jynx

Yes, the cost of living is very high, IN Berkeley. However, the entire SF Bay Area has an awesome public transportation system (BART) so it's entirely possible to live in, say, Oakland, where the cost of living is significantly lower, and commute to school in Berkeley. Congrats on your acceptance!! You must be awesome, Berkeley is a great school

I don't have any acceptances yet either, so I've been having a tough time planning for the future. I'm not in school or working, and this uncertainty is making it hard to get a job. Nobody wants to hire you when you can only commit to working there for 6 months max, plus if I find out I don't get in anywhere, I'm probably going to want to find a research job in another city and move ASAP. But, this will all be over soon...we all just need to hang in there

It's the last day of February...since every program I applied to does interviews, I'm pretty sure that I am implicitly rejected from everywhere that hasn't contacted me yet at this point.

I've received three official rejections, but only one of them actually hurt. Clinical Psych PhD programs are so competitive that I basically assume I'm going to get rejected from everywhere, which makes it a nice surprise when I get an interview. But, in the case of one of my schools, they started changing people's application status on the website to "not accepted", while mine still said "pending". I had two days to get my hopes up before they finally changed my status, which made it all the more crushing when they did. I cried for about an hour, before pulling it together but generally feeling kind of down for the rest of the day. Seriously...hope does you no good in this process, it can only hurt you. Keep those expectations low! I did interview at my dream school a little over a week ago, so I'm trying not to think about when/what their decision will be. I kind of doubt I will get an outright rejection, since they only interviewed 4 of us for the position, but instead I will probably be left to languish in waitlist hell until April. If that happens, I will probably just try to be extra nice to myself that day: don't try to do anything productive, just sit around and watch TV with my partner, then maybe go out to my favorite diner and get a big milkshake.

He has such beautiful blue eyes! I love grey tabbies, they're the cutest

This is my kitty Jynx (hence my forum username). I've had him since he was a kitten, and he'll be turning 12 next month. He's seen me through a lot, not the least of which has been the admissions process. He's actually sitting on my lap as I type this And here is Logan...my fiance and I adopted him a little over a year ago. He's a big silly goofball who makes me laugh every day.

I think if I don't get in anywhere, I'll try to find a research assistant position somewhere (pretty much anywhere is fine, I'm planning on moving for grad school anyway). I'd love to get a paying job, but I'd settle for volunteering in a lab that's doing research relevant to my interests. Then, I'd ideally like to apply for a Fulbright scholarship, and then reapply for grad school in a year or two. That's the tentative plan, anyway...hopefully it's realistic

Seeing as how this topic just got revived...I just graduated from UCSC a couple months ago and am currently still living in Santa Cruz, so I'd be happy to answer any questions about it Edit: I see you're in developmental psych, ashmo - I was a research assistant in a developmental lab and know several of the grad students, so I could probably give you some info about the department too.

That's so exciting! Congrats! As for me, my fiance and I have sworn not to celebrate Valentine's Day, because we object to society telling us 1) that we must celebrate our relationship that day and 2) that we must do it by buying stuff. Doing something special with your SO is nice, but doing it because society tells you to seems kind of lame. Not to knock those of you who enjoy V-Day...I just don't get it, I guess. I'll probably spend the day trying not to freak out, because I'm flying out to interview with my top choice program three days later!

Thank you! It's surprising how much better this made me feel

This varies from program to program. Definitely contact the school and ask them about how mentorship works in their program, and if this professor has been assigned as your mentor.

Turning 25 in a week and a half...I doubt my age will matter to adcoms, but I honestly have no idea how a 21 or 22-year old has enough time to be ready for grad school as soon as they graduate. It took me a couple years of meandering through art school and community college to figure out what I wanted to do. I admire those of you who can do it, though

Thanks guys. Waiting does suck, but it helps to know that this kind of delay is normal and it doesn't mean they forgot about me or something. I hope I hear something soon though!

I feel like I'm stuck in limbo...I graduated in December, and the place I used to intern as an undergrad promised me a job. But they haven't found a position for me yet despite the fact that I regularly follow up with them, and I don't want to go looking for another job because I really do want to keep myself available to work there. Plus, sitting around waiting for admissions results has got me totally unmotivated; if I get in somewhere, it doesn't really matter what I do for the next 7 months, and if I don't get in anywhere, then I'm probably going to have to move somewhere to get a research assistant job and then reapply. Either way, I'm only living here temporarily, so it doesn't feel worth it to get invested in a job search when I'll only be able to work there for a few months. So I feel like I can't make any plans of any kind until I hear back, and in the meantime I have no school and no job to keep me occupied. To make things worse, I was told I'd hear back about the results from my interview within a week of January 31st, and it's been a week and a half. I keep expecting them to contact me any minute, which just makes the days crawl by. I can't wait until this is over!

