gellert

^ Depends on if your research experience fits with what you want to study, and networking. If you don't have those, take two years off and get them. If you do, then full steam ahead?

Have you looked into UNC? It's not a safety school by any means, being the top quant program in the country, but it seems weird not to apply given they've got such a great social program as well as quant. I think your stats sound competitive!

I agree with others; a MSW sounds much more along the lines of what you are interested in doing, especially if you have no interest in performing research. And if you have clinical experience, your chances will be better in these programs than in a clinical Ph.D. program. Clinical psych programs are the most competitive out of all the psych subfields, just as an aside.

I'd recommend taking 2 years off to work full-time in research; as I understand it, it's all-but-required for top programs these days (though there are exceptions, as always). But as others said, it's hard to say what your chances are without knowing which specific programs you want to apply to. And fit is always the most important thing. If your research in UG is directly related to that of your POIs, and esp if your UG PIs know your POIs personally and can vouch for you to them (networking!) then I'd say your chances are good.

Dammit, I am exactly one paragraph over my page limit on the personal statement/&c. and I have spent hours cutting it down. That last paragraph on p. 4 is killing me!

Is there a general consensus on including data analysis plans in the proposal? Or would you just advise to include if space, omit if not?

Nice to see someone else in a similar boat. Fingers crossed for both of us! There are some people I didn't email, either. Primarily because I didn't have anything particular to say/ask, and I didn't want to flood their inboxes, really. I only emailed POIs that either knew my current PI well, or for whom I had relevant questions about their work. I feel a little bad about not emailing more people, but in the end I don't think it will hurt, whereas I think the conversations I had with the other POI + the networking will only help.

You have to make a decision by April 15, but it's my understanding that if you're waitlisted and get off the waitlist/accepted by your top school after april 15, most places are pretty understanding if you have to withdraw your declaration of matriculation.

Oh good, that's a relief to hear. I'm insanely busy too with my lab manager job, so it's hard to find the time, you know? By the way, if it's not too much of an imposition, can you take a glance at my stats in the post above your reply and let me know what you think? I'm probably being hyperanxious but a little validation-seeking never hurt anyone.

You definitely haven't ruined anything! I love surefire's advice. In addition I would remind you that profs receive soooo many of these emails. They really don't have time to hold anything against you unless you made some egregious error, which you did not. Apps are stressful enough as is! Try to relax.

del. stats for anonymity

Good god, I'm so behind. Still haven't started my SOP. Too focused on job + NSF app at the moment. I'm sure analysis paralysis isn't helping much. Anyone else in the same boat?

Excellent; thanks guys!

I feel like I'd read somewhere on this board that transcripts and GRE scores could get lost if they didn't already have a file open on you (via you starting or submitting your finished application), but that doesn't entirely make sense to me. So my questions is: Can I start sending GRE score reports and transcripts now, even though I haven't started my applications? (I want to fill in my applications all in one go, toward the end of my process.)

Awesome; thanks guys!

After submitting very minor revisions requested by a journal, how long do you usually wait to hear back? I feel like it's been ages with mine!

Question: How much time did y'all put into explaining how your research interests developed from whatever they were when you first became interested in your field of study to what you want to study in grad school? Or did you skip that bit and just focus primarily on what interests you now, fit, and where you'd like to go in the future?

A bunch of philosophy books, a red boxy pencil holder w/ pens+pencils, various crosswords, a sudoku book, one of those metal magnetic things that you can play with, staplers/other generic office supplies, Moleskine to keep track of tasks, moleskines from previous labs/years for reference, some random art and funny xkcd and Ph.D. printouts, a coffee mug. Oh, and this Sprite can I keep forgetting to recycle.

wrong thread

^ A+++ I also haven't started my SOPs. Don't worry about it. Lots of us haven't. Heck, I haven't even finished emailing all my POIs! Work at a rate that makes you feel comfortable. Personally I don't even want to start my SOP until I feel like I know what I want to say and have read enough examples of other SOPs to feel confident. And that's perfectly fine. Hey, at least we're not as bad as SDN. If anyone wants to feel awful about themselves, go watch all the 4.00 pre-meds get told they have no chance in hell of getting into any med school outside the Caribbean.

^ Ah, gotcha. Yes, well, either way your point was well-taken, and is wise. Thank you for sharing your expertise!

^ I have three publications (one first-author) in top tier journals and >10 posters as well as some talks/symposia and an honors thesis (+ several hours of independent research credit). Most are related to the 40+ hr undergrad lab. I'm not on any publications in the other labs (except those in preparation), as I was mostly exploring other interests to refine my research goals. I suppose explaining that in the SOP is all that is necessary, really. The most important thing, I suppose, is my writing experience in addition to the fact that I designed several of the projects, programmed them, ran the participants, analyzed the data, worked on a meta-analysis, etc. I definitely wasn't dicking around. :3

Question: If I've worked in >6 labs over a 7 year period, but 2 of those labs were full-time 50-60 hrs a week and one of them was an undergrad lab in which I worked 40 hrs a week in addition to classes, will that look disorganized? I mean, my thing was that I just loved research and couldn't get enough of it. I did spend less time in my non 40-hr a week undergrad labs, but I still value those experiences (although I'm not requesting LORs from any of those PIs, just the PIs from labs in which I worked 40 hrs/week or more).

I'm in the same situation as you. Took two years off to work as a lab manager in a lab more directly related to my grad research interests, and am feeling tentatively optimistic about this cycle. Good luck!

broken heart