arkel

I decided to rekindle my youth by re-reading Lord of the Rings! It's like seeing an old friend again

Your story sounds quite familiar to me, because I was in a similar situation a couple of years ago. I really wanted to get research experience, but I'm pretty awkward, and was terrified of engaging my professors in any conversations, and even more terrified of asking them about research positions. For me, the solution was taking courses that had a research component included. If you have this option at your university, I would definitely recommend it! In the second half of my third year, I took a research practicum course, and I was automatically placed in a lab. Although my first interactions with the PI were VERY awkward, I was already in the lab, so I had the opportunity to show that I was dedicated and hard-working, and eventually things became less awkward. The same thing happened when I had to choose an advisor for my honours thesis... I initially approached him because I ultimately had to find an advisor. At our first meeting I stuttered and probably made no sense at all, but because I was doing my thesis with him, I had the chance to show my abilities through my work. If you have the opportunity, I would also recommend taking seminar classes. I was initially afraid to enrol in these, but they turned out to be my favourite courses. They also helped me overcome some of my nervousness around profs because there is a lot more student-faculty interaction. Even if you don't have these opportunities, it seems like you're on the right track! Your interactions might start out awkwardly, but they will get better, and the more profs you interact with, the more comfortable you will become. I've noticed that some professors are not the most socially adept people themselves, and even if they are, they will probably understand your plight. In general, I think showing genuine enthusiasm for their research is more important than appearing calm and collected when you talk to them. Good Luck - You can do it!

Thank you all for your responses! It's really nice to know that I'm not alone in thinking that School B's behaviour is bizarre. I am feeling a lot better about everything now, and I've also been wondering how School B's stubbornness reflects on the program/department as a whole. It is a very large department, and I appreciate that it must be difficult to coordinate recruitment visits if everyone is coming on different weekends...but their behaviour made me feel like they were more interested in filling some sort of grad student quota than they were in me as a potential student. I had a conflict with a different school's weekend and this school was incredibly accommodating, and even suggested that I add my visit onto a weekend when I was already traveling.

I've been knitting up a storm! New scarves for everyone!

I ended up telling School B that I could not go to their interview. I told the POI that I was still very interested in that school, and that if anything changed I would be happy to visit another time at my own expense...but he said it's very unlikely that I would be asked to visit another time because they think applicants who don't come to the official weekend will not choose their school, and so they would invite someone else in my place. I'm still not sure if I made the right choice. School A is a bit more glamorous and has nicer weather, but research-wise, I think they are pretty equal. I was kind of annoyed with School B for being so inflexible, so that might have influenced my decision too... So it was a bummer and I was pretty sad yesterday, but I'm trying to focus on the interviews I will be attending and not dwell on this. I guess when it does come time to choose a school, the decision will be that much easier!

I received interviews from 2 of my top schools, and they take place on the same weekend. I had already committed to visiting School A before receiving the invitation to School B, so I responded to it asking whether there is any flexibility in the visiting dates, so I could visit both, or at least make it to half of the weekend for School B. I have been corresponding with my POI and the graduate secretary at School B for the past week, trying to work something out, and discussing possible projects and collaborations I could work on while there. I've even been contacted by 2 other profs at School B to discuss the great resources there for research in my desired field. Yet, apparently there is no flexibility in the visiting dates. The admissions committee at School B will only allow applicants to visit on the recruitment weekend (and it has to be the entire recruitment weekend!) so they can get a full appreciation for the program and department. From the sounds of things, in order to be accepted at this school, I need to be present at their weekend. AND I just found out today that the admissions committee for School B requires me to RSVP to their invitation by noon tomorrow! Every 5 minutes I change my mind about which school I want to go to more. At this point, I feel like I really need to visit both to have enough information to make an informed decision. I don't want to go back on my commitment to School A and jeopardize my chance of being accepted there to visit School B on their recruitment weekend. I'm pretty surprised that the adcom at School B is so inflexible. Has this every happened to you? It seems a bit ridiculous. I feel childish to be so stressed about this, because in some ways, I'm in a very enviable position. I'm am very flattered that 2 great schools are interested in meeting me, but I just wish I would be able to visit both and give a fair evaluation before having to make this decision. Thank you for reading my rant!

Yay for cognitive psych! I applied to: Berkeley Oregon UBC Northwestern UIUC Michigan WashU NYU Johns Hopkins Yale So far I have been invited for an interview at Berkeley, Oregon, Northwestern, Michigan and Johns Hopkins. I just checked my online application for Yale, and it says it is "incomplete", even though all of the components listed below are listed as "received". In the excitement of the holidays I totally forgot to obsessively check on the applications.... Hmm. Best of luck to everyone!!

Thanks for your reply! I guess I knew it would come down to rejecting a bunch of schools in the end, but it really does help to hear it from someone else has been there!

I was recently invited to attend an interview weekend at one of my least-preferred schools (it's a great school, but I don't really like the location, and since applying I've realized that the faculty's research interests are not a great fit with mine compared to some of the other schools I applied to). This was my first official interview invitation, and it was done over the phone with one of my potential faculty advisors. I was caught off-guard, and since I hadn't had any offers yet, I told him that I would be very excited to visit. I also found out that he had called one of my references (who is his friend) beforehand to talk about me. Since then, I have received several other invitations from schools I am more interested in attending. At this point, I don't really want to attend the weekend, and I would feel pretty guilty about wasting their time and money when I have no intention of attending this school. Is it appropriate to cancel now? I made sure that they haven't made any travel arrangements for me, so hopefully my declining won't cost them anything. But, my (hopeful) field of study is pretty small, and I don't want to offend anyone. It seems like this must happen a lot...has anyone run into this before? I'm trying to think of the situation like a business transaction, but it feels so personal. Thank you!