StatsNerd

I think it's pretty common for profs to submit LORs on the very last day, often hours/minutes before the deadline. What worries me is my school that wanted mailed in letters... they are claiming they never received two letters that were sent weeks ago (really... two separate letters got lost? after I double and triple checked the address?). They advised me to have all my letter writers email or fax their letters. Well uh, that's fine for my 3rd procrastinating letter writer who hasn't even started my Dec. 1 letters yet (I know he will get them done, he just waits to do everything) but the other two thought they were done with me... now I have to bug them again right over the holiday weekend. :/ I hate this process! And I wish schools were more organized from the start about how and where they want things submitted. So many of my schools changed their instructions mid-way through this process. I thought I was being smart by starting early, but it actually screwed me up in the end. Anyway... hopefully it will all work out. I have two more Dec. 1 apps to finish and then four for Dec. 15.

An actual convo with a "friend"... "Friend": Why are you applying to 14 schools? Don't you have a 4.0 GPA? Me: yeah, but so do most of the other people applying. "Friend": You're so smart though! I don't see how you could not get in when you're applying to THAT many schools?!?" Me: Actually, I was advised to apply to even more. It's super competitive in my field. First you have to be invited to interview, then you have to "pass" the interview. So many hoops to jump through. "Friend": Oh, they do interviews?? Then I see why you're scared. You're kind of socially awkward and not great at talking to people. um.... yeah. I already knew that, but thanks.

I found it odd that a few schools I applied to didn't even ask for a CV. I emailed the one school and asked if I could submit one and they said I could, but who knows if they'll even look at it. I can see if the application itself asks specifically about posters/presentations/publications and relevant experience (which other schools did) but this one didn't... strange. I guess they expected you to cram it all into your SOP. Or maybe they just blindly pull names from a hat when accepting students.

Unless they told you specifically to email them after you applied, I would not. Professors are super busy this time of year so getting a bunch of "hey, I just officially applied!!!" emails might piss them off. They know you're applying, that's why you contacted them in the first place.

Just curious-- what type of program is this (clinical, cognitive, social, etc.)? This doesn't exactly shock me as I know grad students are often involved in the decision-making process during interview weekends (for clinical programs), so why not let them weed through the giant pile of apps right away as well? Still, every school does things differently so you just never know what the exact process consists of for an individual school, unless you have insider info like this. Now you'll probably have people PMing you begging to name the program. I'll admit I'm curious as well.

I'm talking about documents I uploaded into the application as pdf files (as requested), not stuff I entered into text boxes. ugh, that really sucks if it is how they view it. I don't know any way around it other than emailing all the documents separately, which I'm pretty sure they wouldn't want.

Probably a silly question but... I've noticed that after submitting some of my online applications, there's an option to "print" a pdf version of the entire submitted application. It gives you one big long pdf file of everything you submitted, but the formatting for any individual documents (SOP, CV, etc.) is all messed up because it's all just smushed in with everything else. I'm really hoping this isn't how the AdComs review our applications. Does anyone know what I'm talking about or have any insight into this? Thanks!

12:00: "Feeling pretty confident... almost worried about getting TOO MANY interviews and then having to choose between interviews that fall on the same day. Why don't all the schools have their interview dates posted yet?? I want to start scheduling flights!" 1:00, same day: "Who the hell am I kidding? I'll be lucky if I get ANY interviews. I just re-read the SOP I already submitted to schools and now I want to die. What was I thinking writing that garbage?!?" 1:30, same day: "Why haven't my letter writers submitted all their letters yet? Should I send another reminder? Should I stop by my adivsor's house to see if wants me to drop the to-be-mailed letters in the mail? Can I trust anyone??" 4:00, same day: "As if it even MATTERS if my letters writers get their letters in on time. I'm not getting in anywhere anyway. I should just tell them not to even bother." ...you get the point.

ahhh!! Just read over my writing sample that I already submitted to my school with a Nov 15 deadline and noticed a few mistakes (a double "the" and a run-on sentence I meant to fix but apparently missed before submitting?). I know this probably isn't a huge deal but it bothers me because I really did read everything over multiple times before submitting... and there are still errors! I have a feeling my applications will get better with time, as in my apps due Dec. 15 will be better than those due Dec. 1 and they'll all be better than my poor Nov. 15 app (damn early deadlines!). I'll probably make minor edits to my SOP as I go along (aside from the obvious edits that come from tweaking for each school), which will result in a final SOP that is far better than the one for the first school. This is to be expected, I guess, but it makes me nervous for that first school... it was like a trial run. At least it wasn't my top-choice school, but still...

First deadline is tomorrow and only one of my LORs is in. Off to a great start!

Maybe a stupid question, but in my SOP I cite two studies when talking about my research interests. Should I include a listing of the full references at the end of my SOP? In APA style on a separate page labeled "References?" Seems awkward and maybe unnecessary but I wanted to ask. Thanks!

I think this would be seen as a very negative move on your part... by not finishing your master's program, you're basically demonstrating that you don't finish what you start, which won't look good to a PhD program. And, if you're writing on your applications that you expect to graduate in May when you're already planning not to, this is plain-out deceptive. Would they definitely revoke your acceptance if they found out? Who knows, but is that a risk you're willing to take? Also... you don't want to burn bridges in this field. How will it look to your mentors/professors at your current school (some of whom were undoubtedly nice enough to write LORs for you) if you say "See ya!" as soon as you (hypothetically) get into a PhD program? Bad idea all around, imo.

