Hi everyone! I hope no one is as much a nervous mess as I am, but if you are, my thoughts are with you
I applied to twelve programs, eight of them social (Cornell, Harvard, Berkeley, UCLA, UMich, UMN, UW, and Yale), the others are a mix of community (UVA) and developmental (UCSC, MSU, Kentucky). I would prefer social psych but honestly I am just looking to work with a mentor with whom I share research interests, so area isn't my top priority. I know all the folks I'm applying to work with are accepting students, have emailed to various extents with each of them, and have had calls with two PIs and talked with a few other PIs' current grad students.
My pros: undergrad research with multiple national conference posters and one paper presentation, five publications (four first author), awarded undergrad research grant, currently in a "well-known" lab working on a "well-known" project (quotation marks because level of recognition is definitely subjective), and a second author publication coming out of the lab.
My cons: lab is developmental which probably won't help me much in the social/community areas and implies lack of consistency in research interest (social to developmental to social), terrible quant GRE scores (162V/158Q/5AW; I am slooow at solving math problems and didn't even finish the quant sections), some publications are in lesser-known journals, average GPA for the programs I'm applying to (3.8), niche research experience, small undergrad, 2 out of 3 letter writers aren't famous Ivy Leaguers.
I don't know which negatives will outweigh positives and vice versa. Almost all the programs I'm applying to are very selective (not my intention and regretting it) so I've kind of resigned myself to rejection and decided to be pleasantly surprised rather than disappointingly surprised. As much as I hate waiting, the stress of studying for the GRE and applying was way worse than what I'm experiencing now. I swear my weeks of tension headaches ended the day I submitted my last app! Good luck to everyone and I am sending you all good vibes!!