lafresca Posted April 13, 2013 Posted April 13, 2013 Hi all, I am a social psychologist in training and have been admitted to two stellar programs - UCSB and University of Toronto. I am in love with both schools, both mentors, and people in both labs. I really am having a tough time deciding between these two schools. There are two considerable differences that are weighing my decision: Toronto is COLD, and SB may not have very good stats training. Can anyone help? Thanks much, Lafresca
phalanges Posted April 13, 2013 Posted April 13, 2013 Hey, I went to UofT for undergrad and I can say that Toronto is not that cold (it's not much different from Boston / NYC) and it doesn't really snow that much (and most of the snow gets cleared away when it does). Beyond that Toronto is a killer city. It is filled with excellent markets, food, coffee, microbreweries, music stores, etc. It is also home to NXNW and the Canadian Music Week. I'm not in social psych so I can't really say anything about which is a better school for you, though.
JungWild&Free Posted April 13, 2013 Posted April 13, 2013 SB may not have very good stats training. I'm pretty sure that they offer a statistics concentration because of this program weakness. I forget what it's called but they talked about it during my visit. If that isn't your cup of tea, you can always take more stats classes. I have no idea about Toronto's rep though so I can't really shed light on that comparison.
lafresca Posted April 13, 2013 Author Posted April 13, 2013 Thanks for the input! Toronto is an internationally ranked school, very prestigious. Are you planning on attending SB, JungWild&Free?
JungWild&Free Posted April 13, 2013 Posted April 13, 2013 No. I didn't really see myself there, but if I had different interests I would have been really interested.
EastCoasting Posted April 14, 2013 Posted April 14, 2013 Who will you be working with at UCSB? I was incredibly impressed with all of their faculty, students, facilities, and of course the weather and views. I really loved their department.
juilletmercredi Posted May 7, 2013 Posted May 7, 2013 OMG, go work with Brenda Major and take some stats classes in the stats department. In this field, your advisor can be more important than your department. Toronto has a great social psych program, but if Brenda Major is your advisor and you do good work, you'll be very well off.
EastCoasting Posted May 8, 2013 Posted May 8, 2013 You will love it there. One of my professors did his doctorate there, and his postdoc at Toronto.
lafresca Posted May 9, 2013 Author Posted May 9, 2013 Thanks for the support everyone! I will post back in a year or so to let you know how I like it. Brenda is amazing!!! I wish everyone else luck in their graduate careers. Also, if you are doing research on prejudice / discrimination / stereotyping / stigma, friend me!
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