DocD

I hope this doesn't just get buried in this thread.
I'm the Associate DCT at the University of Central Florida - UCF (bye-bye anonymity :). A lot of schools are making the decision to waive the GRE this year. We have had dozens (maybe hundreds) of calls/emails asking if we are waiving it for our program. We have been waiting on word from the University as to whether or not we could. We just received word, and immediately made the decision to waive it this year (and potentially for the future as well). To clarify, we aren't just waiving it. We won't see any GREs, whether they're sent or not. So, if you had contacted us, and were dissuaded from applying because the GRE had not been waived yet, please reconsider. 
Now for a shameless plug . My research group (SURG - twitter: @SUDSuse) will be accepting at least 3 new students (perhaps as many as 6) next year. The mentors are Lidia Meshesha (behavioral economics and substance use), Mike Dunn (drug and alcohol expectancies and alcohol-related sexual violence), and Rob Dvorak (theory driven harm reduction approaches, substance use etiology, and binge eating). All of us have funded research to develop and test mobile (smart phone-based) interventions. Did I mention we also have a large research bar ? It's a great learning environment, a very cool place to go to school, and one of the most fun, stimulating, and collegial research groups I've ever seen (in fact, I took my lab to Paris last year to present our research!). Anyway, please free to contact any one of us with questions (or to let us know you plan to apply so we can keep an eye out for your application). Best of luck in this crazy process!   

I hope this doesn't just get buried in this thread.
I'm the Associate DCT at the University of Central Florida - UCF (bye-bye anonymity :). A lot of schools are making the decision to waive the GRE this year. We have had dozens (maybe hundreds) of calls/emails asking if we are waiving it for our program. We have been waiting on word from the University as to whether or not we could. We just received word, and immediately made the decision to waive it this year (and potentially for the future as well). To clarify, we aren't just waiving it. We won't see any GREs, whether they're sent or not. So, if you had contacted us, and were dissuaded from applying because the GRE had not been waived yet, please reconsider. 
Now for a shameless plug . My research group (SURG - twitter: @SUDSuse) will be accepting at least 3 new students (perhaps as many as 6) next year. The mentors are Lidia Meshesha (behavioral economics and substance use), Mike Dunn (drug and alcohol expectancies and alcohol-related sexual violence), and Rob Dvorak (theory driven harm reduction approaches, substance use etiology, and binge eating). All of us have funded research to develop and test mobile (smart phone-based) interventions. Did I mention we also have a large research bar ? It's a great learning environment, a very cool place to go to school, and one of the most fun, stimulating, and collegial research groups I've ever seen (in fact, I took my lab to Paris last year to present our research!). Anyway, please free to contact any one of us with questions (or to let us know you plan to apply so we can keep an eye out for your application). Best of luck in this crazy process!   

I hope this doesn't just get buried in this thread.
I'm the Associate DCT at the University of Central Florida - UCF (bye-bye anonymity :). A lot of schools are making the decision to waive the GRE this year. We have had dozens (maybe hundreds) of calls/emails asking if we are waiving it for our program. We have been waiting on word from the University as to whether or not we could. We just received word, and immediately made the decision to waive it this year (and potentially for the future as well). To clarify, we aren't just waiving it. We won't see any GREs, whether they're sent or not. So, if you had contacted us, and were dissuaded from applying because the GRE had not been waived yet, please reconsider. 
Now for a shameless plug . My research group (SURG - twitter: @SUDSuse) will be accepting at least 3 new students (perhaps as many as 6) next year. The mentors are Lidia Meshesha (behavioral economics and substance use), Mike Dunn (drug and alcohol expectancies and alcohol-related sexual violence), and Rob Dvorak (theory driven harm reduction approaches, substance use etiology, and binge eating). All of us have funded research to develop and test mobile (smart phone-based) interventions. Did I mention we also have a large research bar ? It's a great learning environment, a very cool place to go to school, and one of the most fun, stimulating, and collegial research groups I've ever seen (in fact, I took my lab to Paris last year to present our research!). Anyway, please free to contact any one of us with questions (or to let us know you plan to apply so we can keep an eye out for your application). Best of luck in this crazy process!   

