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MaybeMaybe2020

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Posts posted by MaybeMaybe2020

  1. 33 minutes ago, bri j. said:

    Was about to post this in the interview thread, but decided here would be better! Is it common to be invited for a preliminary phone/skype before the actual interview day? Or is it more common to just be invited straight to the interview day? 

    I know it depends on program/PI, but wanted to hear about other people's experiences!

    I think it depends on the the POI. Last year I had two interviews, one where I had to have a pre-skype interview first, and one where I didn't. Some POIs might want to have a pre-skype interview if you don't  have experience with what they're currently doing just to make sure you can actually succeed in their lab.  

  2. 16 minutes ago, psycstudent2018 said:

    You may have already submitted. I'm very familiar with UMD and the psyc department. They really pride themselves on diversity. I think as long as you have the information in there, you're ok but I would definitely double check to make sure you address diversity.

    Thank you for the information!

    I've been lucky enough to have lived in four different countries, and as a result have gotten interact with people from from all sorts of cultural/socio economic backgrounds. I've tried to relay this information in there as best as possible, so fingers crossed it plays to my advantage! 

  3. 21 minutes ago, justacigar said:

    Did you address those two questions in some shape or form? My mistake was always following the prompt to the T, answering all prompt questions in a specific order and it caused my OG statements to sound horrible. Advice I was given was you should answer those questions in a narrative, fluid way. All that to say...don't reformat it if you answered those questions in some way! 

    Yea so my SOP addresses all those points, it's just not formatted as answering two different questions. Instead, like you said, I've tried to lay it out in a narrative.  

  4. So UMD has a very specific prompt for their personal statement:

    The Personal Statement/Statement of Purpose (1,000-2,000 words) should address the following questions:

    1. What are your reasons for undertaking graduate study at the University of Maryland? Indicate, if appropriate, any specific areas of research interest. You may wish to discuss past work in your intended field and allied fields, your plans for a professional career, or how you developed your interest in or knowledge of your chosen subject.
    2. What life experiences you have had that you feel have prepared you to pursue a graduate degree at a large, diverse institution such as the University of Maryland? Among the items you might care to include would be your financial, community and family background, whether you are the first person in your family to pursue a higher education, or any other factors that you feel would contribute to the diversity of our academic community. You may also wish to give the graduate admissions committee some examples of your determination to pursue your goals, your initiative and ability to develop ideas, and /or your capacity for working through problems independently.

    I've already written a personal statement for the program, but it I didn't format it in the order their prompt shows, nor did I answer it at as two distinct questions. Should I reformat to do that? Or are they just asking for that information to be in the personal statement? The application is due on the third so I'm kinda starting to panic...  

  5. 38 minutes ago, justacigar said:

    Unfortunately, I think it's pretty rare for clinical programs to reimburse for travel costs. They do typically offer a graduate student's house for accommodations to cut back on lodging expenses!

    And then you have to do this whole process again for internships ? yayyyy lol

    The R1 I interviewed at last year booked all the flights the people interviewing, and provided a hotel room for those uncomfortable staying with grad students. I can't speak to whether that's the norm though. 

  6. 19 minutes ago, Modulus said:

     

    In the interest of transparency, I am an applicant to Yale (for a different PI) and I have reported my GRE scores. However, I'm not sure what that means for those who do not.  I would hope that considering their reasoning for making it optional they would not look at this unfavorably.

    I have been told by my current mentor/PI that in general he considers GRE scores holistically alongside GPA. Specially, the clinical program at my current institution (lab manager, not student) they have a 2/4 policy where they have "minimums" for GPA, GRE Verbal, GRE Quant, and GRE Psych and applicants who meet at least 2 out of 4 go on for continued, holistic review.

    I'd be interested if any other programs anyone knows of have instituted similar policies. Yale and URI were the only two on my list that did not require GRE scores. (And a few were picky about the timeline--within 4 years of intended admission semester.)

    I found this article, granted the writer can only attest to the policy at Vanderbilt. However it might shed some light on what Yale is doing. https://vanderbiltbiomedg.com/2019/09/21/is-optional-really-optional-for-submitting-gre-scores/

  7. 6 minutes ago, Ppkitty said:

    These stats, particularly quant, are below average for the ivy schools you have mentioned. FIT with program can often make up for this, but since you don’t have direct experiencein the field into which you are applying/labs you want to work in, or pubs in your original study of interest, I would say the chances at programs if such a caliber are vanishingly small I’m afraid. UMass May be a better bet since you are already affiliated. My general recommendation would be to do a postbacc or paid lab manager position in your field of interest and then apply with pubs/good fit, if you’re aiming for top 10 programs.

    Pretty sure Yale did away with their GRE requirement. https://gsas.yale.edu/admissions/phdmasters-application-process/standardized-testing-requirements

  8. Second time applicant here! 

    So a little about me, I'm an international applicant who graduated from a US liberal arts college earlier this year. Being a small liberal arts college the focus is largely on education, and not research (in hindsights a major bummer when applying to clinical)... Nevertheless, I presented my honors thesis at SPSP earlier this year, and then as a paper presentation at a smaller regional conference shortly there after. On the one hand I assume this looks good on my application, but the problem is that the research was social psych and not clinical. After getting 2/7 interviews last application cycle, and ultimately ending up first alternate at BOTH programs (still upsetting) my plan was to apply for a research assistantship within my field of interest (broadly speaking negative symptoms of schizophrenia). Then came the kicker, since I didn't hold a permanent US visa all the labs I applied to where unable to take me on. After the initial disappointment, I thought ok, time for plan B, "surely" I can get a similar position in my home country.  Again the answer was NO, apparently where I live it's required by law that unless you're a student enrolled at that university you need to have a masters degree (or higher) to be hired on to help with research. Having run out of research options, I went for the second best thing (I think) and got a full time position at an acute psychiatric ward as an environmental therapist. 

    Long story short I'm applying again this year without having gained any more research experience, but with a ton of practical experience mostly tied to patients within the clinical population I'm interested in researching. I have a strong gpa (3.96), GRE scores in the 80th percentile range, good rec letters, and a fair amount of research experience (though not related to my interests). Do you guys think I have a chance this year? Should I try to relay this in my SOP somehow, or would that just make it seem like I'm making up excuses?

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