nessa

From the website you linked: "The benefit amount you can get is calculated based on what is known as “countable income” and on certain “deductible expenses” that you have. Countable income includes: “Earned Income,” such as wage earnings from a job (however, income from a federal work-study program is not counted as income)“Unearned Income,” such as direct money payments from your parents. Most educational monies are not counted if from federal funds, or if used to cover educational expenses (tuition, fees, books, and supplies)"Food stamp amounts vary depending on your income. Since you have earned income from your job, you will not get the full amount- if you were making absolutely no money, you would get $160-200. From what I can tell, being in college may help you be eligible, but will not qualify you for more money. Hope this helps, and I wish I could point you toward other kinds of financial assistance, but maybe someone else on here knows more than I do. Good luck!

I'm sorry to hear you're frustrated. You need to do something about this, because it is not going to get better on its own. How close are you to this professor? I had a similar situation (new and angered by freeloading coworkers) in a non-research job. I found the best approach was to play dumb and just ask what the normal protocol in this situation was- so for you, what are the authorship guidelines? how is that decision made? etc. Then you could also explain that you've been frustrated and you're not sure how to handle the situation. If he thinks it's not a big deal and you're overreacting, he'll tell you so, and then you'll know you'll need to address the issue without him. The trick is to keep the professor on your side- so don't attack his decision, and don't come off as whiny (even if it's well-deserved frustration and not whininess you're expressing!). I know what you mean about being the only woman (although I'm sure other GradCafe members would disagree, and probably will)- the acceptable range of behavior (in terms of being pushy and/or lazy) is much narrower for women than for men. Don't take Y's behavior personally and don't feel you need to change anything you say or do because of him. Good luck and I hope things start going better! It sounds like your research has the potential to be really exciting and I hope you can take full advantage of (and credit for) that.

microdactyl, Your stats are good and I would not worry about one class you had problems with. You're right that you could use more background, but a Master's is not the best way to do that. My knowledge of post-bac psych programs is that you take all the classes you would have as a psych major, and I don't think you need to do that either. I would look at some programs that seem like what you're interested in and see what they have as their requirements, but I would think you don't need more coursework- but trust the programs, not me;) The best way to prepare given your limited research experience is to work in a lab similar to what you're interested while you're figuring things out. I'm not sure what you're doing right now, but if getting an RA job is an option I would look into it. Then you will be able to get research experience, learn more about the field, and get some stronger recommendations. Good luck!

You're stressing:) Are you worried your Q is below 700? I can't imagine it'd be below the cutoff at any school, and a combined score of 1300+ is still a very good score. Especially since you have good grades, I think you're fine. And yeah, it's be nice if the GRE actually tested any sort of math that we need in grad school, but what would we have to worry about then?

I almost laughed out loud when I saw the topic of this post, because it is pretty much the story of my life. Phone interviews, especially, are terribly fertile breeding grounds for awkwardness. Something I've learned specifically for phone interviews is to allow extra time for the person to talk- maybe it's just me, but when I'm talking to people on the phone I can never tell if they're done talking, and I think they are done, then I say something, and they're saying something, and then we both stop talking, then we both start talking again... not good. I've learned to pace phone conversations differently than real life ones. However, one advantage of phone interviews is that they can't see you! Feel free to write notes and have them in front of you- questions to ask, research ideas, words of encouragement, etc. Also, don't be afraid of small talk at the beginning- things like how they got started in the field or whatever. That might put you more at ease. And yes, the professor might be awkward too! In fact, they may be more awkward than you! That's the nice thing about going into academia. Sorry if these are obvious to everyone else, because they are things I had to learn from trial and error Good luck!

LJK, What sort of classes does MIT want that you don't have? I think that if you have a MS in the field you're applying to, you're probably solid. I don't know much about MIT's cogneuro program specifically, but based on what I know of the university in general, I'd guess it has different, more quantitatively focused requirements than most other schools. And as neuropsych said, cogneuro programs in psych departments look for fewer hard science courses than programs in biology departments, so look at where you're applying. However, I wouldn't rule out a school just because you haven't taken a recommended class, especially if you have a strong background in the field.

Hi NewEmpiric! I'm not applying to grad school yet, but my interests are really similar to yours- although a bit tilted more to emotional dysregulation & psychiatric disorders. I've narrowed down people & places just from looking at websites, so no guarantees on all this, but I'd recommend checking out Yale (esp. Gray), WashU (esp. Braver), Vanderbilt, Pittsburgh, UC Davis (esp. Carter), UC Berkeley, Stanford (esp. Gross), and Dartmouth. Also, I have to put in a good word for Duke, as I work as an RA there and really like it. I don't know Egner's research that well, but I've heard good things about him personally, and there's a lot of research going on here along lines similar to what he studies- always good to have collaborators as well as an advisor! Let me know where all you end up looking, because I'd appreciate any more info on people doing this sort of work as well:)