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bon to the jour

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Everything posted by bon to the jour

  1. Hi Everybody, I'm not even close to applying yet --- in fact, I'm still in my first year --- but I'm curious about how narrow a job search can be for an academic psychologist. My initial thinking is that basically, you go where the jobs are, which means a national search. Is a regional search, or for that matter, a state-wide search basically impossible?
  2. So the gift-giving season is upon us --- does anyone get a gift for their advisor? I have no clue whether I should or not, so I was looking to hear what you guys usually do. I was thinking of just baking some cookies, but again, I don't know the etiquette around these situations...
  3. ha that was good for a chuckle joro. too bad it will be stuck in my head all week...
  4. Taking a bunch of graduate classes may actually just be a a big, expensive waste of time. At least in psychology, most schools only accept 6 or so transfer hours towards your graduate degree. Look into the policy on credit transfer at the schools your thinking of applying to and make sure that if you spend the time and money in graduate level classes, they will count towards your eventual degree.
  5. I can't decide what I should wear to orientation... what about you guys? I've got a general orientation from the Graduate School and then another departmental one. I'm inclined to say I'd rather look nicer for the departmental orientation because those are the people I'll see every day. What are you thinking about wearing?
  6. Yes, but how is their tenure affected by your performance? Like in a "you obviously can't teach because your student is crap" sort of way, or something else?
  7. Why is it that if they don't have tenure your success and his/her success depend on one another?
  8. Yes, it does make you wonder --- that is an excellent point that I hadn't really thought about until now. I suppose one reason that professors want us to work hard and be stellar students is because they think it reflects upon their own career. For example, an advisor takes on a new student; if the student is successful and wins awards, grants, fellowships, has lots of thoughtful publications, ect, the advisor's peers may or may not attribute that student's success to the wisdom and success of the advisor. But if the advisor takes on a student who does poorly, with little knowledge of the field, unimpressive publications, and under-developed skill-sets, the "black sheep" of the field might call into question the advisor's own capabilities --- in the same way that we make assumptions about the parents of children who throw long, drawn-out temper-tantrums in public, or who have terrible manners. This is all speculation, of course, but it is something to think about. And also a bit funny --- imagine professors tip-toeing around students as if we are all ticking time bombs that, if detonated, draw the scorn and mistrust of other academics to our advisor. Or like we students are hot potatoes that advisors toss around from project to project in effort to not let us fall and burn the advisor's own foot. Anywho, I digress yet again. These were just some funny images that popped into my head while I was writing.
  9. I so admire my advisor's career and accomplishments, and I trust that he asks me to do things for my own good. Like that semester I collected, scored, and entered data on my own in a 200-person study. Or that time I spent the summer reading "Applied Multiple Regression/Correlation Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences". Or maybe that time I attempted to write an article on a topic I don't really know much about. Anyway, I digress. Back to the point: When my advisor asks me to do something, I see it as more "eat your vegetables because they're good for you" (a la my mother) and less "grade these papers because I don't want to and and I don't know what else to do with you" (a la frightening, advisors-from-hell stories). But I suppose this type of motivation only works in scenarios where you trust your advisor is investing in your career and really wants you to stand out amongst your peers.
  10. I had a few terrible semesters myself before doing well, so I know exactly what your problem is like. I chose to not address any grades in particular and really focus more on the catalyst behind my switch from academic probation to dean's list. After all, grad schools are really looking for the motivated students --- those that get good grades because they really learned something as opposed to those who just test well or guessed lucky on multiple choice exams. What I'm trying to say is that having good grades is not enough, because almost every applicant has good grades. Schools want to know why an applicant's grades are good, and that's where the statement of purpose comes in. As such, I would try to focus the statement more on the reason behind the change in grades, and less on what's to blame for your poor performance in a few classes. If you have more specific questions about your statement, I can try to answer those as well. I've found that the hardest part of writing these things is being able to explain your reason for pursuing graduate study in the first place --- as many applicants and ad comms alike will tell you, "because I want to" is not an acceptable answer.
