liszt85

Just like there is no perfect synonymy in language, I don't believe that two applicants can be EXACTLY the same in all respects (GPA, research fit, relevant research experience, relevant research skills, etc). So the argument for the GRE being the ONLY one that remains to make a decision on is not all so appealing to me. Why graduate schools use the GRE score to decide fellowships might have some logic behind it though. You have people coming in from various different backgrounds, various kinds of programs and various kinds of undergraduate universities. To make a fair comparison of GPA's, etc isn't an easy job, might be virtually impossible. So something like the GRE might be a necessary evil but I don't quite like the format of the GRE, esp the verbal section. It serves no purpose.

Hi there. I'm in Cog Psych myself and I had NO background in Psychology prior to this. I completed a 5 year integrated Masters in Physics and jumped straight into Cognitive Psychology. I'm doing fine so far. Doing some language stuff for my project, doing memory models for my coursework and its all good. So don't worry about the lack of background. Cognitive science is highly interdisciplinary in any case. I don't understand how somebody could classify cognitive psychology under social psychology. In my opinion, they should be classified separately and one is not a sub-discipline of the other. At least where I am, we have two different areas entirely devoted to each of these disciplines. Which program you want to apply to entirely depends on the kind of research you want to be doing in the future. I wanted to do music cognition. I can use a good broad education in cognitive psychology (memory, language, etc + a few projects related to music specifically) to attain that goal which is why I ended up applying to cognitive psychology programs and a few linguistics programs which had strong collaborations going on with cognitive sciences depts. Hope this helps.

Try looking at the social program at WUSTL Psych. Maybe even the cognitive area.

Living expenses: Syracuse better (cheaper) than USC obviously. Job opportunities: I'm guessing USC due to the location of the university! I don't know about the other two factors except that I know that hordes of Indian students attend USC's MS in CS program and none of them are funded. You might get better attention at Syracuse for all you know but I'm just guessing. You won't miss India if you attend USC, that's for sure If the rankings don't differ by much, I would take into consideration difference in expenses and base my decision on that. Job opportunities will come along if you're good at what you do.

That's good advice, fuzzylogician! I'm taking 3 courses (4,4, and 5 credits) and 3 credits of independent studies for my first year mandatory project which I must submit a paper about and submit to a conference by February, and am course assistant for 4 courses (grading duties only)! The 5 credit course is a syntax course and I've never done any syntax before and Peter Culicover is teaching it and he assigns a crazy load of homework! They are challenging problems most of the time and very enjoyable but when you're done with it, you find that its time to go to class again and that its time to turn in an assignment for another class. So yes, its been hectic but I don't work in the afternoons/evenings on weekends and make it a point to spend it walking/jogging/going to a restaurant with my wife/ practicing the piano, etc. I've never worked this hard my entire life and am getting a real taste of American grad education. I'm glad I chose to attend an American grad program than a European one because I now understand why sometimes these degrees are more valued than their European counterparts (even if they're equally good content-wise).

I have similar feelings sometimes. I chose the state school (top 30 or so rank in the field) over the more reputed private school (top ten ranked in the field) for many reasons which included money matters as well since I'm here with a dependent who is not allowed to work on her visa status.. but I always try to look at the positive sides that are on offer here. For instance, I got in touch with a professor in an unrelated dept who does research that I love (and something that I want to get into through a post doc which is possible with a PhD background in this dept that I have chosen). He signed and gifted me his very popular book and suggested that we find something to do together a little while later and advised me to keep my adviser happy. My own work under my adviser is not so bad either.. its very interesting work on language (I had given up the Linguistics Dept at the more reputed private school to do Psychology here at the state school) and so I do linguistics mostly which is what I wanted to do anyway. I'm sure the private school would have offered other stuff that I'd have been equally happy with. So I do think its a phenomenon of "the grass is greener on the other side". So don't make any hasty decisions as yet. Play it out.. wait and see what you get to work on.

Why would a psychology dept offer a graduate funding package to a physics major? I'm sure each dept has its own reasons. For instance, I'd think that a history student would be well aware of how laws changed over time and in what social contexts, etc and would make a very good student of law!

Higher probability of accidents in NJ? :| Just guessing..

Hey girlseekingphd, I'll be leaving on the 8th of Sept. Very excited about it too, esp as I start a new life with my wife in a new country, halfway across the globe from where I've lived all my life! I'm quite stressed about moving too. In fact, the regional passport office came up with a way to trouble me until the last moment. I just got back from there..got all problems resolved (hopefully). The US visa is ready and flight tickets are confirmed too. Shopping and packing to be done.. but very little time left as Sept 2 is a major festival (Onam), the new year of our calendar. So lots of family going to be around.. packing's got to be tough amidst all the celebrations. I've not been able to give my brain the rest that I'd wanted to give it before moving to Columbus. Customary visits to relatives after the marriage kept us busy all this while. I had wanted to do some light academic reading to prepare myself, esp after the 4 month gap between my last academic program and this one. Takes some warming up to get me going.. so not been able to do any of that and that's pissing me off as well. I'm glad we're starting late!!

Is it possible to retake only the AWA part of the GRE? In any case, I believe that they have cut-offs only the for the verbal and quant sections. I've seldom seen an AWA cut-off but I'm sure 3.0 is a bare minimum even if they do. That said, I think if the rest of your application is strong and if you got a positive feedback from a prof at Cornell, you really shouldn't bother about the GRE. Concentrate on the other aspects. If they have positions available at their lab, they will have sufficient funding too. They won't have to look at your AWA score to decide if they should give you money! Just my opinion..

