neuropsych76

I'm from the northeastern US and the weather except for summer is often chilly with lots of snow in the winter. But for grad school, I'm moving to the south where it's warm pretty much year round I'm excited to not have to worry about snow and months of coldness. I even think it's a good trade for very hot southern summers. Just wondering if anyone is changing to a different climate for grad school (or has changed) and they are expecting or what it was like

I have no idea how to organize copied paper in journal articles. When I did my honors thesis in undergrad I had a huge binder with tons of papers in it. I tried to keep them organized by topic and relevance but it ended up being a huge mess of folded/missing/ripped articles that were completely unorganized. So I told myself, if I had this much trouble organizing papers in undergrad, it could only get worse in grad school. So I've decided to go digital. I obtained an Ipad to store and read all of my articles. I plan on taking notes on my laptop (and keeping backups of my articles). I'll be using nice apps like dropbox, and a pdf editor as well. Hopefully this works!!

Thank you for the insight!! I ended up going with the IPad and I really like how it displays PDF's. All the apps on it are a nice plus as well I downloaded the kindle app on the Ipad and I don't think I could read paperbacks because after awhile it starts to hurt my eyes.. but articles are much shorter so hopefully I'll be okay!

I just submitted a grant proposal that is like a mini NSF GRFP. I'm hoping the feedback on that proposal helps me when I write the NSF one!!

Hi, I don't want to be a downer but I think despite your law accomplishments you still need to a lot of stuff before being competitive for top social psychology programs. Top social psych programs like Chicago are super competitive for anyone. You would really need to take some psychology courses to fulfill the pre-reqs and obtain some psychology research experience such as working in a lab for a couple years. Since you have a high GPA, a super high GRE score wouldn't be vital but I would aim 1300+. Also, I would recommend taking the psych GRE. Being diverse helps, but grad programs want to see someone who is focused in their area and also has a lot of experience in that area. But as tricky as the grad school process is, it's hard to say exactly where you would rank. Best of luck!!

So your other account was banned so you made a new screen name to troll some more? Must be a boring Sunday afternoon...

I don't like overly long email signatures either. But I suppose if you include ALL of your info then you make sure that the person has everything they need to contact you just in case. Though I'm not sure I would like sending out all of my contact info more than I have to. If someone has my email, they can already have a pretty good form of contact. I hate quotes also! I feel like it's some sort of myspace/facebook touch mixed into a professional email.

I can't think of many gap year programs for high school because I myself was a terrible high school student haha. So I'll leave that to the other posters. However, I definitely did not do well in high school and then found myself later on My high school story could be similar to your sisters (though i'm probably not as smart haha). I was in many honors classes and recommended for the "gifted" program and all that jazz up until about 8th grade. Then 8th-11th grade I really slacked off academically. Mostly because I was a trouble maker I felt a lot of the high school classes were not challenging/uninteresting so I was pretty much like a class clown in high school. I also spent a lot of time playing sports. Well the end of my junior year I broke my ankle and couldn't try out for the school's varsity baseball team. I was pretty bummed but this turned out to be a blessing and I actually focused on academics my last year of HS. Somehow, I got into a solid liberal arts school and flourished academically and now I'm heading to a PhD program this fall! So there's my anecdote Also, I second the college confidential statement. I've been on there and most people are pretty pretentious. The gradcafe is much much better!!

I will also not be having a car to start grad school. My grad school is also in the south and I do hear that public transportation isn't great down there. However, it seemed like a decent amount of grad student did not have cars. My plan was finding a nice close place to campus (.2 miles away from the building where I'll have my classes/work in the lab and I think .4 miles from the grocery store). So like others said, I just plan to walk, bike to places. I'm hoping I can bum rides to walmart or somewhere from my roommates who I know at least one has a car. I've never had a car my entire life and I'm used to bumming rides off friends. I wish I could drive myself around though!

I think your GRE scores are fine. I'd only retake them if you think you can significantly improve, have extra free time to study, and have extra money for the exam. The subject is pretty much only used for people who didn't major in psych. Since you did major in psych and almost got a 4.0, I wouldn't worry about taking it. However, some schools do require the subject test for all applicants.

I agree with everything LJK said I'll just echo the part about applying to a wider list of schools. You mentioned a guy from Harvard so I'm guessing you applied there and other ivies. Those schools are obviously hard to get in even with great stats. Too much emphasis is made on the name of the school. It is all about the professor your working with. Good luck!

It's probably going to vary by each school/professor who sees it. Some may like the extra items, some might think it's CV padding. I have a "leadership & activities" heading on my CV which has some irrelevant stuff to psych but no one cared. At some interviews some profs actually liked how I was was in some geeky clubs.

I do! My program explicitly told me the school was going through some tough financial times. However, they said this will mostly affect undergrads...