  11. I actually looked at that. the interest on 8500 at my bank is only $4 a year... totally not worth it
  12. for keeping feet dry in the snow, try newspaper bags. we used to put on socks, then slide one of those long, skinny plastic newspaper bags on each foot, and then put boots on. when you tuck the top of the bag into the bottom of your pant legs, it keeps the snow out and your feet stay warm and dry.
  13. I'm pretty sure you aren't allowed to pay off debt with your stafford loans, but then again, how often do they really check up on that stuff? I know someone who took out stafford loans to vacation in Greece... also not allowed, i think, but no consequences yet.
  14. I am! Psychology PhD. I'm going to be studying mostly creativity but I'm also interested in expertise in writing
  15. To add some late advice (though it seems you're doing awesome... great job with all those pages!) I'd recommend every writer read How to Write A Lot by Paul Silvia. It's a tiny book --- very fast and funny read --- that has been immensely motivating for, you guessed it: writing a lot. It is under $10 at Amazon. Go check it out --- anyone who struggles with writing (even those who shame the rest of us with their prolific compositions) will undoubtedly find this little gem of a book useful.
  16. I think that it can't be that hard to adjust to a place that you really like a lot. It might seem intimidating at first, but if you really like a place, you should be excited to go forth and adventure in your new habitat. Also, friends and family can be supportive from afar --- I learned this first-hand when I moved 600 miles away for my undergrad to a place where I didn't know a soul. No matter the problem in your new, far-away land, it's likely that a phone call to friends or family can help you solve the problem, or at least give you some idea as to how to solve the problem yourself. Plus, NW studies what you want to study, and publishes lots of stuff which puts you in a better position when job-hunting.
  17. Now that the stress of applications and whatnot is over, what is everyone going to do with their last few months before starting school? Any fun travel plans? Moving to a new city? Spending obscene sums of money on Swedish goods from Ikea? Personally, I'll have a pretty boring summer. I live in the same city as my new school, so a big cross-country move is not on the books for me. I will, however, be finding and moving into my very own apartment which I'm super-excited about --- I've never lived without roommates and I'm one of those people that really likes to be alone. And of course, with the territory of a new apartment come new decorations and furniture (aka stuffing my VW with as much crap from Ikea as it can hold). My advisor and I will be working on a few articles to publish by the end of the summer, but other than that I'm not really doing anything academic. Mostly, I just have to suffer through these last few months (4 months and 16 days, actually) of working in a restaurant to pay the bills, and then I will never again work a meaningless job where homework is banned and I'm required to pretend to be nice to people who think I'm an idiot because I work in a restaurant. So in order to break the habit of checking the results page every 15 minutes, I thought we could all take our minds off accepts, rejects, and waitlists by sharing our summer plans. Anyone care to start?
  18. I'd start by asking someone in your department (probably a clinical person, if you want a psyD) or whoever teaches the "careers in psychology" class if you have one of those. Also regarding your GPA, check to see if your school allows you to retake classes for a grade replacement. My undergrad school let people retake up to 3 classes for a new grade and this was a life-saver for me. As for psyD programs, I'm not really sure where they are or how they are ranked (I'm a social/cog psy person) but another thing you may want to look into is clinical phd programs. My school, for example, is really counseling-heavy; clinical students here are supposed to have 300+ hours counseling whereas some other schools are more research-based and only require about 80 hours counseling. Also, where you apply is going to have a lot to do with where you want to live, what exactly you want to study, and also the strength of your application packet, including letters of recommendation, research experience, publications/posters, statement of purpose, overall and major GPA, GRE scores, and general fit with the program you are applying to. When you speak with a professor about where you should apply, be prepared to answer these sorts of questions. Finally, if your GRE scores aren't very good (and keep in mind that there are some cases where this doesn't really matter), you can take a GRE prep class that almost guarantees at least a 100 pt increase.
