SheMadeItEventually

Seeing all these posts about GRE scores makes me wonder if I am the only one who decided not to send my scores...? Mine isn't terrible but I could have definitely done better. And someone also told me not to send them unless the score is above the average for that specific program. Anyway, I hope everyone is doing a great job with your applications!

Hi! I was just about to email her with a more direct email subject like "urgent: letter of recommendation" but luckily, she emailed me back saying she will be more than happy to write me one and explaining what was happening, basically preventing her from emailing back.

Hi, thank you so much for sharing you experience. Luckily, my LOR writer just emailed me back. Such a relief!

Hi all, I need some advice on the current situation. I'm in the process of contacting my LOR writers. Before I graduated last year, all three, (well, four actually), of them said they would be more than happy to write me letters. Among four of them, I am having trouble contacting one letter writer in particular. Getting a letter from her is very important because she was my supervisor for my honors thesis and I also took two of her classes where I was one of the top performing students so she knows both my research abilities and my characteristics as a student. And I personally think she liked me quite a bit (She gave me a card congratulating me on my completion for thesis and graduation) She indeed confirmed twice last year that she would write me a strong letter and told me to stay in touch. We stayed in contact until September? of last year (I got a reply from her) where we talked about our daily life and my plans. I emailed her several times throughout this whole last couple of months in 2019-until now for updates but I haven't heard back from her in a single email. I figured she was busy with all her responsibilities but now after 5 emails (5 regular life updates and some questions) throughout one year span, I don't know what to do. I sent her another email last week asking how she was doing and if she is still willing to write me a letter for this cycle just to double check but no response. I am now freaking out because the fourth letter writer isn't as strong as this person. Should I call her office or if she subtly saying that she changed her mind?

Thank you so much guys! I will twist it around to make it fit!

Hi, I have a question about the materials to include on CV/resume. I need to update my resume and CV but I'm not sure whether I should include this activity. I joined a social psych lab (clinical applicant with overlapping social psych interests here) mid June but we've been doing nothing but a Zoom meeting once a week. We usually talk about PhD students' projects or share our thoughts on the latest publication so I guess it's better than nothing but still.... I'm anxious that my research experience during undergrad years (graduated 2019 Spring) and one research I started this May won't be enough. I want to use this social psych lab experience but weekly discussion and project critiques (of someone else's) without actually doing RA job isn't exactly "research productivity" I'm afraid.

I am trying to narrow down my school list by half and I'm planning to contact POI next month or so. I recently started looking into SOP but haven't even wrote down the first word.

Not sure how many international students are in this forum but check this out if you are international students (especially if you are starting a school in this fall) US Immigration and Customs Enforcement just posted this on their website regarding some grave changes on international students entering US for schools. International students may not be allowed to enter the US or may have to transfer or leave the country if your school goes full online course this fall. I feel extremely disappointed and confused with this modification. I'm mostly worried for people who just got in and will be starting new. I also wonder if this will impact the coming application cycle as well. https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/sevp-modifies-temporary-exemptions-nonimmigrant-students-taking-online-courses-during

Thank you so much for writing this. This is my first admission cycle after a gap year so everything looked so grim.

First time applicant here! Honestly I am TERRIFIED. I have my GRE ready. But I might take it again in the fall to aim for a higher score. (I can greedy when it comes to test scores haha) I'm working on a research remotely at home with someone I worked with during my college years. This is primarily for the sake of some authorship. I worked at two labs for 2 years and one year each until I graduated last year. I have finished my honors thesis that I presented at a conference last year. I also have half a year worth of honors research experience that got me started in research. But I did spend most of last one year to get GRE ready. I was going to start a research volunteer position near my house in March. Then,of course, COVID19 hits the world. So that one got cancelled. For that reason, the new remote research is super early in progress. The list of schools is only getting bigger bc i'm basically adding every school that has a faculty with some overlap in my research interests. I'm working part-time for a non-relevant field. In terms of field, I'm considering clinical psychology with a specialty in criminology. My primary interests lie in sexual assaults, crime victims, and social minorities. I think i may apply to some counseling programs with good interest match. I know everyone is having a difficult time, but we can definitely do it. If this cycle doesnt go well, I am for sure applying again next cycle. quick question guys: when are you all contacting your POIs? I was going to wait until September but I see some people contacting POIs now.