I think just listing it on a CV is fine but I agree that dwelling on irrelevant experience in a personal statement or interview could be detrimental.

Your GRE and GPA are very good. Extra curricular activities in general do not carry much weight for grad school admissions but the one's you listed look fine. Did you only work on two research projects in your undergrad? Research experience seems to be the most important factor so if you only worked on a couple projects, you might be a little thin as you'll be competing against people who have much more research experience. The LORs and PS's are also super important but hard to quantify. Just make sure you apply to schools that match your research interests. Yes, if you really want to get a PhD then by all means apply this year. You can apply to masters programs and PhD's. It's hard to go strait to undergrad to grad school but it's possible (i did it!). Grad school admissions have so much variability though. Based on your stats I think you have a decent chance but chances are so hard to gauge!

I just got a new phone, not a smartphone but the LG Octane which is a solid 3G phone. I also have an IPad. I liked Eigen's point about always having wi-fi so why would you need a smartphone. That's going to apply to me as well. And the times where I don't have wi-fi I think I'd rather relax instead of work However, I was wondering if it would be worth it to just buy email on my phone. I'm sort of confused on which email I'd get but I'm guessing it would only be a few dollars to buy and then minimal data use so it would be pretty cheap. Like $5 a month. Is this a decent alternative to a smartphone? A few more dollars to always be able to check my emails in case of emergencies? thanks!

I agree with LisaLisa I can relate to the clinical vs. neuro decision because I struggled with the same decision myself. Basically, it comes down to what you are more passionate and could see yourself doing. I was looking at both clinical and neuro programs right up the application season time. I decided to pursue experimental programs because I really loved neuro research and I could see myself doing brain imaging research for a career instead of seeing patients. If you decide to do clinical, I would not do a masters or PhD program you have to pay for. The outlook of clinical psych is starting to look pretty bleak and a lot of debt is something you do not want with the uncertainty of finding a decent job.

I know this is a complete noobish question but how exactly do you get involved in clubs and organizations at grad school?? I went to a super small college for undergrad and to join a club you just showed up to the meeting and everyone was friends. I'm going to a much bigger school for grad school and I'm starting to feel a bit overwhelmed but just how much stuff there is! Are there clubs and activities just for grad students??

I just downloaded a free app called neu.annotate. It's free and looks to be a pretty solid pdf reader/editor Also, if you look a bit deeper you can find apps that are directly related to your field. I just found a free neuroimaging app where I can extract neuroimaging files and view the 3-d representation on my IPad!! I think this would be nifty for seminars or meetings with my advisor but even if I don't use it academically, it's still super cool!

I know there have been a couple old threads that talk about note taking, but not specifically the pros and cons of using a computer. I have awful handwriting and most of my undergrad notes were a jumbled mess of scribbled words and doodling. I'm considering using a computer to start taking notes (or my new IPad and buying a keyboard). No one at my undergrad institution took notes with a computer. I interned at an ivy-league school last summer and EVERYONE took notes with their computer. I'm sure it varies by school but I was wondering what the pros and cons are to using a computer to take notes in grad school classes. I keep hearing that grad school classes are more discussion based so I wasn't sure if that would be good or bad for hand written notes. Any advice would be appreciated

Hi welcome to the forum! Yes, a degree in advanced neuroimaging would certainly help your goals. But your goals our a bit vague... Do you want to do your own research, just work in a lab, industry work?? A masters is a good start but to do your own research (if you want) you'd need the PhD. I'm sure the program is fine as long as you get the training you want (if you get fMRI training and you want to do fMRI that's good). But since you're already admitted, it's a little late to be second guessing yourself

Emailing professors is pretty hit or miss. Some never email back, some give you a prompt yes/no i'm taking students, some actually want to talk on the phone. Your introductory email seems fine though. July is way too early to start emailing POI's. Some professors won't even know if they are taking a student until this fall. I know it sucks to wait but August or even September are better times to email them.

I like this thread I think its cool how as we continue to grow as people through life little things like conquering a mild phobia add up to our overall advancement. For me: I'm afraid of heights. Last summer I climbed up this super tall lighthouse and actually looked over the edge once I got to the top. It was an awful feeling while I was up there but I was glad I actually did it and I took pictures for proof that I did!! I also went to an amusement park a month ago and rode all sorts of really high roller coasters. It seems as long as the coaster is going fast, it's tolerable for me

A 2.5 might be hard because most programs have cutoffs at 3.0. That said there are still many programs with no cutoffs and if you have outstanding GRE scores, LOR's, and personal statement I think you can get into a master's program. If you do well in the masters program, you could then get into a PhD program. It seems like you have a lot of research experience and that is the most important factor for graduate school. Good luck!!