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Zencarrot

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    PhD I/O Psychology

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  1. It's funny that you mention this. My significant other is from El Salvador and she grew up drinking coffee from a young age as well (they actually put a splash of coffee in her milk bottle when she was a baby). She also says that coffee doesn't give her a pick me up, but instead makes her sleepy. Her family often drinks coffee late at night, maybe a few hours before bed. The coffee they brew is VERY mild though and has only a fraction of the caffeine content you would get in a coffee from a place like Starbucks.
  2. So based on some conversations I've had with people over the past few days and the subsequent responses to this thread, I recant my previous statement (quoted above). Hahaha - apparently Lenovo laptops are only quasi-reliable. Not much better than the HP laptop I currently have (which has failed twice, and is currently in the shop for a third repair). And yes, one thing I forgot to mention was that Lenovos are full of bloatware. Apparently once you reformat them they run better, but only sometimes! Bleh. I am looking to buy a new laptop soon as well, and I suppose I will discontinue my subscription to the Lenovo newsletter
  3. I've heard that Lenovo makes some very solid and reliable laptops. They are reasonably priced and everyone I know who uses one swears by it. You can sign up for their newsletter on their website, and they frequently send out codes with discounts for purchasing online (a month ago select models were like 32% off or something... pretty decent deal).
  4. Hahaha, you wouldn't be the only one who isn't familiar with this subdiscipline of Psychology. I am studying at Western, but the student I/O community is pretty tight knit in the southwestern ontario area (Western, Waterloo, Guelph, etc).
  5. Thank you for the great answer to my question, wrenochka. I probably should have done a bit of investigating first! Sure, my stats at time of application were: - 1 publication - 3 refereed conference presentations - 4 non-refereed conference presentations - no previous external awards (happy I'm FINALLY externally funded now...) - 2 medium-sized (~$5000) competitive internal awards from the school where I completed my M.Sc. - 93% average from M.Sc. and PhD so far. ilovebooks - I was notified by the Faculty of Graduate Studies. They sent me an email indicating that SSHRC contacted them directly with the results. The competition results have been integrated into the online student interface already, so I was able to accept my award with the university simply by pointing and clicking (instead of filling out Form 1). As a side note - are you in I/O at Waterloo? I may actually know you if you are
  6. I think you're taking the right approach. In my opinion, keeping an open mind about research and not overcommitting to a particular discipline is the best way to conduct research that is relevant; at least in the social sciences. The social sciences are so heavily interrelated that researchers who take the most myopic view of research are the most likely to become overspecialized and consequently less relevant. Some of the best research I have seen in I/O psychology, for instance, has drawn heavily from theory in other related disciplines such as social psychology, economics, management science, and even clincial psychology (not all at once though ). No worries - your post didn't come across as arrogant to me. If you are really set on a particular journal, I wouldn't worry about spacing out the time between submission as long as what you submit is of high quality. I do not think that submission freqeuncy has much bearing on acceptance. The only individual who knows the author(s) of the submitted paper is the editor. Provided you do not receive a desk rejection due to some fatal flaw in your paper, it makes no difference to the reviewers how frequently you submit because they won't know who wrote the papers That being said, the creation of sound theory and rigorous research takes time, and so time will inevitably elapse regardless between submissions (perhaps more than you would sometimes want...!).
  7. Notified yesterday that I was awarded CGS as well! I'm wondering, when specifying a start date, can you change it from what you indicated in your application? I originally included the start date at Sept 2013, but I would like the start date to be May 1st instead. Anyone know if this is an issue or not? Congrats to all who also received good news this week
  8. Zencarrot

    Dress

    I'm going to sum this thread up with a resoundingly definitive: it depends.
  9. Thanks for sharing this link. It cleared a lot of things up for me. Odds don't look that great for my department either. I received a note today that I was waitlisted. The procedure says that the waitlist is a minimum of 2x the number of allocated awards, but no larger that 3x. So if the department allocates 30 awards to doctoral students, the waitlist could be anywhere from 60 to 90 students. It looks like I am somewhere in that big cluster of uncertainty.
  10. I think that for most scholars, publishing in the same journal repeatedly isn't necessarily even a choice. Most researchers default to publishing in multiple journals simply because a particular high impact journal that they were aiming for does not always accept their work (or in fact, rarely does!). I recently read a very good article from a respected methodologist in my field. He said that oftentimes papers are rejected not because they are of low quality but because certain journals cannot find the appropriate reviewers or the article simply does not align with the mission of the journal as well as other submissions do. Thus, the most ideal strategy (at least in my field) is to publish in the highest impact journals that you can, but do not be preoccupied with publishing in the same journal. Find the most suitable outlet for your work, and keep trying other journals until you find a suitable match (the reviewer feedback should also strengthen your manuscript along the way).
  11. This. You are much more likely to be accepted into a program if your research interests match the faculty members you are applying to work with. Your GPA and GRE scores need to be at a high level, but these are something that every other applicant will have. If you want a better shot at admission (there is no such thing as "guaranteed" admission to a Master's or PhD program as far as I know!), you need to customize your application to the school and the faculty member you want to work with. So in short, step 1 is to clearly define your research interests. Read literature, keep your eyes open on a daily basis for potential research questions, and keep working as an RA if you can. The more research experience you have going into a program the better. If that research experience is related to the research interests you outline in your statment of intent/purpose, then all the better. But do not let the topics you have pursued in the past (as an RA) restrict your future interests. Hope this is of some help to you.
  12. Zencarrot

    Dress

    This comment has received a bit of a negative reception so maybe I should clarify. I am generalizing, but most undergrad students come to class like they just rolled out of bed or finished a workout at the gym. I'm essentially saying don't come to class wearing ultra-casual clothing a hoodie, sweatpants, or flip flops. Like you, I am also a very young TA and it was not long ago (in undergrad) that I did dress like that in class. For some people (like me) it will take a concious effort to purchase a new wardrobe and stop using the aforementioned clothing (unless you're at the gym). If anything, I suggest this as a bare minimum requirement for anyone who is TAing, and I think it is a perfectly realistic and practical standard. Hope that clears things up.
  13. I received the same email a while ago. What I am wondering is if OGS is now a two stage competition within Western. I was initially pretty happy when I opened the email but upon closer inspection it just looks like we have been forwarded on to Stage 2.
  14. Just ask University A to delay the deadline for you if possible because you do not have all of the information you require to make an informed decision. You don't need to tell them they're not your first choice. Oftentimes applicants need to consult with their partner or family members before choosing. Asking for an extension to decide won't work at all schools, but they won't revoke your offer simply for asking (just make sure you ask in advance).
  15. Probably depends on the deadline each university has set. My university had a deadline of Feb, so I'm not counting on hearing back any time soon.
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