dherres

Regarding a bigger name, I find it hard to believe that *in the chosen field,* Leiden is more prestigious than SOAS. The latter was ranked #6 in the WORLD this year. I know several alumni from their development program, and they told me that potential employers have commented positively on the fact that they attended SOAS. That being said, obviously there's a lot more to consider than rankings and name. SOAS is a specialty university: if you have a regional interest in Africa, Asia, or the Middle East, SOAS is the place to go. Plus, London will give you more opportunities for networking and internships. Look at the curriculum of each program and identify which courses you'd want to take and what skills you would get out of them. Get onto LinkedIn and see where alumni have ended up. Consider how connected the faculty are, and whether they have mostly academic or practitioner backgrounds (one SOAS Dev Studies alumnus told me that faculty were very happy to use their connections to help the students network). Good luck with whichever you choose!

Anyone else planning on attending SOAS this fall? I've applied for their new MSc program in humanitarianism, aid, and conflict -- it's housed in their development department (ranked #6 globally this year, impressive). I'm literally expecting a decision any day now, and it's enough to make me crawl out of my skin.

Does anyone know what the deal is with TC Columbia?

I'm in the PhD program at UConn right now (second year) and one of the faculty this morning said that they're having their first meeting tomorrow. They want to have a recruitment weekend the first weekend of March, so I expect that they'll send out the first wave sometime next week.

Where on Wikipedia did you find this? I took a look and saw that the UNDERGRAD admission rate is about 10%, but nothing for graduate.... and nothing listed for TC specifically, unless I just missed it. A friend of mine who used to work in the admissions office of TC said that because they don't have any funding (no access to Columbia's budget, endowments, etc.), they tend to admit more students than a lot of other places.

I don't know if the person who got the interview email (for Social-Org PhD) is reading this, but if so, which faculty emailed you? (I wasn't expecting anything or at least a week, but now..... pins and needles every day!!)

I've gotten involved in community theater while in grad school. I used to perform on stage (mostly musical theater) in high school and college, but it had been about 7 years since I had last done a show. I'm absolutely loving it.

I applied here as well, to the PhD for Social-Organizational psychology. Fingers crossed!!

Sorry for misrepresenting my reasons for wanting to transfer. I'm well aware of the focus of the TC program, and prefer that to a traditional I/O program. My concern with UConn is that it's not even a traditional I/O, despite claims (one student who is ABD recently stated that he's about to graduate having never actually taken an I/O class.... how exactly does that work??).

I might as well post in here, too. I'm currently a PhD I/O student at UConn, but I'm applying to a different program: Teachers College, Columbia Univ. Don't get me wrong, UConn is great, but it's really more of an occupational health psychology program than straight I/O. The faculty here are awesome, though, as are the other students, so anyone who's interested in UConn, don't feel dissuaded!

I was just asked the same thing by my 2nd recommender. (I'm currently in a PhD program but am looking to transfer.) Apparently it's not that uncommon, especially when the person doesn't feel as though they have a strong enough grasp of your character and abilities to write it themselves. Don't sweat it; look back a few pages on this forum and you'll find several threads on the topic.

GBear -- yes, look at SIOP's site, there're also a few studies they list that are a bit outdated but a good starting point on where to look if you're looking at "elite" programs. That's weird!! You could try emailing, asking what projects they anticipate starting soon, or first you could try doing a literature search in PsychInfo (if you have access) or GoogleScholar for papers they've authored. That'd give you a bit of a better sense of their interests.

I've finished three weeks of graduate school now. And yet, I still don't think of myself as a graduate student, or at least, not *my* image of what a graduate student "should" be. From time to time, I'll stop and look around and think, "This is me??" Is anyone else feeling this, too?

Just an anecdote (not meant to contest your statement!): one of my professors exclaimed the other day in class how bitter she is that she made a 4.0 in grad school and not once has anyone ever wanted to see her transcript. (It was meant in jest, but there's some truth there.....) But yes, still, many places do want to see them. So careful!

To huanic: Give it up, there's no way you'll ever make it into grad school. Programs prefer actual people, not spambots. Love, dherres

Scoring the analytical portion is somewhat subjective and relatively difficult to accurately quantify. Beyond a cursory "Ok, this person didn't "fail" that portion," it doesn't hold much weight or meaning for schools.

