vallaboop

Hi all, I was hoping to get some input on this subject. Unfortunately, I had an unsuccessful application cycle this time around. My professor/adviser said she was honestly surprised and suggested that I reach out to a few programs and see why they rejected me. She said I have nothing to lose and the worst thing that will happen is that they won't answer. What are your thoughts on this? Has anyone reached out to programs asking why they were rejected? If so, what did you say and what happened? Thanks!

I wouldn't say that your time was wasted at all! Even if you don't get publications out of this position you still have the experience, which is great! I've had luck finding research positions through indeed.com in the past. Good luck!

Yeah, I know I'm on the line with Kaplan. I applied for the payment assistance and got approved for 60% off the course but it's still like $500. I don't know. I wish Magoosh was more interactive though.

I tired Magoosh and I really liked it but I wasn't super motivated, I only studied once a week during the summer. I do have the 1 lb GRE prep book though and I barely used it. I need to just sit down and really focus. I am thinking about the Kaplan online prep course but it's so expensive...

Thanks! That's what coworkers keep saying and I know it's the right thing to do. It's just hard to get motivated to go through the whole process again but I know it's an investment in my future and I need to just suck it up and do it.

I'm still feeling the pain of rejection of this years application cycle but I will be reapplying for Fall 2019. I'm graduating next month with my MS in clinical psych with a 4.0 (unless I have an epic stumble in the next few weeks). I'm a full time research assistant for a prestigious institution since 2015 for psychiatry, we focus on psychosocial rehabilitation, smoking cessation, and clinical trials for cannabis use disorder for people with serious mental illness. As of right now I have one publication and two poster presentations. I just submitted a manuscript and I am working on another paper and an abstract for a conference. My interest is in behavioral neuroscience but I am worried that my lack of hard science background was a detriment this time around. I majored in psychology and in neuroscience in undergrad and I took pre-med courses. However, my grades are all over the place. I would get B's and A's in hard science classes but then not did well in easier classes. This was mostly due to personal issues. My GRE scores are also abysmal. My boss and coworkers keep telling me to take a prep course and retake them. I know that I should but I just don't know if I can afford it. This past cycle I applied to 13 schools and only had one interview. This time around I will probably stay around the same number but I honestly have no idea where to apply. I want to reapply to some of the same schools but I don't know if that's a bad idea or not. Thoughts? Good luck everyone! I can also help answer questions since this isn't my first rodeo.

I agree, just let me know one way or the other so I can move on. It's frustrating

Anyone else think it's weird to still have not heard back from schools that you didn't even have an interview for? I mean there is no way I would be accepted without an interview, so what's the deal? It's almost April...

The first time I applied I was 21 (senior in college), I was completely naive about the whole process and was ultimately rejected from the 4 programs I applied to. I'm 28 and about to graduate with my MS. Unfortunately it was a no go on PhD programs this cycle but I will be trying again. I've worked at a prestigious institution as a research assistant for the past 3 years and I am going to continue working on my publication list and gaining experience. Although it has taken me longer than I would have liked, I'm glad I took the time to get real world experience and mature before I enter such a rigorous program. However, it all depends on who you are and if you are mentally prepared for how challenging it is.

Thank you! I am definitely going to keep trying until it happens. Hopefully things will work out in the end, I just need to shake it off (which has been tough).

I'm sorry you're going through this too! It's so discouraging. I know that I will feel better and move on but right now it just feels like a punch to the stomach. Hopefully I can shake it off soon and figure out how to make myself a more competitive candidate next time around. Gah. Chin up! If we just keep trying we can't really fail

There is a 99.9% change this application cycle is not going to work out for me. After not hearing about an admission decision a month after interview I decided to email my POI. He said "After careful consideration I have decided not to have a student from this cohort join my lab." I was unbelievably upset. I also still haven't received an official rejection which is weird. Not sure why they're keeping me in limbo. I need to lick my wounds and start getting prepared for next cycle but I am just so sad. Anyone else feeling similar?

