n_psych

Hi afinnega,
 
I don't know anything about the school, but I have some suggestions for you:
 
- Contact several faculty you are interested in working with, and ask them if they are willing to do Skype interviews with you. Ask them about their research, what their graduates have gone on to do, and what they think the strength and weaknesses of the program are, and what their mentoring styles are like. Be upfront about the fact that you have been accepted, but that you want to learn more about the program before agreeing to attend.
 
- Contact the department and ask them to put you in contact with some current students. Ask them if they are happy, what their funding situation is, what their post-grad plans are, what the departmental culture is like, and what they think the strengths and weaknesses of the program are. They will probably be a lot more honest with you than program admins or faculty.

Vanderbilt University!
 
They don't have application fees and they don't require official transcripts until after you've been accepted to your school. As someone who has 5 different schools to get transcripts from, I've saved almost $50, plus whatever they didn't charge me for app fees. 
 
Anyone else have any schools they want to give a shout out to?

I just view it all as an investment in myself, and investing in my future.. This optimistic view is subject to change depending on admissions decisions, haha.

Letting my addiction to thegradcafe grow stronger every day...

Hi. I don't think your interview is an error at all, and you should not look at the results of this process that way. Departments at various schools look for different things in applicants, and so is the case that WashU liked you. Remember that clinical psychology is extremely competitive, and applications have gone up in the last few years. There are also a LOT of factors that affect whether or not you get an interview or an acceptance (fit, whether or not the POI is accepting a student, funding, etc.). I don't know how your whole application looks like but if you think there is room for improvement (GRE, publications, presentations, etc.) then I suggest taking the time to work on them to improve your chances for next year.

This is Brandy.  She knows she is cuter than everything.
 

 

 

I don't think you should pay for your PhD. Taking a year off might seem scary at first, but there are so many things you can do to not only to improve your applications (to be more competitive for the programs that offer funding) but also grow as a person. Best of luck on what you decide. 

Hi guys! I've been lurking around here for a month or more & finally decided it was time to take the plunge & make some friends.  
 
First off, I wanted to say congrats to eaboo316 for getting into WSU! I go there now, as an undergrad - the program is great, & very new. I wish we had faculty doing the type of research I want to do in the future, because I love my current mentor & I also took a grad class this past Fall & loved that professor as well. So good luck to you if you decide to come here! 
 
I'm also applying to HDFS & have been rejected from about half my schools so far. I've been interviewed for two programs, one of which I got rejected from & one of which I got accepted to [Oregon State]. I've also been waitlisted for UW-Madison. It's all so stressful, but knowing that I at least have that one acceptance is such a relief!
 
I saw you were all talking about Penn State, which I also applied to & noticed the slew of acceptances/rejections in the results search. I have not heard from them yet either, but I also haven't checked my mail in a few days. We'll see tomorrow! 

woohoo rejection finally! took them long enough!

Hi. I got one for my birthday last November. I typically use evernote to take notes. Also, the adobe reader app is very good if your profs send you pdfs for reading or power points with class notes because it lets you highlight, strike, underline, write text, write with your hand, etc. Dropbox is also a must for me.

Well, this is my second time applying (although I did change fields).

Last year I had these Plan B's:
   -MPH in Biostatistics (what I ended up doing)
   -Post-Bacc
   -RA/Coordinator job

This year, my plan B's are (hope they are not necessary!): 
   -Re-take the GRE (this is a must)
   -Take Calculus and Linear Algebra
   -Research job (either where I worked as an undergrad or at another University)
   -Revise a publication that is pending
   -If I could teach a stats class that would be awesome

I'm not giving up yet but I think it is healthy and realistic to think of what you could do if you either get all rejections or don't really like the program that accepted you. Hope this helps. Best of luck. 

I know this isn't good but I like to eat ice as a stress reliever....the crunching.....

Not stress-eating, but stress-drinking: coffee! I generally drink a lot of it, but currently this is getting out of hand.

frozen yogurt

I sure hope adcoms can't see how many times I've logged onto ApplyYourself to check my status...

Sure PMing you right now!

i remember when i first applied, to grad school
thinkin' i'll be calm and fine, it's all cool
my app was processed for about a month
then you
said you 
needed time..
..what?
 
oooooh ooh ooh ooh ooh
i checked GC again last night 
oooooh ooh ooh ooh ooh
this time, i'm feeling like, i'm feeling like
 
we
are never, ever, ever
getting decision letters
weeeee
are never, ever, ever 
getting decision letters
we go talk to adcomms, talk to profs- won't talk to me
cause weeee 
are never, ever, ever
getting decision letters..

I can't figure out the rest of the lyrics, but the chorus I had in mind: We are never, ever, ever getting a decision letter! ;p

Nice job, Socks! I sang the whole thing, out loud, and it was beautiful and emotional lol. We need some GC Karaoke!

Here's the first chunk of lyrics from Taylor Swift's We Are Never Getting Back Together:

I remember filling out apps, the first time.
Saying, "This is it, I've had enough," 'cause like,
I submitted early by a month
When you said it's incomplete. (What?)

I know the feeling. Last year, I was in the same situation, waiting endlessly for acceptance into anywhere. And the nerve-wracking wait just got worse when I knew that many of my friends were getting acceptances into their top choices or somewhere. In the end, it turned out I was rejected by all the programs that I applied to. I was so ashamed to tell this to my lab-mates, my advisors, my friends and everyone else who knew I applied for grad school. I had been through the shame, the self-doubts, the anger and the frustration but I didn't give up. I hold on to my goals and move on with my other plans. I tried again, and now I'm going to attend graduate school this fall, doing what I wanted to do.
 
I know this is tough for you but some truths remain. No matter how hard you think it's gonna be the end of your world if you got all rejections, it's not! Attending grad school THIS YEAR cannot be your life-determining event and your only plan. Whether you like it or not, there are so much more you can do before the next application season. You can always try again as long as your don't give up. And you are not alone! I believe there are many people on the forum, including myself, who have been through two or even more rounds of application before getting to where they wanted to be. Key is you have to realize that things don't always work out the way we wanted them to. 
 
Try to let go all the negative thoughts and move on while holding on to your dreams and goals. Things will always work-out eventually. And always get help if you need to. Good luck! =]

The ding my ipad makes when a new email arrives is nothing less than a demonstration that Pavlov was right, and that I'm a dog.

Starting to hear from people around me who have already been accepted and I'm stuck in limbo constantly clicking the refresh button on my email......

And while I'm ranting, here's another observation that grates on me. It's good to note on the applications that you've applied to fellowships; it shows that you're doing your part to try to get funded on your own and the adcoms will appreciate the commitment. Bonus points. Yay. Good. Great.
But. It seems like their knowing means a risk of ending up in the hold out pile. "Oh, he applied to four fellowships, let's set him aside till April and see if he gets one." This is what I feel like they're saying. Especially for the applications that closed two-ish months ago.
If this goes out to April for me without word, by the time I do get an admission (if I do), I won't care anymore. "I'm accepted? Oh. That's neat. Send papers to Amityville Mental Asylum. Care of Inpatient Coordinator, Solitary Ward. Use padded envelope. Maybe I see you in August. Stockpile Thorazine. [insert random weird scribbling in a different color]. Ok. Bye."
 
(And don't get me started on the fake waitlists, or not sending rejections for several weeks even after the vast majority of applications are beyond consideration.)

The splash of each drip whispers "refresh."