imemine

School: UC Berkeley Type: PhD Date of invite: 12/18 Type of invite: Email from Social/Personality area head (official department invite to be sent later) Interview date(s): 1/23-1/24 First in-person interview invite!! So insanely excited. Feel free to DM for PI

I got a preliminary phone interview for UT Austin!! So excited, but I have no clue what to expect and that's a little nervewracking?

How common is it (especially in this subfield) to have skyped with POIs pre-application? I keep reading about those calls on other threads. I haven't had any, and I can't help but wonder if it'll do me in...

I had MASSIVE imposter syndrome early in this application cycle, and it still rears its ugly head from time to time. In my case, I kept comparing myself to other people and doubted whether my qualifications were impressive enough given the competition. Ultimately, though, it's important to remember that most people also feel like they're just BSing their way through life and trying to look like they know what they're doing! The people who you think are "cut out" for grad school also doubt their abilities, but they follow their passions anyways and don't let their fears stop them. Everybody else is scared too! Besides, if you are admitted to a program, your PI believes that you are absolutely capable of handling a graduate workload; if they're the experts, might as well believe them

For programs that simply list the deadline as "December 1st", is the deadline actually 11:59pm November 30th or 11:59pm December 1st? I'm paranoid about getting everything in tonight just in case, but it's frustrating that programs don't specify.

All apps are in, just waiting for recs from 2/3 of my recommenders... and they're due in two days? I emailed a reminder to them earlier in the week and have been in contact with both, so I should be able to trust that they'll send them in tomorrow, but I can't help but be anxious about it!!

I fully submitted my first application yesterday... I can't believe the application process is almost over!! I feel like once I get the apps in, I can breathe easier knowing it's out of my hands and I've done all I could do (until -- hopefully! -- interview season rolls around and the stress returns, haha). How is everyone else doing?

I completely rewrote my statement from scratch 3 times before I ended up with something I'm satisfied with. Don't be afraid to start over if you've gotten some good direction. Also, showing it to multiple people is really helpful-- you'll know when you're almost there when the suggestions for revision become increasingly minor. If you're feeling burned out, just put the statement away for a week or two and commit to not even looking at it. Go back in with fresh eyes later and your revisions will be much more productive.

I’m applying to social/personality programs straight out of undergrad! It’s definitely stressful to know that I’m competing against applicants with much more extensive research experience from RAships and whatnot. I’m trying to focus on emphasizing fit in my applications, as well as showing the skills I’ve gained from the research I’ve done, to make up for it. We’ll see how it goes?

NYU actually isn't on my list anymore, but I can PM you the initials for UNC!

I sent out inquiry emails to the professors on my list, and I'm beginning to get responses back. My issue though is that I don't know whether it would be more polite to reply back with a brief "thank you" or not waste their time with another email at all. I would assume this depends on whether the professor says they are accepting applications or not? Even still, some of the emails from professors saying they are not accepting apps have been quite nice, and my instinct is to still thank them for their time. What are your thoughts?

So happy this was finally posted! I've been lurking forever haha. I'm a current (rising?) undergrad senior at a top 10 university double majoring in neuroscience and psychology. I'm interested broadly in the role of individual differences in emotion, self-esteem, and social cognition. Also interested in social/personality neuroscience. Still haven't narrowed down my list of schools yet (and by the way things are going, might still add more to the list), but currently, I'm looking at UC Berkeley, Columbia, UO, NEU, Ohio State, UT Austin, UC Davis, UNC, UMN, Penn State, WashU, Stanford, NYU, and U Denver. Looking forward to spending this journey with you all