Fall 2020 Social/Personality Psychology PhD

[PianoPsych]

Completed 6/7 apps on time, and I have a good feeling about the last one being let through even though it was late.

For anyone applying in the future- I would not recommend leaving apps till the last minute, especially if the 1st of December is on a weekend! ?

[HAC]

44 minutes ago, PianoPsych said:

Completed 6/7 apps on time, and I have a good feeling about the last one being let through even though it was late.

For anyone applying in the future- I would not recommend leaving apps till the last minute, especially if the 1st of December is on a weekend! ?

Fingers crossed for your last app! Good luck with all of them. Now comes the most frustrating part of applying... the waiting game. How does everyone plan on keeping busy while waiting? 

[FarShadey]

This is my second time applying for PhD programs and I wholeheartedly believe this is the most stressful part of the application process! ?

[HAC]

3 minutes ago, FarShadey said:

This is my second time applying for PhD programs and I wholeheartedly believe this is the most stressful part of the application process! ?

I totally agree with you. Did you apply last year as well? How many places did you apply to this time? 

[FarShadey]

Just now, HAC said:

I totally agree with you. Did you apply last year as well? How many places did you apply to this time? 

My first application process was in 2017! I was rejected from all three PhD programs, but accepted into a Masters program!

Now I am hoping that with my masters degree, my applications will be a lot more competitive ? I have applied to 6 schools   

[HAC]

3 minutes ago, FarShadey said:

My first application process was in 2017! I was rejected from all three PhD programs, but accepted into a Masters program!

Now I am hoping that with my masters degree, my applications will be a lot more competitive ? I have applied to 6 schools   

I’m sure you are far more competitive now! What is your area of interest? 

[ArgiePsych]

8 hours ago, PianoPsych said:

Completed 6/7 apps on time, and I have a good feeling about the last one being let through even though it was late.

For anyone applying in the future- I would not recommend leaving apps till the last minute, especially if the 1st of December is on a weekend! ?

To send the apps on time, I had to pull an all-nighter throughout Friday-Saturday. Due to the lack of sleep, I was in a quasi-psychotic state while completing the last apps. Fortunately, I think I didn't make any mistakes. The most stressful thing I've done and as an international student (it's my first time applying), everything seems more obscure and complicated.

[PianoPsych]

7 hours ago, ArgiePsych said:

To send the apps on time, I had to pull an all-nighter throughout Friday-Saturday. Due to the lack of sleep, I was in a quasi-psychotic state while completing the last apps. Fortunately, I think I didn't make any mistakes. The most stressful thing I've done and as an international student (it's my first time applying), everything seems more obscure and complicated.

I can relate.. Definitely a stressful process (and quite expensive) to apply as international students.

 

15 hours ago, HAC said:

Fingers crossed for your last app! Good luck with all of them. Now comes the most frustrating part of applying... the waiting game. How does everyone plan on keeping busy while waiting? 

 Thank you! I'm pretty sure think it will be fine (edit: just checked and that app has went through, yay!!). I will be travelling/seeing family to keep my mind off this. How about you?

Edited December 3, 2019 by PianoPsych

[Troyyy]

Honestly, I’ve just accepted that it’s no longer in my control and if it’s meant to happen, then it’ll happen lol. 

[HAC]

8 hours ago, PianoPsych said:

I can relate.. Definitely a stressful process (and quite expensive) to apply as international students.

 

 Thank you! I'm pretty sure think it will be fine (edit: just checked and that app has went through, yay!!). I will be travelling/seeing family to keep my mind off this. How about you?

I am glad it went through. I am still waiting on two of my apps to update my GRE scores but at least I got confirmation emails from the department they were received ?! Traveling is a great idea! I am just trying to keep busy at work by taking on more projects but I am still finding myself refreshing my email 100 times a day ?. 

[Reno]

I am an international too and I can relate...Now the waiting period seems even more stressful...

btw good luck to everyone!

[Vanilla Bean]

Hope everybody's application process went well! I am already dying waiting for responses. ? Hopefully December/January fly by and we start receiving interview invites soon. 

Good luck to everyone! ?

[spider-man]

I am so terrified I won't get into any of my programs, and I applied to 9...

[HAC]

2 hours ago, spider-man said:

I am so terrified I won't get into any of my programs, and I applied to 9...

Fingers crossed for you! Where did you apply?

[spider-man]

9 hours ago, HAC said:

Fingers crossed for you! Where did you apply?

UPenn, UChicago, Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Penn State, UCSB, UCLA, Colorado Boulder, OSU, and Minnesota.

I'm a pretty average applicant in general (probably slightly below average for most of these) and I have no publications or posters yet, although I'm doing an honors thesis. I'm hoping my SOP and research fit were strong enough to at least get me some interviews. It'll feel so bad getting flat out rejected without knowing why.

[HAC]

21 minutes ago, spider-man said:

UPenn, UChicago, Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Penn State, UCSB, UCLA, Colorado Boulder, OSU, and Minnesota.

