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I'm a first year PhD student coming straight from undergrad. I am definitely the youngest in my cohort. I thought that was going to be an issue but it has not been. As for the application process, I was very worried and felt like my application was limited because I did not have as much experience when compared to someone coming from a masters or a couple more years of research experience. However, I went into the application with the idea that I am going for the PhD, and I am going to throw everything I have at it, but if it doesn't work out then that is not the end of the world. I was pleasantly surprised with how many interviews and acceptances I ended up with. I got to go to my top choice and it worked out. Don't discount yourself because you are young or are straight out of undergrad, everyone comes with different strengths and weaknesses and everyone has imposter syndrome. As far as adjusting- I have adjusted well so far (around a month in). I think the two big things for me are: 1)Time management. There are so many different jobs I am doing at the moment. I am working in my lab running participants for my PI, TAing, taking classes, reading for my own research and starting to develop myself as a researcher. It is important to prioritize what is important and know that there is always work to do. 2)Also, I have never read so much in my life. Just be prepared for that! There is a never-ended rabbit hole of information. You will never be able to fill that void.

Cockroaches are a problem, scorpions not so much. I've seen both the American Cockroach and German cockroach (smaller and in a way more aggravating to deal with). They seem to be prevalent in a lot of my friends apartments. I think that just comes with city life, I would try to look at google reviews and see if apartments have a history of roaches. I grew up in the Panhandle of Texas and we had lots of scorpions- but they don't really infest places like cockroaches do. I have never seen scorpions in my time in Dallas, just for your peace of mind haha

I currently attend UTD and work in a lab at Callier! The commute can get rough sometimes so if I were you I would move closer to the medical district. I have lived on campus my whole undergraduate career (graduating in May) and I would not recommend it. The buildings are falling apart, maintenance doesn't fix anything, and they always raise rent. So definitely find a place off campus:) I love everything about UTDallas! So congrats:) There are always concerts and other fun things to do down in Deep Ellum, make sure to check it out:) As far as tornados, I wouldn't say there are NO tornados because a couple of years ago Rowlett was hit pretty badly. But I would not spend your time worrying about it because it is a rare occasion. Also, I am pretty sure most places have air conditioning. It can get humid and hot in the summer, so people tend to depend on AC haha.

same, pal. Rough stuff. also- finding a place that is safe to live is really hard when you are so far away but it helps to ask grad students for advice and such. Good luck finding a place!

Yay!! Congrats! I have a friend going here for fall 2019 Psychology PhD

Here is a handout from a personal statement seminar I went to. I got some really solid advice from a good friend who is getting their PhD at Purdue, he talked about how to write your personal statement differently and interestingly without getting caught up in the natural formula that people use. Personal statements tend to be written chronologically. For example: "I've done A, I've done B, I've done C and those led me to D". There is nothing wrong with this, but there is a way to change it up so that your personal statement feels less formulaic and can highlight a lot more than just your resume/CV. Try writing your personal statement in terms of "themes". This is really hard to do because it forces you to look back on your life and analyze yourself like you are a character from a book haha. But I will show you what he sent me when I gave him my rough draft. Keep in mind that he helped me formulate this outline based on what I wrote, so yours could be very different: PARAGRAPH 1: Personal story PARAGRAPH 2: Research interests: what questions interested you? How did your research mentor(s) introduce you to questions? PARAGRAPH 3: Research application How did you start answering questions/researching into your interests? What were you doing to answer these questions What did it show me (show that you know WHY you were doing research) PARAGRAPH 4 - Research impact, personal motivation How have you changed as a person through your research? PARAGRAPH 5 - Future; grad school (what is your research?); job after grad school (professorship, teaching, research), societal/community impact From your past research, how have you decided what you are going to do now One good way to organize your personal statement is to write what your story chronologically, then highlight in different colors the different categories of the paragraphs shown above. For example, highlight everything yellow in your personal statement that has to do with "research impact and personal motivation" and then organize your essay by color and see if you can get it to flow. If anything, this is a great exercise to conceptualize your own life, which is a super hard feat. Personal statements are very hard because of this reason. Hope this helped! Let me know if you have any questions Writing a Personal Statement_2018_handout.pdf

