IOPsych3927

Haha right?! Yesterdady.... ugh. I cringe every time I think of it!

YES! I wrote a follow up email to a POI after a phone interview... Immediately after hitting "send," I realized that I had wrote "Our chat yesterdady" in the subject line instead of "Our chat yesterday"....!!!!!! Luckily he wrote a gracious email back, but he probably thinks I'm an idiot... D'oh!

Just sent you a message

I applied to Rice and haven't heard from them. I wouldn't assume rejection just yet with UCF, though! I only saw one acceptance posted...

I completely agree. Spending time in the "real world" made me more certain that graduate school was the right path for me, and more determined to get there. I'll never wonder if the grass (aka cubicle!) is greener, because I've been there. Although I sometimes get a little envious of the grad students I've met who are my age and in their 3rd year, I wouldn't take my post-bachelor's experiences back for anything.

Well said. You can know a lot about a field, but grad school/ academia is ridiculously esoteric. I've spent 2.5 years among graduate students in a particular department, and 80% of the stuff they talk about still baffles me. As one grad student told me, you learn how to survive thesis proposals, first year research projects, classes, etc., with help from older students and your own cohort.

I agree with the other posters- I would definitely put your best foot forward and be as amicable and friendly as possible. I've heard from current graduate students that they have gotten waitlisted students accepted or rejected, based on their behavior at visiting weekend. This point is probably even more salient if you have not been offered admission (i.e., you are going to a recruitment weekend before an offer has been extended, as opposed to a visiting weekend after an offer has been extended).

Love this movie, and this scene!Thanks for posting... it was the inspiration I need this morning as I juggle class readings, prepare for a phone interview, work on research projects, and obsessively check my email and GradCafe for news! Never save anything for the swim back indeed......

Just sent you a message

Good- don't be! I've heard the weirdest stories from other grad students- like one student who got waitlisted, then rejected from a "not-so-good" program but also got accepted into like 4 of the US News & World Report "Top 5" programs. Sometimes weird, random things go into who gets accepted, and who doesn't. With a tough-as-nails program like MSU, it's even more of a mystery (in my opinion). Bottom line: I second roebuck. I'm sure you'll get into another great program.

It really was-- that's what I get for checking the results on GradCafe 150 times/day Yours sounds rough, too.... I wish I could go into hibernation until this torturous wait was over!

I had a dream two nights ago that all of the schools I applied to were in this huge auditorium, like a job fair. All of us applicants were running frantically from table to table and asking the different programs if we got in. Each table/program had these blackboards that kept a tally of all their acceptances ("A") and rejections ("R"). I went to the first program I had applied to, gave them my last name, and asked if I was accepted. There were like 20 "A"s on their blackboard and one "R". They told me that I was the one reject. I ran to the next table, and the same thing happened again. I ran from table to table and kept getting rejected, while all the other applicants around me were screaming in excitement about all the programs they got into. I woke up in a cold sweat!!

Keep heart-- Michigan State is virtually impossible to get into. I didn't even bother applying for that reason! Hopefully we'll all get some good news soon (fingers crossed)

The feeling is (painfully) mutual...!

I've heard this as well- that most I/O programs make decisions on the last two Fridays of January (so, that would have been yesterday or this coming Friday, 1/25). Good luck everyone!

I understand the need for reassurance/feedback. However, this is not really productive. We all have varying interests, and most of us aren't likely to know what is truly required for your goals. My advice to you: find a grad student enrolled in an M.Ed or MAT program who is willing to answer a few of your questions. It's what I did. In addition to gaining research experience and letters because of introductions that grad student made for me, I now know the GRE cutoffs for the top programs I want to get into, how much certain schools weigh GPA, the GRE, research experience, letters, etc. Grad students are the best resource....even if they're not at a top progam, they often know what is required to get into competitive programs. A little introduction can go a long way. If you really want to put your mind at ease, go to people with authority on the subject.

I haven't taken the GRE yet (I take it on Wednesday), but I can answer your question based on what I've seen in ETS practice tests. I have seen several ETS questions that specifically ask about the author's "primary purpose" in a passage, which is why Kaplan wants you to get familiar with identifying it. I have never seen an ETS question that explicitly asks you to identify a "scope." However, I have seen deceptively misleading answer options that are outside of the scope of the passage. Kaplan wants you to know the passage's scope so you can quickly eliminate any misleading answer options that are outside of it. On to your bigger question.. I wouldn't spend too much time worrying about comparing/contrasting a scope versus a topic. At least from what I've seen, I'm not sure ETS ever requires you to do that. But on the whole, it is good to get familiar with both of the concepts.

Thank you SO much for sharing this. My verbal has been consistently high on most practice tests, but it was abysmal in the second PowerPrep practice test thanks to one of those insane reading comprehension passages (5+ paragraphs) in the first section. I only had time to skim it and ended up having to guess on 4 different questions. I take my test on Wednesday, so I was pretty panic stricken about my verbal until I read this post. I know I can't bank on it, but knowing that at least some test-takers didn't encounter super dense RC passages makes me feel so much better.

I did not take the paper ETS practice test, but I did take the PowerPrep (version 1.0) test and got a similarly large range (V: 680-780, Q: 730-800). The way you choose to interpret your range is a matter of personal preference, but I like to play it safe and estimate my new score on the lowest values in both of those ranges (so in your case, I would estimate my verbal as a 158 and my quantitative as a 155). I know it's not very generous, but I find that mentally "lowballing" my own scores makes me work harder. But if you find that discouraging, I would say the best method is to split the difference and calculate your score squarely in the middle of both ranges. Good luck!