wrongpathos

School: Stanford University Concentration: Cognition Type: PhD Notified by: Email still can't believe it

I'd advise to read the literature the lab has recently put out, and see what interests you from it, and if any questions come out of it. These are things you can bring up during the interview. Other than that I guess you might be asked: 1. why you want to join their lab, which you have an obvious and good answer to. 2. they'll ask you things on your resume 3. they'll talk about the research that is going on in their lab and state some things you'd be involved in as an RA and ask if your interested in that above all, show excitement in joining, I constantly hear that it is one of the most important things to portray. Good luck!

I'm seeing people post mass generic rejection decisions on the results page for Stanford, I interviewed and haven't received this email ... >.< I just wanna know the outcome. Maybe for whatever reason the rejection email is slow to arrive for me. If anyone here posted the result(s), would you mind saying or DMing if you interviewed for the cognitive science group?

Absolutely no need to apologize! I understand 100% (i think! lol). I hope you get multiple offers!

If the higher ranked institution hasn't shown you any red flags then it's simple, attend it. Otherwise, consider that it's five years and a happy environment at a lower ranked school might make that time (given the constraints/stressors you outline) a much better experience.

Thank you! And yes! I'm also waiting on responses from a couple of programs, that makes me rather anxious and if I'm honest, makes me feel as if I haven't been selected. Congrats on the interviews though! What schools are you waiting to hear back from, if you don't mind sharing (completely understand if not).

It's been rather hectic! Stanford interview weekend wrapped up today and tomorrow I embark on my long journey home. How's yours going?

@Waiting272 Harvard doesn't have a visiting day/recruitment day, they typically reach out to people for skype interviews all throughout Jan (and possibly early Feb). I've had a skype interview at Harvard.

@aurlito typically it will say upfront if they won't sponsor a work visa. that post doesn't say anything so it might be worth reaching out either to them(admin) or to the PI of the lab: https://www.schapirolab.org/people

I won't lay out my story or stats, because you're applying to clinical programs -- these programs are, at least statistically just as competitive as medical schools. I think that's one thing you must consider. In terms of improvement, one that you can do that will work in your favor is to try and meet and or talk to as many professors as you can (that you plan on working with). Perhaps you'll have some give talks in your school's department, or perhaps they'll be at a conference and you can arrange a meeting? If you're confident in your abilities and you can get in contact with say a graduate student at one of the labs you plan on applying to, perhaps you can get them to invite you to give a presentation for one of their lab meetings.

I have the unfortunate (good) problem of having too many conflicting interviews. One of which I've already said yes to that I might have to bail out on, and make myself look terrible. I have sent out a very apologetic email asking if there are any alternative dates. I feel like a derp. Also sorry to everyone else who hasn't yet received an invitation, while I'm here ranting about conflicting ones.

@aurlito on the off chance this helps, I recently came across this position in a computational lab: https://t.co/t7kBn9xvbF lab website: https://www.shenhavlab.org/ also see: https://sites.google.com/view/mattnassar/positions?authuser=0

In a way I agree with you, and probably a few years ago that would have been the case but the popularity of AI and its investigation from a cognitive perspective had made the playing field more competitive. My formal schooling is in psychology but if I get into graduate school this go around I would have 3 years of machine learning / computational cognitive modeling experience before starting. I guess my advice would be to try and join a computational cognitive science lab full time. And if the school the lab is part of offers employees the opportunity to take courses for free then perhaps take some math classes?

I get the sentiment that it's not fair but that doesn't mean your app will always be overlooked for someone who studied computer science or mathematics during undergrad. Professors want people who can connect theories together and relate them to cognition and that's where having a background in psychology works to our advantage. On the other hand, in order to actually do any of the actual work corresponding to the theorizing it's simply a requirement that we know how to program and at least have a solid basic understanding probability theory, linear algebra, and calculus. That doesn't mean you need coursework in those areas, you just somehow have to show that you can implement or at least understand the underlying mathematics.

Sure -- I've sent you the specifics, but my GRE and GPA were by no means great, mediocre at best.