Lisa44201

Spending $70/week on food for one person is not my definition of kinda broke - kinda broke is more like $20/week.. I can feed a family of four (plus two dogs) on $100/week - real, healthy food, not Kraft/Ramen/microwave-meals nonsense. Home-made bread for breakfast, fruit for a morning snack, salad for lunch, some sort of protein + veggies for an afternoon snack, then a balanced dinner. My husband and I are both students, so neither one of us have tons of free time, but it's worth it to spend 20 minutes or so in the kitchen to cook something that's healthy for us and our children. If your nutrition consists of smoothies and fish, you run serious risk of being deficient in several nutrients. The fact that you would get fatigued while cooking supports this idea; cooking is not that energy-intensive; to become tired while cooking suggests your resources were depleted to begin with (undernourished), or your cooking routine looks wildly different from mine.

No. That's fraudulent.

What, exactly, has he contributed to the research, such that it would earn him authorship credit?

In undergrad, my professors would often refer to each other by their first names when in conversation with me; I took this as an okay to do the same, but I would not address professors directly by their first names. Even now as a PhD student, when I e-mail my undergrad profs, I still address them directly as Dr. _____________. I believe I have the option of addressing my mentor at my Master's program by his first name, but I would only do that if we met in a social situation (i.e., the local pub) - in a University setting, I address him as Dr. _______.

Agree w. PsycgGirl1. Particularly, look at programs with a Thesis option. Ranking Master's programs is difficult; a school might have a great I/O program, and a not-so-great clinical program. How a school ranks locally might not correlate with the actual quality of the program.

I ended up taking my husband's name, and using my maiden name as my middle name, so FirstName MaidenName LastName; this is how it appears on my business cards, as well. I have a very German maiden name; while I was rarely teased for it growing up, it was routinely mispronounced, and hardly ever spelled right the first time; my husband's last name is much easier to spell. That, honestly, played a huge factor in me changing to his last name professionally. He's not in a research/publishing career, so I wasn't worried about being mistaken for him in print.

I would advise against it. It raises issues of personal/professional boundaries. http://psychology.unl.edu/psichi/Graduate_School_Application_Kisses_of_Death.pdf

Are the people who have had success in the same field? It's almost unheard of in my field to visit a lab during the application cycle outside of an invitation to interview.

Tie in your research interests.

A post-doc in what? And what do you want to do after the post-doc?

Oy. Agree w. Ms D.; I seem to remember a separate line on the apps for each school (not pretty, since I failed out of two separate undergrad institutions). On my CV, I put my GPA as it appeared on my transcript from the institution from which I finally graduated (which was, incidentally, one of the ones I failed out of). I would calculate your GPA the way your current institution is; my guess is they're approaching transfer credits as a pass/fail, which is not unheard of.

Several people work their way through college; in that regard, you are not unique. 99th percentile on the GREs, on the other hand, is pretty unique. Unless your work experience is directly related to your major (i.e., Hospitality & Restaurant Management), I wouldn't mention it, unless you can do so in a sentence or two while making that sentence relevant in the context of your SOP.

I would suggest asking that anyway, no matter what your extracurriculars are.

It is rare for a school in my field to chip in for travel costs. It is customary for interviewees to stay with current graduate students; during that stay, however, the interviewee is still "on"; current students will take note of rude guests. And yes, this makes interviews difficult if you're on a budget.

I've now heard from some psychology faculty that it is annoying when folks send four letters, when the app asks for three (follow directions). They will read the first three letters, and toss the fourth unopened.

Good gosh. Okay. I would suggest that, for Autism-related stuff, you might be better off looking into Developmental Psych, as opposed to Ed Psych. Developmental would also cover things like learning, intelligence, creativity, and LDs, and would give you a good space for designing interventions. Do you have any formal education in Psychology? For research, you will almost certainly need a PhD; to get to that level, you're going to need to narrow your focus a bit. If you have a Bachelor's degree already, I would suggest looking at Masters programs, probably in Experimental Psych, but I believe there are a few in Developmental out there. You will need to take the GREs. If you do not have a BA already, you're going to need one. Advocacy is another field entirely; for sheer advocacy, that's more MSW territory.

I would be very cautious. Acceptance to a University usually revolves around getting into a specific lab; transferring into a different lab is a political minefield, as the student leaving one lab usually needs a darn good reason, and the person taking the student needs to have funding. The fact that more-than-one student left a given lab and was able to find funding elsewhere is worth noting.

I wouldn't. The rest of your stats are fine; provided your SOP is strong, you should be good.

No. Use your SOP to explain why you are a perfect research fit for Professor XYZ's lab.

I think you do have a shot at an Experimental MS. Research experience, good GREs, and a good SOP will trump a mediocre GPA, provided your GPA is at least a 3.0. I would recommend not addressing your low GPA in your SOP, unless you can do it in once sentence, with that sentence outlining a transition from pre-med to psych, and that sentence is absolutely crucial to the overall flow of the paper. If all three of those conditions are not met, do not mention it. Apply to a wide range of programs, don't limit yourself geographically, etc. etc. (Disclaimer: I failed out of undergrad, was re-admitted several years later with a remarkably low GPA, worked like crazy to graduate with a 3.53 GPA, and got into an Experimental MS. Now working on my PhD. I am familiar with that route.)

Yeah, revise. Masters programs are a two-year gig, especially if you're looking for funding. http://www.socialpsychology.org/maps/gradprograms/ What do you expect to be able to do with a Master's in Social Psych?

You are not inarticulate, at least not as the concept pertains to the written word; if you were this eloquent in front of an admissions committee, I can see why you were admitted. In other words, you talked your way in. You have managed to write a very articulate essay which can be boiled down into three words: "I don't wanna." I'm guessing you got through undergrad without working hard at it, and have now found grad school to be a different matter; it is not impossible to write a 10-page mid-term the night before it is due (I've done it), but it is very difficult if you do not have a good grasp on the class; this seems to be the case with you. Enjoying a class should not be a prerequisite to putting forth some effort; in school, and in your job, you will be asked to do things that do not interest you; welcome to real life. The policy on failing out of a program varies by location; in my former program, two C's automatically got a student expelled; here, I believe two C's results in a semester of academic probation and intense evaluation by a department committee, then getting kicked out if the student has not shown progress. You do not come across as hating the program; quite frankly, you come across as lazy and entitled. The third option (throw yourself at the wall being one, maintaining a base level of performance being the second) is to actually put in some effort and earn a reasonable grade. The fourth is to withdraw. Given your apparent work ethic, that may be the best option.

If the scholarship has something to do with journalism, I think it'll be okay. I agree with IRToni in that it would be detrimental to a PhD app, but a Master's scholarship if the scholarship is related to this person's area of expertise should be fine.

There are enough non-traditional students who go through grad school with a spouse and/or children. You do have time for other people, it just takes some time management skills and some honesty in the relationship.

Grade inflation is not a guarantee, so don't count on it. Usually it goes the other way - the A may still be a 90, but in reality, the student wrote a B paper. Studying is not about how many hours you put in, it's about learning the material. If someone can study an hour for a final exam and get an A on it, that person is studying effectively. If you're making As in Quant, that's good - stats are the hardest thing to study for. So, for your other courses, mix it up a bit. Have you tried Mnemosyne?