PokePsych

I'm transferring, but my lease here ends late May. So no clue what I'm doing over summer and where I'd be :') Gonna try to get my PI to give me some RA money over summer so I can move earlier to where he is now.

Excited about all the things that are gonna happen in the next year.. and already a bit stressed about my housing situation :')

talk with people in your program. Whos the head of the grad program? Who knows more about the requirements? Who to talk to for an exception maybe, etc.

Still working on my SOP :')

In some countries it's quite common to go in with a specific proposal - I assume that's your situation? My hunch would be to read this as do you lit review better (elaborate more and broader), link it to more relevant and related topics, and show what gap in the literature there is and that you're gonna solve. And not like a tiny hole, but like a big giant gap (it's a PhD after all).

I have a friend who is, and I don't think this resembles her experience. Rather, she feels like she lacks contact and supervision and nobody is really interested in what you or others are doing...

Okay, I feel I just hatched another promising 'line of research' egg that relates to what I do but also is something novel

when you plan to write but you end up watching youtube and movies..

This is such a hard call. I've actually talked a tiny bit with my advisor on it - he also confirmed it really varies per advisor/person. He's not looking for people who recreate what he does and/or make small increments on his research, rather he looks for creative people who push things in new ways and he's somewhat less interested in if it is a 100% fit to what he does (actually a lot of research in his lab is not even directly tied to his main topic, yet he's still very excited about it). However, he also commented on how he comes across a lot of students, especially at top schools who basically extend their advisor's work in a certain direction but not go after the big novel things. I think overall you want to show you can talk the talk and know what is going on in the area. You want to be specific enough (e.g., for social psych, saying you want to study how people feel is way too vague), but not set yourself away on a specific topic that is too narrow.

Nop...

will sbmit this weekend - am still revising my SOP because I started some concrete projects here now, so I want to mention those And things I learned or started learning (R, multilevel analysis)

What are everyone's research interests?

I think you want to understand that advice as 'instead of relisting things we can learn from your transcript and CV, tell us something about why you want this'. I also think 'why you are drawn to the subject' and 'the research you want to do' are not necessarily mutually exclusive. I think a lot of people (and a good SOP) will integrate both interests and then builds toward what you learned and how you would extend what you're interested in.

All these feelings are incredibly normal - I share many of them with you. I don't know why, as objectively I seem to be pretty good at what I do (and based on feedback). If it really bothers you that you don't get enough criticism & you're in some way close to your advisor, bring it up. It leaves you in the dark really, which is not good. And last - don't worry about things that may or may not happen - worry about PhDs and scholarship if/when the time gets to it...

I don't think your attitude is necessarily wrong - especially when it comes to science. What you want to learn/do however (and i'm still learning too) is find a way to deal with ur anxiety. It took me a good month to get the courage (and run my ideas by 5 people) before I dared to send them of to my advisor. It's not good, because a) I lost valuable time, b) I was stressed for absolutely no reason, c) he was SUPERenthusiastic (so I was 'afraid' for nothing). At the same time, it's never wrong to have a close look if what you're doing makes sense - or at least whether you'd be able to defend and/or sell it. My friend's committee just destroyed her thesis (because she was not careful like you/did not care enough if she was doing it right), forcing her to take an extra semester. I think you need to find a balance, I'm still err-ing on the same side as you (although to a lesser extent).

my first study at this uni will go to the IRB at the end of this week :3 I feel like I have 2 really good ideas also to start data on next semester.. EXCITED

Yess! You're fine to freak out. I'm 'applying' to a big school to transfer - my advisor is already there and is like don't worry - but still I am because it is sort of a first impression anyway :') I applied last year and got into a top school and made it if the waitlist close to April 15th :') So the stress was/is real

would be happy to reveiw, just send a PM

As for c - yes that's in NL. It's also you need to find the job and have the contract to show you work that nr of hours (so a 0-hrs contract will not do; which most waitressing/supermarket/etc. jobs will give out) - not sure which city you plan on moving, but unless you speak Dutch this can also be a barrier.

Are you an EEA/EU/Swiss student? You only get this if you have a) lived in NL for at least 5 years, or b) work 56 hrs a month (good luck with ur education - and they will be strict with this), or c) your parent/partner works that nr of hours. As for the tuition fee loan - the max you can get for that is the actual tuition of that year (I think its around 2000 euro per year, but I believe they're also gonna cut it in half for the first year of a bachelor, so it won't be much really). That for sure won't cover your expenses. As for the other loan - if you'd qualify - it's decent. 0% interest rate atm, the terms of paying back are decent, etc. They just won't give it out easily. It also depends on the terms of the loan you can get in your own country.

It helps to be able to potentially get external funding in that you're 'cheaper' to the department (and as such they could potentially take on more students), but its of course not a guarantee

Some people are still horrible people.

Yesss!! Go girl!!

some people are just horrible people.

No, that's fine! I did the same!