C is for Caps Locks

So this might be a long-shot, but I don't suppose there are any well-organized databases regarding placement of social psychology programs? I have looked at the Nosek et al. 2010 paper, but I'm trying to compare a couple of the programs I've been accepted to (particularly in regards to success/placement after attaining a PhD) in order to better inform my choice.

I think the "warped" perspective is a product of the fact that many people here are trying to get into some very competitive programs/places. At that point anything that isn't AMAZING is potentially an issue (although that in no way means there aren't exceptions), but just if you are applying to a well-ranked program by virtue of the large number of applicants chances are you will need to be above average in as many ways as possible to get accepted. Focusing on your specific question, I've pretty much heard/been advised the same. Not every program seems to care as much about GRE scores, but in general I'd say the more competitive the program the more of an issue a low GRE score may be (like periwinkle27 said, your GRE and GPA seem to be the first check you have to survive). I've never had a professor talk about GPA or GRE scores in interviews though, so it seems like once you make it to interviews it's more about you and your fit as a researcher than such things. There are defiantly ways to compensate for a poor/average GRE score (such as addressing it in your SOP or having LORs explain that you're score doesn't reflect your talent). However, again, that still might not help at places that just throw out anyone that isn't hitting their cap (to me this mostly means that it's valuable to look into statistics of GRE scores when universities post them and at least have a sense of what the average for the university is). That to me also doesn't mean you can't apply to super competitive programs with a low GRE, but it might be harder (however, that's really the entire grad app process, anything that isn't amazing in your past is something you will have to deal with or address in your "narrative"). Finally, I certainly don't think less (or more) of anyone based on there GRE score, it's a standardized tests which entails a whole lot of caveats. I feel the same way about GPA, another student having a perfect or low GPA isn't really something I care much about (different schools are different, people have different lives, etc.).

I don't know but everyone I've worked with or met who was a post-bac RA/lab manager ended up somewhere else. Again, I'm sure it depends on POI, but even when you work on niche topics, in my experience professors prefer you branch out (my mentors were for example happy to recommend colleagues working on similar research that they knew personally who they felt would be good grad advisers for me). Basically, it's the "networking" aspect of your graduate application, if a professor you work with writes a strong letter of recommendation for you when you are applying to someone that knows/respects them then it's a pretty good indication that you are a good researcher to the "new" professor. The only time I've heard or been advised that applying to the same program/POI is a good idea is if you the topic is literally so niche that no one else is working on it (but even that seems pretty rare to me). There's just not a lot of benefit to staying in the same program as far as I can tell (even if you say get your undergraduate at Stanford, it's not like there aren't other great programs to attend).

Traveling can be a pain, but I think as others have said it's pretty vital to get an in-person feel for what a program and your POI (as well as their lab) is like.

I think it depends on the POI/program, but I know that at my undergrad institution (R1) it's basically considered a massive taboo to apply to the program. Not because professors don't like you or don't think you are great, but because they (and the department) want you to go elsewhere and expand your network/skills (so here I would generally say it would actually hurt you if you completed your undergrad here and then applied, it does happen on occasion, but it's not very common based on the current grad school cohort). I have however heard of there being a home-field advantage in terms of region, so for example a Midwest program can be a bit wary of East/West coast applicants and vice versa (the logic I've heard professors/grad students throw around is that they sometimes worry if a person will be able to adjust to a vastly different place). I do think this can be countered though by a narrative or explanations of why you think you can survive the move/change (I for example focused on the fact that every level of education I've completed has been in a different state or even country). The regional advantage also based on anecdotal evidence seems to apply a bit more for med school/residencies (because they really don't want you to move after you've finally become a doctor).

I wouldn't worry, it hasn't been that long.

Heard from my POI at ASU, setting up a Skype inteview for next week. Otherwise, traveling for another weekend (yay for good problems!).

Always ties, if you're wearing a suit, wearing a tie is imo neccesary, if you're wearing a nice dress shirt, then a tie looks much nicer than not wearing one. Every interview I've been to so far has been all the men wearing suits with ties on the interview day (so I wouldn't worry about being overdressed).

Yeah, I think the best advice I saw from a famous researcher was to see yourself as an entrepreneur and act accordingly (build connections, advertise, work the system in your favor).

Seconded, having survived my first two interviews, that was a great summary/quick guide to the process. @ForeverJung PMed!

Maybe? You can certainly address a poor GRE in your SoP or your LoR writers can cover it, but for very competitive programs you'll probably need at least a decent score.

