PsychGirl1

Graham17- I'm going to write one of those awkward emails tomorrow :-). I think I'm just going to stress that the school was one of my top choices, that I really enjoyed the POI's research, and I would have definitely been happy attending and working with them. However, the other school just feels like a better fit in a variety of different ways, and seems like the better option at this time. And then I'll probably follow up with a tidbit or two of personal stuff from the interview, and wish them good luck with their research.

^what psychdork said :-)

Honestly: not much at this point. It is very likely that all interview decisions have been made.

For example... Health Psych: "how does stress/cortisol affect food choices/amounts?" "how does certain things affect glucose/insulin/leptin/ghrelin and therefore eating behavior?" Social Psych: "how does eating with a friend who is overeating affect that person's eating behavior?" "how does having overweight friends affect your likelihood of future weight gain?" Behavioral Economics: "if we put calories on a menu, how does that affect food choices?" "how does it affect food choices if we put less healthy items in harder-to-reach, out-of-sight places?" Clinical psych: "how to reduce binge eating episodes?" "what sort of interventions work to reduce binge eating/improve weight management/improve symptoms of anorexia?" "What sort of factors predict success in these interventions?" Policy: "how does the food environment affect our eating, and how does policy changes reduce obesity?" Neuroimaging: "how do certain macronturients affect the brain?" "how do certain factors or types of eating change how people's brains react to eating food/seeing food/etc.?" And of course, people study overlapping between these areas, too. Just some "food for thought" (HAHA pun). But just keep things in mind as you begin to learn about the issue/idea and see what approach you find intriguing :-)

Every area of psychology crosses all boundaries :-). For example, with eating, you could do neurospych, social psych, health psych, clinical psych... you could even approach it from more of a policy/psych perspective, or behavioral economics... basically... anything. My suggestion: read papers and think about the problem and what sort of things you're curious about. You will likely have some sort of approach you innately prefer, or something that just feels more right or more interesting to you :-)

woohoo rejection finally! took them long enough!

@caitlinalobdell oh no! ulcer! that's so crappy :-(. and yes, that's very true- now you have an entire year to prepare! and after going through this whole process, i can say that a year off isn't so bad... :-) @olayak good luck!!!

I think it's appropriate to shoot them an email and ask for a status update on your application. Good luck!

Check out my "is anybody else having a nervous breakdown?" thread :-)

What everyone above me said. Also- think of this as your career. You have like, 50 years of your career left. enrolling in a program one year later won't make a huge difference as far as ruining your career, but you can have plenty of experiences during that year that will help your career over the long haul.

We all get rejected after interviews... it happens. It has no reflection on you, just on how many fantastic applicants there are to clinical and counseling programs. If you really want it, you will take a few weeks off to be angry/grieve (or binge eat, in my case) and get back on the horse again right after that. It's frustrating and exhausting, especially when people in your family don't understand academia or the competitiveness of the psych world. But who cares about your labmates, or your family? This is your career, and you can make it what you want. If you sent them the admissions numbers to the programs you applied at, they'd be impressed you even got an interview. I know people who have tried 2 or 3 times, and trust me, nobody thinks it's embarrassing for then. Then again, if you react this way to rejection, maybe the world of psych isn't for you, since they basically go through this horrendous application process every five seconds (papers, posters, practicum, internship, thesis/dissertation committees, faculty/clinical jobs after that). Anyway, I guess I would just say, give yourself until April 1st to be angry, bitter, upset, confused, whatever... and then re-assess what you really want. If it's this, don't give up. You don't want to be 40 and looking back on your life and think, "If only I had tried a second time, my life could be so much better."

Mine changed to final review and then stayed there. I know i didn't get in (and actually, once I applied I decided social psych was NOT for me), but now I just feel like they forgot about me :-)

I agree- bring a change of clothes in your carry on. When your plane lands, you can get out, go to the bathroom, change, and probably make it to baggage claim before your clothes appear (if you are checking a bag). If you're a girl, you could also wear a nice skirt and a tank top, and then put on a nice shirt over your tank when you get off, or a fancy cardigan, or something like that, and switch your shoes with a pair of heels from your purse. So you can go with fairly comfortable and then turn it into nice outfit almost instantly. Guys... I'm less sure about :-) But you could maybe do a nice pair of jeans and a button down shirt, and then put a sweater on over your button down shirt when you land. So basically, through layering and carrying shoes in your carry on, you can do the switch pretty easily- or you can go full force and bring a whole new outfit in your carry on and take the time to change :-)

PS If you do contact people at local universities and request an informational inteview, I'd maybe wait until April/May when all the app craziness is over :-)

I don't think it's that weird to email people in quant, at nearby universities/med centers/whatever, and ask for an informational interview because you are choosing a career path. You might not get a fantastic response rate, but you might get 1 or 2 really useful meetings out of it. I agree about the clinical classes- you almost can never take them unless you are a clinical track. In fact, I can't think of a single school I've looked at that lets you do that.

I was going to say the opposite :-). But honestly, I think it depends what sort of research you want to do and what sort of experiences you want to get out of grad school. And of course, the options you'll when you graduate- 5 or 6 years is a long time, you may find you like certain parts/areas of psych more than others.