Those are vastly different, I'm not sure if I can provide any insight to help you decide :/ I guess if you are interested in both fields you can decide by who provides better funding, which area would you rather live in, how well known are the professors you would be working under, which program would allow you more opportunities to be published and/or first author. As for me, my interests are in serious mental illness and degenerative diseases. The etiology of these diseases, psychopathology, neurobiological underpinnings, epigenetics.

What's your area of interest research wise? I'm a behavioral neuro person too. Of the schools you applied to, I only share UC Boulder and I got rejected from them as well.

No, as @Clinapp2017 mentioned usually people present posters before publishing. I'm not sure where the confusion came from, was it because I send submit an abstract? This is generally the format needed to be considered for a poster presentation. In the majority of cases you need to be accepted to a conference in order to present. So they will have a template or guidelines for you to create your abstract of the material that will be presented on the poster. Typically background, methods, results, and conclusions. Hope that helps clarify!

I think showing initiative and finding a conference and researching the submission criteria would show great initiative! I would be incredibly surprised if your PI didn't agree for you to submit an abstract for a poster presentation, as long as the conference is appropriate to the research you are doing. However, depending on the school you go to and the funds you lab has available you may need to cover the cost of the conference and any travel expenses, which can get pricey. But don't let the discourage you, you should have plenty of time to get together funds for a conference that is in the fall or next winter. Deadlines for conferences are usually months before the conference, so it is important to look early! As others have mentioned, you may not be first author on the poster. It really depends on the PI and how much of the work you have done yourself. I would start googling conferences and gathering info to present to your PI. Honestly, the sooner the better. The deadline for the APA conference has already past but you should definitely look into specific conferences for autism and developmental psych research. Good luck!

Thanks, that makes me feel a little better! I'll try not to lose hope yet

Tomorrow will have been a month since my interview and I haven't heard anything. Is it safe to say I'm waitlisted? I'm so upset, I honestly don't know what to do. This wait is killing me.

Did you get an interview? I'm just curious because I applied there as well but never heard anything.

You didn't come off as mean at all, I really appreciate you taking the time to write all that out for me! I was hoping my MS GPA would negate my GRE scores. Wishful thinking. I will take a month like you said and then find a more effective way to study. One of my bosses highly recommends taking a prep course, she said she wouldn't have done as well on the GRE as she did without it and she really believes her GRE scores are what gave her a ton of funding. It is just really discouraging though. I thought my interview went really well, I did a ton of prep work and I tried to be personable but I don't know. It is so hard to tell how things go. I guess the only thing I can do is just try harder next time around. Thanks again! Just having someone take the time to listen to my woes and give some great advice really made me feel better!

I'm feeling more and more pessimistic about this application cycle. Trying to avoid feeling like my soul is being crushed. How can I work to make myself a better applicant next time around? I had a very sub par undergrad GPA due to personal struggles. I took a semester off following undergrad and then jumped into a neuroscience MS program. I did extremely well (3.8 GPA) but then personal struggles came back out of the shadows to bring me down, hard. I left the program after one semester. I took a little over a year to pull myself up and become a better person. I got a job as a research assistant in 2015 at a highly regarded institution. I enrolled in a psychology MS program at a local university, completed a thesis and will be graduating this May (as of right now I have a 4.0 and I am working like hell to make sure this is my GPA when I graduate). I have one publication as first author and I am working on a few others. I have two poster presentations. Lastly, my GRE scores were horrendous. I can study and retake those but I am wondering what else can I do? I have worked so hard to overcome struggles and weaknesses of my past but I just don't know what else I can do to prove myself.

Thanks @Clinapp2017 and @Cognition001! I was told about two weeks but I wasn't sure how accurate that was.

How soon do people typically hear back after interviews?

Oh sweet! Congrats!

here's hoping you don't have to!