Rerun

Hey! Good to see this kind of question come up. For real, there's life outside of PhD/PsyD. It shouldn't be our entire life. That being said, yes I am talking from experience that I got pregnant right after I got admitted into my PhD. I didn't defer it because I can't, and I want to both be a mom and my PhD. My husband also has a good paying job and work remotely. So all I can say is though it's hard, it works out so far. 
For me, I started the program pregnant, so on the 2nd semester, I only did 1 credit of seminar and did nothing else. Then after summer break I came back full time and baby goes to daycare.
I'm now only 1 semester behind to my cohort, but I don't feel that way. I'm done with classes, now working on my qualifying components. I don't have any other internship thing like that. I suggest looking up your school guideline about pregnant students. Maybe there's some regulation about class, leave of absence, etc.
I'm sorry that you feel people will judge you. I guess grad school is just not a friendly environment for moms, but find your support and don't feel like a PSyD should hold your desire to have at least one child!

Hey! Good to see this kind of question come up. For real, there's life outside of PhD/PsyD. It shouldn't be our entire life. That being said, yes I am talking from experience that I got pregnant right after I got admitted into my PhD. I didn't defer it because I can't, and I want to both be a mom and my PhD. My husband also has a good paying job and work remotely. So all I can say is though it's hard, it works out so far. 
For me, I started the program pregnant, so on the 2nd semester, I only did 1 credit of seminar and did nothing else. Then after summer break I came back full time and baby goes to daycare.
I'm now only 1 semester behind to my cohort, but I don't feel that way. I'm done with classes, now working on my qualifying components. I don't have any other internship thing like that. I suggest looking up your school guideline about pregnant students. Maybe there's some regulation about class, leave of absence, etc.
I'm sorry that you feel people will judge you. I guess grad school is just not a friendly environment for moms, but find your support and don't feel like a PSyD should hold your desire to have at least one child!

Hi there, 
I can understand your concern because I have the issue too: moving to another state will be a lost of opportunity to my health insurance benefit, including a medical treatment that I am currently undergoing. In my case, I will accept my offer and make the most out of the benefit now while I can. I will need to adjust what they have for the school insurance, but my condition is not urgent. I still can treat my condition without going to a doctor.
For your condition, is there a chance to defer? Probably your case might be considered by the school because you have some circumstances with health. If that's not an option, do you think you can do grad school without the surgery? A doctoral program is a lot of commitment. Doing PhD with a good physical and mental health on itself will already be a challenge, let alone doing with a health condition. Maybe that's a perspective you want to think of. For me, quality of life goes first and you need to start a PhD by knowing the consequences and maybe support that the school can provide for you. 
Listen to yourself, and I believe if you can get in now, you still can get in later. 

Hi there, 
I can understand your concern because I have the issue too: moving to another state will be a lost of opportunity to my health insurance benefit, including a medical treatment that I am currently undergoing. In my case, I will accept my offer and make the most out of the benefit now while I can. I will need to adjust what they have for the school insurance, but my condition is not urgent. I still can treat my condition without going to a doctor.
For your condition, is there a chance to defer? Probably your case might be considered by the school because you have some circumstances with health. If that's not an option, do you think you can do grad school without the surgery? A doctoral program is a lot of commitment. Doing PhD with a good physical and mental health on itself will already be a challenge, let alone doing with a health condition. Maybe that's a perspective you want to think of. For me, quality of life goes first and you need to start a PhD by knowing the consequences and maybe support that the school can provide for you. 
Listen to yourself, and I believe if you can get in now, you still can get in later. 

Hi there, 
I can understand your concern because I have the issue too: moving to another state will be a lost of opportunity to my health insurance benefit, including a medical treatment that I am currently undergoing. In my case, I will accept my offer and make the most out of the benefit now while I can. I will need to adjust what they have for the school insurance, but my condition is not urgent. I still can treat my condition without going to a doctor.
For your condition, is there a chance to defer? Probably your case might be considered by the school because you have some circumstances with health. If that's not an option, do you think you can do grad school without the surgery? A doctoral program is a lot of commitment. Doing PhD with a good physical and mental health on itself will already be a challenge, let alone doing with a health condition. Maybe that's a perspective you want to think of. For me, quality of life goes first and you need to start a PhD by knowing the consequences and maybe support that the school can provide for you. 
Listen to yourself, and I believe if you can get in now, you still can get in later. 

Hi thanks for starting this thread. Congratulations on being accepted! I haven't accept my offer, so I am still a bit in limbo. Nevertheless, I've prepared myself, a bit more to the academic side, in re-learning some basic stats through a study group and coursera. I am not very confident with my stats skills, so that's why. Another thing that I want to prep is my lit review skill ( I want to increase my pace in getting to know my research literature and paraphrase), prepare a system for my bibliography/ lit reviews, get to know how I can read more (both non and academic), and possibly put some hours in learning academic writing (I have some publications, but as an international student, I am not very confident that my writing skills will be good enough for PhD expectation). I've also learn some new recipe and coping mechanism (I guess that's more like a pandemic survival) for my PhD survival kit. I need to complete some publication manuscripts that are due for my lab too. But yes I love the tips on indulging to hobbies and spend more times to fun places. 