Considering getting an Ipad for notes and reading: I like the idea in investing in something that can easily digitize my notes without losing the importance of handwriting notes. Which Ipad is the best for this in your opinion? How easy is it to write on an ipad? I kind of drag my hand somewhat while I write and I have no idea if that will be an issue

I am kinda on the "pro-email professors about waitlist" side of this argument. If you are close to making a decision, you may email a professor and ask where you are on the waitlist and your chances at this point in getting in. If they don't know, at least you asked. I don't think they really take offense to that unless you are annoyingly persistent. I wouldn't ask anything to the effect of, "when will I hear back.." and such because they can't really give an answer there. It is all dependent on another applicant holding the spot. Hope you hear back positive news, and good luck to everyone making decisions this next week!!

1) If you're applying to clinical psychology PhD programs you are going to want to apply to a lot of schools: 15-20 really. They need to be a mixture of R1, R2 and R3 universities. It is difficult to get in but the more you apply to the better your chances- you can't be afraid to move across the country for your education:) Just remember that this is a great time in your life to move away and live in a different place! 2)Ideally you would find a program that funds you. I am not sure if Masters programs really fund you. However, a PhD is already a hard thing without having funding so I would try to apply to schools that you know you can get funding whether that is from TAing or a grant. 3) I haven't moved yet but I am planning on driving there- it is about a 16 hour drive to Tennessee. It is doable though- personally, my parents said they would be happy to help me out in the moving process (but honestly my mother loves moving for some reason, idk.. to each their own). If you can't get your parents just find some friends who wouldn't mind a fun road trip:) 4) Can't answer the FASFA thing, but I am funded from the program so I didn't worry about filling it out. Also most places will have a limited amount of spots for grad students 5) Just live within your budget- it helps when you have a stipend coming in from your grad program. This is why I think it is extremely important to find places you can be funded. You can end up with some pretty crazy terrible debts that just are not worth it I do want to say- if you feel like a PhD isn't something you are ready for, wait a year or two. Get some more experience because it isn't an easy thing to commit to. And I don't know how much you love research but if it isn't your thing then maybe ask about PsyD or Masters? honestly I am not the best to ask about PsyD but there a many people on this forum who could help with that.

See yall there:) I will be in the Experimental Psych PhD program at UT:)

Why would they care so much about the other places you applied to? That just feels a little unprofessional

It is just better for your mental health overall to know- I sent the email when I realized how much of my life was spent thinking about my application and analyzing everything I did at the interview. Wasn't healthy:)

I think it is worth it to reach out. I would say it is safe to assume you are waitlisted but that doesn't mean you're rejected! I would just send an email politely asking about your status and if they could give you a timeline for an answer. A bit ago, I got the nerve up to ask a PI about my status (similar situation to yours), and she replied and told me she had sent out an offer to another applicant. But tbh, it was way better for me to know that information and know where I stand for sure than to be in a limbo state.

My research interests turned out to be some sort of mixture of my research experience. I would say reading is extremely important, if you find yourself interested in a topic then read about it. This also helps you find people you would like to work with as well as methodology you like. Second, seek out research opportunities that can help you narrow down your interest. If there is not a lab at your university that does that, I would suggest finding a lab at another university and working there over the summer. Also, It is important to find out what you would like to study but it is just as important to find out what you DON'T want to study. All research is good to grab some experience from, and you will learn from any lab you work for. Can't go wrong:)

This is more of a waitlist situation. A lot of universities rank the faculty by their need for a graduate student and also some universities prioritize junior faculty over senior faculty. Many times by the end of the application process some faculty do not get to extend an offer to their top applicate due to the ranking system. I think it would be good to email them back and let them know that you're still interested. A similar situation happened to me but it all worked out.