PETRAL6

I think there is fear on both sides. The younger think they are too young and the older too old. I was a little intimidated to hear that I was one of two who was coming straight from college. I think it's pretty common to take a couple years (or more) to explore other interests and make sure it's right for you. For me, I think (every once in a while) that I may not be prepared because I haven't taken time away to make sure that grad school is right for me. I think you guys may be better prepared.

PS- rethinking... it seems like most people on this site support and understand your position and merely encourage you to make sure it isn't wet feet since you have a good thing going. Ignore the posts that make you feel villianized. The majority of people realize that it is important for you to make the right choice for you and that any choice you make will have minimal or no harm on future students and professors who wrote for you if you tactfully ask for a year and leave a good impression on the future advisors. That said... I hope you do make the decision to go to grad school next year and have it be for you... not to appease you family, not to appease your advisors, not to appease your letter writers, and not because you have been lead to beleive that you have ruined the chnaces of people from your undergrad (which you haven't). Take the summer to get used to the fairy tale and accept that you deserve it and that other people realize that you can do it! Good Luck!!!!

I am sorry if I offended you with my vulgarity. I was sure you had heard more offensive things in your time on earth, but I guess not. I don't think I was being overdramatic, in fact the opposite. I was tempering the outrageous claims that rethinkings choice to take a year would completely ruin the chances of everyone from the school and besmirch the reputation of his advisors to the whole of academia. Beleive me, there are so many things going into an application process that having one other person from your school politely ask for a year when it is allowed by the school is NOT going to ruin the chnaces for any qualified applicant from that school in the future. If the graduate admissions committee from a higher tier school passed me over despite fit, GRE scores, research experience and the like because someone from my school asked for a year (or god forbid had other offers and turned them down completely... I guess we should all accept at every school) they would have to be crazy. And to make someone feel bad because there may be a tiny little chnace one person on a committee that is that crazy is almost immoral. That guilt trip you laid on rethinking needed to be corrected. This IS NOT going to affect everyone from your school and your advisors adeversely! If it did, there are far more shady reasons people do or do not get into grad school and no one (esp. not me) is going to protest on the street for it because they realize that any one thing like this is not the deciding factor BY FAR. My point was that this is not "screwing over" anyone, me or my sister. If anyone has to make excuses like this one for why they did not get into a school, they need to stop, breathe, think rationally then and retake the GRE, do more research, and/or rethink their personal statement because it's this stuff that gets you in. Any plusses or minuses due to connection or some random association with school you came from or recommenders will be a really low on the list afterthought if you have all those ducks in a row.

I think that's a little overdramatic. There is not screwing other people over and there is screwing yourself over because your actions *might* slightly affect maybe one advisors opinion of a school you happened to attend undergrad. With so many apps per year, unlikely they will remember this for very long if it isn't a HUGE problem that relates directly back to your school. If you write a letter to both the school and your recommender saying that you need some time, it should not adversely affect everyone who applies from your school. People do a lot more selfish things when applying to grad school than you all the time (don't believe me, read the forums about all the leveraging and dropping schools when better schools come along and not keeping in contact with the first school). I think that it would have been better to decide before acceptance, but if you are allowed to defer and put it in a positive light (I want to make sure that I will be able to contribute positively to your school, so I would like to take time to better prepare myself for graduate work) this will not make people think "oh... so and so state, well we accepted someone from there who totally rocked, but they needed to prepare and so fuck all those other apps from there" Don't feel guilty. Do what's best for you and do the best you can to put yourself and your school in a positive light after you decide what is best for you. I still think you should go to the school and get over the wet feet, but don't let people make you think that you're screwing over everyone and their sister for taking time if you need it.

I can see both sides. But, what you have to weigh is the chances that deferring will screw you over to the chances starting right away will screw you over. If deferring is allowed and seems like the right choice for you, do it. They obviously accept deferral as an option if they offer it. If they don;t allow it, think very seriosuly about not accepting, because you may make it harder for yourself next time. If you start right away, I think failing or deciding against grad school after a year may cause you more problems if you decide to go back later. My take... go now. It probably is just wet feet if you went through all you had to do and made it. You are obviously prepared and nervousness is common. Likely, a year off will not help you academics, because it's easy to slack off academically when not in school. But, don't let fear of losing reputation of you advisors stop you if you need time. Failing out=much worse. If you must, tell your advisors thank you, tell them your feelings and let them know how much you appreciate your help. Also write your advisor at your grad school and tell them how much you appreciate their offer and that you feel that a year will make you better able to give your best to their program.

I am going from a private liberal arts school to a private prestigious research institution. I am a little intimindated because most people went to schools that have graduate programs. Most also went to schools with highly ranked grad programs in the field. However, if they chose you, there is a reason. Even if you don't see it, they did. That's all that matters. Work hard and don't let other students get you down.

This post is for links / info that are common to any city. So if anyone has any other useful links for finding out info on a city, post in this thread only. Accidently stumbled upon a ranking of the squirrel population at a variety of colleges, and thought it might be amusing (and informative :wink: ) http://www.gottshall.com/squirrels/campsq.htm

Not many of them seem to be on this website.... and the ones who are seem to be having a not so fun time (especially the social psych people, there's been a huge increase in apps).

