TheDude

Eh, if it was me I'd find a way to ask about wait-list procedures under the guise of accepting, or holding in limbo, other offers. I don't know if that would get to a POI though? It might just stay at the administrative level.

I've back-checked the results section and expected this week through next week, and maybe early week after, to be high-time for responses from schools. However, I'm not getting worked up that I haven't heard from all of them because the US has been walloped by snow everywhere. I suspect, especially for New England schools, that adcom meetings have been delayed. No need to panic.

Why do people do this? It isn't going to give you a leg up on your competition to remind a POI to look at your resume and credentials. They are swamped, and I can imagine even in semi-productive labs, would rather be doing other things with their time than looking at all of our CVs and SOPs. I wouldn't email anymore professors.

First interview requests came in yesterday. I have a feeling this week is going to be when most of us finally here from most schools. Best

I received contact for and interview from a school that is at the bottom end of my list of programs I'd want to attend. Of course it is flattering to be considered, but if I get an offer at one of the other 3 schools at the top of my list I'm going there....Or so I think!!???? Anyways, I'd love to interview, but I don't want to spend the cash to travel there, and aside from sleeping in other grad student apartments, there is no money for traveling. To confound the problem more traveling this far would require me to loose 25% of my monthly income on top of whatever the expenses are. Can I request a skype or phone interview under the guise of family duress or something? Maybe I can just be honest and say, "Hey, I live 8-10 hours away can we do this via phone?" I also want to keep lines open on that date because the last week if February is when all school seem to interview. Thoughts?

I guess I will see what offers come in, but I'm only really serious about 4 of the 8 I applied to. I mean I fit well with the other 4 I applied to, I guess I just have thought more about the kind of department I want to be in and where I want to live and would be happiest. Doing all of that has put me in a headspace where I am having thoughts like, "Why the hell did I apply there? I don't want to live there...etc." I'm worried being in this headspace will cloud my judgement when it comes to really comparing multiple offers if I am so lucky.

I don't mind working harder than anyone else in a lab. However, my personal time is my personal time. Graduate school is very important to me, but so is personal growth and sharing life with someone. I never really understood why the 2 have to be at odds. With technology why can't work be brought home if needed? The Ph.D. is important, but so are loved ones and taking a time to share life with someone special. I knew a previous professor who fell in love during the beginning of the Ph.d and then had children and started a family in the final 2 years of writing the dissertation. I guess it gave this romantic some hope! I think these are big questions I'm going to ask in interviews. I imagine it is going to be artful ground to tread. Maybe I'm still a little green, but I'd imagine the Hard Science labs require you to be in a lab daily, whereas in the social sciences a lot of the work I have dealt with is videotaped, grant review, conference proposals, etc. I've been kind of used to reviewing literature for a study on the coast, using SPSS outside of the lab, etc. The typical dance of late night email exchanges and revisions emerge at the peak times, whereas the early time I put into the lab in non-peak times seemed to yield more free time. Maybe it is really just about personal priorities? I mean I've always been stalwart in my commitment to really "being" with someone when I promise I will be despite whatever fires need to be put out. The same commitment goes to the lab. When I am there people know I am offline for 8-10 hours. I've always managed to juggle the two aspects of life. However, with a budding romance that might end up as a 2 hour LDR weekend/vacations+summer thing, and close ties to family and good friends... I'm scared of loosing it. In fact, it is the only reoccurring nightmare I have!

I applied to: Lynch School of Education (BC), BU, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Tufts EP, George Mason, UConn, NYU Steindhart and Fordham. I really only want to go to 3 of those. I am not freaking out. I checked through the results page for the past 2 years and most of these programs have contacted people from the time-frame of now until week 2 of February. Three of those schools don't do interviews so it might take longer. I also was told yesterday that I need to update my CV with another poster publication and schools are starting to email me back and telling me to send along the new info. This must mean decisions have not been made.

Oh, I'm well acquainted with the three areas most people study in ME. Augusta is a major commuter school, but at least the location of it puts you close to Portland. USM has some stellar opportunities IF YOU SEAK the opportunities out. It's also in Portland/Gorham, which are both lovely places to live. I never understood why the hub of academics was in Orono. It's just not even remotely appealing there. Hit Bar Harbor and the coast and you've got something.

