spunky

i kinda have to say i'm both impressed (and a little bit jealous) of all the prep work that other universities give to new TAs. i'm also a foreign student and when i first TA'd i just got thrown into the mix. no prep work, no classes, no nothing. it was basically a "we don't have enough people to teach this. so off you go. see you by the end of the semester" it was... stressful

well... there was a thread about this a while ago. sadly, it was not a very... uplifting conversation (to say the least):

you forgot a reference to the movie Inception right there! my brightest moment in this forum and you just shoved it under the bed!

what kind of positions are you applying to? maybe that had something to do with it. i've been employed full-time while in graduate school before. but these were limited-time contracts that if either the employer or myself didn't want to renew the whole thing would stop.

you took down the ONLY witty post i've ever made here! and it was a good one! XD

not trying to be mean but from a foreign student to another (actually ex-foreign student) your GREs and your TOEFL score are just WAY too low. i'm assuming the TOEFL of 87 is total TOEFL score? that barely places you on slightly over the 60th percentile. and the verbal on the GRE is WAY too low. to the best of my knowledge, being on the top 90th percentile for the Quant GRE score is also important to have, which you didn't seem to have got either (but you were very close so i wouldn't worry about that one). my advice would be to improve on your English first before planning to apply again.

i sleep on the floor for maybe one or two weeks out of every month sometimes, particularly during the summer. just 2 covers on the floor (which is all covered in rug so it isn't too cold/hard) and one cover on top to keep me warm. does that count?

NO! i demand another 5 pages of asinine discussion for TEH LULZ

HA! i *KNEW* this thread would be revived eventually!

uhm... good point. if you're strapped for time/money your best bet is, as you say, to apply to the programs that you want and, fingers-crossed, you will get accepted in the one that works for you while investing the minimum in the application process. neuro/biopsych people can receive some pretty heavy quant training as well (i know there's a whole filed on the analysis of fMRI and brain scan data) so there's probably quite a bit of wiggle room there. i guess i was championing more a quant program since it's something that right from the get-go (even in the name) lets people know you're able to handle tough data challenges. ultimately you're the only one who knows your situation and what's the best for you. but the good thing is that just by having a good disposition towards data analysis you're already opening the door to a lot of opportunities many of fellow, non-quant colleagues tend to discover when it's too late.

that's ok. let's just work with what you have then. the MA/MS idea sounds like a better approach to me but, heck, if you manage to get into a PhD then kudos to you. i'd say that instead of waiting to see whether you end up getting some exposure to advanced quantitative methods or not, you could try to start learning them yourself. i believe there are a couple of posts on this forum about Coursera courses you could take from home and resources to learn R. i've never been a fan of paying for anything that you can do for free (if you're diligent) but that is an option to consider. the good thing is that you know some programming so you don't need to start from 0, you just need to build on what you know. overall, the more prep work you start doing the better. i teach intro courses during the summer to R for new grad students (my program has fully transitioned from SPSS to R) and i think it makes a BIG difference when you see people who made it to the courses and then they can handle the courseload once their classes start in Sept versus those who didn't come to the courses, didn't learn any R and now are under time pressure to both learn a computer language and handle the beginning of graduate school. from what i read, i think you have pretty decent chance at switching career emphasis and landing a position that can pay the bills more comfortably.

(1) at what level are you planning to apply? if it's for an MA i don't think they would expect you to be too proficient in advanced methods. if it's at the PhD level it would be to your advantage to show some level of sophistication in terms of your data analysis skills. maybe a conference poster or graduate-level courses where you can show you know there is a big world outside of ANOVA/Regression? (2) this is very much program-dependent. if you look to work with the top people in the field, they usually look for applicants who have soild backgrounds in multivariate calculus, linear algebra, probability/statistics and a lot of programming. usually, education programs have A LOT less emphasis on the math aspect of things and aim for the applied stuff. (3) GREs in Quant Psych programs tend to be pretty high up on their GRE scores. the people i know who've made it into these programs are on the top say 85-90th percentile on their quant scores. i mean, keep in mind that you're technically getting a degree on "applied statistics" so they wanna know that you're capable of handling fairly sophisticated math. if you feel that you're lacking on your math/technical background (and have no way to beef it up through taking undergraduate course), i would recommend applying for an education measurement program over a quantitative psychology program. now, with that being said, there are a lot more people who get into educational measurement programs because the technical background they require is lower than a quantitative psychology program. the rule of thumb in general is that the more technical stuff you can do (data analysis, programming, development of new methods, etc.) the more 'in-demand' you will be and the more competitive you are than people who may have some technical expertise but focus more on day-to-day data analysis. this is particularly true if you plan to include non-academic positions in your job-search. a lot of the non-academic consulting that my lab does for gov't or private industry projects relies on our ability to do stuff like big data analytics or database management as opposed to, say, theory testing through the development of research design. there is a lot of interest in analyzing secondary datasources (e.g. census data) and finding trends there. that's usually where the good contracts are and if you can give it a social-science bent (not just throwing tables of numbers but using actual psychological/sociological research to make sense of them) your potential clients (be other graduate students, professors, people from other industries, etc.) are REALLY gonna love you. that's an advantage that quantitatively-bent social scientists have over traditional applied statistics programs.

