socialpsych

Are they part of the CGS? If so, they need to give you until April. http://www.cgsnet.org/?tabid=201

I don't think I would have too many reservations about telling random people that I love my program, because I do, and there's nothing dirty, little, or secret about it. I would think that at the very least it would be informative, if you did manage to get responses from grad students, to see how inhibited they seemed to be from telling you about the program. Plus, some people ARE willing to be quite open and honest about negative aspects of the program, even to complete strangers who are merely applying -- or at least that was my experience. One disclaimer though: I applied as an undergrad at a well-known school with connections with some prominent faculty in my field, and even some grad student friends who knew people at a few of these programs. Of course, not all of this came across in the email, but I did mention my UG school and wrote from an @schoolname.edu address, which I figure increased my chances of getting a response.

Actually, yes. For AT&T the email address is the number (10 digits) @ txt.att.net. Now, make sure you use the knowledge for good...

"Organizational behavior." "..." "It's basically psychology." "Oh! I get it. Cool." In undergrad, when I was a psychology major, I used to get the "Oh, I'll bet you can READ MY MIND!" responses a lot, but now when I explain my field as "basically psychology" I think people are just happy to hear a word they know what to do with.

YES, I did, and I think it is really important. After all, THAT's who you're going to be if you're in that program...are they happy? Do they like the program? If not, chances are you won't either!

There have been about a bajillion threads on each of these topics. As a start, see: -- I think this and the threads linked from that thread should address most of your questions.

This -- or, are you sure your current professors won't excuse you? They have all been through this and know how important it is; my profs were pretty understanding last year when I had to miss school for interviews.

It can be anywhere from about 15% to 80-90%...sorry, that probably doesn't help much! As for what to expect: a lot of one-on-one meetings (probably back to back) with professors (POI and others) and possibly current students; several information sessions about life in the program; a tour of the campus, and possibly the surrounding town; and at least one nice dinner/party with time for mingling. Congratulations, and good luck...you're officially on to the fun part of this whole process!

Personally, no. The agony continued for a few days after I made my choice, but not months. YMMV, but we all have dissonance reduction on our side!

You mean, in general, or receiving offers without interview? I am fairly sure I did better with business programs overall (I withdrew a bunch of applications so I'm not totally sure). Of the three offers I got with no interview, one was psych and two were business.

Yeah, I think vague and diplomatic is the way to go, especially with the more dangerous questions like "So where have you heard back from?" and "So what offers are you considering at this point?".

Your prof gave you a word bubble of the LOR??! Amazing.

Yes -- I got two offers where the acceptance letter was the first contact I'd ever had with the program (aside from the application itself of course).

Of course, this happens a lot too. People have opinions about different programs, and often they just want to give you advice! I think you can trust your instincts here. Once you are aware of the possibility that programs might actually use your expressed interest in considering whether to give you an offer, it is often easy to tell when people are fishing for that info for a reason vs. when they are just curious. The only danger is if, in a committee meeting, someone who got some info through being honestly well-meaning is suddenly under pressure to share when it could actually affect whether you get an offer... I probably sound completely crazy to some of you, but I experienced a lot of this when I applied -- way more than I expected -- and I think it puts applicants in a somewhat unfair position. As savvy applicants, we should all try to prevent people from taking advantage of our honesty! Yes, I think this is the more common way programs use this information. It can still affect your chances negatively if they have the sense that you are unlikely to accept an offer from them.

No, but I know people who did, and apparently you should be aware of the weird time lag that will throw off the rhythm of the conversation and probably result in you and your interviewer starting to talk at the same time. The point is: if it happens, don't be thrown off or embarrassed, because it happens to everyone and surely your interviewer is aware of it.

Of course people do! I had positive contacts beforehand with several faculty at my dream program, which is where I ended up. They said I would be a good fit, and then they DID make me an offer! Your probability of getting in after this kind of contact is certainly higher than your overall probability. That doesn't mean it's 100% (or even 50%), but it is way higher than average (which for most programs is, what, 5%?). At least, I'm guessing. How could it possibly be otherwise?

