socialpsych

Yep, my admit day is next Friday, 3/13. And yes, I've also visited before -- gorgeous campus! What about you?

I most likely will. Not 100% sure yet, but close!

I'd go if you can. Fly from Illinois straight to the conference. A few people on these boards have stories about how visiting campuses changed their opinions of the schools they visited. I don't think it would be too difficult or overwhelming--at least I hope not, because I'm visiting four schools next week!

Maybe I'm a little over-concerned about getting titles right, but I just don't want to offend people. :oops: Is it okay to address non-academic staff (e.g. department secretaries) by their first names? "Ms." or "Mr." sounds overly formal to me, but first name is a little uncomfortable! I've been writing emails to a bunch of them to coordinate campus visit details, and I never know what is proper. It's just been bugging me.

The only two visits of mine that have specified a dress code said business casual. With jeans I imagine you'd be on the informal side of things, but that said, I haven't actually been to any of these things yet. I think I'd be more comfortable overdressing than underdressing, so I'm planning solidly business-casual outfits for those two (trousers/khakis, oxford shirt with sweater) and a suit for the others. I've heard some people say that a substantial minority of women at their visits were wearing suits; I wouldn't mind being in that minority. If I look uptight at the dinner/happy hour, screw that--I'm going to three schools in a row and need to limit myself to a carry-on! I imagine I won't be the only one not changing clothes for the evening.

Yeah. What I wrote is pretty much identical to what lizst85 suggested. Also: if you can do so politely, be specific about what made you choose the other school (schools like to know, just as we would all like to know what made them reject/waitlist us!); and if you are wondering whether to include the name of the school you'll be attending, many people do so and it's probably fine, but you don't have to (and a few people have told me you shouldn't).

There was a poll about this a while ago. As I recall, most of us had spent over $1000. Application fees are $70-80 on average, so if you apply to 10 schools that's already $750...and then there is the GRE registration cost (or multiple GREs if necessary for your field), score reports, and the cost of mailing out transcripts if your UG school takes money for that...and if you travel to visit your schools later, some may not cover all (or any) of the cost of travel.

...visit the ones you think you may want to go to?

Of course you have a chance. I think the issues for you will be 1) getting strong academic LORs and 2) conveying in your research statement that you really understand the field of psychology, what people research, what is valued. To address the second point, if you are in touch with any grad students or profs in the fields you want to go into, I would definitely show them as many drafts of your SOP as they are willing to read. People in the field are just expecting to see a certain kind of thing, and you just have to get it right--and people who are already in the field can let you know whether what you have written sounds right or not. Also, a strong GRE quant score may address the stats concern. As far as I know, a lot of people from my school get in to PhD programs with only one year of stats, so that need not be a problem.

Yay plisar!!! Told you you weren't done hearing...

If the timing is the issue, you can ask to reschedule--I've done this with two schools due to conflicts with their official visit weekends, and both were very accommodating. If cost is the issue...well, you have to make your own decisions. If you're seriously thinking of going there, I think visiting is pretty important--the question is just how important, and how much you can afford it. Do you know anyone in the area who might be able to host you for a night or two? That way you just have to pay for airfare, not a hotel...

In a similar situation, I canceled the interview. You'll see your Program X POI at conferences and such, next year, and you can network then.

It sounds like some people have gotten rejections at Stanford, so maybe you are on some kind of waitlist. I know they've been doing interviews over the past couple weeks, though. :/ At Princeton, I haven't heard anything either and I'd been assuming that was bad news, because no one has actually been notified of a rejection. I have gotten in to some programs higher on my list and withdrawn my app, but I'm guessing I would have been rejected.

Your guess is as good as mine, but it sounds like it's time for some cautious optimism...

I don't think it would be rude or pushy. They know this is important to you!

b.) I will go to the best program as long as they give me a certain minimum. But I think my favorite program is also going to be the one with the best funding. Yay!

Sure, if you are anxious and talking to them would make you feel better, go for it. They accepted you already--they like you and should be happy to answer questions.

Hindsight is 20/20. I have gotten in to my top choice schools, so naturally I don't regret anything. This would probably have been different if I hadn't been so successful, even given the same app materials/preparation process.

Ask your advisors/LOR-writers or the grad students at your undergrad! Here is my relatively uninformed guess: 1) yes, reputation matters 2) rankings of entire psych departments do not always reflect the quality of the social program in particular 3) the quality of the social program is more important, and the quality of the individual person you'd be working with is even more important than that 4) rankings are just supposed to be a way of summarizing what people in the profession think, but sometimes they're based on weird indices (like total number of publications in top journals, which puts small programs at a disadvantage) and you're way better off just asking people in the profession what they think.

Never heard of anybody being rejected by the graduate school. They are probably just waiting for funding info, especially if it's a UC school.

Eh, I thought it made it easier. I would have been obsessing anyway...and it was reassuring to find 1) support from other people who were waiting and 2) that I shouldn't worry about not having heard from schools I hadn't heard from, because no one else had heard either!

If the school is in the Council of Graduate Schools and you're applying for a PhD. http://www.cgsnet.org/Default.aspx?tabid=201 Don't let them pressure you. You are entitled to take your time.

OP, you need to figure out what's important to you, and none of us can tell you that. All I have to say is that if you think there is a chance you will ever be in academia, be very careful whom you talk to about this, because it could do really bad things for your reputation (e.g. when people react as some people on this thread have) and academia is a very small world. I also agree with earlyamerican's advice to avoid doing anything rash. You have over 7 weeks before April 15th. Think it over. Talk it over with the people who matter to you. Don't close any doors before you need to. What's for sure is that you have been given an opportunity many would really love to have, and if you choose to turn it down, you may want to be extremely clear on your reasons so that you don't end up regretting it later.

Yep, that's what I had in mind.

Apparently NSF does something like this when choosing who should get grants. I think it's pretty neat.