I saw a question about the University of Central Florida a few pages back. Just an update, we have identified ~30 applicants that we are inviting to our interview day (which will be on 2/10, a Monday, to try to avoid overlap with all the programs that do Thursday/Friday interviews). We are sending out invites individually now (in alphabetical order). We should have our initial invites out by Monday at the latest. Best of luck to all of you in this process! Please know that this (incredibly stressful) process involves a lot of luck and, whether you get an offer or not (anywhere), says nothing about you (as a person) or your abilities .

I saw a question about the University of Central Florida a few pages back. Just an update, we have identified ~30 applicants that we are inviting to our interview day (which will be on 2/10, a Monday, to try to avoid overlap with all the programs that do Thursday/Friday interviews). We are sending out invites individually now (in alphabetical order). We should have our initial invites out by Monday at the latest. Best of luck to all of you in this process! Please know that this (incredibly stressful) process involves a lot of luck and, whether you get an offer or not (anywhere), says nothing about you (as a person) or your abilities .

I saw a question about the University of Central Florida a few pages back. Just an update, we have identified ~30 applicants that we are inviting to our interview day (which will be on 2/10, a Monday, to try to avoid overlap with all the programs that do Thursday/Friday interviews). We are sending out invites individually now (in alphabetical order). We should have our initial invites out by Monday at the latest. Best of luck to all of you in this process! Please know that this (incredibly stressful) process involves a lot of luck and, whether you get an offer or not (anywhere), says nothing about you (as a person) or your abilities .

I saw a question about the University of Central Florida a few pages back. Just an update, we have identified ~30 applicants that we are inviting to our interview day (which will be on 2/10, a Monday, to try to avoid overlap with all the programs that do Thursday/Friday interviews). We are sending out invites individually now (in alphabetical order). We should have our initial invites out by Monday at the latest. Best of luck to all of you in this process! Please know that this (incredibly stressful) process involves a lot of luck and, whether you get an offer or not (anywhere), says nothing about you (as a person) or your abilities .

I saw a question about the University of Central Florida a few pages back. Just an update, we have identified ~30 applicants that we are inviting to our interview day (which will be on 2/10, a Monday, to try to avoid overlap with all the programs that do Thursday/Friday interviews). We are sending out invites individually now (in alphabetical order). We should have our initial invites out by Monday at the latest. Best of luck to all of you in this process! Please know that this (incredibly stressful) process involves a lot of luck and, whether you get an offer or not (anywhere), says nothing about you (as a person) or your abilities .

I saw a question about the University of Central Florida a few pages back. Just an update, we have identified ~30 applicants that we are inviting to our interview day (which will be on 2/10, a Monday, to try to avoid overlap with all the programs that do Thursday/Friday interviews). We are sending out invites individually now (in alphabetical order). We should have our initial invites out by Monday at the latest. Best of luck to all of you in this process! Please know that this (incredibly stressful) process involves a lot of luck and, whether you get an offer or not (anywhere), says nothing about you (as a person) or your abilities .

I saw a question about the University of Central Florida a few pages back. Just an update, we have identified ~30 applicants that we are inviting to our interview day (which will be on 2/10, a Monday, to try to avoid overlap with all the programs that do Thursday/Friday interviews). We are sending out invites individually now (in alphabetical order). We should have our initial invites out by Monday at the latest. Best of luck to all of you in this process! Please know that this (incredibly stressful) process involves a lot of luck and, whether you get an offer or not (anywhere), says nothing about you (as a person) or your abilities .

I saw a question about the University of Central Florida a few pages back. Just an update, we have identified ~30 applicants that we are inviting to our interview day (which will be on 2/10, a Monday, to try to avoid overlap with all the programs that do Thursday/Friday interviews). We are sending out invites individually now (in alphabetical order). We should have our initial invites out by Monday at the latest. Best of luck to all of you in this process! Please know that this (incredibly stressful) process involves a lot of luck and, whether you get an offer or not (anywhere), says nothing about you (as a person) or your abilities .

I saw a question about the University of Central Florida a few pages back. Just an update, we have identified ~30 applicants that we are inviting to our interview day (which will be on 2/10, a Monday, to try to avoid overlap with all the programs that do Thursday/Friday interviews). We are sending out invites individually now (in alphabetical order). We should have our initial invites out by Monday at the latest. Best of luck to all of you in this process! Please know that this (incredibly stressful) process involves a lot of luck and, whether you get an offer or not (anywhere), says nothing about you (as a person) or your abilities .

