watson

Behavioral is correct--as we understand them today, cognitive predates social, and social predates clinical. These days each branch influences the others (e.g., social borrows cognitive methods, clinical borrows social theory, clinical problems like stress are investigated in social labs to see the impact of situation to improve social theory...etc etc etc). Cognitive does not necessarily = neuro. In fact, most cognitive work has no neuro component. I could go into detail, but when I started to I realized I was basically reiterating an entire course on the history of psychology, so suffice to say they are different. Indeed, most departments have a cognitive area, and a separate area for more neuro-focused research (NU calls it BBC, the first B standing for 'brain'). In general, social psych is theory-focused, but a good number of people do applied social psych (some schools actually have dedicate applied social psych degrees).

Hahah well, I originally thought I wanted to go clinical...until I realized I hated the idea of ever having to be a therapist!!!! I really have no drive to provide therapy for people. And I wasn't interested in studying "abnormal" behavior--that is the big difference. Social psychologists study what happens in the typical person, rather than disorders, so we actually see it as more broadly applicable. Plus, another difference is if your interests lie at the group or individual level. For example, I study stereotyping/prejudice/intergroup relations. Pretty direct policy/education applications come out of my work, and it studies an issue that affects people on both the individual and group level. I do a lot of basic research, but I also do research on interventions which is super applied. Plus, my goal is to work in the government, so my research and background will ultimately end up being in a very applied sense, just on the group level again rather than the individual level. Honestly, based on your examples of social psych studies, I think you probably have a fairly limited exposure to work that most social psychologists do these days, as those studies are not something we'd think is an acceptably worthwhile study to run in your first semester of grad school. Studies usually start at the 2x2 level and most people are more interested in big real world social issues. But even older ones are more interesting than what you seem to think! Milgram experiment! Stanford Prison Experiment! Asch conformity studies! Bystander effect studies! Those are all non-intuitive, social psych studies that had big impact on the field and led to some pretty applied recommendations. Just not for the applied practice of therapy, which is not what all of psychology is.

Good luck with applications all! For those though that are interested and starting to get antsy and thinking about possible Plan Bs (let's call them safety/back-ups for now), I've posted 3 emails I got in the last 48 hours regarding open lab manager positions over in the "Lab Manager Positions" thread.

And a third (btw, Jay is awesome and Dave is HUGE in the field, so this would be a great one): Professors David Amodio and Jay Van Bavel are currently seeking a full-time Lab Manager to begin in August or September 2012, for a two-year commitment. The lab manager will work half-time in David Amodio’s Social Neuroscience Lab and half-time in Jay Van Bavel’s Social Perception and Evaluation Lab, located adjacently in the NYU Psychology Building. The Lab Manager will work closely with Drs. Amodio and Van Bavel, and their respective lab groups, to coordinate and conduct research studies related to human social cognition using a combination of behavior and neuroscience methods (e.g., EEG, fMRI, peripheral psychophysiology). The Lab Manager will also manage laboratory activities, such as planning research events and meetings, maintaining laboratory computers and equipment, maintaining lab websites, interviewing and supervising research assistants, managing grants, preparing stimuli, programming experimental tasks, processing and analyzing data, reviewing literature, and editing manuscripts. The Lab Manager will also have the opportunity to participate in the broader intellectual community in the New York University Department of Psychology. This position is open to candidates with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, neuroscience, or a related discipline. Previous experience conducting research in social psychology or cognitive neuroscience is highly desired. Experience with fMRI and/or EEG methods and data analysis and with computer programming (e.g. MATLAB) is preferred but not required, and will otherwise be learned on the job. Above all, we seek a candidate who is self-motivated, highly organized, and a good team player and who, ideally, seeks to eventually pursue a career in psychological science. The ideal candidate will also make creative contributions to the research program and, as such, have opportunities to co-author manuscripts resulting from the research. Salary and benefits will be commensurate with experience. We will review applications until the position is filled. However, for full consideration, we encourage applicants to submit materials by April 15th. Applicants should submit a brief resume and a 1-page cover letter describing their qualifications for the position, relevant experience, and research interests, along with the names of 2-3 references that may be contacted for a recommendation. Please address applications to both David Amodio (david.amodio@nyu.edu) and Jay Van Bavel (jay.vanbavel@nyu.edu) via email. For more information about our research labs, please visit our respective web sites:amodiolab.org and psych.nyu.edu/vanbavel/ Please feel free to circulate widely.