Actually, my best friend is a vegagn. I myself, addicted to dairy and like meat sometimes. She is a college student and eats ALOT and seems to get by alright. However, she is on a meal plan at the school and so she gets a lot of sald and tofu based foods from the school. Over the summer, it got either pretty expensive or unhealthy. She either had a balanced diet and it kind of broke the bank or she ate pasta and had to take a lot of vitamins (also semi-pricy and not as good as getting it from food). If you live in a bigger city, there are more vegan options and you may be able to find a decently inexpensive vegan or vegetarian food store. If you live outside of a big city, you may have more difficulties. Except, if you live in a rural area, maybe pretty cheap farm markets. If you all are vegan, it makes it a little easier, because you can cook for more than one person. Cooking for one person gets to be a pain in the ass.

http://www.psychgrad.org/apply.html http://www.apa.org/ed/ Will have a list in late April early May posted as a link

I know one for psych

A lot of the housing in Hyde Park is owned technically by the school. The other housing in the area is driven down by this, so everything is pretty reasonable. I would start by talking to the graduate housing office, if you want to live in Hyde Park.

Or, they could have affirmative action programs in place so that they pick inferior candidates (really looking forward to when men start benefitting from this lol!).

Yeah, sexism is reality. I have come to terms with that. Doesn't mean I sit idly by and not bring attention to it so it can continue. Making comments that suggest that women have it easier and get special privleges only makes it even harder for women to get a fair shot and have to worry that people think they just got where they were because of affirmative action. There is nothing further from the truth. And calling things PC is just a way to try to make people feel bad for calling attention to inequality. And I don't feel bad, so it doesn't work on me. And nice guys like you... You said that you we're doing fat women a favor and that only supermodels are worth your time basically. Yet, you don't comprehend why women don't flock. hmmm.... And don't say it's only a joke, chill out. Because the joke part was fine. The affirmative action comments belittles women by implying (actually stating) they are inferior and only got a position over you because there aren't enough good female applicants so that have to take not so good ones.

Wow... someone is a little bitter and blaming women. Let me tell you, being a woman is a hinderance not a help. Any sort of affirmative action policy you speak of is far outstripped by preconceptions based on gender. yes, I realize it was a joke. And, there were some good analogies. I think that you may be overjustifying, though. I'm sorry if your ego is bruised from the application process. But, if sexism helps, I suppose I will let you have something to lick your wounds.

My sister is in the general psychology MA program at NYU. She really likes the professors, but decided to try for a counseling MA program at NYU or Columbia instead. If you have specific questions about the program, I can ask my sister.

You could make the argument in cold weather places however that sex increases body temperature. So if a girl (or a guy for the ladies) says they are cold, you could offer to help. :wink:

See if you can contact grad students at your school (either from the US or international) They may be able to give you suggestions or even be willing to e-mail with you about research so you can get used to at least writing technically in English. Or, if you have friends who are also going to English speaking countries for grad schools, try to talk to eachother about research interests in English as much as possible.

I say punch the bitch out, steal the paperwork and cleverly doctor the documents to have or name on them. maybe the school won't notice since you're so alike. (Just kidding of course).

Me too.. two no responses. At this point I feel I deserve a singing telegram. *barber shop quartet enters* We had lots of great applicants this year, But you didn't make it my dear, We hope you do well, we're sorry as hell, but you should have nothing to fear. gooood luck in schooool! (hands shaking)

yeah, organically grown vegetables are pretty expensive. In general eating healthy tends to be more expensive sadly.

wow overscheduled. I thought I was. Isn't all that other stuff a workout?

So.... It's the 15th and two schools have told me nothing. I don't really care because I know where I'm going and I am really excited about the program I'm going to, but it seems that if we're supposed to decide by the 15th you should know something before the 15th. School 1: Got an e-mail in January saying how excited he was that our interests matched and he thought I was a great candidate. February or March, e-mailed and asked what the status was because I started getting responses from other schools. He said "looks like you may be on some kind of waitlist." Pretty vague eh? Nothing official at all from the school. School 2: Phone call from the possible advisor in Early March. Long discussion about fit followed by him saying he was going to bring my name forward. The next day, crazy e-mail saying he may be leaving the school, but he's not sure and is so confused with his own situation that he didn't bring forward any names for the department at all and that he would know his situation within the next week or so and the next meeting where he could bring up my name was in 10 days. Wrote back, said that's fine, I would still like to work with you and I hope that your situation works out. Let me know what happens. He then dropped off the face of the earth. Mind you, after I had my offer from the school I am attending, I stopped pursuing these others because I didn't want to do a "let me know, let me know" and then immediately reject them. I also did not want to call them and tell them they were no longer in the running because maybe I wasn't for them either and it may have been like... oh, you? Yeah, we forgot to tell you already that we're rejecting you. Also, curiousity if I would get an offer from these schools since they had seemed to be really interested. Question: What do I do now? Do I just wait for the probable rejections and reject if they for some reason do accept me? Or, do I write to the schools and say don't even bother? It just seems odd to me that these people didn't even waitlist me by April 15th.

That's something you'd have to check their website or call them to find out. Deferral varies by school and program.

Biopsychology PhD, University of Chicago