Benzene

Try posting in the Decisions forum.

I don't know about your field, but I know for mine the big conferences recruit student reviewers for certain things (student poster awards, etc.). I signed up for it through a call for volunteers sent out by the conference's student association. I would check the conference website and see if it might have information on how to become a reviewer listed somewhere already.

Rockhopper, there's a roommate search through the off campus housing section that I was looking at, though there's not terribly much there. I'm giving Craigslist a shot myself, I posted an ad and am sorta seeing what comes in. I can afford, for the first year at least, to live on my own, so if I don't find somebody cool it's okay. I'd rather save the money though! I think Apartments.com and Rent.com have roommate searches too, though I don't know how great they are.

I think it's funny you say it's a bigger town than you thought. Before I even went out there, people (from TAMU) were telling me it's so small, and there's nothing to do, etc. etc. I was surprised to see it's not really any smaller than my hometown - it might even be bigger! Granted, I live in suburbia, so that's not really saying much, haha. I've done a bunch of googling looking for hiking! And it seems there's a place for that within a reasonable drive. So, I am happy. I'm accepting my offer tomorrow, so all my research will not have been in vain! I think there's pros and cons to living right by campus...pro being obviously, you're right by campus! But if it's in an area that's pretty noisy, that could be annoying. One of the grad students told me to avoid the undergrad apartments. When asked how to tell the difference, she said that the undergrad ones are the expensive ones! So I'm hoping my budget will lead me to a quieter complex.

I've been stalking Padmapper like crazy! (Check it out, it's awesome!) The grad students I stayed with had an apartment with free cable/internet and their own washer and dryer, so I'm hoping to see some more of those pop up. I'm betting that there will be more listings in May... I'm sort of intrigued by the idea of a duplex or fourplex, but they also seem like too much space, and weirdly enough I don't want to deal with a yard. I'm still debating if I want to try and find a roommate or not - I'm sort of overwhelmed by the idea of trying to find a place from out of state, let alone trying to coordinate roommate finding at the same time!

I think the thing that gets people is that they don't want to party with undergrads, haha. I guess there are not many options that aren't overrun by them... I saw somewhere that Bryan is good to get away from the undergrad scene, but when I mentioned it, I got a laugh and was told it's only like two blocks long. XD I'm not terribly concerned by this... I'm not really one for crazy, packed bars, which is what I imagine Northgate consists of, but I figure, there *has* to be at least a couple quieter bars to meet with friends at. I've been told most places play country music so...hopefully I'll find a club that doesn't! But, since I prefer having house parties to the bar scene most of the time... it should be fine.

I haven't officially accepted yet but it is very, very likely I'll be attending TAMU in the fall. Coming from California, the housing prices seem amazing! I too have only been there for a couple days - just to interview! I've spent a lot of time reading the city guide and getting answers from people there now. The one thing I keep being told is that there's no nightlife to speak of... I'm just hoping to find a good karaoke bar and I'll be set!

When I applied to MA programs (almost three years ago) I didn't hear anything from CSULA until late March - they sent a rejection letter in the mail, no email. The CSU I ended up at (not on your list) emailed me around this time.

Haven't heard anything either but I'm sure if you emailed, they'd be able to give you some sort of information regarding your rank on the list.

This is one epic zombie post. Pretty sure the OP is not still waitlisted...almost a year later.

I have an academia.edu profile and I noticed that I got more people hitting my page during application season, especially right around the time I received an interview invite. So it seems reasonable to guess that schools are googling me - I've moved towns since finishing my master's, so there's no other reason for anyone to be searching for "Benzene + MA City"

So, I finished my master's (Experimental Psych) in December, and I'm sitting on an acceptance to a PhD program where I have the option of entering with my MA or not. I can't really decide which I should do, because I don't know how to judge the pros and cons. I figured I'd ask here for some current student perspectives on this... Pros to transferring MA: -Potentially transfer statistics credits/won't have to take statistics courses (I did very well in my previous graduate statistics courses, and while I could probably use a refresher, I could audit the courses...I am afraid of being bored if I retake the classes!) -Push to finish PhD in four years rather than five (I've spent over 2 years in my MA, this doesn't sound terrible..) -30 less credit hours required to graduate Cons to transferring MA: -Only 4 years of funding guaranteed -Less "bonding time" with other first year students - this seemed to be an often mentioned reason *not* to transfer the MA when I asked during the interview -What would I take otherwise? (I suppose I could potentially try to take an additional theory class in my area, which would let me eventually take more out of area electives. My concern is.. would two theory classes be too much my first year?) Thoughts? Suggestions? Would I be bringing myself inevitable problems by only having 4 years of funding? Will I be an outcast for not suffering through statistics with everyone else? Is finishing school just before turning 30 an unreasonable goal?