I'm a pretty average applicant in general (probably slightly below average for most of these) and I have no publications or posters yet, although I'm doing an honors thesis. I'm hoping my SOP and research fit were strong enough to at least get me some interviews. It'll feel so bad getting flat out rejected without knowing why.

Oh wow seems like you and I have some overlap in our schools. Would you care to share which POIs you are interested in at UChicago, UCSB, and Boulder? Are you also interested in affective and social neuroscience? Yeah I got flat out rejected last year from 7 programs which was incredibly disappointing. There is so much that goes into getting accepted. It’s important to not get discouraged and to always pick yourself back up and improve yourself. I learned so much from my first round of rejections. 

[imemine]

How common is it (especially in this subfield) to have skyped with POIs pre-application? I keep reading about those calls on other threads. I haven't had any, and I can't help but wonder if it'll do me in...

Edited December 4, 2019 by imemine

[SocDevMum]

1 hour ago, imemine said:

How common is it (especially in this subfield) to have skyped with POIs pre-application? I keep reading about those calls on other threads. I haven't had any, and I can't help but wonder if it'll do me in...

Ooof, I haven't either, none of the POIs I have spoken with are even allowed to have those kinds of chats prior to interviews.  Graduate students, though... I've had several great Skype or phone calls with current grad students in the labs I'm interested in, and those have all been really helpful.  I can't imagine it should affect your chances (or mine!) since many schools apparently forbid that kind of contact in advance....

 

[ArgiePsych]

15 hours ago, imemine said:

How common is it (especially in this subfield) to have skyped with POIs pre-application? I keep reading about those calls on other threads. I haven't had any, and I can't help but wonder if it'll do me in...

I didn't have the chance to do this with any of the POIs except from one (at Johns Hopkins), unfortunately after some emails I realized it wasn't a good fit so we never skyped. I did exchange several emails with most of them though.

[Vanilla Bean]

On 12/4/2019 at 11:54 AM, spider-man said:

UPenn, UChicago, Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Penn State, UCSB, UCLA, Colorado Boulder, OSU, and Minnesota.

I'm a pretty average applicant in general (probably slightly below average for most of these) and I have no publications or posters yet, although I'm doing an honors thesis. I'm hoping my SOP and research fit were strong enough to at least get me some interviews. It'll feel so bad getting flat out rejected without knowing why.

You are not alone! I'm sure we are all on the same boat. ?

I'm sure you still have a chance if your grades/test scores are good. But, if you can afford it, I would consider applying to some master's programs! The deadlines for master's programs are usually in January/February, so you would still have time to draft application essays and let your letter writers know that you are applying to more schools. I just graduated with a master's degree, and I think it helped me a TON in terms of gaining more research experience and becoming a more competitive applicant. Though I am still nervous and scared about what will happen, I definitely feel a lot more confident than I would have if I applied straight out of undergrad. I have a publication, several poster presentations, and experience working in a variety of research labs on my resume. I think that research experience is important to admission committees just as much as research fit, so I would consider master's programs as a back-up option to gain that extra experience if you were to not gain admission into a doctorate program right away. 

Are you thinking of publishing your honors thesis in the future? If not, I would consider talking to your advisor about that! Having plans to publish your research I'm sure will also help you out. 

[Vanilla Bean]

On 12/4/2019 at 4:12 PM, imemine said:

How common is it (especially in this subfield) to have skyped with POIs pre-application? I keep reading about those calls on other threads. I haven't had any, and I can't help but wonder if it'll do me in...

I don't think that is very common for us applying to Social/Personality Psychology programs. I wouldn't worry if you still have not received any Skype/phone interview offers. 

Did you email the professors that you applied to work with beforehand? If not, I don't think it is too late. If you haven't, I would send out an email to those that you are applying to work with and briefly introduce yourself and let them know that you applied. Maybe include a short blurb on your research interests/why you applied to work with him/her in their lab. 

[SocialPsych2018]

Just got invited for a skype informal interview @ NYU. Feeling nervous! I still need to submit 2 more applications ?

[scared_and_a_freud]

47 minutes ago, SocialPsych2018 said:

Just got invited for a skype informal interview @ NYU. Feeling nervous! I still need to submit 2 more applications ?

Congrats! That's amazing  

[HAC]

11 hours ago, SocialPsych2018 said:

Just got invited for a skype informal interview @ NYU. Feeling nervous! I still need to submit 2 more applications ?

Congrats!!! I hope your interview goes well!!! I also just got two invites for informal Skype interviews next week and I am super stressed. One of them is for my dream school, so on one hand I am super excited but on the other hand I am afraid to do something wrong to jeopardize it. ?

[ArgiePsych]

17 hours ago, SocialPsych2018 said:

Just got invited for a skype informal interview @ NYU. Feeling nervous! I still need to submit 2 more applications ?

Awesome news! Kudos

I'm also applying to the Social Psych program at NYU. Out of curiosity, which POIs you are interested in?