Fall 2021 Social & Personality PhD

[Regression2theMean]

On 1/6/2021 at 6:04 PM, phdwannabequeen said:

Hi all!

I hope more invites are trickling in for everyone! I was hoping someone could share some advice for virtual interviews in general? Not question wise, but advice on mannerisms, etc for doing an interview over Zoom. Also, I had a prelim interview with a faculty and they mentioned that the formal interview would include a chat/interview with current PhD students. So, any advice on that?? Thanks guys

One big Zoom-related tip that many faculty members have mentioned: Make sure the room your in or background you choose on Zoom is neutral and not distracting. It seems small but can make a big difference in perceived professionalism. 

Make sure you prepare genuine questions for the faculty and/or graduate students. You are considering committing at least 5 years of your life to this program. One way to demonstrate that you are committed to doing that is by coming ready with questions that demonstrate your seriousness. Think of questions you would ask if you were moving for a job. This should include questions about the program, research, advisors, and what life is like living in the town/city the university is in. 

You also mentioned meeting with PhD students. This varies across programs, but most of the time this is more for you to learn about the program and people you will be around. In graduate school, you will spend a lot of time with fellow graduates students. You need to assess if the graduate students in the program are people you could get along with, stay with during conferences, collaborate with, etc. For the most part, graduate students don’t want to see you fail in your interview (though I can think of some notable exceptions to this). Sometimes faculty will ask graduate students to get a sense of applicants’ social competence/fit with the program. Sometimes faculty will ask graduate students to assess how seriously applicants are considering their program in the hopes that applicants will be more forthcoming with graduate students. However, ultimately, the decisions live and die with the faculty, not the graduate students. The biggest mistake applicants make in terms of interactions with graduate students is thinking that this is a break or a chance to relax/let loose. Yes, you should feel comfortable with the graduate students, but professionally so. If you do something odd, it will likely reach the ears of a faculty member. Don’t get overly emotional or self-disclosing and don’t drink too much (less of an issue this year with many virtual interviews).

As a graduate student, I am always impressed when applicants ask what it is like working or taking classes with Dr. X, Y, or Z, especially if they are asking about one of my advisors who’s advising style I can speak to in detail. When I was interviewing, my now advisor told me to ask his current and former graduate students (he gave me a list with contact information) about his advising style. I did this with his students and when I was interviewing elsewhere. What I learned from those people was extremely influential in my decision making process. 

When all is said and done, I’m sure many of you will have multiple options to choose from, though I know that may be hard to imagine now. Keep this prospect in mind when you are interviewing and remember that, although they are evaluating you, you are also evaluating them and their program. Keep an eye out for warning signs and signs of exemplary advisors. They often hide in plain sight but there are tells if you look for them. In my opinion, it is far worse to accept a position in a program with a bad advisor or in a program that you don’t fit with than it is to take a year off, build up your CV, and apply again. I’ve seen too many people burn out or quit because they chose to enter a program against their better instincts.

Keep your chins up. A lot of decisions should be coming in the next few weeks as I’ve heard a lot of social programs plan to send decisions out around the start of their spring semesters. I would imagine the vast majority of first round decisions will certainly be out before SPSP this year.   

[Faculty Full Prof]

15 hours ago, sksamra said:

Me and a lot of my friends who applied to social psychology PhD programs are all so stressed! It’s so hard waiting, not knowing whether or not the next time we open our email if it will be a request for interviews or a rejection. Has anyone here heard back from the following schools?

UC Irvine, UC Riverside, CU Boulder, University of Denver, CUNY, Stony Brook University, University of Delaware, UMASS Amherst, Washington State @ St. Louis, or Rutgers.

Can these posts be edited? Washington State is in Pullman, Washington. I'm sure it's just a typo, but . . .   ?

 

[sksamra]

On 1/12/2021 at 5:25 PM, Faculty Full Prof said:

Can these posts be edited? Washington State is in Pullman, Washington. I'm sure it's just a typo, but . . .   ?

 

I am actually from Washington state and I’m not applying to Washington State University. My mistake it was a typo I meant to say Washington University in St. Louis rather than Washington state @ St. Louis

[appliedpsyc]

Has anyone heard anything from UC Santa Cruz?

[palmtreesbeesknees]

This may be a silly question... but what is a prelim interview? Is it any phone call you receive from a department or will they make it clear that the call is a preliminary interview?

[inwaldosia123]

Has anyone heard from UNC Chapel Hill? I didn't see any posts related to social psych program on results page, but it seems that the formal invitations will be sent out by Thursday. Anyone has a preliminary interview?

Edited January 13, 2021 by inwaldosia123

[gparks]

Dumb question: can someone provide a link to the results page? I can't find it

[inwaldosia123]

2 hours ago, gparks said:

Dumb question: can someone provide a link to the results page? I can't find it

https://www.thegradcafe.com/survey/index.php

[Regression2theMean]

1 hour ago, palmtreesbeesknees said:

This may be a silly question... but what is a prelim interview? Is it any phone call you receive from a department or will they make it clear that the call is a preliminary interview?

A prelim interview is an informal conversation (via phone or Zoom) typically with a faculty member/your prospective PI. They do not always explicitly label these as “preliminary interviews.” From my experience, most of the time they said they were just following up on my application. Sometimes these calls are scheduled but they may also cold call you. 

