eternallyephemeral

That's awesome! Do you have a dog? The place I'm moving is a lot cheaper than where I am now, but still quite a bit of money. But I'll be moving in with my boyfriend (who is still waiting to hear back from his program), so were lucky we can split the cost. We still have to wait for a few reasons, but I'm sure something will be available!

I didn't get CGSM at the school I'm going to (Western) and the wording of an email from Waterloo (which I'll be declining) suggests I'm an alternate there. So I'll be releasing myself from the waitlist for a SSHRC CGSM soon for Waterloo, in case anyone's interested. Well, there's always next year. And OGS. I'm staying hopeful.

Yes, that happens all the time. I met with faculty from multiple schools that said I would be a good candidate. That's not a bait and switch, because even if they thought it, there's a whole committee of people that admit you. This is especially true in clinical/counselling, where there are tons and tons of applicants, and very few spaces. The school doesn't owe you anything, even if they told you point blank that you would get it (which this person never said).

Well, you want to make sure that you have a good fit with the research, so if only four places have that, just network and contact those profs and try to meet with them and tailor your applications really closely to each school. But I would recommend more than four. It always depends on what ranking they are, as well. That's great! I think those things will all help you, and it's good to hear that your GREs are good (minus the quant, some people do care about this one and some people dont). It's not that you should come up with excuses per se, I just think you should be able to explain, as the reviewer said, why you will do well in the program. You can show that since your undergrad, you have been conscientious and driven about doing more than is required because you're interested in this stuff, and that resulted in a poster at a conference, good relationships with your supervisor(s), and a bunch of work you did as a lab tech.

As a lab tech, are you running other people's projects (so the authorship you would get is not primary authorship), or are you completing your own projects? You said you may be able to use the animals for your own work, but how likely is that? I would say that you should be working in a lab that will let you spend some time using your intellectual contributions towards a paper or a poster. I wouldn't be scared of job hunting, but I also wouldn't leave this lab until you have something better (and not just better paying, but better as far as research opportunities). Did you do the GRE? Did you do well on the GRE? Do your relevant courses have high marks? Sometimes a really good GRE score can make a poorer GPA look better.

Wow! Good luck with the transition! I have a very small move (two hours drive) so it won't be a huge change, which I'm fortunate for. I know! I'm waiting for my (Canadian) government scholarships to see if I got any, because I really want to figure out what my stipend will be for sure. I have the minimum amount, but whether I get this will determine how much TAing I have to do. I wish you could do housing stuff this early, where I am you need to wait until two months out. But I've been searching for around a month now! I'm just super overeager I guess.

I accepted about 2-3 weeks ago. It was super early, but I only had two options and I was really sure that the one I picked was best for me. I want to know who'll be joining me as well, but everyone I've spoken to on this forum has chosen another school! Instead I'm just looking for apartments and frantically hoping that my boyfriend gets into the same school. He'll find out in a week or two, and if not I'll be super sad. But some profs want him, so he has a good chance. Will you be moving to go to this school?

Ah, I understand. So your second year could be considered a masters year, even though its an MA-PhD together? I'm entering a program like that, but the two MA years seem separate from the four PhD years. I guess either way you can apply to CGSM twice, but only hold it once, correct? Awesome! Good luck!

I got this one as well, that didn't say April 1st. But it was for one of four programs, one that I didn't get into (I'm just applying to schools this year). I guess they send a separate email each time one school changes status?

Absolutely! I'll do what I can.

Hi people! I'm from Canada and although I'm not at McGill or UBC, I'm very familiar with the schools. 1. If you're concerned about going to the US afterwards, I can tell you that many, many people cross the border to work, and even come back later on, and there aren't any issues with that. However, I don't know if being an international student makes this more difficult though. However, you shouldn't just take my word for it: you should look up where the professors you're working with come from (I'm sure many of them did some work in the US, either postdocs, grad programs, or undergrad) and where their students go afterwards. Sometimes people want to stay in Canada for various reasons (family reasons, or they like the country better, etc), so even if not everyone is going to the US, it might not be because they can't, it may be because they don't want to. 2. The stipend issue definitely makes things challenging, however there are definitely ways to make 21k work in Vancouver. I know it is extremely expensive, but I live in Toronto currently on about 12k (though I do have some support from family). Grad students in Toronto sometimes only get 15k, and they make it work. In some ways Vancouver is more expensive, however it depends if you require a one-bedroom condo all to yourself in the heart of the city, or if you're open to having roommates, getting a place a little farther away, or other options like that. You can PM me with some specific questions about living in Canada, and I can send you some links to websites we frequently use to find places. 3. It's great that there is more than one professor you're interested in. I don't think lots of grad students in total are an issue, I think it depends on how many faculty there are and whether you want to be in a big or a small lab. 4. You are always able to switch your supervisor, so for that reason I don't think lab rotations are necessary. They know you are just figuring things out in the first year, so you shouldn't need to go there beforehand and see what's happening. However, I would definitely talk to current students and read up on their papers a bunch. In sum, people go from Canada to the US all the time for work (and even back again!) such that it's not a big deal. Some people might not have heard of most Canadian schools, but the ones you guys are referring to here are top three for most programs, so they are recognizable. The only one arguably better (and I would argue for it because I go here) would be University of Toronto. You have just the same opportunity to publish in good journals in Canada as in the US, if you're talking about comparably ranked programs. If the one in Canada is better, it's possible that you have a higher opportunity to publish in good journals. Canadian students go to the same conferences as US students, with maybe some additional Canadian ones, so if you're able to be productive and happy in a Canadian school, you'll be able to make it to the US. Personally, I'm going to apply to both Canadian and US jobs when I graduate, because frankly, there isn't a barrier or anything to me. Best of luck on your decisions!