Research and publish! No one will care about your undergrad GPA now that you have a Masters, and the GRE will likely be going the way of the Dodo... focus on publishing and presenting your thesis and any works you can pull out of that, and getting more hands on experience with your advisor or other PIs, including second (third, whatever) authorship on papers. Also, revisit who you want to apply to - make sure you have amazing research fits, and that you are applying to programs that lead to the outcomes you want. This summer will be a great time to network, make connections and reach out to potential labs and PIs so they know who you are come the Fall application season
 

As someone who was in that spot last year - take the time to breathe and enjoy yourself! Read some non-academic books, take a weekend getaway (if your area allows travel), indulge in some hobbies, go out with friends and family.  Because the next 5+ years will not allow you to do nearly as much of any of that as you would like! 
Then, yes, start scouting for housing in your new city, maybe make some connections both within and outside your academic program to ease the transition.  
Congratulations!

Hey! It's a stressful time for anyone who is applying this year, totally understand, hang in there! My friend graduated from UMass Amherst and did exactly children and media studies. She went to the School of Communication though. Her undergrad and master's was both in psychology. Now she's a media psychology professor in Indonesia. I don't know who did she work with. You can look up for publication by Laras Sekarasih. Try to find her email and reach out to her if you'd like. I believe she will be happy to hear from you.

Hey! It's a stressful time for anyone who is applying this year, totally understand, hang in there! My friend graduated from UMass Amherst and did exactly children and media studies. She went to the School of Communication though. Her undergrad and master's was both in psychology. Now she's a media psychology professor in Indonesia. I don't know who did she work with. You can look up for publication by Laras Sekarasih. Try to find her email and reach out to her if you'd like. I believe she will be happy to hear from you.

Hey. That's an interesting overview and I am commenting because I've been dedicated to psychology for more than 10 years and now thinking if I can do law instead. I watched too much RBG and BLM movies lately. But I hope you know that the grass on the other side always look greener. We can always contribute to the world with our own way.
If you want to give a try, I suggest looking out for forensic psychology programs or psychology and law. At least you will have both worlds. Is relocating an issue for you? I know John Jay College at New York is one of the complete and good school for that. With their variety of masters, doctoral and certificate, that might cater your need. 
Many programs are waiving GRE this year, but the main thing is always a match. You need to back up your story with a reason for transition. Finding a match really matters. It all depends on what psychology you are looking for, what school, what degree. If you're looking into doctoral, there's a LOT of commitment there, so I don't think changing right away is wise, unless you want to give a try to 1-2 schools and see what is the experience like. If you really want to do a psych program, I suggest starting from masters and see if you like it. Doing a PhD requires interest, some research experience (a thesis counts), and commitment to the field. If you can tie together your story, it might work! We never know. It's always a good thing to find out, but make it as a calculated decision.
That's my two cents!

This is my 3rd round. I listed more than 15, go down to 10, 7, sometimes 6 and now 4. My plan is to look for a really good fit in terms of research and value, craft my story and work test and make sure to get a really good letter. I don't have much money too, so that's my plan.  

Shout out to the third rounders! We have the exact same story. I applied in 2018 (rejected all 4 schools) and 2019 (1 rejected 1 wait listed), battled with some impostor syndrome, GRE stress, shameless emails to my supervisors asking advice, etc. I am 31 now, but I've been taking a lot of pills of no self comparing, because it makes me really stress in a bad way. Talking about family, I've been trying to get pregnant in the past 2 years too, lol, so I am just crazy to do it all at once.
The different thing about this year is I got some new and kind mentors, a longer prep time to think through my goal (I am not sure I want to be in academia. Been working as a lecturer for 2 years and not so happy about it). But then I love research, so even re-applying again is a self reflection journey for me in the past months. I have an M.A. and been thinking if I can just make a career turn out of it.
I believe good things come in good timing and the past 2 years is a chance to prepare for myself better and think through my goal in life. Do I really want and need to do this?
Sending good vibes!

Your question reminds me to this recent article https://elemental.medium.com/astrology-tarot-and-the-struggle-to-make-sense-of-a-pandemic-8d4f9ccbf165 
I can only say, in psychology, we don't predict someone's future. We predict things coming through many variables, but that's all through statistics, and it's not even answering the whole thing, only parts of it. It's a totally different approach in nature. However, I am not aware how Astrology works either. 
I guess the pandemic is really making people uncomfortable about the uncertainty. I myself begin to accept that the certainty is going to be uncertain

I feel for all of you, I also applied twice and its just soooooo painful. You try to tell people (not in PhD world) about how *hard* it is to get into PhD and its just impossible... let alone trying to explain to them the imposter syndrome aspect. If anybody needs advice or just somebody to talk to about how much this process sucks, please feel free to PM. Good luck everybody, you can totally totally totally do this!!!