I actually almost cried in front of my advisor the day after my thesis proposal, in early January. I could barely talk so I just kept agreeing with everything he said, even though I actually didn't agree. The past two months have been so incredibly tough, both research-wise and grad apps-wise. Today I found out I was waitlisted at two schools and cried in the bathroom at lab. And I normally only legit cry like, once a year. The good thing is that there are a good number of people in my lab going through the same process (other master's students, research coordinators, undergrads) and PhD students have internship match day on February 22nd, so lately there has been quite a large number of breakdowns occurring in our lab on a daily basis. In some ways, it makes me feel better (since my family has absolutely no idea what I'm going through- my mom just gets offended when I act "grumpy" like I should never have any worries or stress in life), and in other ways it makes it worse and even more overwhelming. The weird part is that now that I'm thinking about having to take a year off, I'm started to get excited about it. Being in an intense master's program the past two years after a career change has left me a bit exhausted and drained. I feel broken and beaten. But I know that the second I get more than two weeks off, I'll start going stir crazy. :-D But, oddly enough, I think I'd be okay taking a year off, writing manuscripts and posters, maybe teaching psych classes, actually making it to the gym every now and then, and not living with chronic stress for a few months (especially now that I know what stress does to your body! Health psych for the win). That being said, I know a lot of people get off the waitlists (and I have two!) plus I have two more upcoming interviews to rock. I took tonight off and let myself grieve- tomorrow it's back to work full-force :-D

"Wow, PsychGIrl, we should be BFF's haha. I am with you on the delay discounting answer. I just want to know, NOW lol." DONE. We're basically the same person. :-) What are oreo cakesters????? I'm intrigued.... With your decision, I'd say- read these boards, read what people's opinions and thoughts are on their own decision and the important variables in a program... then go with your gut. :-D

It's not really a coping mechanism... I'm just incredibly impatient. Always have been, always will be. I actually don't mind that about myself, and it serves me well in most domains of my life :-). If I did some sort of delay discounting task where I could pick between a. 11 rejections and 1 acceptance today or b. >1 acceptances of an unknown amount on April 15, I'd probably pick a. I'm actually not that upset when I'm rejected, I just hate knowing. I am waiting to hear on 2 more places that I interviewed at (most likely this upcoming week, potentially a bit longer), as well as have 2 upcoming interviews at the end of this week and early next week. I am also holding out for a phone interview at one place (they said mid Feb to early March), but every day that goes by makes it seem a bit less likely. So I have the double stress of interviews plus waiting ot hear accept/waitlist/reject! Although to be honest, all my rejects so far have been for the programs I liked the least. They were sort of like "let's try to stretch myself into this area, or this program" when I wasn't a giant fan to begin with. But now I'm just mostly concerned numbers-wise about my ability to get into at least one program this year. :-D

It shows it on mine.

I had one interview day where I met with 2 grad students separately. One just talked about her social life the whole time and seemed really uninterested. The other one asked me really hard questions (harder than any other interview so far) and smirked at me the whole time. I loved the POI but the experience made me unsure if I liked the other grad students. I'd just think of questions specific to other grad students (the mentor's style, the social life/community, where they live, the competitiveness vs working together, the program more generally) and just relax and seem interested in them and their experiences. Other than that, it's hard to say how it will go.

I'm not saying that all prestigious programs are like that, or all non-prestigious programs are like that. I just mean, it's important to consider every aspect of the program and what it can offer you. Sometimes the prestigious program will be best, sometimes the prestigious POI will be best... sometimes it won't be. That's all I was saying :-)

Granted, prestige and those things often go hand-in-hand, but here is where I was coming from- If you are in a prestigious program, and your PI basically assigns you to their grants into the specific roles they need you for, they delegate what pieces of their projects you can "own", and they oversee your every move... sure, you will graduate from a prestigious program. But compare that to a less prestigious program, where your PI is supportive, helps you became great at study design/methodology and data analysis, lets you have some freedom to design your own studies and drive different types of experiences as well as gives you experiences on their grants/projects, lets you do some tangential work in related labs to get different kinds of experience, guides you through writing manuscripts and posters but allow you to master it on your own... who graduates in a better place? Sure, maybe the first one will open a few more doors for you, but the second one will set you up for a better career long-term, and turn you into a better researcher. I'd also personally be much happier in choice #2 than in choice #1. There's also the fact that the prestige of your POI and the prestige of your program might not be identical. For example, it could be a mediocre-to-good program with a POI who is quite well-known... and occasionally/rarely vice versa.

In my opinion: all that matters is your POI and the type of work you will be doing while you're there, and the experiences and support you will get. "School names" doesn't matter that much in the world of psychology- but professor names do. Publications do. Clinical experiences (if you're clinical) do. Research experience does.

psychgrad123- check out the results page for this year as well as past years for your specific schools. that will give you an idea either way. darwinAG- easier said than done! i guess i need to take all those stress management techniques i learned in class and start administering them to myself, but i'm really too high strung to wait. in college, when i was waiting for college decisions, if the mail was late i would make my family drive me around to find the mailman so that we could get the mail directly from them. i made my sister drive me around once and she got a flat tire. she wasn't happy. i'm just going to throw myself into my epic to do list today and just try not to think about anything :-D