Stauce

I know more highly ranked/prestigious programs are more competitive to get into, have stronger coursework, have higher requirements for GPA/GRE, and yet whenever the topic of prestige being factored in the decision of where to attend your PhD, I hear people dismiss prestige as a non factor or insignificant, and emphasize research fit instead. This seems to be a contradiction itself. If strong research comes out of prestigious programs and people are hired out of highly ranked programs, doesn’t that matter? I suppose what I am wondering is if it is overly idealistic to suggest research fit is all that matters and that prestige doesn’t. Of course research fit matters, but should one factor in prestige at all (although less than fit), as it does have some sort of implications or effect on future outcomes? For example, in my case, I am deciding between two highly ranked programs and both faculty are great fits. However, the faculty at the less prestigious university is probably a marginally different fit and approaches the questions with different methods. If prestige were truly a non factor, perhaps I would go to the less prestigious program to work with marginally better fit. However, if prestige and ranking is a factor and does have implications for job prospects, placement, receiving grants, etc. then the different rankings/prestige of the two programs could act as a tie breaker or deciding factor for me. What do you all think?

I received an official rejection from the social psych program.

Hello, So I have three offers and I really like two of them but all options are great. Two of the professors do pretty divergent work, but that both hit components of my interests in different ways. I am leaning towards one of the options, but have concern that if I close the door on the other, I won't be able to explore that avenue of work or work with that person again. I have really strong chemistry with both and want to execute research relevant to both labs. How feasible or common is it for collaborations to emerge with a professor whom you declined to work with and declined admission? I am thinking that for whichever option I decline, I would like to instantly broach the topic of collaboration, as I have ideas for how the different research topics may intersect. However, I don't want to step on any toes or upset any people. Does anyone have any thoughts on the matter or experience with this?

I contacted my POI at UCSB a few weeks ago and she said they took a big social psych class last year so the department only has funds for one or two students, and some professors are lower on priority. Hope that helps.

Honestly, when I am faced with awkward situations like in these interview, I tend to compulsively try jokes pretty non stop. I think sometimes they land and sometimes they don’t, but it’s nice to be the one trying to lighten up the situation a bit. It feels like some of the situations are so brutally stiff that you just need to take the tension out with some humor

Take what I say with a grain of salt as it is my first time through the process as well, but I think it looks likely you have been rejected, but not completely certain. You could be invited still if an applicant is accepted to a top choice and they decline one of their other invitations as a result, opening up a spot for you.

I didn’t get a reference from thesis writer and I’ve been accepted to a couple schools already

I am almost entirely confident that all Ohio State social psychology invites/acceptances have been submitted. They have to finalize flights for reimbursement by 2/1, so I doubt they will send invites/acceptances now.

Broadly speaking though, I agree with the other people commenting that this is a bad idea. It’s like if you are interested in someone romantically and you try to convince or tell them that you know what they want better than they do. Not gonna work out. If it’s a tough pill to swallow that you won’t be working with a particular researcher, I would recommend just do your best to revise your expectations for the future. As John Lennon said, “Life is what happens while you’re making other plans”

I would add an additional circumstance in which contacting the faculty member may be permissible. I have heard of some instances (and was just encouraged by a faculty who could not invite me due to lack of funds) of instances where a faculty is low on priority and/or the program or faculty member cannot invite many or any potential students. However, after an applicant receives a fellowship (NSF, Ford, etc), the faculty and program has accepted the student. So if you applied for fellowship and/or receive, I think it would be fine to reach out about this, personally. Although I’d note that when I’ve heard of this sort of thing occurring, I believe the suggestion has been floated by the faculty member first. If a professor isn’t interested in you as a prospective student, that may not change regardless of whether you receive a fellowship or not— The situation would only change if the interest is there but the funds are not

Yeah of course, it's for everyone

Anyone hear anything from UCSB's Social Psychology department? I saw someone reach out to their department a couple weeks ago on the results page, and they were informed that they would not be making decisions as a committee for a couple weeks, and I figured it was about that time. It seems as if they may be one of the last programs who may not have sent invites yet, so I wanted to see if anyone had been in touch with faculty there

Congratulations man, that's a great program. Best of luck with your doctoral studies

Anyone hear anything from UCSB's Social Psychology department? I saw someone reach out to their department a couple weeks ago, and they were informed that they would not be making decisions as a committee for a couple weeks, and I figured it was about that time.

UNC-Chapel Hill has informed me that all invitations have been sent out for social psychology officially.

Oh man, I had no idea. Saw nothing about Columbia on the results page so was holding out hope. Thanks for updating me.

It seems like Social Psychology invites have died down on the results page. Has anyone heard from any of the following for Social Psychology? Cornell UCSB Columbia Pittsburgh Also, just to confirm, it sounds like all invites have concluded for the following, right? Texas at Austin Penn State UNC-Chapel Hill

Here is a link of an editable Excel document we can use https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hJFI7od93wXNHfLiUl0pv4lPUsueRmVg_6N85xgFQd8/edit?usp=sharing

This could potentially work better as a collaborative Google Doc. But I’d add Acceptancss Ohio State (social) rejections UCLA (social)

I agree with this as well. I think with my original comment I was not trying to suggest "safety" schools or getting a PhD just for the sake of it, as I think that would be silly/misguided. But I think it's easier to find the top researchers in a certain field who are often at prestigious schools. It's often more difficult to find less renowned faculty at smaller schools but still doing the same or similar topics, but I tend to believe they exist for most interests and that there is a range of competitiveness. I honestly don't believe in safety schools, just that you can sometimes search people you like and their collaborations, and find new or young faculty or something at less prestigious universities with similar/identical interests by, for example, seeing who they mentored/advised or something. I am sorry if it seemed earlier like I was encouraging just applying to safety schools for the sake of acquiring a PhD. That was not my intent. I agree with everyone's comments/sentiments.

I would qualify the recommendation that we both made with the fact that sometimes the research and faculty you really like is going to be at primarily prestigious/competitive universities (or vica versa), and it's hard for me to say what is the best course of action if all the faculty who you are drawn to are at top universities. Ultimately, that seems unlikely as you can usually find faculty you like at all sorts of ranges of competitiveness if you look hard enough, I think.

I’m really sorry. Keep your head up, some schools do multiple rounds and if people decline, they invite or accept others. However, if you don’t get accepted, it seems the original list of schools that you listed was some very competitive schools you can apply to. If you do end up trying again, I may suggest applying to some schools with less applicants and/or that are less competitive in general. It may help your odds

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I think it could come off that way and it may be a bit of a risk. I would discourage doing it if it is just for peace of mind. If that's the case, you can just wait. However, if you are asking so that you can comfortably reserve weekends for other schools, I think that is totally worthwhile. Lastly, if they like you as a candidate, I highly doubt they would rescind your invitation because you emailed them. If they don't plan on inviting you, there's no harm. Just be polite about it.

Honestly, I personally think it would be fine to reach out to the POI since you had been in contact with him/her. Only a select amount of people are interviewed informally anyways, so I don't think it's out of the blue. If you were one applicant out of hundreds without any contact with POI, I think it would be different. I think you could also mention that you like the program a lot and are just looking for some clarity when booking weekends for particular schools.