ZachOxford

Hey, all! Just got accepted to UCLA’s social psych PhD today, so I’ve taken the offer and will be starting in the fall. Looks like my spot at CU-Boulder, Portland State, and Northwestern will be less competitive from here on out hopefully, so good luck everyone! I’m excited to see where everyone ends up ☺️

School: CU-Boulder Track and/or specialization within psychology program: Social Psych Interview type: In Person Date: Feb 4-6 Phone interview went well! unfortunately, the main interview weekend conflicts with the interview weekend for Northwestern, so they’re having me come and interview that Sunday through Tuesday as a result. It’s going to be an extremely hectic six days, but I’m totally stoked!

Just received a phone interview from CU Boulder as well! First interview invite that’s social neuroscience-based, so I’m excited. Here’s hoping it all goes well for both of us!

I didn’t apply to UC Davis myself, but three of my friends applying to social psych received interview invites roughly a week before Christmas from there. Good luck with Purdue — I haven’t heard of anyone hearing back from them for social yet!

Finally heard back from UCLA! This week has been so stressful waiting for official word after the phone interview hahah. This is probably my top choice - so stoked! School Name: UCLADate Interview Invite Received: 12/22/17Degree: PhDType: Social PsychologyNotified via: Phone Call From: POIInterview Date: 1/18 - 1/20/2018

During the phone interview I had with UCLA, my PI extended an informal invitation but said to not take it too seriously because she would have to have the department approve it before the end of the week. While this was in social psych, I think the department as a whole may work similarly. If that’s the case, then they can’t really extend formal invites in these convos and you should wait to hear officially from the department I imagine they’re gearing up to send those invitations out and that’s why you were contacted!

I’m in Social psych so it may differ between departments, but I had a phone interview today with my POI at UCLA who said that (at least for social) interview invites should be heading out in the next few days. I think there was a slight delay but they’re trying to get back to people soon

Just got an email from Northwestern to attend their interview weekend for Social Psychology! In the email they said they just contacted their top group of candidates, so I'm thinking most of their interview invites were sent out today. Best of luck, everybody!