Shout out to the third rounders! We have the exact same story. I applied in 2018 (rejected all 4 schools) and 2019 (1 rejected 1 wait listed), battled with some impostor syndrome, GRE stress, shameless emails to my supervisors asking advice, etc. I am 31 now, but I've been taking a lot of pills of no self comparing, because it makes me really stress in a bad way. Talking about family, I've been trying to get pregnant in the past 2 years too, lol, so I am just crazy to do it all at once.
The different thing about this year is I got some new and kind mentors, a longer prep time to think through my goal (I am not sure I want to be in academia. Been working as a lecturer for 2 years and not so happy about it). But then I love research, so even re-applying again is a self reflection journey for me in the past months. I have an M.A. and been thinking if I can just make a career turn out of it.
I believe good things come in good timing and the past 2 years is a chance to prepare for myself better and think through my goal in life. Do I really want and need to do this?
Sending good vibes!

Shout out to the third rounders! We have the exact same story. I applied in 2018 (rejected all 4 schools) and 2019 (1 rejected 1 wait listed), battled with some impostor syndrome, GRE stress, shameless emails to my supervisors asking advice, etc. I am 31 now, but I've been taking a lot of pills of no self comparing, because it makes me really stress in a bad way. Talking about family, I've been trying to get pregnant in the past 2 years too, lol, so I am just crazy to do it all at once.
The different thing about this year is I got some new and kind mentors, a longer prep time to think through my goal (I am not sure I want to be in academia. Been working as a lecturer for 2 years and not so happy about it). But then I love research, so even re-applying again is a self reflection journey for me in the past months. I have an M.A. and been thinking if I can just make a career turn out of it.
I believe good things come in good timing and the past 2 years is a chance to prepare for myself better and think through my goal in life. Do I really want and need to do this?
Sending good vibes!

Shout out to the third rounders! We have the exact same story. I applied in 2018 (rejected all 4 schools) and 2019 (1 rejected 1 wait listed), battled with some impostor syndrome, GRE stress, shameless emails to my supervisors asking advice, etc. I am 31 now, but I've been taking a lot of pills of no self comparing, because it makes me really stress in a bad way. Talking about family, I've been trying to get pregnant in the past 2 years too, lol, so I am just crazy to do it all at once.
The different thing about this year is I got some new and kind mentors, a longer prep time to think through my goal (I am not sure I want to be in academia. Been working as a lecturer for 2 years and not so happy about it). But then I love research, so even re-applying again is a self reflection journey for me in the past months. I have an M.A. and been thinking if I can just make a career turn out of it.
I believe good things come in good timing and the past 2 years is a chance to prepare for myself better and think through my goal in life. Do I really want and need to do this?
Sending good vibes!

Hi everyone,
This is a painful share but I want to believe that I am (not) alone. I am an International student, M.A. Community Psychology and Social Change in the US. GPA 3.95. My GRE score is very low, between 141-144. It was even 139 on my last test in 2019 and writing 3.0-3.5. I was a lecturer in Psychology for 2 years, teaching various classes for undergrad. I have published in a national journal in my country twice, and waiting for 3 more publication from a conference proceeding this year (International Conference held in my country). My research experience so far are mental health service in primary health care (undergraduate), refugee wellbeing (master), both are qualitative. Others are youth peer health program (I developed an intervention in a rural area, 1 year work experience as health advocate), mental health literacy and culture ( I led the systematic review) and ptsd in conflict affected area (I led the research and received a small grant).
In 2018 and 2019 I applied for a Fulbright scholarship in my country and got rejected. I was really sad but try to bounce back and apply for a PhD directly to the school. 2018: Social Intervention NYU, Applied Psych and Prevention Science UMass Lowell, Social Work Boston College, Clinical Psych UMass Boston. 2019: Counseling Psych Northeastern Uni and Sociology Boston Uni. All Rejected (Haven't heard from BU but I saw people getting accepted in the result section.. so yeah). All are in Boston area because my husband is studying here.
I am no longer in my country and cannot work to gain more research experience. I also cannot work in Boston since I am on a dependent visa. I am trying to have a publication this year, building on my previous research work, let's see. My undergrad was from back home in a small uni that is not detected by most application system (not the big uni!). I have no fancy experience working in a lab or with a certain professor's research/project. There are not much or probably almost none of opportunity like that back home and back then. The research resource in my area back home is very limited, third world country issue-lol.
My master research supervisors are very supportive. They keep sending recommendation letters since 2018, plus letters from my research mentor and my undergraduate research supervisor.
Now I am trying to pull myself together and be optimist. I know that I need to put more time for the GRE, for sure.. and try to improve my writing skill. In addition, I probably have to retake IELTS (No resource for Toefl IBT back then), and my score has been average, 6.5.
I am still so confused, am I getting rejected because my GRE is very low? Or my research experience is local and only led by myself? Or unclear research interest? Not sure. I am still recovering from this multiple rejection for 3 years in a row-since the scholarship, trying to believe that I will deserve an admission someday. Also, this year I am *planning* to push for full speed, and put some options out of Boston since my husband will graduate. I am thinking to apply for :
Community Health Education UMass Amherst, Social and Behavioral Science at Harvard and Brown, Global Public Health NYU, Sociomedicine Mailman Columbia, Mental Health John Hopkins, Clinical/Community Psych UMBC, Community Research and Action Vanderbilt, Clinical Community USC, Population Health Science Northeastern Uni, and 1 in Canada : Mc Gill, Mental Health-in the Psychiatry Deparment.
The list is rather ambitious, and probably I look confuse. I want to include Sociology and Health UCSF but there's no funding there. I was thinking of Yale but haven't really learn the research there either.
I am trying to start early and looking for suggestions/support, either about my qualificafion or the program that I am looking to apply. Thanks so much for reading such a long story, any feedback is appreciated.

