Alaskah

All of my federal Stafford loans have been in forbearance for nearly a year due to economic hardship - I didn't even have to prove that I was having a hardship, so I found this to be a very easy process. I am looking at going back to school part-time to keep deferring them since I still cannot afford them on top of my private loans. I don't think the process is very difficult in comparison to private loans. But it's true they won't give you much information until you send in a request. I would think as long as the international school is still a credited school (meaning the degree can go anywhere and is viable) then you should not have a problem. If they would decline you due to it being an international school, then you could always apply for forbearance due to hardship, since I would assume you wouldn't be making a whole ton of money in the program even if funded.

Then if your GPA was low, that would make sense for you. My professor put a lot of fear in me that my GPA should have been higher (it was a 3.8 at the time he said it), and that I should have taken the subject GRE (none of the schools I was looking at required/even mentioned it, and I already had a degree in the same field). He just wanted every aspect of my application to be perfect, but I think I am fine where I am at. One more year will go by quickly enough, and if it helps you to build up more research experience and publications and/or presentations, it will only help you.

Not a "place to start," no, but more of a place to continue and build upon yourself after some work experience. I had spoken with an admissions counselor for an MBA program and she said that not only is your work experience considered, but they look at how quickly you are promoted (if you are in a position to be promoted). I have a psychology degree and was considering the MBA for a bit. I work as a human resources lead at a department store, which isn't much to brag about (entry-level job, no education really needed). But I was told by another counselor that if I moved up into a salaried operations manager position (which is the position directly above me), it would help me out a lot, even though I certainly have no plans to continue in retail after graduate school. So look for opportunities where you can move up into management/leadership positions. You don't have to go back and do a second major in those fields.

There are other threads here that chat a bit about this: There are probably more. From what I gather, they respond better if your e-mail is really tailored toward them (not a mass e-mail sent to multiple profs). As for when...it depends how busy they are. Someone at another forum was freaking out because he/she did not hear back from a prospective prof after a week or two (he apparently had been enthusiastic about her after her first e-mail, but took a while to reply to the second) - turns out he had just be traveling, not ignoring or forgetting about her.

My thesis was almost double the length of a typical article, and still one of the shortest in my library. "One" of your theses? How many did you do?? I actually did an extra semester of college just so I could do the honors thesis. After transferring I didn't find out about the honors program in time to really plan it out right. Worth it, though. I also got the costs wrong...the CC is about $3k a year, whereas the state U is $3-4k per semester. I was able to look at the state U's courses for the spring finally, and for a large university, I was very unimpressed by the variety of course offerings they had. I am also taking your advice and sending out an e-mail once this article is done to a prof in the economics department at my undergrad...he is the only one with research interests in marketing and consumer behavior in that program. My school does not have a business admin or marketing major. I'm explaining that I'm an alumni and would like to volunteer my time to any open projects he may have going. If I have no luck, I will branch out to surrounding schools. I wish I lived a little closer to UPenn to offer my time there, lol.

^^ Yes, include honors/honor societies, and scholarships if you have any. I included that on my CV under a simple "Honors" section. I also have a section for research experience (not all experience has to be published or presented at a conference - it's still valuable experience), but I also have a publication section. I'm further debating including a section of relevant coursework since I conducted experiments in 3 of my classes, and 2 of those experiments had the same theme as my honors thesis, so it shows some depth of understanding in a particular area that I may continue into grad school. Were any of your online articles related to your field? That would show interest out of the classroom.

You would typically only include your degree-granting school on your CV. I attended 3 different undergraduate institutions, but I only list the one I actually graduated from. Don't include birthday or birth location - they will ask for that on your actual application. Your CV should be tailored toward the grad program you are applying to, so anything that is not relevant to that program/field should not be included. Some programs list their current masters/PhD students on their website, and some have links to their personal websites and CVs. I have found this very helpful when deciding how to format my CV (by seeing how others in my specific field do it), and also to compare the competitiveness of my CV with those who were admitted to the program

I had a 40-something-year-old man in some of my undergraduate psychology courses. He had recently retired early from his previous career, so he went back to school. He was talking about going for a masters, possibly even a PhD. I don't know what actually happened to him (not even sure what year he was supposed to graduate), but he didn't let age stop him from wanting to pursue a higher degree. And our professors seemed very supportive of it. I also wonder if your prof just really likes you and doesn't want you to leave GRE scores aren't all-important, unless you tanked them.

Thank you for all of your feedback. I certainly did not expect to contact anyone soon, since I am still searching out programs. I do plan to start drafting my SoP soon, perhaps after Thanksgiving but before the holiday rush so I can set it aside and go back to it later. I think my fear about contacting profs too early would be if they did want to interview or chat on the phone or something, I wouldn't be prepared. So I was thinking either after the spring semester or before the fall semester, so perhaps the middle of August sounds good. I am hoping to gain more research experience this year by volunteering my time to some profs in the marketing area, so I would want to be able to talk about that experience as well. I am normally a chronic procrastinator, so I want to work out a solid timeline of when things will get done in the next year.