I saw a question about the University of Central Florida a few pages back. Just an update, we have identified ~30 applicants that we are inviting to our interview day (which will be on 2/10, a Monday, to try to avoid overlap with all the programs that do Thursday/Friday interviews). We are sending out invites individually now (in alphabetical order). We should have our initial invites out by Monday at the latest. Best of luck to all of you in this process! Please know that this (incredibly stressful) process involves a lot of luck and, whether you get an offer or not (anywhere), says nothing about you (as a person) or your abilities .

THIS IS THE BEST THING YOU COULD HAVE EVER POSTED!! THANK YOU!!!! 

If you’re not really considering the school anymore then it’s more gracious not to waste the PIs’ (or your) time, whether it’s too late for them to put someone else in your spot or not. Especially if going will pose a financial burden. Would be absurd for the school or PIs to hold such a decision against you, especially if they aren’t reimbursing you for the travel; they were in your same shoes not too long ago, after all. The only regret I’d have in your shoes from such a decision is a lost opportunity to network, and that seems pretty small in the big picture of things given how many of the same opportunities you’ll have going forward.

I just wanted to address some of the concerns expressed on here about the UCF program (full disclosure, I’m a faculty member at UCF). First and foremost, the post in the results page is patently false. Indeed, you can easily fact check both of the issues raised in that person’s comment. First, the match comment. In the past 10 years, we have had 4 students not match (out of 54) in phase I. All four of those people went on to match, either in phase II, or the following year. Those are pretty decent match rates actually. This year, we had students match at some of the most prestigious internships in the country including Kennedy Krieger, Baltimore VA, and Brown – and, we had a 100% match rate in phase I. So, the notion that people aren’t matching is incorrect, and speaks to the validity of the comment in the first place. The second comment, which is far more egregious, is that one of our faculty is in trouble for data falsification. There isn’t a grain of truth to this. In fact, DB just received a $10 million research grant and a large endowment that will keep the important research she is doing churning along well after she decides to retire; these aren’t things that happen to someone under investigation. DB is simply transitioning away from children to work with combat veterans. To be sure, there is pressure in working with combat veterans, and it isn’t for everyone. I have a feeling that the person who posted comments attacking our program and faculty was doing so out of spite, not to warn potential students. Indeed, I would say that most of our students are quite happy with the training they get, and they are actively involved in helping to shape our program (we’ve even added student reps to our faculty meetings in order to give them a say in the direction the program moves as we adjust to APAs new accreditation standards). There are, as with all programs, differences across labs. I would encourage you to contact people in those labs to see what it’s really like, rather than relying on an anonymous post of a person who clearly has an axe to grind. If you have specific questions/concerns please feel free to reach out to me or any other faculty member. If you’re worried about getting a biased opinion, reach out to a student (I can assure you that my students will give you an open and honest answer – their emails can be found on my lab website). Hopefully this will allay the concerns/reservations that any potential students have. Best of luck to all of you in this process! BTW, for those wondering, UCF has made initial offers.
- Dr. D

I just wanted to address some of the concerns expressed on here about the UCF program (full disclosure, I’m a faculty member at UCF). First and foremost, the post in the results page is patently false. Indeed, you can easily fact check both of the issues raised in that person’s comment. First, the match comment. In the past 10 years, we have had 4 students not match (out of 54) in phase I. All four of those people went on to match, either in phase II, or the following year. Those are pretty decent match rates actually. This year, we had students match at some of the most prestigious internships in the country including Kennedy Krieger, Baltimore VA, and Brown – and, we had a 100% match rate in phase I. So, the notion that people aren’t matching is incorrect, and speaks to the validity of the comment in the first place. The second comment, which is far more egregious, is that one of our faculty is in trouble for data falsification. There isn’t a grain of truth to this. In fact, DB just received a $10 million research grant and a large endowment that will keep the important research she is doing churning along well after she decides to retire; these aren’t things that happen to someone under investigation. DB is simply transitioning away from children to work with combat veterans. To be sure, there is pressure in working with combat veterans, and it isn’t for everyone. I have a feeling that the person who posted comments attacking our program and faculty was doing so out of spite, not to warn potential students. Indeed, I would say that most of our students are quite happy with the training they get, and they are actively involved in helping to shape our program (we’ve even added student reps to our faculty meetings in order to give them a say in the direction the program moves as we adjust to APAs new accreditation standards). There are, as with all programs, differences across labs. I would encourage you to contact people in those labs to see what it’s really like, rather than relying on an anonymous post of a person who clearly has an axe to grind. If you have specific questions/concerns please feel free to reach out to me or any other faculty member. If you’re worried about getting a biased opinion, reach out to a student (I can assure you that my students will give you an open and honest answer – their emails can be found on my lab website). Hopefully this will allay the concerns/reservations that any potential students have. Best of luck to all of you in this process! BTW, for those wondering, UCF has made initial offers.
- Dr. D