I mentioned a post doctoral student's name in one of my SOP's. His advisor was the person I wanted to work with and I had been in touch with both of them and they even showed interest in my undergraduate work. I ended up not getting through as it was a top ranked department and I wasn't a perfect candidate due to weaknesses (GPA) in my profile. Anyway, I'd suggest you email that grad student just asking about his work and general atmosphere for that kind of research at the univ.. get in touch with the professor. So then you could maybe mention in the SOP that you've spoken to these people and you think you'd fit in well with that kind of research.

I assure you that he wasn't just having a bad day. I've read enough posts by him to know that for sure

I booked with Jet Airways and tried to avail of these offers. Most of these are just business tactics and you can only shop at some particular outlets in India. For example, the provogue voucher gives you Rs 1000 off only on purchases above Rs 3000. The Fed Ex 40% off coupon and the samsonite 20% off coupons are the ones that I found to be useful as their validity runs till mid 2010. Jet Airways however has good in flight service, much better than the Air-India flight that I had blocked. So no regrets. The price was competitive as well. The excess baggage might come in handy, we'll know when we pack. Edit: Also note that you get the free baggage allowance on the domestic leg flight in the US only on American Airlines. So if the airport where you land (your port of entry) does not have AA operating from there, you'll have to change airports. Eg: JFK doesn't have AA. You'll have to transfer to Laguardia which is about 20 miles from JFK.

which is understood from the sense of the word "arrogant".

I signed a lease without visiting or seeing the apartment. A friend of a friend moved out of that place and I took his word for the safety, etc of the place and neighborhood. It was also the cheapest studio I could find at a walking distance from the psychology building where I'll be working. It is also fully furnished. I did see photos of the place. I also viewed the neighborhood on google maps. I could get a street view and took a virtual walk to the university

MS (music technology) program: $1500 per month, no summer funding, tuition waiver. Had to pay $1615 per sem towards fees that could not be waived. No health insurance subsidy. Location: Atlanta, Georgia. PhD programs: I had $20.5 + my health insurance 100% subsidized from a highly ranked school in Chicago (PhD, Linguistics). I opted for $17K + 85% subsidized health insurance for my spouse and myself in Columbus (PhD, Psychology). Figured that a couple could live better in Columbus (much lower cost of living) than in Chicago on the respective stipends. Also Chicago offered no health insurance subsidy for the spouse. Had to shell out an extra $5K per year for the university insurance for the spouse. Liked the chicago program a lot better though

and arrogant?

^ Excellent advice! Especially as "he almost fell in love with someone else". I'm no one to comment on the strength of your relationship as its your business. I was in a long distance relationship for 4 years. I never dated anyone else, neither did she. We met once or twice a year. We got married in June this year and she will be accompanying me halfway across the globe where I'll be doing my PhD. She will look around for a good academic program for herself once she gets there. Do you think your guy can do something similar for you (esp if he's not an academic himself and would find interesting work at a different location from where he is now)? If so, you should consider asking him to move to where you are than giving up your place at a better university and more importantly, wasting a year's worth of funding which could have gone to some other deserving person. Universities fund graduate students with the expectation of commitment and contribution to their research activities. One year of research makes very little difference. No entering grad student can do substantial research work during their first year of studies. Its solely your decision finally.. good luck! You asked for opinions, hence this.

The AWA score is the least important of your GRE sectional scores. Also, I'd advise you to keep a tab on your grammar when you write your SOP/writing sample because we guys (international students from some specific countries) have a tendency to miss out on articles when writing/speaking English. I see that you have missed out on quite a few articles in your initial post. Concentrating on your SOP and writing sample would do you good in my opinion rather than retaking the GRE. Also, they will see your old scores when your scores are sent. Some adcomms take the avg of the two scores. This is what I've heard from people claiming to be experts. So if that is true, retaking the GRE is really not worth the effort because you have a great overall score! The AWA will most probably not affect your application in any way.

GRE Q: 780 V: 610 AWA: 5.0/6.0 TOEFL: 118/120 (speaking 28/30)

I reckon it would. I know nothing about admissions in History, just guessing based on common sense. Your writing skills have to be very good to be able to get a 6.0 on the AWA. Also, 700 on the quant is perfectly okay for a history grad student. The verbal 550 isn't too bad either. If other parts of your application are strong, I don't think your 1250 is going to be too much of a hurdle.

Cohort ?

Completion

I'm in Psychology. I was rejected at the first instance by the university. I even have a rejection letter from them. I was later contacted by a professor whom I'd contacted earlier and who'd seen my application. He knew what my interests were through email exchanges even before I applied. He got me back in after interviewing me through skype and I'm attending (I rejected a slightly higher ranked school because of other factors).

"You shouldn't even apply"/"No school will even look at your application" doesn't help in any way. It does not tell the OP about his/her weaknesses in the application. Had the adviser said "Your GPA is horrible.. why don't you send updated transcripts after doing well this current semester and try and improve scores" or "Score a 1500 on the GRE" or whatever, I'd have agreed with your viewpoint. Also what do you mean by "listen to the advice"? Don't apply at all?