MsDarjeeling-- thanks you! I literally DID just drop that 2nd paragraph in there out of nowhere as a last minute addition but wasn't quite sure how to tie it in, so thanks so much for the suggestion. I also wasn't sure whether to refer to it as a medical condition or just "personal reasons." In a way "personal reasons" almost sounded worse to me because there's more room for them to fill in the blanks (for all they know, "personal reasons" could have meant I spent time in prison). Then again, I know I really don't owe them a lengthy explanation, nor do they really need to know what "personal reasons" those were.

Yeah, I've read that article, but I've been told by others it's ok to allude to a "medical condition" but not a "mental illness." This is how my current mentor told me to address it (1-2 lines referring to it as a medical condition). Of course I'd rather not mention it at all, but I have several (like uh, 4 ) pretty obvious gaps in my undergrad transcripts that I think require an explanation, and I don't want to lie and say I was just off volunteering in a 3rd world country or something (although that would have been nice).

I posted a request for an SOP swap in the Psychology forum with little response, so I decided to actually post it here. I feel a little weird about this so I'll be removing it after I get feedback. I'm applying to all clinical psych PhD programs. My first deadline is Nov 15 so this is my SOP draft for that school, which I'll then edit to fit the other schools I'm applying to. I'm especially curious about the second "paragraph" which I know is just kind of thrown in there but I feel the need to address the large gaps in my undergrad transcript, but without going into detail. Any/all feedback is welcome! Thanks! -------- I want to pursue a doctoral degree in clinical psychology because I have a desire to empirically investigate problems in the field, and I know that valid research can further the advancement of psychology as both a science and a practice. While in a doctoral program I hope to enhance my research skills while obtaining clinical experience and adding to the current body of knowledge in the area of trauma studies. My professional goals are an extension of my academic and personal experiences thus far, and obtaining a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology will be excellent preparation for a career in academic research. I believe the Clinical Psychology program at XYZ University is the ideal place for me to pursue these goals. I am especially attracted to XYZ's focus on addressing real-world issues through research and community partnerships. As an undergraduate, I dealt with a medical condition that made school a challenge and resulted in having to take several semesters off to seek treatment. Despite this hardship, I kept coming back and by the fall of 2009 was healthy enough to return to focus exclusively on my studies. I acquired my first research experience working with Dr. N at [my undergrad university]. It was in assisting her with a literature review on the stigma of mental illness among adolescents that in part roused my interest in clinical research topics. In my final year as an undergraduate, I completed a senior thesis in which I examined how public perceptions of eating disorders differ according to the etiological factors attributed to them, particularly prior traumatic experiences. The paper was published in my university’s undergraduate research journal. It was an edifying experience in seeing an entire project through from start to finish, and it got me thinking about psychological trauma as a research area. After obtaining my bachelor’s degree I enrolled in the experimental psychology M.A. program at [my graduate university] with the objective of getting more research experience and solidifying my own interests. At [my graduate university] , I have taken a rigorous sequence of statistics and research methods courses (e.g. Multivariate Statistics, Advanced Research Methods, Latent Variable Analysis) and have been working with Dr. A in his ________ Laboratory. I have conducted research assessing how stuttering impacts psychological wellbeing and how individuals react when listening to people stutter. I have also evaluated the psychometric properties of various scales that measure attitudes towards people with disabilities. I have presented several posters related to this research at regional and national conferences, most recently at the Association for Psychological Science annual convention in Washington, D.C. In addition to my work with Dr. A, this semester I began volunteering at [my graduate university's] University Counseling Services analyzing data related to students’ utilization of campus mental health services. Outside of [my graduate university] , I have worked as a research assistant at [my place of employment], a private practice specializing in psychological assessment. I was trained to administer and score psychological assessments as well as edit reports for individual clients, thus becoming familiar with a myriad of cognitive, achievement, and personality assessments. I also maintained a large database of information collected from clients referred to [my place of employment] through the ______ Department of Rehabilitation and examined how certain client characteristics predicted their likelihood of a successful Department of Rehabilitation outcome. My experience at [my place of employment] was invaluable in that it confirmed my desire to conduct research with clinical populations. I came into [my graduate university's] master’s program still unclear on what exactly I wanted to be my research focus, but it became more apparent with time that my passion lies in the area of trauma. [i might add in something here about where this interest stems from] For my master's thesis, I am looking at symptoms of dissociation and the severity of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) as mediators of the relationship between CSA and adult interpersonal victimization. These ideas came as I was reading the literature on sexual revictimization and noticed that posttraumatic symptoms were often brought up as being influential mediators, but it was difficult to know exactly what types of these symptoms contributed the most. I became particularly interested in dissociative symptoms after reading about neuroimaging studies that found physiological evidence for two distinct reactions to trauma (Lanius et al., 2010), which eventually led to a “dissociative subtype” of PTSD being added to the new DSM-5. I also wanted to expand my research to consider all types of interpersonal revictimization (sexual and nonsexual) seeing as most of the current research focuses solely on how CSA leads to sexual revictimization. More broadly, I am interested in the impact of childhood trauma on future psychopathology, resilience and differences in ways of coping with adversity, and posttraumatic growth. At XYZ University, I am interested in working with Dr. K. I am particularly interested in her research on [blah, blah, blah], and her recent project examining [blah, blah, blah]. During my undergraduate and postgraduate work, I have cultivated an understanding for what constitutes sound research, and I have had time to develop my own interests in the field of clinical psychology. I wish to expand upon my skills and interests in a doctoral program and I consider myself an excellent fit for XYZ University’s Clinical Psychology program. A career in clinical psychology research will be both intellectually galvanizing and personally rewarding, and I look forward to the prospect of furthering such a career at XYZ University.