  19. Although it's exciting to put a "big name" school on your C.V., that name won't get you very far if the school didn't teach you anything (for example, you can't work in a lab and your advisor won't really be supportive of a thesis project). Now, this lack of research experience won't really matter if you are going to work for a big company who wants someone to apply I/O stuff in the workplace --- but if you think you want to go into academia, research experience (gained en-route to a PhD) is essential. So there are a couple big questions to ask yourself: 1) how likely is it that you'll want to work in academia, and 2) is the extra research experience and the helpful, supportive advisor worth the extra $30,000? The other things --- like social scene, for instance --- should be secondary criteria. You'll probably be to wrapped up in school work to really get into the social scene. So, is researching things or applying things more appealing to you? And if you'd rather do research, is it worth the extra $30K? This second question I ask because if you do indeed want to focus on research, I think that you'll be better off getting the experience from school B and then going to a PhD program where you'd be happier than at school A. And if it takes you a while longer to get your PhD, so what? Isn't a few extra years of school worth doing something you really enjoy for the rest of your life? Alternatively, if you think you'd be happiest working for a company where you can apply what you already know, then I would say go for the big name school A --- this is one scenario wherein no employers will care what lab you worked in or whether you did a "thesis" as opposed to a thesis. So what are your thoughts?
  20. I haven't started school yet, but when I think about it, I can see myself becoming somewhat hermit-esque --- and frankly, I'm kind of excited about it. No doubt it will be painful at times, but I'm so nerdy that I think I'll really enjoy reading everything I can get my hands on and then typing it all up from impeccably detailed, time-consuming outlines. Are my suspicions totally off, or will school really drive me to become a callous-fingered, be-speckled, hermit?
  21. Thanks for all the info guys! I figure if I ever want to live outside the States for a while, grad school is the best time to do it. Plus my field is pretty small, and there are some very interesting people overseas. If you have studied abroad before or you are thinking about it, how did you research your schools? Of course there are websites, but each school makes itself sound awesome. Is it best to just ask around your department for school recommendations? Also, it's not really practical to make campus visits in a foreign country --- how do you decide which school is right for you?
  22. I have been thinking a lot lately about studying in the UK or elsewhere in Europe --- I would kill for the opportunity, but do PhD programs even let you do that? What about stipends or tuition waivers? Does anyone have any info or experience with this? If it means anything, I'll be studying social/cognitive psychology.
  23. I don't really know about expectations because I have yet to start my PhD program, but I have a couple suggestions anyway. First, it sucks that you have to work on a project you hate. The only plus to getting it done quickly is that you can move on to a more interesting project that perhaps you and your advisor come up with together. Second, I think that your advisor is being kind of petty about not giving you any help when you aren't sure what to do, but maybe he's acting that way in part because of the way that you approach him for help. If I've learned anything from working in a restaurant with ornery, irascible customers, it's that people are less inclined to do something if it's not their idea. What that means here is that perhaps when you ask your advisor for help, he feels like you are asking him to do the project he assigned to you. If you go to him under the guise of not understanding something in an article you are reading for background info on the project, he might feel like you are taking more of an initiative and really trying to get the project done, and thus, be more apt to help you. So in short, I don't think it's your fault, but your teacher obviously does, catering to his perception might get you some answers --- even if you do have to play along with his ridiculous idea that it's your fault you don't know how to do with a project you know nothing about.
  24. I'm sure there are some wonderful, romantic-comedy-worthy student/professor relationships out there. But in most scenarios, it just seems like a really excellent way to destroy your reputation as a qualified academic while simultaneously tanking your professor's career. Some say two birds, one stone; I say, just don't do it.
  25. I don't know anything about your field, but I grew up around College Park, and it's not really a fun place unless you are a binge-drinking, compulsive facebook-friending teenager. Granted it's near DC and Baltimore, but it's not really that easy to take side trips into those cities --- parking is a major pain in the ass, and an expensive one to boot. Also, since there are 30,000 to 40,000 students on campus, you can imagine that College Park is mostly just campus and an Ikea. On the other hand, since it is such a big institution, there might be more opportunities for grants and funding. I know it's not much, but I hope this might help a little.
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