shiningorb

@Hope.for.the.best @Fuzzylogicianspenis Thank you both so much for your input! I am in psychology, so not sure if it would be bad etiquette to ask for the slides via email. I will ask around in my program and see what some senior grad students have to say. Also, unfortunately, this scholar teaches at a university out of state, so unfortunately I am not able to set up a time to meet with them... :/ As such, would it also be appropriate to set up a Skype or phone call or is meeting in person preferable? I am hoping that we will be at the same conference next Spring (2019)0 and I can set up a time to meet then. What kinds of things would be worth sharing?

Hi all, My department brought in a scholar who does fascinating research to our weekly seminar yesterday. Their work is somewhat related to the project I am currently on, but it is also research that I am really passionate about and would love to potentially collaborate with them on in the future. I did get to speak with them briefly about my work but I want to make a lasting impression. Unfortunately, I don't know how to do this, because I am only in my first year of graduate school and do not have a lot of prior experience with research/networking/etc. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I might be able to go about developing this relationship? Also, would it be weird if I email them requesting a copy of the slides from their talk? I would love to have them (the slides) on hand just for my own personal reference. My apologies if this isn't the appropriate forum for this thread.

On one hand I full-heartedly agree that scholars of color should have the right to study whatever they want, but I also understand where the community representatives may be coming from in wanting their group to be studied only by community members. I do not know specifically which community you are studying but many marginalized communities have been taken advantage of by White scholars, as you yourself have mentioned, which may make them feel wary of all “outsiders,” so to speak. This is particularly true of indigenous communities who are often even reluctant to let indigenous scholars conduct research. This is not to say that you have to study the issue in your own community - distancing yourself in order to protect yourself is real and necessary. And I agree with the above poster that it is micro aggressive to demand that all scholars of color must study only their own group. I just don’t know how to navigate this issue, unfortunately. Sadly, White scholars do not get questioned like this - mostly because they do not invite in community members to consult with as they develop their research proposals like you did, which is wrong of them.

Would you mind sharing what categories you used?

That makes sense, thanks!

All the faculty for each area make the decision together!

I applied at 21 and started at 22. However, there are folks in my department who started graduate school at 28, at 30, and even at 52. Like others have said, there is no right age and you need to do what is the best choice for you given financial, social, and other personal factors.

I’m planning on calling this Monday and asking about how they determine how many reviewers score each application. Will report back!

You had 4 reviewers?? I only had 2 :/ I wonder how they decided how many reviewers each application got. That seems unfair on their end because one of my reviewers gave me ratings from good - very good while the other gave me ratings mostly around fair...so that would pull my average rating down a lot more than if I had multiple reviewers and only one who disliked my application so much.

Same - I am in Psych but Soc would also be helpful!

I can’t imagine that all the awardees wouldn’t have heard by now - I feel like that would be the first round of emails sent out?

Similarly haven’t received anything yet. Just assumed it to mean I haven’t been selected. Congratulations to all the awardees!

The other morning when I was dozing on and off, I had 3 subsequent dreams that I was also flat out rejected, followed by 2 dreams in which I was awarded the fellowship ?

The graduate housing is always a solid option. One bedroom in a 2bed/2bath is $1315 per month including all utilities and fully furnished.

It should be very doable. You can find a bedroom in a 3 bed apartment for around ~$500 per month in Rogers Park, which is not too long of a commute from Lincoln Park. Also, since you’d be attending a university in the city proper, you’d be able to get a discounted pass for the L train system and CTA (called a U-Pass) that allows for unlimited rides for college students. Groceries wouldn’t be too bad either, I live in one of the most expensive cities in the country right now and can manage on $25 per week in groceries (just groceries - I budget another $30ish for eating out for myself each week) so Chicago should be around the same if not a little bit cheaper. Your money will run you a lot further in Chicago than it would in NYC, in my opinion.

Speaking of the website, has anyone noticed how long it is taking for it to load right now... (as in, it refuses to load at all)

Hello! First, congratulations on being in such an amazing position! I know it is hard to make this decision. If you are interested in going into academia after completing your PhD, your advisor's productivity is very important. You mentioned that your POI in Program A is older and therefore no longer as productive. How many publications did his recently graduated students put out by the time they finished their degree? Are there opportunities for you to eventually be co-advised by another faculty member in the program, who perhaps may be more productive? For Program B, is there any way you can set up a Skype conversation with your POI to get some face-to-face time so you can speak to them and get to know their style a little better? Having a wide range of research interests is not necessarily bad, especially if the individual is being productive and is already famous in the field. It means that there is more leeway for you to jump onto other projects that you may be interested in, or to steer your advisor in a new direction if there is something they are not yet studying but you would like to look into. I would also try to set up Skype conversations with some current students in the POI's lab, so you can ask them as well what their advisor's mentorship and advising style is like, as well as what the culture of the program is like, and how graduate students are around each other (competitive, collaborative, warm, distant, etc.) I would urge you not to consider ranking so much as both of the POIs you are looking at are well-established and known in their field. Ranking does matter to some extent but who you are working with specifically matters more. As for weather of each city, that's something that none of us can help you with unfortunately It's such an individual thing that what might be tolerable for one person is not for the next.

This wait is driving me insane!!

Hey, your story sounds a lot like mine. I was pre-med and a biology major throughout undergrad and decided in the fall of my last year I wanted to go to grad school for psych. I also had a very average GPA - 3.5 - but my Psych GPA was much better - 3.8. So my numbers are pretty similar to yours. I had already had 3 years of research experience in a biology lab (completely irrelevant to my research interests - not even possible to stretch it like biobehavioral health to IO psych) but absolutely ZERO experience in psych research, so I volunteered as an RA in a lab for the last 6 months of undergrad, and then after graduating found a job as a full-time RA in another lab. I don't think you need to worry about being able to do an independent research project or getting publications or poster presentations out. Of course, everyone knows that those things help, but not having them is not a deal breaker. I did not have any of the above. In my full-time RA job, I was just a paid hand hired to do data collection (didn't even get to do any analyses), and I still was accepted into 5 top-ranked PhD programs in my field(s) of interest. What got me into amazing grad programs was my passion, and my ability to sell the experiences I did have as something relevant to grad school (both in terms of tangible transferrable skills and in terms of relevance to my research interests). I think everyone is capable of this, proven they have the right mindset. Your undergraduate GPA will in no way disqualify you, given how great your graduate GPA is. Your GRE will only help. Switching fields is possible. You just need to focus on finding a compelling reason for why you want to go to grad school, and on being able to communicate that in writing and in conversation.

I’m not lying if that’s what you’re asking. And I said that may be why you haven’t received anything. Not that it definitively is. I’m afraid I don’t have much information for you apart from that they are in fact still interviewing.

UCLA Cognitive is still interviewing prospectives, so that may be why you have not received anything yet. In virtually all graduate Psychology programs - at all universities - the areas all function rather independently so I'm not sure how one would assume that one area sending out offers would mean another has as well...

I also have next year, but a white Russian sounds fantastic!

I keep obsessively checking this thread to see if anyone has heard back because I'm too scared to check my email >_<