I just wanted to address some of the concerns expressed on here about the UCF program (full disclosure, I’m a faculty member at UCF). First and foremost, the post in the results page is patently false. Indeed, you can easily fact check both of the issues raised in that person’s comment. First, the match comment. In the past 10 years, we have had 4 students not match (out of 54) in phase I. All four of those people went on to match, either in phase II, or the following year. Those are pretty decent match rates actually. This year, we had students match at some of the most prestigious internships in the country including Kennedy Krieger, Baltimore VA, and Brown – and, we had a 100% match rate in phase I. So, the notion that people aren’t matching is incorrect, and speaks to the validity of the comment in the first place. The second comment, which is far more egregious, is that one of our faculty is in trouble for data falsification. There isn’t a grain of truth to this. In fact, DB just received a $10 million research grant and a large endowment that will keep the important research she is doing churning along well after she decides to retire; these aren’t things that happen to someone under investigation. DB is simply transitioning away from children to work with combat veterans. To be sure, there is pressure in working with combat veterans, and it isn’t for everyone. I have a feeling that the person who posted comments attacking our program and faculty was doing so out of spite, not to warn potential students. Indeed, I would say that most of our students are quite happy with the training they get, and they are actively involved in helping to shape our program (we’ve even added student reps to our faculty meetings in order to give them a say in the direction the program moves as we adjust to APAs new accreditation standards). There are, as with all programs, differences across labs. I would encourage you to contact people in those labs to see what it’s really like, rather than relying on an anonymous post of a person who clearly has an axe to grind. If you have specific questions/concerns please feel free to reach out to me or any other faculty member. If you’re worried about getting a biased opinion, reach out to a student (I can assure you that my students will give you an open and honest answer – their emails can be found on my lab website). Hopefully this will allay the concerns/reservations that any potential students have. Best of luck to all of you in this process! BTW, for those wondering, UCF has made initial offers.
- Dr. D

I just wanted to address some of the concerns expressed on here about the UCF program (full disclosure, I’m a faculty member at UCF). First and foremost, the post in the results page is patently false. Indeed, you can easily fact check both of the issues raised in that person’s comment. First, the match comment. In the past 10 years, we have had 4 students not match (out of 54) in phase I. All four of those people went on to match, either in phase II, or the following year. Those are pretty decent match rates actually. This year, we had students match at some of the most prestigious internships in the country including Kennedy Krieger, Baltimore VA, and Brown – and, we had a 100% match rate in phase I. So, the notion that people aren’t matching is incorrect, and speaks to the validity of the comment in the first place. The second comment, which is far more egregious, is that one of our faculty is in trouble for data falsification. There isn’t a grain of truth to this. In fact, DB just received a $10 million research grant and a large endowment that will keep the important research she is doing churning along well after she decides to retire; these aren’t things that happen to someone under investigation. DB is simply transitioning away from children to work with combat veterans. To be sure, there is pressure in working with combat veterans, and it isn’t for everyone. I have a feeling that the person who posted comments attacking our program and faculty was doing so out of spite, not to warn potential students. Indeed, I would say that most of our students are quite happy with the training they get, and they are actively involved in helping to shape our program (we’ve even added student reps to our faculty meetings in order to give them a say in the direction the program moves as we adjust to APAs new accreditation standards). There are, as with all programs, differences across labs. I would encourage you to contact people in those labs to see what it’s really like, rather than relying on an anonymous post of a person who clearly has an axe to grind. If you have specific questions/concerns please feel free to reach out to me or any other faculty member. If you’re worried about getting a biased opinion, reach out to a student (I can assure you that my students will give you an open and honest answer – their emails can be found on my lab website). Hopefully this will allay the concerns/reservations that any potential students have. Best of luck to all of you in this process! BTW, for those wondering, UCF has made initial offers.
- Dr. D