I found one this summer just by emailing. I emailed multiple professors at a local university whose research interests were similar to mine, following this format: My name is Benzene, and I am a second year Master's student in the Psychology program at My School. I am planning on applying to PhD programs in Social Psychology in the fall, and would like to gain more research experience over the summer. I find your research intriguing, especially your work on Stuff That Was Interesting, which relates to my interests in Stuff I've Done Research On. I will be living close to Your University during the summer and would appreciate the opportunity to volunteer in your lab if possible. Please let me know if you have space in your lab over the summer for a volunteer research assistant and would be interested in considering me for that position. If you are interested, I can send you my CV, and my advisor, Her Name (Her Email), is willing to provide you with a reference letter if you wish. Thank you for your time, Benzene From the three professors I emailed, I got two responses - one stating that the lab wasn't doing anything over summer, and another asking for the letter of reference and my CV. Basically, after that I got an email stating I'd be joining the lab for the summer - no interviews or anything, though I don't know if that's normal or not. I would think since your fiance has the whole year available, that should work in her favor. Note that I was looking for a volunteer (unpaid) positions - I don't know if the process is different for paid positions. I get emails occasionally from my old grad department about paid positions, and I think there is a thread floating around with some links. Check out listservs for psychology organizations as well as the employment pages for universities for paid positions. I don't think it would hurt to just email around though.

To chime in, for me personally I'm sure my MA helped me. My undergrad GPA was low-ish (3.3) and dotted with Cs, Ds, and Fs (I retook a couple classes) due to a combination of screwing around and then later, family issues. I had only one research project under my belt, and I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do. Doing the MA showed my capability to succeed in graduate level classes, lead to multiple posters at large conferences, narrow down my interests, and gain better LORs. I also had a great advisor at my master's institution who introduced me to professors in the field and really, really helped me navigate the whole application process, what was looked for, etc. which I was absolutely *clueless* about coming out of undergrad. Granted, I didn't apply to PhD programs as an undergrad, but I'm certain that with my GPA, lack of experience, and really, lack of knowledge as to what I wanted to do, I wouldn't have had a shot. I did notice, as someone else pointed out, that at my interview weekend it seemed a lot of other applicants had also either finished or were about to finish a master's. I think for someone with strong qualifications and a good idea of their interests, it might be less helpful to go for a master's, but for my situation it was invaluable.

UCSB, Y U NO tell us anything?!?! Or, has anyone (aside from the one lucky admit) gotten any word? Once I hear from them it's decision time for me! ...I'm not holding my breath to hear anything positive from Davis or Washington at this point, so UCSB is the only real competition to my one admit.

If the TAMU Social person is on the boards, could you PM me your POI? I'm anxiously awaiting word after the interview....

Florida's done interview invites already, my friend is going.

I had something similar happen. One school I applied to apparently couldn't see my LORs (even though it showed them as submitted on the application) and somehow never received my transcript from undergrad. After I fixed both issues, it took a couple weeks for the department to email me and tell me my application was now complete.

This is my round two as well! Last year I applied to eight schools, had one interview, and no acceptances. I was a disaster for about four months straight. This year, application season is right when I graduated with my MA, so this waiting period is full of....work. Full time retail hell. Being home, away from my friends who are also applying, is good in one way because we tended to feed off of each others' anxiousness, I think. But it is kind of lame too, because I feel like, aside from my mom, no one cares about what I'm going through (it's a source of chronic stress!) and no one at all understands or has been through the same thing. I've been saying that round two will be my last. At the very least, if I don't get accepted anywhere, I plan to take next year off from applications.

I've got a phone call coming in an hour from a POI who I'd listed on my SOP, but whose research is an extremely far reach to connect to mine. I've reviewed her pubs, made some notes and connections, and thought of some talking points and questions, but I'm still nervous! To make things slightly more difficult, I'm much, much more interested in another professor in her department, who I've also spoken with on the phone and will be meeting at a conference. I don't want to ask this current professor questions that I already have answers to (from my conversation with the first professor) so my conversation topics are limited. Mostly, I am baffled that this current professor wants to speak with me! I am hoping she will let me know why she is interested in me, and it will make things so much easier... Anyone else been in a similar situation?

I am doing an online study for my Master's thesis. If you have some spare cash (50 cents per participant, plus 10 for a fee) try posting your study on Amazon's Mechanical Turk website. Psychology studies always go quickly there because they are easy and tend to pay more than a lot of the other tasks - only online is 50 cents good money for your time! Just be sure to restrict to workers from your desired subject pool (for example, I am restricting mine to US citizens only.)

I don't know anything about applying, but I grew up in Camarillo and got a BA in Psych from CSUCI (affectionately called C-Sucky). Let me know if you have any questions about the area or general campus questions, I'd be glad to answer!

I haven't heard a thing from UCSB. When I emailed a few weeks ago, they just told me to wait, basically. Anyone else in the same boat? I am 99% sure it's a rejection, I just wish they'd send it already.

I feel like I'm moving through the stages of grief, haha. Still waiting on the four schools, but I've moved on to acceptance. I prefer to remain pessimistic, really, and it's allowed me to move from stressing about this process to absolutely freaking about getting my master's thesis done. Yay.

I did the same! Granted, all I got were "We're still working on it, give it a couple more weeks" but now I know to expect a letter from one school, and that I will hear by the end of the month or so for 3 of 4. Also, the fact I didn't get a straight up "Sorry, you're rejected" makes me feel slightly optimistic. (Optimism is so dangerous though!!)