Options: Become an RA at a well known school- If this is the case than I really don't see me starting a Ph.D. for 2 years because no one will write you a serious letter if they have only known you from August to October. Take the MA offer- at least in my subfield of interest it isn't uncommon for MA work to be counted towards your Ph.D when you later apply. This would make the MA, at the least, a fruitful effort. The plus-side would be that if I felt I had a promising job offer after 2 years I could check out without making anybody mad. The down-side is that I would need to assume more debt to live as there would be no stipend. EEK! However, out of the 8 schools I applied to I really only want to go to three so this might be the route I have to take. Marry a rich girl and start living off the land in the middle of nowhere. Maybe become a shepherd? I do know that I can not become a better applicant than I am now hanging around these parts. I've exhausted the research experience I could find, and spent far too much independent time, and pro bono work, doing so. Professors are reaping the rewards of a guy who really wants to go to grad school because I work independently and am putting in way more effort than the potential pay-off at this point. I'm really only still involved with work here to keep in an academic mind-set. I'm mentally taxed.

This is nifty. I am also another alumni of an undergraduate university no one will have heard of....but the main character on a TV show went here. That's seriously the one claim to fame! I grabbed first author credits on posters at conferences at the local and regional level. At the world level (?) I nabbed a second author on a poster. Second author of a a manuscript under-review, and worked on research with fellowship funding. I think the pole has some holes because I'm sure other applicants who are third or fourth author of national/world conferences and on published manuscripts probably look more appealing.

I'd do a search of the forum from last year. The consensus in the post interview period was that suits for men were too much. This isn't meant to come off as bad, but blazer and nice slacks, even matching, isn't the same as a suit. Raised by women, I've had that driven into my head. Do you I guess, but I have zero concerns that a nicely tailored blazer, good pants (no khaki), great fitting shirt and tie and sharp shoes is going to look less than professional. I think if you can manage to match, and if you get real daring and use a pattern, you are going to be miles ahead of anyone I've ever seen at conferences. Another fun fact from the lovely women who raised me: There's nothing worse on a man than a poor fitting suit. So if you go with one I'd find a good tailor. EPA, SRCD....I've never seen a suit ever at these conferences. Maybe it is just me, but I look really greasy in my blue or gray suits. But I'm also 6'4 and pretty skinny so I'm just never comfortable standing out like that. I guarantee it won't be the deciding factor. I wouldn't, however, roll in with a sweater vest and oxford.

There is no way in hell I am wearing a suit to an interview. No way... and I like wearing suits. I am thinking of all the academic conferences I've been to, and I don't think I've ever seen anyone in a suit. In my early interviews I kept it relaxed: Dark denim jeans, nice looking patterned oxford and a nice looking tie and good shoes- in another I wore khakis a nice dress shirt and a camel sweater. These were early meetings so I didn't want to go too far. With more formal, post application interviews, I'll probably do the same and just add a blazer. I remember last year people in the social science and humanities saying that they felt over dressed with a suit. it might be different for business school- in fact, I am sure it is. If you are a man then just make sure whatever you wear fits really well. You'll look a million times better underdressed with clothes that fit properly than you will compared to most men who wear suits that haven't been tailored, etc.

I want to vent: AH! I want to hear back from schools. It's getting unbearable, but I'm confident that within my subfield of interest even rejections with Master's offers and funding wouldn't be terrible as it would be seen as work towards a Ph.D. and buy me some years of progress in a later Ph.D. program if that is the route I have to take. So, I'm not really nervous. I just want a short list! Hopefully I'll start to know what that list looks like by next week and the week after. Just a fun note: Out of curiosity I emailed George Mason about the status of acceptances. Their initial email after I submitted my application said I should expect to hear back about decisions in 6 weeks. I emailed them 6.5 weeks later just to see if they made those decisions and received a pretty awesomely rude response that in more flowery language told me to calm down because they had the holiday break, etc. Hey, your email said it not me!

