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sociallyawkard

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  • Location
    Chico, CA
  • Application Season
    2016 Fall
  • Program
    Social Psyc

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  1. @Mystic_Fog This makes me feel a lot better about the fact that I'm 99% sure my only shots are with the (2) MA programs I applied to. For the next 8 years, I am pretty much stuck in Northern CA. There are only 3 schools within striking distance that offer a Social Psyc PhD, and even the lowest ranked in the mid-20s. This means I have almost no chance to get in to a PhD program until I can move, or at least have the geographical flexibility to consider programs across the country. Plan B is an MA program (Alternately called Psyc Sciences and Doctoral Prep at the 2 CSUs where I applied). Plan C - postbacc, 2nd BA in Sociology? Plan D - apply to the handful of research labs (at the same schools that I'm not getting into or semi-attached to them...) plus Plan E to pay the bills. Plan E - get a $14/hr job doing something random...
  2. I can't speak to getting in. But for 3 research-oriented schools to which I applied, I identified a total of 9 POIs in my essays. I reached out via email to 7 prior to the application deadline, and prior to visiting those campuses (after the app deadline). Of those 7, two responded. One agreed to meet with me (for 10 minutes) during office hours on the day of my visit - this was a very nice, wide-ranging conversation (for what turned out to be about 20 minutes). One sent me an extensive explanation of how the POI has very little influence on the committee, and in that in any case he doesn't meet with potential applicants during the application process in order to avoid "familiarity bias". I was very pleased with both of these. The rest totally ignored me. I got no invitations from any of these schools. All that to say, yes prior contact probably does help bring you to the attention of POIs. Chances are good at big schools, or high-demand schools that your communication will be ignored (either on purpose or in a flood of emails). And whether or not such contact matters at all is probably very dependent on the school. I think trying is worthwhile. But it is frustrating to spend what may be up to several hours researching and constructing the perfect introductory email which will just end up in the "I'll look at this later" box.
  3. Thanks jzp, this is really helpful. Thanks again jre. Congratulations on your interviews. best luck with those you are still waiting on.
  4. School: Stanford, UC Berkeley, UC Davis (Assumed rejection - Invitations already sent for interviews) Area: Psychology (Social) Rationalization: My GPA is too low (3.37 at the time of application, thanks to a bad first year [1.67] about 15 years ago. 4.0 since...). Comment: My other qualifications were sufficient, the GPA was addressed in essays, and in the case of Stanford there are two faculty doing the exact same research as I am. But given the competitive nature of these schools I sort of assume that my application was eliminated before even being read. Coping tactics: Hmm, mourning for several days after realizing no invitations were coming from any of these schools. True detective... etc.
  5. Thanks jre, are you still waiting to hear from you schools? I'm currently in the midst of my honors research project, I have one completed research project as well as working as an RA on a faculty project. The completed project was not published, the current projects are in-progress. If I complete a Masters program prior to reapplying to research schools, I should end up with at least 2 more projects and some teaching to put on my CV. My undergrad institution has hardly any active research going on - and this presents some difficulty in accruing more RA experience prior to another application. Does anyone have experience applying to work in labs which are not affiliated with their institution?
  6. First time applicant, first post. Looks like invitations have gone out for the schools I've applied to with Social PhD programs (Stanford, Berkeley, Davis). I thought I'd presented a pretty strong set of qualifications based on what is publicly available, but I'm just guessing about how to further refine my application for next time, for those who received interviews, or acceptances, I wonder if you have advice. I can provide a bunch more detail, if you want. I still have two schools with Masters-only programs that are left to hear from.
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