Another: The Aging, Culture, and Cognition Laboratory at Brandeis University, located in Waltham, MA, is hiring a Research Assistant. The Research Assistant will coordinate behavioral and neuroimaging (fMRI) data collection for studies of aging, culture, and memory, under the direction of Dr. Angela Gutchess. Examples of Key Responsibilities: Assists in the collection of fMRI data off-site. Must be reliable, pay attention to detail, and be interested in learning about neuroimaging research. Own transportation to drive to Charlestown is preferred Administers research studies and data collection. This includes recruiting participants, phone screening for eligibility, scheduling sessions, creating experimental stimuli and tasks, conducting computerized and paper and pencil testing, and data scoring and entry. Coordinates laboratory activities and administrative matters for the lab. This includes training and coordinating undergraduate student research assistants, responding to phone calls, organizing laboratory space and meetings, troubleshooting computer issues, documenting laboratory procedures, and organizing human subjects paperwork and records. Qualifications: Attention to detail, reliability, strong organizational skills, and good interpersonal skills are required. Must be able to multi-task and take initiative. Must be willing to work flexibly and professionally with research participants and members of the research team. Previous experience in a research setting, such as working with research volunteers, collecting and organizing data, and proficiency in Word and Excel are preferred. Bachelor’s Degree preferred Background in Psychology and/or Neuroscience preferred. How to Apply: Submit cover letter and resume as a single document at http://www.brandeis.edu/humanresources/jobs/external.html. Elect option for "External Applicant". Sort the job listing by clicking the Job ID column heading. Locate the desired job listing. Click the job title and then Apply Now. Research Assistant (job id # 520452) Brandeis University Brandeis - Waltham Campus Closing Statement: Brandeis University operates under an affirmative action plan and encourages minorities, women, disabled individuals, and eligible veterans to apply. It is the policy of the University not to discriminate against any applicant or employee on the basis of race, ancestry, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, genetic information, national origin, disability, veteran status, or on the basis of any other legally protected category. ---------------------------------- Angela Gutchess, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Psychology and Volen National Center for Complex Systems Brandeis University http://www.brandeis.edu/gutchess/

Congrats! That means you're in

Agreed. When you send the application, just tell them to be expecting emails from Dr. X (@ email address) and Dr. Y (@ email address) shortly with letters attached...then make sure that those letters arrive asap

You can email and say how much you enjoyed the interview and casually state "I hope to hear back from you and the committee soon", and if it is your first choice you can emphasize that. POIs will take the hint and fill you in on whether or not the committee has met yet, and may cough up more details but you can't push them too much

Just got this email, as a heads up: Dear Colleagues - Please pass this note on to any bright undergraduates or recent grads who may be interested! Full-time lab manager position at the University of Maryland Developmental Social Cognitive Neuroscience Lab The University of Maryland Developmental Social Cognitive Neuroscience Lab (www.dscn.umd.edu) directed by Dr. Elizabeth Redcay is seeking a full-time lab manager starting this summer 2012. The DSCN lab investigates the neural and cognitive bases of social-cognitive and communicative development (e.g., joint attention, theory of mind) in typical individuals and individuals with autism. The methods used include functional and structural MRI as well as behavioral measures with adults and children (infancy through adolescence). This is an excellent position for anyone who would like to pursue graduate work in developmental, cognitive, and/or clinical neuroscience. We encourage applicants with a background in psychology, cognitive science, computer science, engineering, or related fields to apply. Responsibilities will include data collection and analyses of MRI and behavioral studies with infants, children and adults, development and maintenance of lab imaging analysis and stimulus presentation scripts, and scheduling study participants. Additionally, the lab manager will supervise undergraduate research assistants, manage IRB protocols, and be responsible for general lab upkeep. The position will involve MRI operator training on the new 3T Siemens scanner on UMD campus. There may be opportunities for presenting data at conferences and co-authoring publications. Experience with matlab (and other programming languages), neuroimaging analysis software (e.g., AFNI, SPM, FSL, Freesurfer), and/or linux is preferred. Applicants must have strong organizational and interpersonal skills and must enjoy working with children. Salary will be competitive commensurate with experience and includes health benefits. The start date is flexible between mid-May and July. This is a 1-2 year position. To apply please email your application to Daniel O’Young (droyoung@umd.edu). Application materials should include a cover letter detailing qualifications and interest, CV (with GPA), relevant coursework or transcript, and 2 letters of reference (with contact information).

