wnk4242

One good tip I want to share with you guys if you are preparing your answers to the most common interview questions is that keep your answers succinct, easy to understand, and to the point. I don't think they expect you to give very detailed and long answers within 30 minutes (that's the normal length of an interview). A very complicated answer is very likely to make them confused because when you are being interviewed, you will feel nervous, and your speech may become unorganized under pressure. Also, think of an interview as a conversation, not a test. This is very important. If you think of it as a test, you are going to feel very nervous and uncomfortable. If you think of it as a conversation and an opportunity to tell them how great you are, you will feel very confident and look very confident. They want to see that confidence. Some important interview questions I have prepared include (and I think everyone should be prepared to answer these questions very confidently and fluently): Your educational background; Your best quality, characteristic, personal trait- this should be something that can facilitate your future research career; Why do you want to pursue a PhD- for me the answer is definitely that I love research; I love teaching; being a professor is a rewarding career; Why do you want to do a PhD in this area (quant psych/methods)- my answer is that I am more interested in methodologies and statistics; this is an area full of opportunities for growth; I love coding; great job prospects; What are your research interests- I just gave a very general answer, something along the lines of "I'm interested in SEM, longitudinal data analysis, Bayesian statistics." If you have a more detailed answer and if your interests match your POIs, that's even better; What are your career goals- when it comes to goals, I think you should be specific, like I want to get 5 first author publications (you can even name a few prestigious journals in which you want to publish) ; I want to graduate within 5 years; I want to become an assistant professor in 6 years; I want to create very popular R packages; choose some challenging but realistic goals; What is your greatest strength and weakness (yes, they asked me what my biggest weakness was)- I said that my greatest strength is my ability to solve problems in very challenging situations and I gave an example (very important); as far as my weakness, I said I don't have a strong background in math/stats but I'm planning on taking a few refresher courses like calculus online and after I begin the program I will take as many stats courses as possible; Which research project are you most proud of- they are giving you an opportunity to impress them, so be prepared with a great answer; Why you want to join their program- I said my research interests match yours very well and I like the courses your program offers. The last one is that what statistics software/packages do you use- I hope you guys know some programming languages in addition to SPSS. Again, be specific here. Saying I know how to use R is not good enough. Say something like I know how to use R to do t test, anova, multivariate regression analysis; basic structure of writing a function; If you have these questions prepared, you will talk confidently in the interview. I never try to memorize my answers. I practice these questions by asking myself these questions while I am walking, cooking, doing exercises. At least for me, It's a very effective way to prepare for interviews.

Absolutely. I printed out my questions and brought the piece of paper with me. When the POIs saw my questions, one of them said something along the lines of "it's good that you have a lot of questions to ask, because that shows you really did your homework and really are interested in our program." So, don't be afraid to show them that you have a lot of questions to ask even if you might not get to ask all of them! It's a sign of being proactive!

Finally, I have been officially admitted to FSU measurement and statistics program. Yay!

I have no idea about that. Apparently, they are limited. I think we are their top choices, so funding would not be a problem for us

Have you confirmed your admission with your POI?

Same thing happened to me, izmir. I applied to a PhD program at FSU and I received an email from their Grad School telling me that I had been nominated for the Legacy Fellowship. I asked my POI what was going on because I hadn't received a formal acceptance letter yet. POI told me that I had been admitted to the program. It's just that there is a time gap between their decision and the Office of Admissions. My folder is now in the Office of Admissions. I'm so looking forward to receiving the formal letter!

They will definitely give you an opportunity to ask your questions after you have answered theirs. I'm not sure I understand your second question. Can you clarify it? I asked a few questions that could help me better understand my POI's research. I asked more questions about the program. I can post my questions here if you want.

Thank you! I like all the programs I applied to. I will be thrilled to be accepted by any of them.

Congrats on your offer! Have you heard anything from U Maryland and UT Austin?

They made an offer to someone on Dec 22. Wondering if it was the same offer.

