neuropsych76

I haven't been accepted anywhere yet but I keep trying to prepare myself for the transition I'm assuming I'm going to be making (mainly to pass the time ) I do not own a car and never have. I'm broke and will have no way of obtaining a car before grad school. I'm sure some grad students do not own cars and just live within walking distance to the places they need to be. Is this a big disadvantage? I know looking for apartments can be difficult especially if you have to limit yourself to walking distance of a certain place. What other things can not having a car impact? I'm used to just bumming rides of people in undergrad. I guess I'll have to make some friends quickly in grad school

I think I would go insane if I couldn't make sure that my materials arrived to the schools I applied to. It might be worth sending an email to make sure they got your stuff!

Thank you for your reassuring words The letter did just get there so at least they have it now. It figures it was probably my strongest letter too...

I agree with the previous poster. A 1430 GRE score is fantastic. That and a master's in psychology should more than make up for a mediocre undergrad GPA. A good research match, well written SOP, and good LOR's will make you a strong candidate for mid level programs.

Not for me at least. Most of my applications are "self managed" so I have to make sure everything is there. When I contact them, they have been nice but they never tell me if they received everything.

If you want to increase your anxiety, check the results page for this year and you'll see someone received an interview from CMU already...

Yeah, same here. But I did see a couple people hear back from schools I applied to already this year!! So, now I'm in the check my email every 15 minutes mode as well.

So my letter that was lost was actually sent ( I thought it was). But now it is going to be over 2 weeks late past the deadline... Is my application trash now? I already told the secretary that the letter might have been lost and another is on the way but I was just wondering how this affects my chances. It is something totally beyond my control but still, one of my application materials was very late so I'm guessing this can't be looked upon favorably.

I haven't heard anything, even from my December 1st deadlines. I think we will be hearing things soon though :X

Was there a place to upload both documents and you just switched them? If so, I don't think it's a big deal at all. The email should be fine.

From what I've heard, the PhD still has a slight edge but the Psy.D is catching up fast in the US. A PhD certainly provides more flexibility as you can do research and teach much more easily. However, for practicing purposes, the two degrees do not have much of a difference (assuming both degrees are from reputable schools). In fact, several presidents of the American Psychological Association had Psy.D's.

I have the same thoughts on this. And as psychapplicant said, a lot of professors do not even value it that much. I'd only take it if I wasn't a psych major, or several schools I was applying to required it (and few do).

If you are more into practicing clinical psychology, you could consider a Psy.D. These are less competitive but you can be licensed the same as a PhD. There are less research focused and more clinical focused. I really don't think a 5th year would help in any circumstance unless you were getting terrible grades. Continuing your research would be fine but extra classes wouldn't help all that much. Remember, GPA is only one part of the application.

I don't see why you would have to take a 5th year at all... How bad is your GPA now? If you received C's and D's in your psych classes then repeating might be a good idea. However, if your trying to turn A-'s into A's than it is a complete waste of time. Unless your GPA is bad (below 3.0 or so), I wouldn't take an extra year and spend more money paying for undergrad. It might be more beneficial to spend the extra time working full time in a research lab.

That is simply awful. The general public certainly has a skewed view of graduate school though. However, I don't think a Phoenix PhD will make it easy to find a tenure track position somewhere...

I started playing guitar for the first time since high school to pass some time. But yeah, after seeing a few people get interviews at schools I applied to in the results section, my anxiety is starting to rise... It doesn't help that my deadlines for programs ranged from 2 months apart so it will be a lot of spaced out waiting.

I didn't end up applying to MIT but having to list all of the textbooks seemed quite annoying. The applications I saw were fairly isomorphic. However, the most annoying applications were the ones were you could not notify your letter writers to upload their letters before you sent the application. Additionally, Johns Hopkins needed a cover letter with the submitted applicant ID to send my transcript.

yeah neuroscience! No one has emailed me saying that something has not been received. I agree, I think schools are overwhelmed right now but it is concerning to see something you know was sent appear to be not received. I just hope my application doesn't get thrown away based off a misplaced/late document. Double checking seems to help make sure nothing is lost though. PS I updated my signature

I wish I could offer you some advice because I'm in a similar situation (December 15 deadline, LOR still not in from snail mail...). Fortunately, it seems most schools are accepting of late LOR's (this is what I keep hearing at least). I would briefly explain what happened and ask your letter writer to try submitting it online again. Good luck!!

So I just saw that some received an interview at one of the schools I applied to (scary!) Is there a lot of variance in hearing from schools? If I don't hear something from this school soon does that mean there's a good chance I was rejected?

So, just to be clear, it is not a good idea to wear a suit to an interview? I don't really have money to buy a suit and I just have "normal" dress clothes. So basic business casual is okay? Dress shoes, slacks, dress shirt, and tie (maybe)? I know what I wear will be the least important part of the interview (assuming i get one) but I just don't want to have disadvantages if I can control it

Posting the pros and cons of my graduate application will increase my chances right? Well I'll give it a try anyway Pros -Honors program -3.7 GPA with slight upward trend -involved with dozens of research projects over the past 3 years at my school including an honors thesis -5 presentations 1 publication -worked in a hospital doing neuropsych testing and research -worked in an fMRI lab -should have good LOR Cons -mediocre GRE score 1170 -a couple places didn't have a super good fit, only pretty good (if that's a con?) -i'm applying strait out of undergrad, many people have advised to take time off first

Thank you for your reply. I guess it's worth sending a potentially annoying email to make sure the material(s) have been correctly received?

So I turned in all my applications and all the parts for each application have been sent in. The only thing I can do now is compulsively check my email and check to make sure the schools received all my materials. Well luckily, the December 1st deadlines received all my stuff but one school from December 15th and now a couple other January 1st's haven't received all my materials even though I know they have been sent weeks beforehand. Am I just really unlucky or are applications just not updated online as accurately/quickly as they can be? For example one school had my status as unpaid but I sent an email and despite no reply it was corrected. Several other schools have not received my transcripts and/or one LOR. I'd hate to not be considered because a piece of my application was lost somehow...

I hope your goals are a bit more focused than that.... Just getting a random psychology PhD from an Ivy League School is not very clear or practical. Do you know what area of psychology you want to go into? Also, a 3.22 GPA will be low for Ivy League Schools but you do have a very good GRE score.