Hi there! I can so relate to you. I used all my time up until Jan-Feb for GRE and as I was about to start the new research assistant position in March, bamm, COVID-19 hits the world. My position was originally postponed for two weeks which quickly became four weeks and now it's indefinitely postponed. But that is basically saying it is cancelled because the research itself is completely put on hold until next semester or later. So yes, I'm now stuck between getting a clinical (psychological counseling center) position or just working on personal statement and things. I wnated this position so bad so that i could make up the lack of research productivity during the last 6 months but it looks like it won't happen any time soon haha.

Oh now that you mentioned it.... yeah i think a lot of people I've seen here said they won't defer their enrollment since no one really knows what will happen with the funding next year. So I guess it makes sense that people will accept their offers rather than risking less funding for next term. I'm split between wanting to apply this year and waiting one more year since I just want to get more research experience and possible publication but at this point getting more research experience seems impossible. Well, mine just got cancelled along with the whole research project. So I will just have to wait and see. And a big congratulation for your offer! That is so great!

Hi there! I'm glad I found my future fellow applicant! This will be my very first one and I can't even tell you how nervous I am. And I totally understand because I HATED studying GRE. it was just dreading for me. But I hope you will have better experience with GRE than me haha. I just heard that this research position I mentioned above is cancelled or as they put it "indefinitely postponed" so I'm a bit lost on how i am supposed to stay active in research (or anything in general right now) Yes, as you said, I think I will try to apply this time I am sorting out more schools based on how they are dealing with the current covid-19 situation. I know it's not black and white but I think it could at least give us some idea about their general attitudes towards students and members. Good luck with your research by the way!

Hi All! I hope all of you are staying inside your homes safe and sound. I wanted to get your two cents on how I could use this time to help building my CV for graduate school application. I graduated last year and have been taking a gap year (well, two actually) before applying to phd programs. Up until this January, I have been focusing on studying GRE and rebuilding my health. I did make some extra money working a part time job. So in January, I got a research assistant position at a university (FYI, I'm not in the U.S so the December-the end of Feb is winter break here). I was really looking forward to start this job because I really really enjoyed the topic and thought it was a great chance to boost my CV. But my the time the school term started in early March, the entire country ordered shutdown of all school for two weeks. Two weeks became four weeks.... then the schools, including the one I was going to start at, decided to move the class to online for the rest of the semester. Naturally, the labs are shut down and my RA position is indefinitely postponed. So now I'm sitting on my couch, thinking what could I do to make myself a better candidate? (FYI 2: I'm 70% sure I will be applying this december).What do you guys think? Should I look for clinical jobs as getting research jobs are pretty much impossible right now (My field requires human contact)? Not to rub it in anyone's face but the situation in this country is getting a lot better each day. However, the schools are trying to prevent second peak of the infection by cancelling all activities. I commend them for their actions but this is quite frustrating. I've been thinking some ways to use this time of uncertainty. I came up with these so far... 1. Learn some more statistics program in detail (ex: spss, r). I know these two in basic sense. But it's been a year since I haven't touched these and I can see myself spending some time learning these tools in detail. Would having these skills help for grad school? 2. Work at clinical setting. This will be your typical 9-5 job with decent pay. The only drawback is this has always been a second option for me because my field puts much of its emphasis on research rather than having clinical experience. 3. I don't know, be a couch potato as I have been these few weeks waiting from the professor I was going to work with. Oh, just a fleeting thought, working on personal statement might be a good idea too.

Hi, please feel free to ignore this post as I accidentally posted on the wrong forum. But if you have any thoughts, I would be happy to hear from you!

