my decision in the mail soon. How irrational is it to wait for my decision before I accept school X? I feel like there has to be a .0000000001 chance I'll be accepted at school Y. I haven't heard anything from my POI, I wasn't invited to an interview, and I'll only be notified via postal mail. Am I completely crazy for wanting to absolutely make sure I hear back from every school even if in all probability it is a resounding NO? Anyone else going through a similar situation? Is it even possible to be accepted when you hear nothing?

The whole process is odd. Applying to grad school for the student is an immensely important/exciting/stressful time. But for the adcom member, they are completely desensitized and it's just their job to get through this large stack of papers. Who knows how many applications were briefly looked over or completely skipped because an adcom member was lazy or only gave a superficial look. It's just like anything else in life though. Just another hurdle we have to overcome.

Which one has funding or more funding? You do not want to have a lot of debt after grad school

I agree. It is generally a good idea to email profs ahead of time to see if they are taking students and (if they take time to respond) get to know them better. But it is by no means mandatory for admission.

I haven't heard anything from my top two choices lol. Both probably rejects but I'd like some closure! I'm also waiting to hear back from an interview I had 2 weeks ago... ugh

Yeah.. what you posted is pretty unclear. Do you mean how does it look if you failed a few grad school courses that you took when you were 18? If that's the case then I'm guessing it depends on the course and your other grades. If you took some random grad school class as a senior in high school and failed it then I don't think that would matter much..

well what are the pros and cons of each program? does one have more funding than the other? if you like central mich a lot than yes you should wait

I'm also interested in cogneuro and from what I can tell, computer programming is a nice plus but not mandatory for admission decisions. I'll most likely be attending a program next fall that has a focus on quantitative neuroimaging which means heavy matlab use. I've never used matlab in my life and my POI knew this beforehand That said, I really wish I knew more computer programming and I'll be reviewing some C and linear algebra...

It's an interesting question. It's highly unlikely but worth a try

I think that is common as well. I received two email notifications that were slightly different in wording more than 2 months apart. Seems like they put me on the list for first round of rejections and second round of rejections as well lol

Like the other posters said it depends on a variety of factors. I applied to 12, but looking back i didn't need to apply to so many. i just wanted to get in SOMEWHERE (and i did ) i know someone who only applied to five schools. she worked for one POI already and knew that she was virtually accepted there already but wanted to check out some other options.

This is why i need to invest in an ipad or kindle or something! i'm not the most organized person, (not a good trait for grad school) and i desperately need an electronic way of keeping track of the myriad articles i'll get in grad school. i'll do some more research on this when i can, i'd like to find a device that reads articles well, allows for some note writing, and has some applications to do matlab or stats work on..