psychdork

Don't start worrying yet. I'm still waiting on a couple PhD programs that had December 1st deadlines! Masters programs are just starting to notify applicants so you still have some time. Hang in there, I know how hard it is. Try to find a hobby or something that will distract you for the time being.

I'm waitlisted at what I would call a "middle choice" school. My POI said that they are stil strongly considering my application, but I have a feeling they will end up rejecting me. I'm still waiting to hear back from two more schools (all PhD programs), including my first choice - which given the way they usually notify applicants, I'm pretty sure I'm waitlisted there as well. The other school I'm pretty sure will reject me, if they haven't already. I also should hear back from a MA program at my undergrad sometime this week. I only applied there as a back-up, but the way things have been going I'm really glad I did.

I'm sure this topic has been discussed before, but I really want to hear the psych perspective. I applied to 8 PhD programs, and so far have 5 rejections, and 1 waitlist. Last week I applied (at the last minute) to a MA program at my undergrad as a back up - this was before I found out about the waitlist. I want to get my PhD in social psych, and the MA program is in health psych, so it's not my preferred field but I do find it interesting and think that it could be really helpful down the line if I want to do physiological research. I talked to the program director and she said that based on my application stats I'm pretty much guarateed admission to the MA program. They would also help with funding. Now, the program I'm waitlisted at is not exactly one of my topic picks. It's a decent program, but definitely not my first choice or anything. Let's say I get into the PhD program and that funding is adequate - but not great. Would it be better to get my MA and then reapply for PhD programs? My thought is that with the economic situation (hopefully) better by then, I might get into a better program. But on the other hand, how stupid is it to reject a PhD offer for a MA? Now keep in mind I don't have any acceptances yet, so I don't know funding details or anything, but I like to overanalyze everything. What are your thoughts?

I emailed 4/5 of my remaining schools. So far two have replied: one told me I was waitlisted, the other rejected. The nice thing about the rejection is my POI explained the number of people the department is planning on taking, so I had some "inside" information which made me feel better about the rejection. Still waiting on two...if I don't hear back from them by April 1st I'm going to call them.

Strange question but does anyone know if Michigan State has sent out rejection letters? I only ask this because last year I was rejected in January, and this year I have yet to hear anything, so I'm trying to figure out if I'm waitlisted or not.

If anyone is wondering, according to the grad secretary, the adcomm at Miami University (OH) met last week and are starting to notify applicants this week. Does anyone have any information about Indiana, or Iowa State?

Unfortunately so did I, but thanks for letting me know anyway!

You hear them too?

I didn't want to bug my POIs, so last year I emailed the department secretaries instead. The only time I emailed my POI to ask about admissions info was for one school where my POI was also the head of the department, and the secretary told me to email her for more information. This year I'm trying to not cave into the temptation to contact the programs first...we'll see how long this lasts! For what it's worth, I really think that whether you would come off as impatient and might potentially offend the POI really depends on the POI.

@socialpsychg - Congrats on the Penn State acceptance! Did they have interviews? Would you mind sharing your POI? I haven't heard anything from them so I've pretty much written them off, but I'm still curious.

To the person with the Miami University acceptance, would you mind telling me your POI?

I agree, I'm suprised they didn't make offers to 6 or 7 (or less) instead, 10 just seems to be too high of a number in my opinion.

I know I keep posting this but has anyone heard from/know anything about Penn State, Indiana, or Iowa State? I'm not allowing myself to contact the programs until the second week of March so I'm relying on you all instead. :-)

Congratulations on the Purdue acceptance jordy!

Has anyone heard anything from either Penn State, Indiana U, or Iowa State? I could have sworn someone posted something in the results page regarding Penn State a couple weeks ago, but it's not there now.

Is there a way you can get the email addresses of the two faculty members and try emailing them instead? I know from personal experience that profs tend to check their email a lot more frequently than their office voicemail. If you can't, then I would contact the department again and explain the situation and see if the department can contact those faculty and remind/alert them that you have tried to contact them. Also, if you haven't I would try emailing the prof you spoke with again. He/She may not be intentionally ignoring you but possibly just forgot to respond. Congrats btw!

Not to mention our sanity!

It's been a quiet week for social psych. Anyone else feel like this is the calm before the storm?

I'm a domestic applicant, so I'm not sure how everything works with international applicants. This is my second round applying, and I haven't heard anything yet either. Basically at this point (early Feb) it's not great news that you haven't heard anything, but it isn't horrible (yet) either. It is still early. Most programs will send out interview invites by the end of this month. However, just because you weren't invited for an interview doesn't mean you are necessarily rejected, you could be waitlisted (some programs will notify you about this, others won't). Also, because you are an international applicant, you might not be sent interview invites because the department cannot afford to pay to fly you out to their campus. But like I said, I'm not sure how this works. As far as your other questions, some programs send out some rejections early, whereas others wait until late March/early April and mail all the rejections at once (I got two letters in late April last year, even though I knew I was rejected back in early March). It is possible to be accepted without an interview (some programs don't have interviews at all). Honestly, and I know you are probably tired of hearing this, each program does things differently so there isn't a set answer to your questions, sorry, but I hope this helps a little.

I really wish that my schools last year would have sent a letter like this one instead of the standard rejection letter (i.e. "I regret to inform you...". I am pretty sure that the reason I was rejected everywhere last year was (at least somewhat) due to the economy, and a letter like this from at least one of my schools would have helped soften the blow a little. My profs said that it wasn't me, but it would have meant more coming from the schools as well.

I expect the same thing. There are several schools I would love to attend yet I didn't apply to because I knew there was pretty much no chance of an acceptance.

I completely agree! I mean yes psych programs (& Yale) are competitive, but 10,000 applicants to one department in one year is just inconceivable.

To the person with the interview at Penn State, could you please tell me your POI?

Ditto