You already have a masters degree, so what would be the benefit of doing another one? Doing a PhD does not only limit your options to being an academic. That's what most people think, but it simply isn't true. Being an academic might be what you're "trained for", but that doesn't mean that no one else will hire you with a PhD. That said, as @MarkMc just mentioned above, the main question to ask is what your career goals are. Once you know where you want to work (or at least which options you want to pursue), then you can research those jobs and see if you need a PhD or not. Even if you don't need a PhD, you could get one, but remember that it's a very long time and a very large commitment.

First of all, why wouldn't school B have to be nice/welcoming? If they want people to go, they should be, don't you think? But then again, that goes back to your main question. Personally, I think happiness and financial security is extremely important. If you aren't happy and motivated, and if you aren't, how will you be productive? As well, how will you get work done if you're constantly worried about funding? Obviously this could differ, as I'm not well-versed in chemistry programs, but I know lots of people with mediocre cvs and graduate publication records from excellent schools. I also know lots of people with amazing cvs/publications from lesser schools (and top 25 is still pretty high up there). The school does not make your cv good; YOU make your cv good. So if you're in a welcoming environment, if you have money to live on, and if you are excited about going there, I don't see how you would lose out in going to that school. When the only thing driving you towards school B is the name and the potential for forfeiting future job prospects (which is tenuous), then I think you have your answer. Hope this helps! It's just my opinion, of course.

I think that sounds like a really good application! Are both GRE sections above 150? I know people just put their total up, but it's hard for me to conceptualize if I don't know the percentile scores. Was your writing score alright? If you think it's important and if it would help you, I would recommend studying a bunch for the GRE and doing some practice tests after studying to see if its possible to raise your scores. Having a really good GRE if your marks are around some cutoffs (I don't know if they are or not, the more competitive cutoffs are around 3.5) can help your application. But don't do it if you don't think it's useful. I would focus on researching programs with people that you like and whose research is interesting to you. Contact them ahead of time (after reading some of their papers) and then use those meetings or emails to see if you still want to apply to the program. This can help you narrow down your list to places where you've made a connection. Of course, some people won't respond or they won't have time to meet, which isn't a reflection on you, and you should still apply if you really want to work with them. To be honest, if you really want to try for some PhD programs, I would do some research on those too. You might not be super competitive for a top ten school, but if there was a place with a great research fit, where you made a connection with the PI and you wrote a great statement of purpose, I think you could have a shot. Not to give you any false hope, but my bf has similar stats as you (including the publication, but he has a few posters and maybe half a year more experience and a 302 GRE) and he wasn't competitive for super difficult PhD programs in neuroscience and psych (like UCLA, MIT, Columbia, etc), but he was super, almost over-qualified for some of the masters programs he applied to. if you think that directly applying to a PhD is what you want at this point in your life, and you can afford to try and apply to a few, I don't see why you shouldn't. However, I don't know where you're interested in and how difficult those are. I also came from a life science background (like pre-med, basically) and I find it helped me. But most of those courses were in my first year of undergrad. Disclaimer: Other people may completely disagree. This is just my opinion, and my experience is limited. I just know that sometimes you can get consumed with what ifs, and if the PhD is your goal, you could at least try to achieve that this upcoming round.

I understand. It must be more difficult given the lack of structure and deadlines. As long as you enroll before 6/22, you won't have to worry about student loans, correct? If so, that gives you almost three months to make sure you have something. I don't know much about places with rolling admissions, but I'm sure you could wait two or three weeks for the first choice place to respond? Do you think that school B would have a problem with that? I'm sure it's very difficult to wait and not know what's happening yet. However, if you did accept your second choice and it turns out you got accepted to your first, then you may feel bad for not waiting. Would you agree?