I know I'm probably just being impatient, but I had an interview last Monday and they said they would be contacting everybody within a week to let them know their decision. It's been a week and a half...when do you think it's appropriate for me to email my POI to check on my status?

So true! Thanks for sharing.

I hadn't had any grad school dreams until last night. And last night was pretty bad... I attended an interview weekend last Sunday and Monday, where they told us that offers would be made over the phone within the next week (probably within a couple of days) and that everyone else would be informed of rejections/alternate status by email a little bit later. Since I haven't heard anything yet, I'm anticipating a rejection, which is a total bummer because I really want to go there. Anyway, last night I dreamed that my POI called me, and I was so thrilled because I knew they wouldn't call unless they accepted me, but she actually just called to deliver the rejection personally. She totally insulted me, gave me a long list of reasons why I wasn't accepted, and laughed at me for being stupid enough to think I could get in. What a nightmare I like to think I've been doing an okay job of managing my anxiety about this process, and being at peace with not getting in anywhere, but apparently I'm not doing as well as I thought...

I went to an interview last weekend, so I can share my experience with that. The one I went to was a 2-day affair, with the first day being all kind of informal stuff (campus tour, tour of the training clinic and then a potluck dinner at a faculty member's house) and the second day was all formal interviews. I honestly found the informal stuff to be more helpful than the formal stuff because 1) it gives you a chance to meet grad students and some faculty in a fairly low-pressure setting where you can ask questions and see how everyone interacts, and 2) having to meet dozens of new people gives you a lot of practice giving your spiel about who you are and what you're interested in. I'm sure that over the course of your day, you will have at least some informal time to chat with people, so make use of it! Be friendly and outgoing; even if you're just making small talk, confidence leaves a good impression. Interviews were only 20 minutes each, and we had 4 interviews with faculty members and 1 with a grad student. I know this varies a lot, but the interviews I went to were pretty low pressure, and it was pretty clear that they were just trying to get a sense of who you are and how you fit. No tricky questions, pretty much just questions pertaining to your interests and experiences, as well as what you want out of a grad program. Have some questions of your own prepared - things to ask about might include funding, clinical training, academic curriculum, mentorship, the town where the school is located, and the atmosphere in the department. Other questions will undoubtedly come up while you're talking to people, too. As for your specific questions: definitely wear a suit! It shows that you're taking the interview seriously and you want to put your best foot forward. I would also err on the side of caution and not bring your boyfriend with you. They might be accommodating, but they might not, and bringing him sets up the possibility for awkward situations.

I can only speak for my field, but I've never heard of any clinical psych programs that admit grad students without interviewing them first.

Related question: how do you handle asking about reimbursement? I had one interview I had to fly across the country for, and I didn't even think to ask if they would reimburse me, since I figured they would probably have offered up front if they were willing to help cover my expenses. What is the etiquette for this?

I'll be finding out sometime in the next week if I'm accepted to one of my top choice programs and if I get an interview for another one of my top choice programs. This week is gonna go by sooo slow....

I've heard that the best thing you can do when you're waitlisted is to keep in regular contact with the program that waitlisted you. Ask your POI how often it's okay to contact them to check up on the status of your application, and continue to express your strong interest in the program. I've heard mentioning you have another offer can also make you look more desirable. The key is to not sound pushy about it; you want to communicate your enthusiasm about the program without coming off like you're trying to bully/pester them into accepting you.

Definitely familiarize yourself with the work of the other professors your POI mentioned and then contact them. Sounds like your POI is trying to find a place to put you since he/she can't take you him/herself. That seems like a really good sign, if they're willing to go out of their way for you like that. Also, "extremely impressed" is always a good thing to hear

I agree with everyone else about it being an interview, but I have one thing to add: even if you are accepted, I would definitely not commit until you hear back from MIT. It may be a long shot, but if you do end up getting accepted to your first choice school, then you'll have put yourself in an awkward situation that necessitates either burning bridges or giving up a really great opportunity. At least in my field, you have until April 15 to officially accept an offer, and schools can't revoke an offer that's already made. So, there's really no harm in waiting a little while.

I don't think rooming with someone else who is applying to work with the same POI as you would necessarily be a bad thing. I went to an interview this past weekend where there were 6 other people vying for the same spot as me, and although it was a little intimidating, there were definitely some positives to getting to hang out with them. First, it was really great to have other people to talk to with whom I had so much in common. It is a very cool experience to have a conversation with someone who is as passionate as you are about the same things you are. Second, I think it actually made me feel more at peace with whatever the outcome is. Everyone I met seemed like a really great applicant, and they were all really nice people, too. So, even if I don't get it, I'll know that whoever did definitely deserved it, which makes me feel better about it. For my interview, I put down two POIs in my SOP and only interviewed with one. I think it could go either way. I don't see any need to email and ask, but just be prepared to interview with both, just in case.