do it to julia

Declined the offer; hope someone great is at the top of the waiting list!

I've been accepted, but found out last week that all offers of funding have already been extended. It's so frustrating. Villanova was one of my top two choices, but unless someone declines an assistantship and I'm next on the list, it doesn't look like I'll be able to go. The maximum Direct Loan is "only" $20,500/year and PLUS or private loans aren't an option for me, so I'd be trying to get by on about $7,500/year after tuition and fees. Maybe I could earn another few thousand a year from part-time work, but I'd still be taking on another $41,000 in Direct Loan debt when I'm already in deep from UG. And in an emergency I wouldn't have a penny of additional loan eligibility to tap, since I'd already be borrowing the maximum each semester. I want to talk myself into going despite it all, but it just doesn't seem like a smart move.

Bumping to say thanks for the list. It was a big help. Missouri State has a limited number of GAs that require 20 hours a week in exchange for a full tuition waiver and a stipend of about $850 a month. And the cost of living in Springfield is so low that it's possible to support yourself with just the stipend. MSU was my UG and I've lived here for years, so you can message me with questions if you like.

Social's always been fascinating to me, but money's a big problem and I went with chemistry when I came back in 2008 mostly because of the degree's marketability. Then I got involved with the process of research and fell in love with it, but once I was to the point of blowing off chem to read social journals, I knew I had to work with the subject I really love or else spend my whole career underachieving.

Psychology major, 60+ hour super-minor in chemistry. GPA: Overall 3.00, major 3.86, last 60 hours 3.34 (33 hours of the last 60 were in the chemistry major). GRE: 800V, 750Q, 4.5AW; don't like the writing score at all, and could probably bring the quant up by 20-40 points, but taking the thing once was stressful enough and I don't want to do it again. Research: 4 semesters in chemistry, first author on a poster at a very minor regional conference in 2010, second author on a poster that won second prize at another very minor regional conference in 2011. 2 semesters in psychology with no publications or presentations yet. LORs: 1 glowing letter from my chemistry research adviser, 1 strong letter from my psychology research adviser, 1 unremarkable letter from a psychology faculty member. No honors or scholarships, and a seriously unholy mess of a transcript. I'm an eighth-year senior graduating this spring, and I've left school for a total of five years, so I've been at this for 13 years. Before I got my head on straight, I flunked out twice and changed majors more often than some people change clothes. But I took a few years off, worked crap jobs, and came back to school in 2008 wicked driven. I never took a semester off again, not even in the summers, and I maxed out literally every last penny of my financial aid eligibility retaking just about every class I did poorly in the first time around. I'm not going to waste anyone's time with tales of woe about why I did so badly before; I'm not saying anything about it in SOPs except to call attention to how drastically I've improved since coming back and to explain why I changed majors from chemistry to psychology so late in the game. Mostly irrelevant stuff: pretty heavy involvement with student government for the last 3 semesters, American Chemical Society student chapter officer for the last year, and working 10-20 hours a week as a high school & college math & science tutor since 2008. I want a PhD in Social Psychology and most of my POIs happen to be at very competitive programs. My top POI is a 'rock star.' Despite my major GPA, my background in psychology is honestly not that great. My UG is a behemoth state university, the curriculum wasn't very rigorous, and my only stats course was 10 years ago. I know myself well enough to know I won't get the most from a PhD program without some more coursework and research experience first. So: I want to do an MA/MS with a research/experimental focus. I absolutely must have a tuition waiver plus a stipend or a paying assistantship. Where should I apply and what are my chances? It's very late in the game for this, but I still want to apply for fall 2012 admission wherever I can. I'm super appreciative for any help anyone can offer about where to go and how to get there.