hlr20
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Posts posted by hlr20
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On 4/24/2019 at 4:52 PM, kendalldinniene said:
Can anyone tell me how common cockroach infestations are? Also I’m wondering about scorpions. Are they just a fact of life in the summer?
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
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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.
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On 4/22/2019 at 12:38 PM, CherryBlossom_ said:
Searching for housing when you're 5150 miles away is overwhelming :S I have 15 open tabs and a huge list of options in a city I've never been to... I'm unsure by nature... and now comes the ultimate challenge haha But it's a good feeling after all ?
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!
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Just now, 1996kayden said:
School: University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
Concentration: Cognitive
Type: Ph.D.
Date of Acceptance: April 12th
Notified: Email, accepted off the waitlist. $20,200 stipend (TA-ship) with $2,000 summer funding. Health insurance covered by funding package. ~$950 fees/semester
Trying to decide between here and UVa tomorrow (4/13) to free up a waitlist spot.
Yay!! Congrats! I have a friend going here for fall 2019 Psychology PhD
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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?
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What were you doing to answer these questions
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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
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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
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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
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10 hours ago, philopsych said:
I'm new to psychology as a profession. With previous grad school applications, when I was on a watilist, it was perfectly acceptable to ask for updates about status and, often, schools would offer updates without me asking. From what people are saying here, this seems like it's different in psychology. As I'm sure you all can sympathize with, I'm getting really anxious as April 15th approaches. I would love to get an update on my chances, but that seem uncouth in this field. So, 1. am I right? 2. who else is currently at the mercy of one or more waitlists?
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!!
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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.
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On 3/27/2019 at 12:35 AM, topsailpsych said:
Today I officially accepted my offer from the University of Tennessee Knoxville Counseling Psych PhD program. I'm so excited! Is anyone else moving to Knoxville soon too?
13 hours ago, FeministPsychologist said:I’m also going to UTK’s Counseling Psych Program! ?
See yall there:) I will be in the Experimental Psych PhD program at UT:)
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3 hours ago, Psyhopeful said:
Yes, this. I had a distinguished professor drill me on where else I applied and then put them all down hen I finally, reluctantly, told her. I felt I had to defend and justify my choices. I had others ask where I applied, but usually with a much nicer, “if you feel comfortable sharing”.
Why would they care so much about the other places you applied to? That just feels a little unprofessional
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3 minutes ago, vallaboop said:
Thanks for your response! I would probably feel better but I'm scared
I just should suck it up and email. This process is honestly the worst.
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:)
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18 minutes ago, vallaboop said:
Is it worth it to reach out to POI? It's been about 3 1/2 weeks since my interview and I haven't heard anything (one of the weeks was the schools spring break but I'm not sure how much that matters). I thought the interview went really well and my interactions with the POI felt very positive. However, there were 3 other people interviewing for the same spot and they all seem incredibly qualified (I Googled them, like an idiot). During the interview they said we would find out if we were rejected but if we were waitlisted we wouldn't know. I'm beginning to suspect I am waitlisted. Is it worth it to email and confirm? I don't know if that will make me feel better or not. On the one hand, I will know how the admissions process is progressing. On the other hand, if I'm waitlisted then I just still have to wait until the other person(s) make their decision about the offer. Which won't help how I'm feeling because I wasn't first choice and my future depends solely on someone else. However, if I am waitlisted I want to start working on ways to improve myself for next round. I'm not ready to give up on getting an opportunity to work with the POI. My interests aren't solely driven on getting into a program, they've become focused on working in this lab that is a 99.999999...% match with my research interests which I have not found in any other program. Honestly, I've been over analyzing EVERYTHING and I really just don't know what to do anymore. Help?
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.
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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:)
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1 hour ago, philopsych said:
I posted before that I emailed the school that interviewed me and I hadn't heard back. They emailed me last night and I don't know what to make of this email. They basically said that there's a limited number of spots and not every professor can take a student, but they'll keep me posted. Is this a kind rejection: your prof isn't getting any students this year? Or a kind waitlist: your prof might not be getting any students this year? I just don't know what I should be thinking about the possibility of future opportunities. Also, I want to respond to their email thanking them for the update and maybe slipping it in that they're my number 1 choice (the truth). Any suggestions of what I should say?
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.
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School: University of Tennessee
Concentration: Cognitive and Developmental Science (Experimental Psychology)
Type: PhD
Date of Acceptance: 3/12/2019
Notified By: Email from Admissions
Very Excited! Will be accepting:)
- ilobebrains, 1996kayden, Psyhopeful and 4 others
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Hey guys,
I was wondering if I could have some advice on the benefits/drawbacks of doing your PhD at the University that you completed your undergrad. I just got accepted into UTDallas Cog Neuro PhD program (yay) but I think I need some guidance on narrowing down my choices.
Right now I have some good waitlist opportunities that look promising, one of them is for my top choice. However, I can't decide if the other waitlist opportunity (UConn) would be better than my acceptance at UTDallas.
I liked both programs a lot. However, the other school is super far away and I didn't mesh with the program as well as I did with UTDallas.
However, I don't know if it is better to diversify and go somewhere new for my PhD? I wouldn't be thinking about this as much, but I feel bad holding a waitlist spot if I don't have to.
Thank ya kindly for your help
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33 minutes ago, rainydaychai said:
Hey guys, so again I find myself in a tough situation and would love some thoughts and advice. I have now received one acceptance!
However, there are now a LOT of pros and cons to consider. Most significantly, it's the only program I applied to that isn't funded, and tuition looks to be $18k a year. For me, that's not just "manageable with some extra RA hours," that's "going into debt" type money. Secondly, the research fit doesn't quite align as well as other programs (isn't bad though), and the program follows a generalist model, while I would much rather be in a POI's lab with a strong relationship with them from day one. However, it's not all bad! The program does have a formal forensic track, which is really important to me, and they do seem to have a prominent research presence at conferences etc. It's in a beautiful (albeit expensive) area that my SO could easily work in. From what I gained during the phone interview, there are opportunities to pay tuition off from teaching at community colleges nearby.
With all this being said, and while the lure of being able to say, for sure, that I am starting my PhD this fall is strong, I can't help but worry that a year or two in the future I will be wistfully looking at other people in less generalist, funded programs while going further into debt myself.... thoughts? Anyone else in this situation?
Howdy, I think you would feel more comfortable in a fully-funded program. PhD is hard enough without having to worry about finding your funding. My advise would be to hold onto this offer- if another one comes that is better, you can then make a decision to take it. It is just that money is actually an important factor of your mental health and stability throughout grad school, and if you have potential other options then you should wait and see.
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Awesome! I go to UTDallas and it is a great University:) Very happy for you!
Are any of you applying for a PhD program straight out of undergrad?
in Psychology Forum
Posted
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.