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@meezy123 I am a current grad student in Human Development and Family Studies (HDFS). Your case is a classic case of hard decision making. It happens to a significant number of students in my program as well. You have pointed out that some of our research programs are pretty similar to those in the clinical psych and developmental psych, given that some of the faculty have credentials in clinical psych or developmental psych (also they collaborate heavily with faculty from the Psych department). If your concern is whether going to HDFS will limit your chance for an academic job, you should talk to the department about their placement history. I am sure they have data about this, including the field (whether the majority of them become a professor in the HDFS department as well or there is variability) in which their alumni are currently working. I remember during my visiting weekend, the PI of my program showing this exact chart. At least for my program, the number of graduates who become faculty in other HDFS programs are almost equal to the number of graduates who become faculty in the psychology department. This seems to me that maybe your productivity and fit of research play a more important role in job placement, rather than a field of study. You should also talk to your prospective advisor about the track record of graduate placement in his/her lab. Good luck!

@djpetrie I sent you a PM.

Congrats @Caroline Jiang!!!

Congrats @djpetrie!!! I'll see you on the visit weekend

Animated movie

contingency table

I asked everyone in my cohort about this and I found different timeline regarding the initial response from the program. Some students received acceptance notice as early as the end of December. I received the acceptance notice on January 25 (maybe among the last,haha). For your information, last year the program accepted 15 applicants and 8 applicants accepted the offer. Also, we've been informed that visit weekend for this year is going to be in the middle of February. So, I think the program will send notification until the end of January. I really like the program Everyone in here is so nice and supportive. I am amazed by the diversity of the research programs of the faculties and the students. We have almost 40 full faculties (not including research associate and teaching faculties), I think the highest among HDFS programs in the country. Everyone doing different things and everyone doing cool things. Academic wise, the program has a very structured curriculum, especially in terms of the emphasize on the method courses. Also, our building is quite new and really nice (and really close to the downtown!).

Hi @Caroline Jiang, All the accepted students will be invited to join the visit weekend to know better about the program, faculty members, and their research programs. During the visit weekend, students will talk to several faculty members that might fit with their research interests (somebody from the program will contact prospective students and ask them to provide names that they might want to talk to during the visit). Prospective students who later on accepted the offer then will be asked to provide their top choices of faculty members to be their first-year advisor. New students will join their first-year advisor's lab and work with him/her for their first year in the program. However, it is possible for the students to switch lab/ advisor later on based on the development of their research interests. The great thing about our program is that students are accepted into the program (not to work for specific faculty). Hence, the funding comes from the program, and they offer flexibility in terms of switching faculties to work with. Please let me know if you have any other questions. Good luck

Good luck to everyone applying to HDFS programs

Another incoming grad student at Penn State here. Soooo many orientation events that I have to attend! Anyway, good luck for the new semester, everyone

Hi guys, I am an incoming grad student in Human Development and Family Studies at Penn State. My classmate and I are renting a three-bedroom duplex located at 1117 South Atherton Street. We are looking for the third roommate to rent the third room (should be male). The monthly rent for the house is $450 before utilities (utilities around $50-$70/ month/ person). We'll be spending most of our time doing school works and we are fine in terms of neatness. My friend will bring a 20 pounds friendly female dog, an Italian greyhound. If you would like to bring a pet, you have to pay an additional non-refundable deposit ($250) and monthly pet fee ($20). Please send me a message if you're interested or would like to know more about the place. Thanks....

@econstudent18 I picked wines with the price range between $20-$30, I think those are decent wines. Also, I knew from previous conversations that all my referees like red wine.

@econstudent18 I gave each referee a bottle of wine and a thank you note written in a note with the university name that I am heading to on it. I put both the wine and the note on a bag with a logo of the university that I am heading to on it.

Hi guys, I am an incoming grad student in Human Development and Family Studies at Penn State. My classmate and I are renting a three-bedroom duplex located at 1117 South Atherton Street. We are looking for the third roommate to rent the third room (should be male). The monthly rent for the house is $450 before utilities (utilities around $50-$70/ month/ person). We are somewhat geeky and pretty laid back, we'll be spend most of our time doing school works, and we are fine in terms of neatness. My friend will bring a 20 pounds friendly female dog, an Italian greyhound. If you would like to bring a pet, you have to pay additional non-refundable deposit ($250) and monthly pet fee ($20). Please send me a message if you're interested or would like to know more about the place. Thanks....

@hippyscientist Wow... that's right, we're gonna be in the same college see you then in HHD

Hi everyone, congrats for your accomplishment and good luck for your next educational endeavor @hippyscientist, I am going to Penn State too (Human Development and Family Studies). Maybe I'll see in State College

Hi @billychen6, I am sorry for a late reply. I would like to congratulate you for getting an offer from the program I gave my two cents in the thread that you created about HDFS at ISU But I will just give my opinions again here. First of all, some of my professor when I was in Indonesia went to ISU for their grad study and they said they were having a great time there. I also met one other faculty member from Malaysia that just graduated from their PhD program few years back and he mentioned positive opinions about the program. Lastly, in the last NCFR conference, I met one current student from China and she said really enjoying the program. So I think they have a good international population and also good international reputation. Regarding the funding, I think you have to ask the program directly about that. But the current student that I met mentioned she always secure funding from the program so far. The program also one of the sponsor in the last NCFR conference which could be an indication that they have a good amount of financial resources. They also have a yearly lecture series program where they invite speaker from various backgrounds to talk about different issues related with family and human development. The last thing that I notice is that they have several new, young, and fresh faculty members in the program. That could be positive and negative. But I would love to have a young faculty members in my committee members as they are mostly cool and more open about new idea (IMO). Program reputation is indeed important. But then again you have to also consider the fit of your research interests and how the program and the faculty members there could support and facilitate you to develop your interests and ability. Then the last thing I would say is about the location. I heard Ames is great, always on the list of America's best college town. Although you might already heard that it is kind of isolated location, but Chicago is 5.5 hours drive and Kansas City is 3.5 hours drive. And it is good as you won't get a lot of distractions while you need to study Have you received any other offers beside ISU?

Hi, I was admitted to the program too, but decided to decline the offer. I talked to one current student there and she mentioned that she received funding from the program. The other thing about the program is that they have several fresh faculty members, which could be positive and also negative. But so far as I know, the program is one of the sponsor for the last NCFR conference, which could be a good sign of the availability of resources in the program. They also have a yearly lecture series event where they invite speakers from outside the program to talk about certain issues in the area of family and human development, which is kinda cool. Maybe by now you've already heard more information about the funding directly from the program. Good luck with your decision

Very informative information from UMich and Berkeley: http://internationaloffice.berkeley.edu/students/new/fj_compared http://internationalcenter.umich.edu/immig/f1vsj1.html I've experienced both type of visas, each has its pros and cons. Which one is the best gonna be based on specific individual situation.

It is my university account username (also using the same password for both accounts) lol

Received offer from Case Western Reserve Sociology program (full funding) yesterday. Congrats to another poster of CWRU acceptance.

Thank you @gingin6789

Just received an offer from Syracuse Sociology program (Maxwell). Full funding for four years (fellowship + assistantship).

I am going to visit 4 schools that already offered me a place in their programs starting next week until the first week of March. They are also my top 4 programs. I haven't heard from another four schools that I applied. I don't think I will go visit additional schools after making four visits. I am going to make my decision regarding the school that I will go on the second week of March.

Received another offer from Virginia Tech. Visit day is February 12th, no information on funding yet.