I visited DC in August to attend the APA convention there. The area where poster presentations were held was huge! They built a small psychological experiment museum in front of the posters area. I remember I saw the Bobo doll, the uniform worn by the subjects in the Stanford prison experiment, and the equipment used in the Milgram experiment. It was really eye-opening when you really saw them in real life. I went to DC again in October to visit some museums. I really liked the National Air and Space Museum and the Newseum.

Let's just be patient and wait. Do you have plans for Christmas?

What areas have extended invitations?

I think the aim of an interview is just to get to know each other better. So, even if he didn't tell me what to expect during the interview, I'll still prepare for the questions I mentioned before. Think about what you really want your POIs know about you, your strengths and your idea about your future research.

Thank you! The POI told me that he wanted to learn more about my meta-analysis experience, so I'm going to review the work I did last year. I'm also going to prepare answers to the basic questions the POI may ask. I've also prepared many questions to ask him about the program.

I haven't heard anything so far.

The ed psych programs I applied to are quite similar to quant psych programs. I specifically asked my POIs in ed psych programs if it would be an issue if I was only interested in quant methods and they said it was not a problem at all. What are your research interests again? I am still interested in meta-analysis but I also stated that I am interested in combining SEM and Bayesian statistics with meta-analytic methods in my SoPs so I have a reason to work with professors who specialize in those areas. It's normal that they don't have enough funding. As far as I know, out of the 11 programs, only Notre Dame has enough funding to offer every student they accept so they don't need to work for their advisors as RAs or TAs to support themselves. Even if you are not able to get fellowships or tuition assistance, you can still apply for RAships and TAships to support yourself.

I think it depends on different POIs. Yesterday I sent an email to a POI to introduce myself and show her a tutorial I wrote about how to do a meta-analysis using R. Surprisingly, she told me she even wanted to accept me solely based on that (of course, she can't even she wanted to). However, she told me she could answer any questions about her program for me and wrote me a ton of valuable information about the program. I sent emails to many other POIs, but most of them didn't reply. I think emailing POIs is a great way to get information about their programs and you can use the information to write the last paragraph of your SOP/PS.

I think it also depends on your LORs and SOP. Maybe share some information about those?

Thank you for your answer! I'm going to take a look at this thread now.

@lisalisalisa I think that's a good idea. Thank you. But I wonder If I say that I know why I want to get into the quant field because in doing so I can reach my goal of doing xyz, but I haven't decided which area or method I want to specialize in, wouldn't that sound suspicious or unconvincing?

Hi! I'm going to apply to quant programs this year. My concern is that my interest only lies in the field of meta-analysis (and I have done a couple of years of research in this area) and I only found 5 advisors study meta-analysis in quant programs in the U.S. I noticed that most of the quant scholars study structural equation modeling, item response theory, etc., but I have never done any research in those areas. So I worry that if I only apply to those five programs, my chance of getting accepted into a program might be relatively low? Should I apply to other quant programs without a clear area of interest or goal in mind (personally, I don't think this is a good idea)?

Hi Itzik, I am a Chinese person and I got 156 V and 165 Q (I'm not saying my verbal score is high but this was my fourth attempt and I tried my best). If a non-English speaker can do it, you can do it! I don't know if you are a native English speaker but if you are, you can definitely get a better score in each section. Do you know how many Chinese students got 155+ score in the Verbal section? And many even got perfect scores! You'll be shocked! How did they do that? It's a combination of hard work, memorizing useless words, and developing superb test taking techniques (Yeah, Chinese are really good at developing those kinds of techniques! And they work!). I wish you could speak Chinese so I could tell you how many techniques you could learn! I would recommend that you find a tutor because I am getting a feeling that you are just not good at taking the test and finding a good tutor is the best way to enhance your techniques. As long as the Q section, I just did a ton of practice problems. Even though Chinese students are notoriously good at math, if they don't prepare for it, they can't get a high score, either.

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Thank you MH429! I just sent you a PM. Would you check it out please? Many thanks！