For anyone who is thinking about next steps for next year, I just got this email: Dear Colleagues - Please pass this note on to any bright undergraduates or recent grads who may be interested! Full-time lab manager position at the University of Maryland Developmental Social Cognitive Neuroscience Lab The University of Maryland Developmental Social Cognitive Neuroscience Lab (www.dscn.umd.edu) directed by Dr. Elizabeth Redcay is seeking a full-time lab manager starting this summer 2012. The DSCN lab investigates the neural and cognitive bases of social-cognitive and communicative development (e.g., joint attention, theory of mind) in typical individuals and individuals with autism. The methods used include functional and structural MRI as well as behavioral measures with adults and children (infancy through adolescence). This is an excellent position for anyone who would like to pursue graduate work in developmental, cognitive, and/or clinical neuroscience. We encourage applicants with a background in psychology, cognitive science, computer science, engineering, or related fields to apply. Responsibilities will include data collection and analyses of MRI and behavioral studies with infants, children and adults, development and maintenance of lab imaging analysis and stimulus presentation scripts, and scheduling study participants. Additionally, the lab manager will supervise undergraduate research assistants, manage IRB protocols, and be responsible for general lab upkeep. The position will involve MRI operator training on the new 3T Siemens scanner on UMD campus. There may be opportunities for presenting data at conferences and co-authoring publications. Experience with matlab (and other programming languages), neuroimaging analysis software (e.g., AFNI, SPM, FSL, Freesurfer), and/or linux is preferred. Applicants must have strong organizational and interpersonal skills and must enjoy working with children. Salary will be competitive commensurate with experience and includes health benefits. The start date is flexible between mid-May and July. This is a 1-2 year position. To apply please email your application to Daniel O’Young (droyoung@umd.edu). Application materials should include a cover letter detailing qualifications and interest, CV (with GPA), relevant coursework or transcript, and 2 letters of reference (with contact information).

The thing is really just that there are far, far, far more really awesome, super qualified applicants than there are spots. Especially right now, as more people are applying to grad school than ever before coupled with less and less available funding. The crazy thing is, that with the number of people getting psych PhDs there aren't anywhere near enough jobs (especially academic jobs, if your goal is to be a clinician then you're fine), and now we have a backlog of post-docs who are far cheaper (they only need salary, not tuition remission) who are there to do a lot of the same work and already have training. So yes, a large part of that feeling like it is super random is due to the simple fact that ad-coms have to turn down really super qualified people for PhD programs all the time and right now is a particularly bad time to be an applicant. You're also correct in that GRE scores are not a good predictor of success, but they are frequently one of the very few ways schools have to judge your quantitative ability. And while we do use SPSS, ad-coms are seriously impressed by strong quant skills because it signals a likelihood of having aptitude for understanding stats beyond the basics (and therefore understanding how to design studies and analyze them appropriately based on stats knowledge). That said, obviously GRE scores aren't about stats skills, but they don't have much else to go on which is why they keep relying on it (flawed as it is). And yes, between two otherwise equal looking applications, they will invite the person with a higher GRE score before the one with the lower GRE score. I'm not really sure what to say about the ABD thing, since it's way lower in psych and also ad-coms have no way of predicting that based on the application. People admitted to PhD programs typically all look stellar on paper. I think the issue there is with funding matched with the finding that the longer you stay in grad school the more bitter about it you become. But yeah, it's frustrating to think you can't get your foot in the door when other people are in and not liking it or not appreciating it. When I was applying I applied to 8 schools and got into 5....but now that I'm a 4th year and I see the list of people invited to interview (we get a 'cheat sheet' filling us in on the details) I am blown away by the sheer strength of their applications. I seriously wonder if I could get into a program these days based on what I've seen. The 8 people we interviewed this year (and we're accepting 4) all had worked in labs at least 3 years, were all graduating/graduated at least magna cum laude, had GRE scores that were sky high, had given presentations at conferences, and most had taken a year or two off to be a full-time research assistant or lab manager in a lab headed by a big name in the field. They all had super well fitting research interests and were quite clear about those interests. But I doubt they were the only applicants who fell into those categories and plenty of people never got an interview even with strong applications. It's just really true that it has never been more difficult to get admitted to a PhD program.

I also asked my undergrad advisors who they thought were good matches. My undergrad was small and only really had clinical and neuro faculty, but I wanted to do social psych. I told them my broad area and so basically they just reported the biggest names they knew in the field. Then I looked at the webpages to narrow it down (plus I only applied to schools in geographic areas I liked). In retrospect, I did it pretty haphazardly. I applied to 8, got into 5, and ended up supremely happy with my choices and final selection. I was beyond lucky how it worked out.

In our department, all the areas except clinical pretty much accept 1/2 of the students invited to interview, with the others put on a waitlist (unless you do something to totally put the faculty or grad students off). Sometimes if we're really impressed or looking for a bigger class it goes as high as 3/4. For example, this year we interviewed 8 for social, accepted 4 off the bat, put 2 on a waitlist with likely admission if we get a decline, and 2 on a waitlist with very low chances of admission (since we figure we'll get at least 2-3 out of the first 2 groups so we won't have to fill spots). 2 years ago though, we interviewed 8 and made 6 initial offers--5 ended up accepting so the next year we made fewer offers.

