Psychgrad27

One school I'm applying to has a shorter statement of purpose section than most (300-400 words). Does anyone know where to find or have good examples shorter SOPs? I kind of took my 500 word statement and just chopped anything that didn't seem absolutely essential.

Thanks, yeah I'm over thinking. Anxiety does that, but it's good to be reminded that it IS overrhinking. I stress myself out more than any professor ever has lol.

I've decided to apply to a program where the deadline is in 5 days. Two of my letter writers have written letters for me in the past, so they would just have to tweak them a little, and they are laid back enough that I don't expect them to be (very) upset when I ask them on short notice. However, I am very worried about asking the third. To be perfectly candid, I suffer from serious anxiety, and a lot has happened lately that has really triggered it. Of course, having put things off to the last minute, I am feeling even more anxious. I wholly understand that and have scolded myself for it repeatedly, I assure you. This professor is either very warm or very cold, and honestly it seems to depend on her mood that day, but I think she would be able to write a strong letter for me if she agrees to do it. Even if the institution receives it late, it would be better than nothing. My concern is I really do not want to offend her by asking for something on such short notice, and I don't want her to think that I was being irresponsible. I know, in some ways that might not be off, but I became so obsessed with doing things right, I completely froze. I know that revealing mental health issues is kind of a big "no no" when you want to assure programs you are stable enough to complete the program. My therapist suggests I do not offer "explanation" but apologize profusely and perhaps leave her a voicemail in addition to an email. It would be very hard to meet with her in person without setting up a meeting since it is winter break, and she is seldom in her office anyway. I am a bit concerned that zero explanation of any sort will cause problems. My plan was to write the email/leave a voicemail where I apologize a lot and outline the reasons I really value her as a professor and mentor. I was going to attach my SOP and CV and ask what else she may need. I was also going to include copies of my final papers/projects from her classes, but those have been lost. Has anyone ever had to do this before? Ideas of how to do this correctly? I do not want to damage my relationship with her when asking for help.

Yeah, I meant I would start with "blocking" to gain familiarity then move into "interleaving" and put it into context making the brain be more active and work on its agility. I'll look into the resources available. Thanks! I appreciate it!

Right. There are only so many kinds of problems. I think I'm going to change my approach so that instead of just doing practice sets that look just like the GRE, I will try and identify which kinds of problems slow me down and compile practice sets with just one type of problem each and focus on one set per day. Thinking then with repetition like that it will become more automatic so that instead of doing a logical walkthrough of how to solve a problem, I can just recognize it and start working. Once it becomes familiar, then I can incorporate it into the whole. Kind of how practicing piano used to work--plays the part that's giving me trouble over and over then go and play the whole piece. Gonna test that hypothesis anyway...

Yay self-regulation! I like that stuff. Particularly stuff pertaining to self-regulation in motivation to control prejudice. Applying to start in fall 2017 as well.

Thanks, yeah I am going to apply. I may take the GRE again, as my quant score was lower than I would have liked. 150 quant, 162 verbal. I feel like I understand all the mathematical concepts and just need to practice so I can be quicker. I was scrambling and making guesses at the end ?.

Hey! I was wondering if anyone here has been accepted into UMSL's Behavioral Neuroscience program and what your GRE scores were? It seems the average is not posted on the website like it is for clinical and I/O.