Yeah, it sometimes feels very strange when you examine who accepts/rejects you (I've similarly had a couple of rejections from programs I had as "safety schools" but been asked to interview at several in the top 10). One thing I wondered about is if some lower ranked schools will just pass on people they deem as "too competitive" (to avoid wasting time/resources trying to recruit someone that will most likely go somewhere else). I did also blindly send out some applications (decided not to send emails to all the POIs I was interested in), so a couple might have been POIs not even recruiting (in hindsight should have emailed people to check if they were accepting grad students). Although, I think fit is probably the main thing, looking at all the programs that I'm interviewing at, all of them are the ones I had the highest research fit with (to the point that my POIs know my letter of recommendation writers at least by name/research if not personally).

I'd say even for academic programs placement is also the most important metric. Even a PhD is an ends to a means (ideally it should help you receive a post-doc/faculty position or preparing you for a transition into industry), and a program (even if it's highly regarded) that doesn't place recent graduates well is not a great choice.

Congrats! I was just about to message you that I also got some good news from the same department.

I think it's also pretty natural to experience a sort of "what now!?" feeling when you've realize you actually made it. At least for me the process of "looking to apply -> applying -> applied -> accepted in a top program & interviewing at several more" brought both great joy and also fear/anxiety at every step of the journey. It's not for me at least that I'm not ecstatic about getting this far, but as happy as one is, it's also easy to begin to worry about the next step or things one has to do (again, I think it's normal that after the first period of elation/joy, you might begin to worry about things like the logistics of moving to an entirely new city, etc.).

Mmm, tasty data. Personally, I took a quick glance at US News early in the application process, before deciding it was pretty useless (largely because it doesn't separate based on research areas, which is a pretty fatal flaw given that a program could be generally good but still lacking in regards to social psychological faculty/research). NRC is interesting, but like soccerplaya said, rankings from 1997 aren't exactly great (or even relevant given how much is likely to have changed in regards to active faculty). I also looked at the QS World University Rankings and the Times Higher Education World University Rankings (but again they're not specific to areas of psychology). The most effective thing I found was just to talk to all the people I work with (grad students and professors) to see what programs/people they saw as doing "excellent" research on the topics that interest me (then sort of comparing what each person said).

It might just be anecdotal but many of my current profs have often said that GRE/Subject Exam scores/all criteria are much higher now in general for applicants so programs have become increasingly picky (I had one professor who joked he would never have managed to get into grad school now). So even though yeah, a Clinical Psych program isn't necessarily related to Social Psych, it's another metric the programs can use to weed people out (when we've talked about it here, the profs have just said that there are so many good applicants that even not-exactly-relevant or minor things can make a big difference). At least we can all suffer through the increasing bureaucracy together?

I think there can be different timelines, but I've also seen the same timeline apply to both domestic and international students (kinda of sucks but like many aspects of grad school apps the answer seems to be " it depends on the uni".

Ah, that's an additional difficulty, kind of dumb though they would add a clause or statement like that (I'm sure they have a lot of emails, but you also need to be able to fix potential problems). I guess another way you can tackle it is if you can check with whoever delivered it, for example if I sent an electronic transcript from my university to another they would list if it was opened/accessed and if I sent it physically via the provided service I could call that third party company to ask the status. Did you have to upload unofficial or scans of your official transcripts as well? (If that's part of the application, then they can always still see your GPA and course work, in which case it might be fine to wait.)

I sent my transcripts to them a bit later than that I think (didn't notice until later that they wanted an official transcript) and it looks to have appeared well on my end. I am however a psych person and they had already sent out interview invitations in early December (so a slightly faster time-frame). Have you been in contact with their admin people?

Luck dog! I really wanted to go, but I'm already swamped with travel/expenses, so I elected to stay at home. (The warm weather of Texas, a chance to meet some awesome peeps, and to seem some great research was super tempting though.)

Something to remember is that your preferences might change after visiting a program (it's something my mentors told me happened to them, e.g., they thought one program was their "top choice" but after meeting faculty/grad students they revised the order of their choices). In addition to further issues like funding, there's a strong argument for having a couple of options on the table. However, of course, if you have actually come to a decision or realize that you have no interest in a program, then it's polite to be quick in declining an offer or withdrawing an application (again though, I was told that as long as I could see myself attending a program, it was worth visiting).

Hi! Didn't apply to PSSI (just the Psych Department), sent you a PM about my POI.

Hey! I talked to my POI before Christmas and was invited to interview at NYU. Edit: Now I feel dumb, didn't recognize your name, so forgot we talked last week. Sorry!

Yeah, I applied to UI-UC as well, they've got a great program and a lot of awesome researchers. Talked to my POI via Skype and so far all I've heard about the department sounds great. --- @thirdfromthesun A couple of us here got accepted into U of M last week and I think one person was part of the joint women's studies program (sorry for not linking but my phone sucks).