Some advice for next year's applicants when that brain is fresh!

[TheDude]

Hi Everyone,

I am taking a year off to finish up some research and want to gain some insight on the process from you before you all leave! Congrats to all btw.

I will be applying with a 3.8 major GPA (straight A's the last 5 semesters) and a 3.6 overall GPA (the deficit is explained by some old music classes before I made the transition to psych).

I have and will have 3 poster presentations at conferences with my name as first author.

I have a lecture on the CV that was given to the department, but not sure if that counts.

Received a University Fellowship award to catalyze a research project research (1 of 8).

Started working on writing paper 1 for publication....will be done by June. (first author)

Started doing the stats for paper 2 that will be done by application deadlines...same line of research.

One more paper, but things would have to go extremely well....if any thing I have a slew of ideas for projects with a data set we've amassed that I could start on in grad school.

Worked in a lab by application deadline for 2 years or 5 semesters.

GRE's: Studying.

How do I tamper my expectations of where I apply for a Ph.D? I'd like to think I have the credentials to apply at the top programs, but in reality when you attend a small program and excel everyone strokes you. I know the applicant pool must look crazy! Would it be worth the money to apply to the likes of a Harvard, etc.

Thanks.

i've also started compiling programs I'd like to apply to...hoping to have nipped that in the but.

Edited March 29, 2010 by musicforfun

[jhmoss1812]

First off, you have a very impressive application and I am glad I do not have to compete against you.

I say shoot for the stars in your applications but also temper that with good matches with faculty. I think in psychology, the match between student and faculty is critical.

You won't get into Harvard if you don't apply. You really never know what could happen. Then again, don't apply to places you don't want to go. If I did not get into FSU, I would have been "forced" to attend a school I really wasn't that excited about. You will be competing against a very qualified applicant pool, so I suggest you put your name out there. E-mail the faculty to see if they are even accepting students, attend conferences that they will be at and speak with them. I would probably say I got into FSU and the faculty member I wanted to work with because he was familiar with me throughout the process.

Good luck with the process. Don't let it be daunting and make sure you are ready for a commitment. It's stressful but so exciting as well. Oh, and try to kill the GRE

[Schnuffichen]

Wow, impressive CV - great job!

I'm with what the previous poster said: You won't get into Harvard without an application.

However, I do also have to say that it's good that you seem rather modest and down-to-earth. My CV looks similar to yours (3.76 GPA, 4 years lab experience but no conferences/lectures - as for the papers, I'm not sure how much they count unless they're through peer-review), I'm also in Developmental, and I applied to 10 schools this year... and didn't get into one.

So while I strongly believe that you have a shot at Harvard and "all the great names" (though make sure that they even do what you want... I canceled my Yale app because there was nobody doing my line of research, prejudice and normative behavior in infants), I find it very important to have an actual safety school. Mine was ranked 30 and I truly believed that I would be in without any trouble - and they were the first to reject me, back in January.

Good luck!

Jana

[eucalyptus]

The advice I got about choosing schools from my Masters supervisor was to look critically at each one of the top 50 or so schools and make a list based purely and entirely on research fit. Of course, to do this, you have to have a pretty specific idea of what your interests are and what project you want to do, which in my case meant critically reviewing and revising the list up until about 2 weeks before deadlines! Then pare it down based on other criteria like location, etc, until you have a reasonably-sized list of programs that are pretty spread out in terms of rank but that are all the absolute best fits for your research interests. Make sure to email people at these schools, since that's the best way to gauge fit, and can also give you some idea of how well your application will be received.

I'm in developmental psych and my "profile" was reasonably similar to yours at application time: 3.6 GPA, non-notable undergrad school, 1 poster and 4-ish presentations, 1 paper under review and another in prep, a couple years of research experience (although I was also finishing up a research-intensive Masters, meaning most of my research experience was very independent and included a bit of field work). I'm pretty certain that I had 1 solid recommendation, while my other two were positive but not really substantial - I'm guessing that the letter from my tutoring job was really just a placeholder and didn't win me any points at all! I really think that the two things that stood out about my application were my research experience (which sounds fairly similar to yours) and the project that I was proposing. I came up with this project idea pretty randomly and without doing any background reading, and it quite luckily seems to really resonate with people. Where I applied and was accepted to are in my signature; I'm going to Harvard next year which was totally unexpected and really seemed like an extreme longshot to me. So, seriously, apply to Harvard and anywhere else you're an amazing fit, because you never know!

Also, take a good chunk of time coming up with a really good project to propose. You probably already know what subject you want to study (mine is using dev psych to look at the evolution of language), but try to come up with some specific project ideas and pitch them to professors. You'll know you're onto something when they sound really excited about it! You can't really change many aspects of your profile at this point, but this is something you CAN do and although people on this board don't talk about it much, it really can make a difference.

[TheDude]

This is all very great and quite generous of all of you!

I'm sure my stats are good, but I also know Ivyies go on to the Ivys more than some guy from a small state University. There are people here in the program a whole hell of a lot smarter than I, just most people don't take the initiative to look for the work to put them in the best position when they go to apply. I also hit a huge break with that fellowship.

Note to one poster:

The papers that are being written up (1 as we speak) will go through the peer review process, so hopefully the time it takes for that to occur is complete by application deadlines for next year. There will be 2 complete for sure. I should note: first authorship hasn't been secured for the paper only because I have been reticent about speaking up for it. The posters (the same work for the paper) do list me as first author...and rightfully I should be co-authored on these papers since I've done all the data collection and contributed equally on an intellectual level to every aspect of the project. I've pretty much been autonomous with help in only sorting my thoughts and the statistics for an entire year. I am sure I will have to speak up for myself soon...any advice while I have your ear!!>? I know the rank on papers matters when you go to apply, but at the same time I'd hate to be a dick to someone who has been very fair to me.

I am with everyone on looking at the fit of research...I am plugged into language work right now. To be quite honest I have ideas with a database that exists for a bunch of papers, and I've become quite proficient with the software used for transcribing and analyzing work. It's exciting to me now, but if I am being frank...I am not sure I'd want to being in this line of work in this field for an entire career - at least on the specific level I am in now. I could certainly sustain myself with it through a Ph.D. program. If I could answer anything scientifically it would be- what makes great teachers? So the programs I am looking at will certainly have an applied (the dreaded word!!!) aspect to them.

I'll look to start sending emails out to prospective professors once I graduate in May. I have the option of being highly involved in a lab until I leave to a grad school, but truth be told I'd like to wrap up the work I am on now and just really focus on the GRE and the application process throughout the summer... maybe even enjoy myself for one summer!

A really important thing for me in my undergrad career has been the open discourse between my advisor and I. It has given me so much confidence, and I'd look for something similar in a Ph.D. program. However, when going to apply for jobs after the Ph.D. would anyone here just go for prestige? I know it sounds awful, but I'm hip enough to how things work to know this matters. I also worry that the kind of work that I have done has been so specific that it has pigeon holed where I can apply. Ask me about psycholinguistics and I have a slew of ideas...ask me about something else in the field and I can't be nearly as specific with what I'd have to offer.

Thanks for the advice on schools. I'll post more questions soon.

Edited March 30, 2010 by musicforfun