Hi All! I hope all of you are staying inside your homes safe and sound. I wanted to get your two cents on how I could use this time to help building my CV for graduate school application. I graduated last year and have been taking a gap year (well, two actually) before applying to phd programs. Up until this January, I have been focusing on studying GRE and rebuilding my health. I did make some extra money working a part time job. So in January, I got a research assistant position at a university (FYI, I'm not in the U.S so the December-the end of Feb is winter break here). I was really looking forward to start this job because I really really enjoyed the topic and thought it was a great chance to boost my CV. But my the time the school term started in early March, the entire country ordered shutdown of all school for two weeks. Two weeks became four weeks.... then the schools, including the one I was going to start at, decided to move the class to online for the rest of the semester. Naturally, the labs are shut down and my RA position is indefinitely postponed. So now I'm sitting on my couch, thinking what could I do to make myself a better candidate? (FYI 2: I'm 70% sure I will be applying this december).What do you guys think? Should I look for clinical jobs as getting research jobs are pretty much impossible right now (My field requires human contact)? Not to rub it in anyone's face but the situation in this country is getting a lot better each day. However, the schools are trying to prevent second peak of the infection by cancelling all activities. I commend them for their actions but this is quite frustrating. I've been thinking some ways to use this time of uncertainty. I came up with these so far... 1. Learn some more statistics program in detail (ex: spss, r). I know these two in basic sense. But it's been a year since I haven't touched these and I can see myself spending some time learning these tools in detail. Would having these skills help for grad school? 2. Work at clinical setting. This will be your typical 9-5 job with decent pay. The only drawback is this has always been a second option for me because my field puts much of its emphasis on research rather than having clinical experience. 3. I don't know, be a couch potato as I have been these few weeks waiting from the professor I was going to work with. Oh, just a fleeting thought, working on personal statement might be a good idea too. Stay home and stay safe guys!

I didn't apply this time as I was getting my GRE scores ready but my research assistant position got indefinitely postponed. I got this position mid-Feb (I'm not in the U.S. right now so back then the universities were on winter break) The whole school has switched to online classes since early March which is when the school term normally begins. I was really looking forward to start this job because I thought it would boost my CV for this winter cycle but I guess I will have to look for something else.

Hi all! This is not psychology-exclusive discussion but I wanted to know how people are doing, especially those who are applying this coming cycle for Fall 2021. Personally, my volunteer position at a lab (which was going to start in early March) got postponed until further notice. I've already been out of school for almost an year so I was VERY excited to start the research again so that I can add something extra on my CV for this cycle's application (and I LOVE conducting research) Now everything is put on all-stop worldwide. I am guessing it would also affect not only the current students and faculties but also people like me who are planning to apply in December. I heard some people saying the competition could be comparably harder if admitted students from Fall 2020 decide to defer their enrollment until this pandemic settles down. Clinical psych is notorious for its competitiveness itself and that doesn't really make it any easier for us. The thought of waiting one more year crossed my mind but I'm not sure how realistic it would be. I mean, what can we do? We gotta take what we can get, right? Anyway, I'm interested in hearing how this pandemic has or how possibly it could affect your life regarding applying to grad school. I know I directed the question to people who are planning to apply this new cycle but you are absolutely welcome to share your story! I just specified it so that potential students like me would also comment. Stay safe, guys!

Same, Actually I've been thinking quite a bit about it for a couple of reasons. One, I was supposed to apply last cycle so if I did and got into a program, I would be in a completely different position trying to figure out all the visas (ex: for international students) and travel things like some of the comments said. The other reason is because now everything is temporarily halted, including my new research volunteer position (which was supposed to start last month with the beginning of the school year here in the country reside in), I don't even know if applying this coming cycle is worth the time. I graduated in Spring of 2019 and I though two years of gap year is good enough for me but as the corona virus situation only gets worse each day, I'm a little bit stressed out thinking about taking one more year to make up the lack of research productivity up until now. All things aside, I feel really sorry for everyone whose plans had to be changed bc of this novel coronavirus. I can't even imagine how anxious they would feel now.