Hello, thank you for the feedback. In last year's application, i did tailor my statement according to each specific university, but probably it's not the right fit or does not sound strong enough. Right, I am trying to see this as a journey to improve my preparedness in getting into a a PhD program. Hopefully things will work out this year. Thanks

Hi everyone,
This is a painful share but I want to believe that I am (not) alone. I am an International student, M.A. Community Psychology and Social Change in the US. GPA 3.95. My GRE score is very low, between 141-144. It was even 139 on my last test in 2019 and writing 3.0-3.5. I was a lecturer in Psychology for 2 years, teaching various classes for undergrad. I have published in a national journal in my country twice, and waiting for 3 more publication from a conference proceeding this year (International Conference held in my country). My research experience so far are mental health service in primary health care (undergraduate), refugee wellbeing (master), both are qualitative. Others are youth peer health program (I developed an intervention in a rural area, 1 year work experience as health advocate), mental health literacy and culture ( I led the systematic review) and ptsd in conflict affected area (I led the research and received a small grant).
In 2018 and 2019 I applied for a Fulbright scholarship in my country and got rejected. I was really sad but try to bounce back and apply for a PhD directly to the school. 2018: Social Intervention NYU, Applied Psych and Prevention Science UMass Lowell, Social Work Boston College, Clinical Psych UMass Boston. 2019: Counseling Psych Northeastern Uni and Sociology Boston Uni. All Rejected (Haven't heard from BU but I saw people getting accepted in the result section.. so yeah). All are in Boston area because my husband is studying here.
I am no longer in my country and cannot work to gain more research experience. I also cannot work in Boston since I am on a dependent visa. I am trying to have a publication this year, building on my previous research work, let's see. My undergrad was from back home in a small uni that is not detected by most application system (not the big uni!). I have no fancy experience working in a lab or with a certain professor's research/project. There are not much or probably almost none of opportunity like that back home and back then. The research resource in my area back home is very limited, third world country issue-lol.
My master research supervisors are very supportive. They keep sending recommendation letters since 2018, plus letters from my research mentor and my undergraduate research supervisor.
Now I am trying to pull myself together and be optimist. I know that I need to put more time for the GRE, for sure.. and try to improve my writing skill. In addition, I probably have to retake IELTS (No resource for Toefl IBT back then), and my score has been average, 6.5.
I am still so confused, am I getting rejected because my GRE is very low? Or my research experience is local and only led by myself? Or unclear research interest? Not sure. I am still recovering from this multiple rejection for 3 years in a row-since the scholarship, trying to believe that I will deserve an admission someday. Also, this year I am *planning* to push for full speed, and put some options out of Boston since my husband will graduate. I am thinking to apply for :
Community Health Education UMass Amherst, Social and Behavioral Science at Harvard and Brown, Global Public Health NYU, Sociomedicine Mailman Columbia, Mental Health John Hopkins, Clinical/Community Psych UMBC, Community Research and Action Vanderbilt, Clinical Community USC, Population Health Science Northeastern Uni, and 1 in Canada : Mc Gill, Mental Health-in the Psychiatry Deparment.
The list is rather ambitious, and probably I look confuse. I want to include Sociology and Health UCSF but there's no funding there. I was thinking of Yale but haven't really learn the research there either.
I am trying to start early and looking for suggestions/support, either about my qualificafion or the program that I am looking to apply. Thanks so much for reading such a long story, any feedback is appreciated.