How is your GPA? Were there circumstances (such as being ill, or some other life event) that prevented you from performing as well as you could have? What kind of tutoring was it? And what books did you use? I've heard people say that some books are too easy for the math, and combinations of book "x" and "y" are necessary. But I can't remember which they suggested...I do know someone said in another forum that the Princeton book broke the math problems down better and was written more for those having difficulty in math. But they also said that the Princeton book, although a good place to start, was not sufficient, either.

I saw some threads on here talking about what you should say in an e-mail to a prospective advisor. I am looking for when the best time is for them? I posted this question in another thread but I doubt many will see it. I won't be applying to doctorate programs until next year, so I've got some time to plan. I know professors get a lot of mail going into the fall admissions process. But I've also heard that the summer months can be bad because they travel more or have other things going on. Assuming my e-mail is well thought out and directed at the specific prof (and therefore more likely to get a response than a poorly-tailored/mass e-mail), when is the best time to begin contacting professors? I would think having a few e-mails here and there throughout the year receive more personalized responses than the 200+ they get in the fall. But I could be wrong. Does anyone have any insights into this? I will not likely contact all professors...just certain ones to see how certain aspects of their research are progressing, since recent published articles were actually written 1-2+ years ago. And the study itself could be even older.

Also, has anyone ever contacted students currently in the program or who are working with the desired advisor? Are current students generally happy to respond honestly about their quality of life and educational experiences with said advisor? This would be more to get an idea of "fit" in the department and town as a whole rather than a "fit" with your advisor of course, but still something to consider.

What about people who simply aren't good at hands-on stuff, who are thinkers, analyzers, etc.? How do they find work without a college degree making a decent living wage? I went to a vocational-technical high school, which means that 3 hours of every day was spent in your "shop" area. We had graphic design, nursing (led only to CNA), carpentry, welding, machine shop, HVAC, auto body, and some others I am forgetting. I'd say less than 5% of my graduating class ended up with jobs in their shop areas - mainly because most of them weren't any good at what they were doing. They just expected to make good money upon graduation. And the many of the ones who were good are either unemployed or no longer working in the field because they couldn't find work. A lot of the jobs in those trade areas that have openings expect people to have a few years of experience. The older unemployed applicants trump the younger, inexperienced ones. My ex-boyfriend had been a mechanic before they laid him off. He had maybe 2 years experience at that point. That wasn't enough to find him a job anywhere because there were far more qualified mechanics out of a job as well. My dad had a building construction business that went under a few years ago, and he has struggled to find work since. It is all he really knows how to do (other than minimum wage jobs, like cashiering). So that career path is pretty much out of the question. The only reason he does find side jobs is because of his experience. High school grads don't have that. Further, unless you were 24 or older and applied independent, many undergraduates do not get into a large amount of debt with Stafford loans. Even if you take them out every semester for 4 years, it might reach $20-30K (on average) as others have said. That's when we turn to private funding to cover the rest of costs, which are not being forgiven.

Mind sharing? Kidding of course, I'm sure every school will have different "loopholes" and I believe anyone wanting to know them should take the initiative on their own. That was very kind of that professor. Maybe it was because you were one of the few who had the guts to call? I don't know if I would have the nerve to...I am much better at planning and writing out my thoughts than saying anything of real substance on the fly. Though I am getting better at that. And it sounds like he did most of the talking, which I'm sure was a relief for you. How far in advance of applying would you recommend contacting professors (for Ph.D. programs with deadlines ranging from December - February)? I know that during application season can be a bad time, and some profs take a while to respond. I've also heard that summer isn't always the best time since many travel, have side projects, etc. I won't be applying until next fall, so I have quite some time to plan out my process.

It was all about working with theory and re-thinking it in a way few currently are - a literature review, basically. One project was co-authoring a chapter in a book on social psychological contributions to the practice of teaching assessment. The paper I'm working on now is reviewing research on positive psychology, applying it to physical rehabilitation, and pointing out the holes that need to be filled/studied. Do people normally submit an entire thesis as a supplementary piece? I have seen suggestions to submit your best research paper, but considering the size of a thesis...although, mine was probably the shortest currently in MC's library . But I was also told it was "one of the most well-written" they've seen in "quite some time." So it's certainly something I'd like prospective advisors to see a part of. The state college I'm looking at is about as cheap as my local community college (roughly $3-4k a semester for full-time), but it has many more course offerings than the CC. They actually have a consumer behavior course that I would love to take to get more insights and explore more research ideas. I have been pretty interested in social media for a while, and my thesis was on stereotyping and how emotions affect attitudes, which I believe is fairly relevant to my research interests for grad school. ...I also will need 1-2 more recommendation writers. I have others at my undergrad, but the letters would only be average if they remember much about me at all. So taking at least a few courses at the school will help with that.