I just wanted to address some of the concerns expressed on here about the UCF program (full disclosure, I’m a faculty member at UCF). First and foremost, the post in the results page is patently false. Indeed, you can easily fact check both of the issues raised in that person’s comment. First, the match comment. In the past 10 years, we have had 4 students not match (out of 54) in phase I. All four of those people went on to match, either in phase II, or the following year. Those are pretty decent match rates actually. This year, we had students match at some of the most prestigious internships in the country including Kennedy Krieger, Baltimore VA, and Brown – and, we had a 100% match rate in phase I. So, the notion that people aren’t matching is incorrect, and speaks to the validity of the comment in the first place. The second comment, which is far more egregious, is that one of our faculty is in trouble for data falsification. There isn’t a grain of truth to this. In fact, DB just received a $10 million research grant and a large endowment that will keep the important research she is doing churning along well after she decides to retire; these aren’t things that happen to someone under investigation. DB is simply transitioning away from children to work with combat veterans. To be sure, there is pressure in working with combat veterans, and it isn’t for everyone. I have a feeling that the person who posted comments attacking our program and faculty was doing so out of spite, not to warn potential students. Indeed, I would say that most of our students are quite happy with the training they get, and they are actively involved in helping to shape our program (we’ve even added student reps to our faculty meetings in order to give them a say in the direction the program moves as we adjust to APAs new accreditation standards). There are, as with all programs, differences across labs. I would encourage you to contact people in those labs to see what it’s really like, rather than relying on an anonymous post of a person who clearly has an axe to grind. If you have specific questions/concerns please feel free to reach out to me or any other faculty member. If you’re worried about getting a biased opinion, reach out to a student (I can assure you that my students will give you an open and honest answer – their emails can be found on my lab website). Hopefully this will allay the concerns/reservations that any potential students have. Best of luck to all of you in this process! BTW, for those wondering, UCF has made initial offers.
- Dr. D

I just wanted to address some of the concerns expressed on here about the UCF program (full disclosure, I’m a faculty member at UCF). First and foremost, the post in the results page is patently false. Indeed, you can easily fact check both of the issues raised in that person’s comment. First, the match comment. In the past 10 years, we have had 4 students not match (out of 54) in phase I. All four of those people went on to match, either in phase II, or the following year. Those are pretty decent match rates actually. This year, we had students match at some of the most prestigious internships in the country including Kennedy Krieger, Baltimore VA, and Brown – and, we had a 100% match rate in phase I. So, the notion that people aren’t matching is incorrect, and speaks to the validity of the comment in the first place. The second comment, which is far more egregious, is that one of our faculty is in trouble for data falsification. There isn’t a grain of truth to this. In fact, DB just received a $10 million research grant and a large endowment that will keep the important research she is doing churning along well after she decides to retire; these aren’t things that happen to someone under investigation. DB is simply transitioning away from children to work with combat veterans. To be sure, there is pressure in working with combat veterans, and it isn’t for everyone. I have a feeling that the person who posted comments attacking our program and faculty was doing so out of spite, not to warn potential students. Indeed, I would say that most of our students are quite happy with the training they get, and they are actively involved in helping to shape our program (we’ve even added student reps to our faculty meetings in order to give them a say in the direction the program moves as we adjust to APAs new accreditation standards). There are, as with all programs, differences across labs. I would encourage you to contact people in those labs to see what it’s really like, rather than relying on an anonymous post of a person who clearly has an axe to grind. If you have specific questions/concerns please feel free to reach out to me or any other faculty member. If you’re worried about getting a biased opinion, reach out to a student (I can assure you that my students will give you an open and honest answer – their emails can be found on my lab website). Hopefully this will allay the concerns/reservations that any potential students have. Best of luck to all of you in this process! BTW, for those wondering, UCF has made initial offers.
- Dr. D