I'm guessing that could lead to some unpleasant situations with the advisor, if the advisor isn't actually interested in what the student switches to doing. And if the advisor is in fact interested in that...then...why not write about it in the first place? I guess it seems like a recipe for bad times to me. A totally different situation is "feigning" interest in a specific topic when you aren't exactly sure what you're interested in. A lot of people find themselves with more open research interests than the SOP calls for, and they might, for example, represent their interests slightly differently in each version of their SOP to fit with the interests of faculty -- which might really be things that are interesting to them, so the mere fact that they have different SOPs does not mean they are faking anything. Also, once they start the program, many students end up doing something slightly different from what they thought they'd want to, and that's okay too. What I don't get, though, is the situation I think you're asking about, where someone deliberately misrepresents his/her research interests as a strategic move.

My own professor relative --who is very involved in grad admissions -- heard a lot of "OMG School X contacted someone according to GradCafe!!" from me last year, and therefore is well aware of the boards, but seems to have no interest in looking at them. On the other hand, when we set up a chat room last year, there were a few people in it who'd signed on as "School Y Graduate Admissions Officer" or something like that, for a few different schools -- and they lurked without saying anything. May have been a joke...guess they wouldn't have used those obvious handles if they were really trying to be undercover.

Yep, I'm sure I will run into some of you at SPSP (:

To contribute to the discussion about templates and bromides: I did base the structure of my SOP -- at least the first few drafts -- on other successful SOPs in my field. You might even say I used them as templates. I don't see anything wrong with that. There are certain elements that need to be in an SOP in a given field, e.g. the "fit paragraph," a bit on your research experiences, a description of your research interests. The thing that made my SOP stand out (assuming it did...I got some good feedback on it and was a successful applicant) was the content I put into each element, not the elements themselves. I think this is one way in which grad school SOPs can be very different from college (undergraduate) essays. Starting with those "templates" helped me get started, but that's how I roll. If you find it inhibiting, use a different writing process. But however the actual writing goes for you, there are certain things that are supposed to be in an SOP, and whether you start with those or work them in later, you are better off including them at some point.

You mean...something like this?

Thanks for posting that link, OP; interesting stuff. My SOP didn't have any particular kind of "edge" or cute anecdote or anything, and neither did other SOPs of successful applicants who let me see theirs. So I would contend that having something quirky is not important to everyone who reads apps. (Disclaimer: the paragraph below may not apply whatsoever to fields other than psychology, though I suspect it might.) On the other hand, I totally buy the advice about making it specific and talking about concrete research interests and fit with the department. Basically, the SOP should make it sound like you are ready to get there and start working on some projects (interesting ones) right away. This is true even if your interests are in fact fairly broad. You need to demonstrate that you know that being interested in "interpersonal perception" or "decision-making," or topics at similar levels of abstraction, leaves you pretty far from being ready to start running studies. No one is going to hold you to the specific topics you propose in your SOP (as long as they get you matched up with the right advisor); they still expect you to propose topics so that they can tell you know what a good topic is. Also, if "ever since I was little..." or "I have always loved..." is a bad way to start, I don't understand why so many of us get told that that's what we're supposed to do! That was the impression I had, too, but I ended up not putting it in my statement simply because I couldn't make it a plausible story. My interests have changed a lot since I was "little." Who cares? I'm interested in this stuff now (and I can "prove" it by discussing the stuff in an interesting way). Anyway, I totally want to write a letter to the SOP book I read that gave the bad advice to include those kinds of anecdotes...

Re: coat, I would go with a black wool peacoat if you can get your hands on one. You will look nice and professional, and you are unlikely to feel out of place or self-conscious. Definitely wear a few (or more than a few) layers underneath though, since they are not quite as warm as the big puffy coats. If it is in the 30s, though, you should be okay. (I grew up in a mild, non-snowy climate, by the way.)

Half?! That means that half of the applicants DO contact the profs beforehand...how the heck does this not take up absurd amounts of the profs' time?

If you're going into academia, never! If you're going into academia, right away. It's all about everyone judging everyone! Starting your first year, you'll be writing critique papers for class and commenting on your colleagues' research ideas in lab meetings...and soon after, you get to start reviewing for journals!