Your first point I'm finding to be spot-on, at least at my school. The social and clinical people have come in and immediately begun work with their advisors, with whom they had discussed topics and research over the summer. Virtually no one in our program (my year and current, older students) were in that position. It's comforting to me to not have that pressure to commit at the outset! I say to be as specific as possible because (I think) it's something they like to see: that you know what you're doing and have put thought into your decision, you have specific goals and direction, and (apparently, at least) aren't going to grad school simply to stay in school. It's similar to the "what do you want to do with your PhD" question: say you want to do research, you love doing research, you never want to stop doing research -- DON'T say you want to go applied and work in the field, regardless of whether that's the case (which for most people in I/O that I've met, it is!). Also, I was told to mention 2 people not only for the reasons IOPsych83 listed, but also so you have a back-up plan in case that faculty suddenly leaves the department/school to go elsewhere. Additionally, looking further down the road to defense time (and this one may be a stretch, but again, it's what I was told by someone who's done grad school), you typically have to have at least two individuals from your program on your committee and this implies you've taken that into consideration as well.

During our meeting for new students, the grad reps, and the division head pro temp., we (newbies) were explicitly informed that, provided you maintain a 3.0, grades don't matter. Personally, however, I'd like to leave the option for pursuing an MBA or something after completing my PhD open, so I'd really really like to finish with something a LOT better than just a 3.0.......

The lack of lab experience is going to hurt, in all honesty, although everything else looks great. I recommend being as specific as possible; you'd be VERY lucky to know going in what you're going to write your dissertation on. Be specific enough that you can identify one or two faculty members in your application who share your interests. In some cases for me, I also wrote about why I became interested in the topic (although some of it was just bs, lol. But you do what you have to do to get in).

Atlanta. EVER, in a million years,

+1 I have about a week to go.... classes start August 31. But there's orientation/training for my TA-ship on Wednesday, then a department-wide meeting on Friday.... I'll probably be regretting these words in a month, but it'll be nice having a schedule and responsibilities again, instead of just putzing around!

Ditto. And scholarships/financial assistance from the school is sorely limited as their priority is education, not psychology. I'll also add that apparently, they don't have that strong a presence in the field.... of course they're decently-regarded, it's Columbia, but not particularly noteworthy like Penn State or Minnesota (the former of which, I've learned, leans more heavily on training for academia rather than industry, despite what they advertise -- this coming from two different sources). Never sell yourself short. My quantitative stats were about the same, and I still managed to get accepted into one PhD program and waitlisted at 2 others! Talk about a shocker to me.... lol! I'd also add that you should email faculty at different programs you're considering. Ask what sorts of projects they might have in the works if they're able to discuss them, maybe mention your interests as they relate to the professor's published work, and if you feel comfortable (maybe in the 2nd or 3rd email?) ask if they are taking students for this next year. I had planned on applying to Berkeley as they had an I/O faculty, but as it turned out, he was leaving the department for an admin position elsewhere and so wasn't going to accept any students for the fall. Had I not asked, I would have wasted the time and money applying -- and then felt the crushing weight of rejection in March! I assume you're familiar with SIOP?

I'm amused by the comments on DD here. I just moved to Connecticut from Atlanta.... my GOD are there a lot of Dunkins up here!! Even Krispy Kreme, who's birthplace is Atlanta, isn't as ubiquitous down south...... I am, however, absolutely devastated that there are no Waffle Houses in the north..... :x

LOL. No, I value all input, hence posing the question to you all.

Thanks for the replies. Something like a M. of Human Resources hadn't really occurred to me. I'll look a bit more into it further down the road. SocialPsych: Yes, I'm looking at going into industry, although I do enjoy the research work that a PhD entails. In my field, though, a lot of jobs require a PhD as a minimum qualification (working as a consultant for an external company, for example); it's an applied subdiscipline of psych (as I'm sure you know). After I posted this, actually, I mentioned the idea to one of the I/O psych consultants at a firm where I had been interning; she said she was thinking of doing it as well to supplement and enhance her work. She provides services to executives, members of boards of directors, and the like, and didn't feel quite capable of providing the highest quality work without the more complete understanding of their unique needs within the business world that an MBA would offer.