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1HeavyDiaper

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  • Location
    Texas
  • Application Season
    2013 Fall

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  1. 1. Definitely not too late, as others have indicated. Keep in mind that if you want to re-take GREs I think there is a 6 week waiting period (double-check that) so if you took in late september, you could retake in early november and still get the second set of scores submitted in time. 2. The climate is competitive, but as the financial situation improves in the US, the field is becoming slightly less competitive as fewer over-qualified people are out of work and turning to graduate school in despair. What no one has mentioned yet is that being an international student will greatly improve your chances of getting accepted. If you want more info on my opinion of this, send me a PM 2. Definitely do not try to get into another Masters program at this point. If you are unsuccessful in gaining acceptance to a doctoral program this year, look for programs that you liked/applied to that also have a MA/MS program. Generally speaking, if you can't hit the right qualifications for the doctoral program, being in the master's program will help you get a foot in the door and even can transfer into the PhD program after 1-2 years if you network well enough and impress everyone. 3. You will most likely not find many profs specialized in such niche fields of research, and if you do the competition to become one of their students is probably ridiculous. You would be better served by finding someone who has broad research experience in a general field, but also has good research/experience in the niche field that you want. In the long-run it is better to not commit yourself to such a niche field so early in your career!
  2. In my masters program I took 12 hours and also managed taking care of children as well (I had nanny care ~15-20 hours/week). On top of this I had a TA appointment for 20 hours, which in reality was more like 10-12 hrs a week. I would not recommend juggling all of these things that I did as it left me quite frazzled but I would think if you have been able to manage the huge demands of homeschooling children while taking 6 hours, then 9 hours will not be such a massive undertaking. One thing to keep in mind is the workload for each class - not all 3 hour classes are created equal and stacking up a couple tough ones on top of caring for children will definitely be tough! Best of luck and congratulations for managing parenthood while in graduate school
  3. I got a near perfect score on my GRE essay and I can tell you honestly all they're looking for is sentence structure > paragraph structure > essay structure. Don't over think it and don't spell anything wrong and you should be fine.
  4. +1 to everything said here. Iowa, Texas, Purdue, UNC-CH, UCLA and Michigan are all well-respected from what I've heard. I did my Master's in Quant at one of these institutions listed and the others were commonly referenced as all being top-tier for Quant. Iowa is kind of the birthplace of Quant Psych according to some, so I'd look there and see where their graduates are currently working. Another way to do it is look at universities/companies that you hope to work for, and trace back their academic path to see which programs they went through. I also want to reiterate that Quant folks are usually very approachable and friendly, and as others have mentioned it is a small field so even if one prof is not accepting students, they will likely know some good places to refer you to.
  5. If I'm understanding you correctly, you're wondering if whether to apply to programs this fall/winter to begin classes Fall of 2016? -If that is the case I would say definitely apply. If you think about it, you will actually be taking a 'year off' anyways while you are applying to programs and interviewing. I would definitely go back and work with your previous professor and get as much experience as possible. I can also tell you that programs do like to see students going out and working in industry settings. Everyone tends to think that research is king - it is important, but sometimes profs really value a student who has real-world experience and that can bring a fresh perspective to research.
  6. Your score is absolutely good enough to get into a PhD program. Do not doubt yourself and I would throw out as many applications to (realistic) programs as possible. This doesn't mean you shouldn't apply to a program that publishes accepted averages of 1350's, but don't waste your $$ on highly competitive programs (often referred to as 'dream schools'). Although the score you received may be below your personal standards and what you expect of yourself, you will definitely get your foot in the door and at least most likely survive the outright rejection cuts due to low GRE scores. Best of luck!!
  7. I am surprised at some of the skepticism about getting a MS in Stats here from others, but I would recommend it 110% even if you don't plan on being a researcher. I received my Masters in Quantitative Methods, and worked alongside students in a traditional Stats MS degree program and we took roughly the same classes (at a top tier institution in the Southwest). Now, I did not have to complete 2 years of prerequisites like you are indicating you might have to, but regardless I would say it is still probably worth the investment of time (and it sounds like your program is funded anyways). I can tell you that having a generic MS in Psych will do absolutely nothing for you that the PhD in psych can't already do. Having the MS in Stats will open many doors occupationally and will give you a leg up on future internship/fellowship/job applicants because it is one more tool in your toolbox. I received the same advice a few years ago, coincidentally when I was already in the stats program, and I can tell you that it is a huge benefit to have stats experience. The majority of others in the field you're going into will not understand stats past ANOVAs and regressions, and you would be well-served by gaining this experience.
  8. mb712 makes a good point. Someone once told me that PIs are lazy, they look at applicants and try to figure out who will need the least amount of supervision, mentoring, guidance while providing the most output in terms of research, clinical work, etc. Of course you want to pad their ego all the while, but keep in mind what type of person you would want to hire, and try to be that person.
  9. +3 for improving GRE scores. Time/$$ spent here will yield the highest ROI in terms of your likelihood of acceptance. Programs use the GRE score as the #1 way to draw a cutoff for outright rejections and invitations for interviews, and then use the GRE scores among interviewees to distinguish b/w top, middle, bottom groups on interview day. To make finer distinctions they will look at experiences and everything. From what I've heard about incoming applicants into our own program, LORs are generally only brought up if they are from someone famous with tons of connections. Otherwise, I think they are just all about the same. I would also spend the year finding some type of employment that relates to your field of study, if even remotely. That way, you're still bettering your application, without having to continue bleeding out cash for more degrees, education, research (where you almost always work for free).
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