Hi! I'm just not so familiar with this whole submission process. But can I do a poster presentation for a paper that I already gave a oral presentation at a conference? Thanks for your tip!

Hey there! Thanks for your advice! I think I'm going to start applying to few other labs that I can tie to my interests as a volunteer RA and see if it goes anywhere from there. Worst case scenario, I can just say I volunteered at a lab for about a year and learned a few extra skills even though I don't have any publication yet.

Hi all!! I’m suddenly all confused and completely uncertain whether I want to stick to pursuing Clinical PhD with Forensic focus or Criminal justice PhD. I used to be so sure that I want to go for clinical psychology. But now I actually think of it, the main reason why I was so attracted to clinical psych is bc of full funding programs and it’s relatively solid future. My ultimate goal is to be a practitioner working in a private institutions or government agencies directly helping the victims (and studying the effects of crime on victims and sometimes mental health of criminals) Don’t get me wrong. I love research and I always have fun with it. But I’m just not sure if I want to spend next 5-7 years away from what I really want to study. however, at the same time, all my past efforts have been geared to clinical psych programs and all my knowledge about grad school application is based on clinical psych so I don’t know how much of those knowledge will be applicable to criminal justice or forensic psychology. If you were me and was really interested in working with crime victims (victimology) and criminal personality, but need funding at least for tuition and fees, would you choose clinical psychology (hopefully I can work with a mentor who has interests in forensic psychology) at a prestigious university or just apply for specialized forensic psychology programs in a less well known university?

I'm well aware I am not the first person to ask this question. How important is it to have your research out on publication? (More so, would it make that much difference if this is an international student?) I have been taking gap year and I will be applying this cycle (December) to Clinical Psychology and some Counseling psychology programs that are fully funded. I honestly don't think I can pay for grad school myself. I'm still unfamiliar with the posting guidelines of this website so please feel free to leave a comment if you think this post belongs somewhere else! I graduated last year with all types of honors in both of my majors and have been working on my GRE and was working as a tutor on the side to keep my living expenses. My GRE score is both on 90 percentiles and GPA is 3.7. I worked as an undergrad research assistant for a year in clinical psych lab (we developed a scale for clinical disorder) in my senior year. At the same time I worked in a different lab in a different department also as an undergrad RA for 2 years that is not really relevant to my interests but I knew the professor and learned quite a lot of skills. I also completed a honors thesis upon the completion of my undergrad study. My three LORs will come from 1. a person (not a professor but in academia) who directed my thesis and those who I have been working as RA. (1. professor from my second department who knows me really well and 3. one grad student and a retired professor in clinical psychology dept. co-signing the last letter) Although I'm kind of worried that some of my LORs will come from non-psychology people, they happen to know me for the longest time and very very well. But the biggest problem is that I DO NOT have any publication. My professors from undergrad encouraged me to submit my thesis to at least undergrad journals but I'm just not confident that it will get accepted especially I know there were some mistakes. I presented at a regional conference for my thesis but it wasn't in psychology department. No posters, nothing. So now I'm done with GRE, I need something to fill my gap year and boost my resume. I originally was going to work as a full-time RA at one of the university in my home country but due to unforeseen circumstance, I won't have the full-time position anymore. I reached out to several professors in my home country and they told me although they will be more than happy to take me in as an RA, my duties won't be that much different from the ones I did as an undergrad RA as their PhD/Masters students will get the priorities for all the funding and resources. In that case, it's not impossible but it will be very difficult to put my name as an author. So far, I can only think of these three options 1. Volunteer as a research assistant (pretty much same as undergrad RA and help the lab members with their projects in hopes that I can put my name as a third or fourth author. + get a side job to save money 2. Get a clinical setting job (full-time, decent pay) in a private clinical practice and see if they have any research project that I can help on the side) 3. Get a research job that deals with clinical population but not clinical psychology-related. More like a pharmaceutical or researching company (this will be heavily research oriented but it won't be from clinical psychology) I don't know how much of my status as an international student would change how important it is to have publication but I need as many advice as possible. If you guys have any other ideas please help me, I feel so lost.