Don’t get too stressed if you don’t get a preliminary interview. Some programs make these calls to start the lines of communication with the candidates they are interested in but not all programs do. Some programs only call applicants that they are on the bubble about to gather more information. Also, if you work(ed) closely with someone who a prospective PI knows well or collaborates with often, sometimes they will call that person to gather information in lieu of (or in addition to) calling you directly. 

I wouldn’t read too much into anything until formal interview invitations and/or acceptances go out. Programs that are doing virtual interviews have more flexibility for the number of interviews they can extend and amount of notice they have to give than in the past because they don’t have to book and pay for flights and other accommodations.  

Congrats to all that have received interviews so far!

[palmtreesbeesknees]

Thank you, that is so helpful. So I have had a preliminary interview as it turns out!

I am not too stressed out as just viewing it as an experience (I am lucky to be in a job etc.) and using this forum to de-mystify some of the terms and processes that are different in the states!

Thanks again

[Monkeybug]

one of the poster said on the result page that NYU has already sent out their interview invitations. Has anyone heard back from NYU? I'm getting so anxious since most of the programs I applied to have zero updates..

[saltybiscuit]

Hey!

Anxiously awaiting a decision from U Mich social context and personality program - anyone heard anything. I think if I refresh GradCafe one more time and I see Clinical Psych people getting decisions and nothing on Social I may scream.

[Bald Academic]

1 minute ago, saltybiscuit said:

Hey!

Anxiously awaiting a decision from U Mich social context and personality program - anyone heard anything. I think if I refresh GradCafe one more time and I see Clinical Psych people getting decisions and nothing on Social I may scream.

Clinical Psychology gets all the love in this forum ?

[AGold]

4 hours ago, Monkeybug said:

one of the poster said on the result page that NYU has already sent out their interview invitations. Has anyone heard back from NYU? I'm getting so anxious since most of the programs I applied to have zero updates..

Hi! I also applied to NYU social program and haven't heard anything back yet!

[Monkeybug]

4 hours ago, saltybiscuit said:

Hey!

Anxiously awaiting a decision from U Mich social context and personality program - anyone heard anything. I think if I refresh GradCafe one more time and I see Clinical Psych people getting decisions and nothing on Social I may scream.

No I heard nothing from them

[Stumbling_My_Way_Through]

I am anxious about interviews and if invites have already been sent out! The waiting game has been SO HARD.

I already interviewed at U of Toronto, but have you guys heard from UNC, Cuny Graduate School, Depaul, Boston College, Columbia, or Northwestern's Kellogg program?

[sksamra]

6 minutes ago, Stumbling_My_Way_Through said:

I am anxious about interviews and if invites have already been sent out! The waiting game has been SO HARD.

I already interviewed at U of Toronto, but have you guys heard from UNC, Cuny Graduate School, Depaul, Boston College, Columbia, or Northwestern's Kellogg program?

I applied to CUNY and I haven’t heard anything yet either 

[Stumbling_My_Way_Through]

2 hours ago, sksamra said:

I applied to CUNY and I haven’t heard anything yet either 

Yeah, I am still holding out hope because I know programs had a lot more applications to process + interviews happen in mid-late January.. 

[Monkeybug]

8 hours ago, Stumbling_My_Way_Through said:

I am anxious about interviews and if invites have already been sent out! The waiting game has been SO HARD.

I already interviewed at U of Toronto, but have you guys heard from UNC, Cuny Graduate School, Depaul, Boston College, Columbia, or Northwestern's Kellogg program?

i applied to Columbia and heard nothing.

[Mobo8]

Has anyone heard back from Princeton?

[psychm00n]

Hey everyone! I've applied to Social Psychology programs (University of Wisconsin-Madison, WashU in St. Louis, and Temple University) and Developmental Psychology programs (University of Vermont (technically the Experimental Psychology program), Penn State University, and University of Chicago). So far I haven't heard back from any and I'm getting slightly nervous, so I'd love to hear if any of you applied to any of these programs too. I know Penn State has sent out half of their invites already and that they're likely releasing the rest tomorrow, but other than that I'm unsure about the state of the other programs. 

[psyched4socialpsych]

hey there! what's the guidance on reaching out to professors for updates? would that come off as desperate/rude or as eager/very interested? patience is a virtue but certainly not one that i have ?

[inwaldosia123]

Anyone heard back from UC Irvine? There is a post on results page saying all invitations have been sent out, but I did not see any posts on social/health psych.

Edited January 15, 2021 by inwaldosia123

[sksamra]

6 minutes ago, inwaldosia123 said:

Anyone heard back from UC Irvine? There is a post on results page saying all invitations have been sent out, but I did not see any posts on social/health psych.

I applied too and haven’t heard anything

[sksamra]

On 1/13/2021 at 12:10 PM, Stumbling_My_Way_Through said:

I am anxious about interviews and if invites have already been sent out! The waiting game has been SO HARD.

I already interviewed at U of Toronto, but have you guys heard from UNC, Cuny Graduate School, Depaul, Boston College, Columbia, or Northwestern's Kellogg program?

Hey just and update: I applied to CUNY and got an interview from one of the faculty I applied to today. So keep an eye on your email because you might hear back soon if I was able to get one. Wishing you luck!