the stats course for sure. expertise in research methods beyond the usual introductory courses is expected from applicants the moment they apply. the biological basis of behaviour... well, i guess it depends on which program you intend to apply? as in if you apply to social/personality psych programs i would put emphasis on having good grades in courses related to social/personality psychology. but if you're applying for a neuropsych program then yes, it would make sense for you to re-take it for grade.

please *DO*! we are probably the most in-demand people in Psychology with the lowest number of graduates. if you ask me, that is alarming giving the increasing sophistication of our analyses and the lack of people able to carry them out properly and interpret the results correctly. i know this chart is old (we still gotta way another more year for the updated one) but if the trends are the same: http://www.apa.org/research/tools/quantitative/?item=6 you will notice that quantitative psychology/psychometrics is *the* only one where the number of job openings outnumber the number of graduates. if you hang around any AERA (American Education Research Association) Division D (Measurement and Research Methodology) or APA (American Psychological Association) Division 5 (Evaluation Measurement and Statistics) annual general meetings you're literally gonna get showered with offers for post-docs, internships, (paid) research partnerships, etc. there simply aren't enough people doing this stuff and the demand keeps on growing and growing... even more now that professors are retiring and there are not enough graduates to fill up the positions. quant psych pretty much gives you the option from jumping from area to area if you happen to be interested in other stuff aside from advanced methods. now, becoming good at this does take some effort (lots of math courses. A LOT of programming, mostly in R) but it pays off dearly in terms of job security once you get to your PhD and you realize you actually have to turn away jobs because you just can't make time for all of them + your research + helping out everyone else with their stats (only aggravated when the only other person in your program graduates just recently, moves away for work and you're left with all her workload. LOL) there are a lot of "hot areas" now that i always recommend people to jump into as soon as they can (big data analytics, causal modelling, Bayesian Statistics, etc.) but even just being able to master the basics will give you a HUGE advantage in the job market (plus we honestly need people to help share the workload with!!!) if you like the idea of non-academic work, then go the educational measurement route. big publishing companies (Pearson, McGraw-Hill) or ETS will snap you even before you finish your PhD. if you prefer academic work, then go the quantitative psychology route. but DO NOT make the mistake of not taking courses (or doing some research) on IRT (Item Response Theory). that usually gets offered by Education Depts and will teach you some pretty decent tools to have under your belt when the time comes to start sending out CVs

i find the way you phrase some things peculiar. i mean if, in your case, hanging out with people = no time to prep for meetings maybe you're just not organizing your time properly? but if you're in a program that's very demanding maybe that is just the way it is and you need to choose between a social life and your academic goals. overall, something i've found out over the years is that if something *really* bothers you (like, in your case, not having people to hang around with) you'll find a way to change it (moving closer to campus, maybe?). but if you don't do anything to change it maybe it doesn't bother you enough to do anything about it (yet). and for the record, i'm known for spending weeks (sometimes even a month or two) where the highlight of my social interactions are exchanges with the cashier lady at the supermarket when paying for groceries.

perhaps. but there is little we can do about that. you gotta play the game like we all do if you wanna get ahead. and those who play it better, well... tend to get ahead a lot more

uhm... maybe you missed the memo but they *DO* have the upper hand. a department secretary "mishandling" your paperwork can stop you from getting an acceptance offer, getting any funding, keeping you out of the loop for job openings... or even from graduating if you incur the wrath of your department secretary you'll pay dearly. i've seen what they can do and it's terrifying.

i can only thank the gods that 99.78% of my research happens within the bowels of my computer. but whenever i see other people running around trying to recruit participants, going through ethic reviews, dealing with the pesky egos of their committees, begging people to stay in their studies, etc. i always wonder when do they find the time to do actual research? graduate students are miracles-workers

I'm the Mother of Dragons.... AND I WILL TAKE WHAT IS MINE WITH FIRE AND BLOOD

these types of threads NEVER go forever... i foresee it rising within at the command of a gradcafe newbie.... That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even death may die.

this is probably program-specific but i don't think it would hurt. when i applied for my PhD my advisor was impressed that i took the social network analysis course there on Coursera but the rest of the lab where i work in didn't even know what Coursera was. so it helped me out just because my advisor knew what Coursera was. still... you know what they say: 'the more you know...'

i ditto that. my summer job is to train new graduate students (and a few professors) so they can jump into R as soon as the September semester starts and that's the textbook we use. welcome to the R bandwagon. once you've mastered the basics (how to read data in, how to plot simple graphs) you'll be amazed at what an incredible tool R is.

OMG! that's UBC! by all means dye your hair. it's not unusual to see professionals around here with some extra personal flair here and there (e.g. my bank advisor has his arms covered in tattoos and he doesn't mind showing 'em off... the formal business attire+tattoos somehow works for him)

i would say so... never forget Sayre's law: "Academic politics is the most vicious and bitter form of politics, because the stakes are so low." and the 'stakes being so low' doesn't just apply to academic politics, but to quite a bit of the academic experience (which, in accordance to Sayre's law will only enhance the viciousness and bitterness). when you start graduate school you'll get to experience the whole thing first hand!

when i say my area of study is Statistics most people assume i'm a sports fanatic that keeps track of goals scored/batting turns ...truth is i don't even like going to the gym >.<