weeble

Hi all, I'm applying for social psych phd programs for Fall 2009. Anyone else? I'd love to have some folks to commiserate with. Applying to: UC Irvine UCLA UC Davis Claremont Graduate University Arizona State University University of Wisconsin University of Michigan Pennsylvania State University (app submitted) University of Connecticut Washington University in St. Louis How about the rest of you?

So I'm wondering how friendly Ann Arbor/UM is to gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender students, on campus and off. Is it safe to be "out"? What are attitudes like towards gay couples with kids? What are good neighborhoods to live in? Are hate crimes common? I'm really not interested in clubs or bars or anything like that, I just want to know if this is a safe place to be a gay grad student or young professional. Thanks for any advice you have!

I'm not planning to retake the exam. I really doubt I'd do better on quant (650 - math is NOT my strong point), and I'm sure I couldn't ace the verbal again (800). How does rescoring work?

Glad to hear I'm not the only one this happened to. I got a 4 on the writing (!!!!) and an 800 verbal. My current internal debate is whether and how to explain my 4 grade on the application. One application actually asks if my GRE scores accurately reflect my abilities. What can I say to explain my 4? Do you think they'd accept that I've been out of school for five years and don't write essays? I'm afraid that will come across as "I didn't study for this exam", which isn't true. I did study and practice, just clearly not enough to make up for the length of time I've been away from school.

To piggy-back on the original question, I'm working on emails to send to faculty I would like to work with, and I'm wondering what I should put in the subject line of the email. Maybe I'm overthinking this, but I'd love any advice you all can give. Also, how have you all approached the issue of contacting multiple faculty in the same department? My best guess is to send individual emails and include a line saying "I have also contacted Professor X, as I am also interested in the research s/he is conducting on ...". This is assuming that the two faculty have similar research interests. How does that sound?

I'm applying to PhD programs in Social Psychology, and the programs I'm applying to do not (for the most part) have minimum GRE score requirements. They just report median scores. That said, ALL the programs have higher median quantitative scores than verbal scores. I scored 650 quant, 800 verbal. Am I going to be at a disadvantage in the admissions process, or will my verbal score carry me through? Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you!

I'm in a slightly similar position. I graduated from my undergrad university five years ago, so, while I have three strong references from faculty, I want to submit a letter from a work supervisor to give programs an idea of what I've been up to. I contacted the departments at all the programs I'm applying to and asked if they would accept a fourth letter. Most will, but some are very set on the three letter limit. I would not assume they'd accept a fourth letter, check with them. Everyone I've emailed has been extremely helpful and responsive.