No idea if they sent invites yet, but I know they do hold interviews.

Part of this depends on your goal and the school's focus. I'm in an experimental area of psych, but our clinical area is also very much research-oriented (we say we're training researchers who can do clinical work, but not training full-time therapists). If your goal is to go a research/academic/professor route (or if that is the focus of the program, even in clinical), then yes, your age could very well play a huge factor here. The reason is that they figure that 1. it may take you longer to graduate with those other responsibilities, 2. the time/money they put into you may not pay off as much as someone who has 50 years left in the field after finishing the PhD. However, if your goal is to be a practitioner (and that is the focus of your programs) then your age will play a significantly smaller role in the admission process (my undergrad was practitioner-focused, and there was at least one person >40 and they said before I came there was another person >50).

Very true. I know for psych (and particularly for non-clinical areas) the time frame is January and February for the most part. If you're on the top of a waiting list and get in that way you may hear from places in March as well, though you're usually informed if you're on a waiting list by the end of February/first week of March. I actually think it's pretty cruel how many applicants are already rejected but not informed for months because of this process--my current program is a particularly bad offender in this regard.

As far as I'm aware (and this could be true only of social psych or of my program only), they take the entire pile of applications and divide it up based on POIs listed. I don't think there is a secret algorithm in the formal sense, but each faculty member basically gets to divide up their pile how they see fit. Some put more weight on GPA, others on years of research experience, etc, but I do believe that they essentially make a few piles outright: (1) scores are high so look at the file closely and positively, (2) scores are middle-range so if they have a great research background move them to the first pile, and (3) scores are too low so barely look and only spend more than a minute if something amazing jumps out of the essay. Truth is, dealing with the anybody who doesn't make it into pile #1 after a review is a very low priority and why it takes SO long to hear from some places. POIs are busy and they choose to spend the energy wooing the top candidates rather than easing the misery of the rest of the applicants. Hell, NU makes their admission decisions and posts them online but doesn't bother to send an email out saying they are up--that is how sad the process gets and precisely why it is so frustrating to an applicant.

Double-checked with a friend at Rutgers--they have interviews in a few weeks, invites have been sent out although she wasn't sure if they were all sent yet (only applies for social psych--no info on other areas)

Princeton I know has a weekend for it, and from speaking to some friends there at SPSP I believe at least the social psych invites have gone out

Sign up for the SANS listserv (social affective neuroscience society)....I got like 10 emails this week from them asking for people to send graduating undergrads their way for lab manager/RA positions (but be warned, a good chunk are in Europe, mainly UK)

I think you're talking about the so-called 'professional psych' schools....ones where you get a degree that you pay for (i.e., the Chicago School of Professional Psychology)...you can get a masters or doctorate but there is a charge for tuition and you don't get a stipend. The schools are not always accredited (red flag). If that is what you're talking about, then I'd be very cautious. Traditional doctoral programs look at those programs with some suspicion (may be a certain level of elitism in there but it is what it is....if the school is not accredited, then I'd say there is good reason to look at it with suspicion and would suggest going with another program if you have the option).

In that case the phone interview is probably a chance for the prof to ask you if you'd still want to come to the school if he/she was your advisor and not the people you listed in your application. Your POIs may not be taking someone or have invited others, but the prof thinks you'd be a good fit in his/her lab, and is now trying to gauge your interest and see if you really do have a good fit.

First I'd decide if you have a clear preference for one or the other...if you do, call the lesser-preferred one and try to reschedule. If they're about equal in your mind, I'd send your POI at the visiting weekend school that you have been offered an interview the same weekend and if it would be possible to come another time. The thing is that you'll miss out on meeting the rest of the cohort, and any activities like tour of campus/town/apartments or getting to sit in on colloquium/brownbag/etc. You probably would also miss out on meeting other faculty in depth (I actually recall OSU's visiting weekend to be super structured...I think we had printed schedules and everything). Not an easy choice! Good luck! p.s. I PMed my advisor

Not necessarily--don't give up hope yet! Plenty of programs don't contact til February, and not all do interviews. Wait list offers are made right up until late April.

I meant that some schools that don't interview but have a visiting weekend will make offers and invite those students to visit (already accepted but as a way to woo them into picking that school). Only people offered a place before the visit will be accepted--no new offers later. However, (to answer your question) if you're invited to visit and choose NOT to attend the visiting weekend, they won't withdraw your offer....but I can't see a good reason to select a program you didn't bother going to the visiting weekend for if invited. If you got 2 invites to visit schools on the same weekend, tell one program and they'll usually work out another day for you to visit.