Hi Everyone, Way early for this, but for us type As this might be helpful. I'm hoping people can give me a good idea of what to expect in terms of finances. More particularly, I'm wondering about the time-horizon of fellowship/stipend money....what is enough to save, etc. Out of the 8 schools I applied to I'm really starting to move towards 3 as places I would take a lesser offer from because of the outside factors that would make me a happier person in the long run. Maybe a little premature since I don't know where I will end up yet, and the backstory of why isn't really necessary. The schools are all in the Boston area. Housing is notoriously short and expensive, wiht prime picking time for apartments emerging in July. Life is great for me right now. I'm working a job I love that allows me some discretionary money, lots of free time and the ability to realistically square away about 500$ a month into a savings account. I could pick up another part time job, but it would be really hard to work around the hours of the students I teach- not impossible, but difficult. If I end up in this city I will only be about 80 miles from where I live now. I won't need plane tickets or moving trucks to move, etc. I'm really only planning on having enough for first/last month's rent and a possible security deposit, and extra for whatever other bills may be necessary (water, power, etc.). I know moving wherever I end up is something I'd want to do 1 month before school starts to settle in. Does stipend money come into your hands in September? Do schools ever settle up earlier the first year knowing you have to move? I've heard some programs might recognize the hassle of moving and pay you more money your first year and have a subsequent drop off in money the following years, is this common? More importantly, is there something else I am missing? I know I should be thinking about this now, especially if grabbing another job is something I'll have to do. Thanks --> sorry if this is silly.

I had a professor tell me to play just as hard as I worked. I've come to the realization that there is a lot about life I'm not going to learn from books. Sometimes you just need to play a hand and experience things.

I didn't explain any hiccups other than my degree track change, which inspired my interests in the field I am currently in. I have a D and a couple Cs buried in the transcripts of one school I attended. These grades are in a totally unrelated discipline, so much so that even equating grading systems might be silly. My Psych GPA is solid, and my CV shows a strong upward trajectory over the last 2 years. If a committee full of Ph.Ds doesn't see that then I'm overestimating how hard getting this degree will be. If I had several Ws or an F then I might explain something. Saying what I wanted to say about future/past research was hard enough in the alloted spaces of SOPs.

I'm not trying to sound rude, but everyone is posting here with "what are my chances threads" in the midst of a time where most of us who have applied are waiting to see if our applications were good enough to garner interviews, let alone acceptances. In 30-45 days we'll know what was good enough to get in where. Until that time everyone is in the same boat and simply does not know.

I can save you some time with a synopsis of what you will find when you search for details surrounding this issue: 1) People shocked their AW score is lower than what they felt their ability level, and thusly discrediting it as a valid instrument of assessment. 2) People who are shocked their AW score is high, and thusly are looking for reassurance adcom committees will care. After following this forum for a year, in my opinion, there has been one thread pertaining to this subject that was worth reading . This is still running: Read post #35 by Ishtmus Don't freak out... I'm sure you submit writing samples aside from your SOP, right?

Heard of a buddy using Ziggs to see if a job was googling him. I just signed up. Maybe this will yield something cool, though it is probably to late in the process.

Every one of the followup emails I received told me explicitly to not bother them about application materials...they would contact me if something was missing. A couple schools did just that. Am I an outlier? Now I'm paranoid and anxious. Great

What is the context that surrounds this? Are you a junior in undergrad? If so, too soon to be contacting POIs. Have you already applied? If so, I'd stop contacting.

I still think we have 2 weeks before the floodgates open for us. I bet the end of next week the trickling will start, it has a bit, but I still think per the results section of this site over the course of the last 2 years, that most of us won't hear anything until the last week in January.

Neuro!!!! Awesome!!! Sounds like an interview to me. I'd read up on the most recent research. Hone in on those discussion sections and mentally riff off the ideas and implications for future research. Have a couple real serious questions. When I interviewed in the fall I found the process conjured up more stress than was needed. I opened up every session by asking the professors if there was anything they'd like to know about me or ask me. Once I asked a couple pointed questions I found that most professors will just gab, gab and gab about their research. However, this can be dangerous. One, it is tempting to think, "I'll just let them talk." You do want to show you are "with them." So happy for you! Oh, and practice talking about your research. Be able to shrink wrap a lot of the nuances into a succinct message.

Weird. I might have to check that out today. So, you are saying that if you apply to NYU and save an SOP and then subsequently apply to another school using EMbark your SOP is already uploaded? I manually uploaded all documents to every school. You can't check the status of things on Embark once you submit, right? That is what has driven me more nuts about that system.