socialpsych

I memorized about 200. Not one showed up on the test. I did fine anyway.

Three out of my four letter writers are at the program I will be attending this fall. They never put pressure on me to attend their program, but it definitely helped to have their support. It's fairly common, and you shouldn't worry about it.

Are there grad students in your field at your school? Do you know any? If so, offer to buy them coffee, and pick their brains. See if they will agree to read a draft of your SOP. Grad students tend to be more generous with their time and they're also closer to the application process themselves. They can provide a lot of wisdom. Some good SOP advice I got last year: plan to write as many drafts as possible. No one has a perfect first-draft SOP. It's great that you're starting early because you'll have time to keep working at it until you're satisfied. However, you also need to get someone within your field to give you feedback in between drafts. Current grad students are perfect for this, but if you absolutely can't connect with any, ask your academic advisor or other LOR writers.

Perhaps someone in your field can comment on whether this is a good idea. In my field (psychology), it would surely get you rejected, but in CS things may be different.

I applied to 10. I think it was about right. Sometimes it felt like too many, and sometimes it felt like too few.

Just make sure, as they say, that you only list places you really want to be reassigned to...because the existing assignment is canceled automatically if they can reassign you.

I don't know about a better assignment--and this is an undergrad datum--but I live in a middle-desirability house on campus right now and plenty of people have been reassigned into this house. Some people with great assignments will end up canceling them for whatever reason, so you definitely have a shot.

Or: ask grad students at those schools. Sometimes they will have served on adcoms and will know the scoop, and they may be more inclined to give you information.

Don't just review basic math. Do that, but also practice using a test prep book.

Princeton not in the top 32? Really? Not buying it...

I second this. Looks like the SUPost list has mostly summer sublets right now whereas the CHS listings have a wider range of places--apartments, condos etc.

Depends on the field. I didn't even have to submit a writing sample; I did have some interviews (and those are not on your list). Sorry that's not a very interesting reply, but it's true!

I'm not sure this is so clear. It sounds like there are pros and cons to having a kid while in grad school. If anything it sounds as though the pressure is only greater if/when you're in a TT job. I am not speaking from experience, but the wisest-sounding advice I've gotten is that there's never going to be a "good time" for kids in the academic career cycle, so if I want to have time for family I'd better make time. Of course there are probably better and worse times (like, 2 yrs before tenure review = probably not the best time) but I'll be busy and under pressure from now until I'm too old to have children, so...I will just have to find a way to deal with it.

Sometimes the reasons are BS though. Like I think the one about "no professor compatible with academic interest" is the default one. I was invited to interview and withdrew my application, and that was the reason listed on my rejection page.

Yes, absolutely. Especially the quantitative section. The thing about the GRE Q is it's a little tricky. There are a limited number of tricks that are used for most of the basic types of problems and you just have to know how to deal with those. If you're like me, the big conceptual stuff is no problem but it's fairly easy to stumble on the details, so for me it was a matter of getting better at that. The ironic thing for me was that the "hard" questions on the Q, which deal with more advanced topics like probability distributions, are actually less tricky, so I had a pretty easy time once I aced the first few questions and got to those (thank you, CAT!). The verbal, I found somewhat less straightforward...couldn't tell what they were getting at sometimes with the reading comprehension. Oh, and not one of the zillions of words I memorized was on my test. :roll: Such is life. Did okay anyway so not complaining.

There are some master's programs with rolling admission, I believe. I don't know of any off the top of my head (and it would depend on your field) but you could check into that. I've heard of people bypassing the normal admissions process and getting in to PhD programs at the last minute, but those cases have always been applications solicited by profs at the program whose personal friends (usually outside the US) have a particularly brilliant student, or situations like that, so if you are not an undergrad right now I don't think there is any way that will be an option for you.

Housing application opens today, for anyone who's interested!

I think it means you are waitlisted. They are probably waiting for the first round of offers to shake out before they give you the final decision. If you had been either accepted or rejected based on your interview, they probably would have told you earlier. But I'm just making that up, don't listen to me. I don't think it would be out of line to contact them and ask whether/when you can expect to hear.

Tabachnik & Fidell, Using Multivariate Statistics is a very useful book to have around, especially for the sample APA style write-ups of different procedures.

I hate to say this but 3.09 is really not a competitive GPA for PhD programs...actually, it is the kind of GPA you need good GRE scores to make up for. I imagine that for adcoms, your GPA and GRE are each red flags on their own, and the fact that they are both so low means they reinforce each other (because they make it seem less likely that either one was some kind of fluke). I don't know what kind of GRE preparation you did but perhaps you should look into something more intensive, if you have the means and if there is a chance it will help. If raising your scores is not an option, I think your only chance is to address the low scores and GPA hardcore in your SOP. Why do you think they should accept you over applicants with substantially higher GPA and GRE? Honestly, not a rhetorical question--why? What do they need to know about you that will convince them that you belong in a psych graduate program? You need to have a well articulated answer, and, for programs where you don't get screened out of the pool just based on your numbers, make this case strongly. Also, again you may have done this during this application cycle, but if you re-apply you should definitely ask all the faculty and grad students you know to read your SOP and make sure you are getting the tone right. The adcoms are looking for a certain kind of thing and it's just hard to know without extensive feedback whether you've hit on it or not. Especially with the weaknesses in your application, you will need to make sure it sounds like you are a serious candidate but at the same time not making excuses. My $0.02. Sorry about how this cycle went, and best of luck! If you strike out this cycle, the door is not closed. If you can support yourself in the meantime, regroup and try again next year and you may have better luck. Sounds like you are sure this is what you want to do--I really really hope you find a way to do it!

My intro to learning & memory course used the book "Learning and Memory" by Gluck, Mercado, & Myers.

Yeah, definitely study for the GRE quant. A little studying can get you very far. Quant is tricky and it's a matter of understanding the tricks. Yes, it would have been better if you'd been involved in social research rather than clinical stuff that's not related to what you're studying, but it definitely helps that you're involved with research at all. The programs have the same concern you should have about yourself: do you know enough about social psych that you will stay, and succeed, in a social program? Do you know what you're getting into, and do you have good reasons to think it is what you want to do? This is the question adcoms have about all applicants, but in your case it will be especially important to come on strong. Since you are applying--assuming you are not taking this lightly--you seem to think you know enough about social psych and about yourself that you are hoping to spend 5-8 years as a low-paid apprentice in this field. Why? How do you know? Just work extra hard on answering that question in your apps. Your SOP and LORs will be very important for this reason. Is your APA research experience in social? Is there any way you can get a social psych professor to write for you? If you can get someone whose name is well known in the field to vouch for you, together with an improved quant score and phenomenal SOP, I think your chances could be very good.

Congrats to everyone!! See you at conferences!

Amen. Welcome

It's April 22nd this year. See other thread.