I'm doing boring things compared to everyone else, just working in my undergrad supervisor's lab part time (as the lab manager/RA) and working part-time for a professor I applied to at a program I was waitlisted at (but I didn't get in because the spots were taken). The new professor offered me a part-time job to write a review paper and work on a new project for her. I've also applied to be an undergraduate TA, but it's unlikely I'll receive that with no experience teaching. Other than working, I'll just be preparing for the move, shuffling things around regarding finances, looking for apartments, reading papers to prepare for my new program (I come from a different subfield), and helping with some papers I'm on that we are trying to publish over the summer. Wow, it's basically work and research. There's fun in there somewhere!

What is the deadline for accepting the second choice school? 4/15 like most others? Could you ask for an extension for the second choice? It would be good to apply or ask about GA/TAships, especially if you're concerned about covering your costs and/or saving to pay off your student loans later. I would only accept (if you really still want to go to the first choice school) when you absolutely have to, to avoid any kind of awkwardness or problems with the second choice school. I think it's best to try not to burn bridges or cause problems, and I would consider saying you will attend one place and then rescinding that offer causing a problem. But you don't want to wait so long that this offer's deadline passes and you may have nothing, of course.

You want to be a professional in the workforce and you want to put MS on your resume and say you're a graduate student in graduate school, but you don't like the professional/networking/career-building vibe? How do you think you'll be a professional? How will people read that you have an MS on your resume if not for networking and a professional focus? As an aside (maybe for next time), I applied to tons of scholarships before even finishing my application to some schools. Scholarships can be extremely competitive and they can have very early deadlines. You are absolutely expected to apply to them beforehand, and as I'm sure you can tell it looks very good to be prepared and to have applied ahead of time. They don't cost anything, so you don't lose by applying to them before you know when you'll get in.

I got a 163 and it was 86th percentile, but maybe it changed when your gf took it. My test was late September 2015 (so this academic year). I agree about the rest, but I do think that a high GRE is something that an applicant to this kind of program should aim for. Hell, even quant scores for business PhDs (not just in finance/economics) are in the high 90 percentile range. But specific math course grades and a high overall GPA could help. Either way, we will never know if we're only talking about MIT. Because naturally, competitive applicants to a school of that caliber do have perfect GRE scores.

You're absolutely right that running shoes last a long time, but I'm looking for more professional shoes and I find that the one thing that basically makes me look more like a student and less like a future professional are the kinds of shoes I'm wearing. Obviously there are other, more important things, but my program has lots of internships. Also when I'm TAing, I'm very aware of trying to come across as a more mature adult to put some distance between the undergraduates and I.

No problem! Sometimes we hear the same thing from different people and it takes a while for us to take it to heart. I understand about the undergrad thing, I thought it must be within a research institute or a professional school or something. It can definitely be a great thing to go out of your comfort zone, but naturally most of us wouldn't choose that option. I didn't have the option of staying in my home city, but I came very close to having to make that decision (I was #1 on the waitlist, so I thought about it often).

It doesn't need purchasing, but he should get PsychToolbox as well! It's free to download and it helps with creating experiments. Link: http://psychtoolbox.org/ If he's doing working memory studies, specifically continuous-report studies, he can look into using some models of measuring working memory performance (like precision, the probability of swapping, responding correctly, and guessing. The code can be found here: http://www.paulbays.com/code/JV10/ If he doesn't do that kind of work, disregard the second part! Also, I took a great course on programming (an intro class) on Coursera that used Matlab. It's not psych research specific, but if he wants a crash course in the basic stuff, it's pretty good: Link: https://www.coursera.org/course/matlab

1. Management consultant or organizational development consultant (working on the qualifications) 2. Executive coach (also working on the qualifications) 3. Part time teacher, writer, and mom all at once (preparing for the first, not really prepared for the other two) 4. CEO (not qualified, but people rarely are, right?)

I would totally do it! I actually spoke to someone two years before applying that I was interested in at the time, and he encouraged me to apply (even though I only just graduated from second year undergrad). That prof didn't find it strange at all. It's even better to do this sooner, of course. And conferences are for networking, so youre doing the right thing!

Sorry if I'm highjacking this thread, but if you're interested in industry, do you see any downsides to trying to finish more quickly? I've heard from many people that the best dissertation for a student going into industry is a done dissertation. Meaning that there's no use in trying to make it perfect, just go out there and get a job. Naturally, it could take longer for various reasons, and my program has part-time internships that may slow things down but that would be really valuable to pursue while in the degree. Does anyone think it would be a negative to aim to finish earlier? Thanks very much!