Hi, there! I'm glad to see you're so dedicated to pursuing this research, and I think it's wonderful. Some of my responses might be wordy, but it's mainly because I want to make sure you get the best options available to you! 1. PhD or PsyD? PhD, without a doubt. There may be the occasional funded PsyD, but if your goal is to create your own private practice or to work one-on-one with people, ranking isn't as important as just getting into a program (and PhDs are much more likely to pay YOU to get your degree). I have two friends in clinical-focused PsyDs, and it has cost them approximately $50k in loans each, whereas several friends of mine in a clinical PhD gets paid over $20k per year. Given your situation as you described it, being an adult with a family, that's why I suggest a PhD rather than a PsyD that would be more likely to lead to more debt. One additional thing I would mention is that both PhDs and PsyDs can be competitive. There are three major master's programs in psychology that focus on getting people into top Phds (Villanova, William & Mary, and Wake Forest), and these masters programs tend to be fully-funded. While the check isn't as large, it can waive the first two years of your clinical PhD or PsyD, the masters programs have ways to waive your application fee if you look into it, and they have extremely high success rates at getting people into clinical programs. Just an option for you to consider as you apply - their application deadlines are in January if I remember right, so its a bit after all the PhD and PsyD apps, and offer a great back-up idea. As a Villanova student currently, the friends I made last year had a great success rate at getting into fully-funded top clinical PhDs. 2. What are the realities (what can I expect) of working in the different specialties I mentioned above? I'm not great at this part, but I will say this: my PsyD friends tend to have a decent amount of hands-on experience in their programs, but my PhD friends tend to get paid way more. The focus of a PhD will always be research, so if you enjoy trying to develop strategies to better understand or treat mental disorders, I would say PhDs are the way to go. 3. Are there any programs you would suggest that I highly check into? I'm a social psych kid at heart, so I can't help you here. If you care about rankings, U.S. news and world report has a ranked list. If you just want to get a degree so you can help people, then it won't matter as much. 4. How many applications did you submit for grad school? (Just curious, because my list is way too long so far) I've applied to fourteen programs, and have friends who have applied to anywhere from two to twenty-two. The golden standard, I've been told, is around twelve just because of how competitive graduate applications are. Here's the thing, though: the more you apply to, the better your chances are. The only limit when it comes to your grad applications is how big your wallet is. Many programs will waive your application fee if you have ever received a pell grant and/or are a first-gen college student: for my fourteen applications, I never paid a single fee solely because of my receiving pell grants in undergrad. However, GRE scores cost $27/school and transcripts may cost money depending on your schools. Despite not paying a single app fee, I still paid over $600 for my fourteen apps due to GRE and transcripts. So, that's my biggest piece of advice. Apply to as many as you can allow. 5. What is the best way I can achieve my ULTIMATE GOAL, mentioned above? Here's the big question: what kind of difference are you wanting to make? You mention wanting to make one, but that can come in a variety of ways. You can help people one-on-one, which can be done with a PsyD or PhD. You can help people by researching mental health issues / developing interventions, which can primarily be done only with a PhD. You can research mental health disorders and help people one-on-one, which can only be done with a PhD, really. It's a tricky situation, and the market favors PhDs, so I would be cautious. 6. Any suggestions on how to look more favorable to grad schools? Research, research, research. Also: research. Some programs won't care as much if you have first-author publications, but all programs will want research. it will additionally help if you have first-hand experience in the clinical field. A lot of counties throughout America have suicide hotlines that are volunteer-based, so that may be a great opportunity for you to get involved if you don't have any experience. Most areas tend to have decent opportunities. 7. What other things about this whole process, am I forgetting to think about? Letters of rec are extremely important, and they can make or break an application. The BEST letters tend to come from people who are professors because they have an intimate knowledge of the application process. I would recommend cozying yourself up to 3 professors, especially clinical professors, because they're the ones who will make your application for either program go the farthest. Hope this helps! My biggest advice would be to apply to some master's programs to ensure you have back-ups because clinical is extremely competitive, and to make sure you get some research experience with 2-3 professors who can write letters of recommendation. Feel free to message me if you have any follow-up questions!

Hey, all! I'll throw my name in here, too, since I know I'll be stalking the forums for the next few weeks until I hear back from schools anyways lol. Might as well start interacting with people and cheering you all on, 'cause you're gonna do great. Anyways, let's get started: Program of interest: Social Psychology / Social Neuroscience Schools I've Applied to: Northwestern, University of Nebraska - Lincoln, NYU, UCLA, Stanford, WashU, Portland State, Cornell, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Rutgers, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, University of Colorado - Boulder Research Interests: Prejudice, Stereotyping, Discrimination, Social Neuroscience. My big interest is combining nationalism and prejudice research through neuroscience Number one worry about applying: My main worry is that I don't have any publications and haven't won any non-university grants yet. I've got one article in preparation and one to two others that will be submitted in 2018, but that does me no good for now lol Not Worried About: My GRE scores are pretty high, 4-5 years of research experience, 3 research-based honor's theses, social neuroscience Master's Thesis on prejudice from a great school, I've chatted with all of the professors I'm applying to, and my Statement of Purpose is pretty rock-solid I think. I've taken to marathoning pretty much every TV show I love since deadlines last Friday lol. Parks and Rec is currently the only thing getting through my application anxiety hahah

Hey there! I know this isn't necessarily related, but I just wanted to reach out. I'm about to be a second year master's student at Villanova, and given your interests, I would say definitely submit an application there. We have not one, but two social psychology faculty members who are very personable and look at romantic relationships. Furthermore, they do a lot of work online (such as dating profile work) so it could be feasible to look at online interactions as well. While your GPA is a bit low for most Ph.Ds, work in a master's program will show you have what it takes academically while giving you additional research experience to set you apart from the competition. Best of luck!