gradchaser Posted August 9, 2014 Posted August 9, 2014 Hey all! I was wondering if any of you are planning on applying to developmental PhD programs in the upcoming application round. Developmental psychology can always be a little confusing since professors can either be housed in the psychology department or the education school, so checking school websites for professors doesn't always work. I thought we might all be able to help each other through the application process and answer each others questions as we move forward! Good luck to everyone and excited to meet you all!
Asemenov Posted August 11, 2014 Posted August 11, 2014 (edited) Hi gradchaser I'm applying for developmental psych for the 2015 or 2016 cycle (I decided to be flexible on the year since a professor who is the right fit might not be available for another year, if that's the case I'll try to PRA for them prior to going for the PhD). My shortlist is currently U Minnesota with Stephanie Carlson, NYU with Clancy Blair, UT Austin with Cristine Legare, I'm also looking at DU, Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State. I'm sending out emails this week to a list of about 20 professors expressing interest in applying for their program in 2015 and asking if they are accepting students for 2015. The thing I've found most confusing so far is the apparent under-valuation of analytical writing on the GRE. I scored a 159V 159Q and 5.0 on the essay, and many schools are reporting accepted averages of 3.5 in Essay but 163V. I hope there's a balance that is struck between the scores and that there isn't a hard cutoff in Verbal. Edited August 11, 2014 by Asemenov
gradchaser Posted August 11, 2014 Author Posted August 11, 2014 Hi Asemenov! What a small world! I went to undergrad at the University of Minnesota and have worked in Stephanie Carlson's lab! Feel free to PM me if you have any questions about her or Phil Zelazo's mentorship style. They have a combined lab and I actually know Phil pretty well. We must have pretty similar research interests! I'm also looking to apply to Clancy Blair at NYU and Cristine Legare at UT, though at UT Rebecca Bigler is my first choice. From what I've heard about the GRE, it's just used as a cut-off point. Once you make the cut, they aren't considered again, so higher scores won't necessary help you. I'm interested in studying cognitive development, especially executive function and the development of social cognitive abilities, like moral reasoning and prosocial behavior. I'm also interested in aspects like discrimination, prejudice, and the development of in-group biases. What are you interested in studying? Asemenov 1
Asemenov Posted August 11, 2014 Posted August 11, 2014 Wow small world indeed. I worked with Yuko Munakata at CU:Boulder and wrote a thesis on how a child's daily schedule influences their executive functioning, I then took that thesis and worked with the lab to get it published, you can look at it here: http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00593/abstract For grad school I really want to look at work on executive functioning but specifically social and cultural impacts on EF. I worked with Blair at NYU where he looked at family stresses and how they might impact EF. I also dabbled in some Computational Cognitive Neuropsych at CU and got interested in model building, I really like the work Legare has done on causal learning and want to see if I can expand my research on EF and incorporate it with cultural based causal learning explanations. I would love to talk with you more about Stephanie and Phil, I've been looking at their work a lot and love hearing Stephanie talk at conferences, they are both so influential in the EF world that I can imagine that working with them has propelled your knowledge of EF far ahead of most people applying to grad school.
gradchaser Posted August 11, 2014 Author Posted August 11, 2014 Very cool! I'm currently working on publishing my thesis. I wrote it on how early life stress influences emotion expression regulation in children and adolescents. It sounds like you have a lot of experience! When did you work with Blair? I've heard from people that have been to NYU that he is very nice but the program is cut-throat competitive. What was your take? I'm currently working on a study in their lab about executive function development and concept learning, very cool. Lots of great opportunity at ICD! They are definitely at the forefront of the research on EF.
gradchaser Posted August 11, 2014 Author Posted August 11, 2014 Also, who is the professor that might not be available next year? I think I would cry if Clancy wasn't taking students
Asemenov Posted August 11, 2014 Posted August 11, 2014 Not sure yet, I'll update here when I find out who isn't accepting from my pool. I've seen a few people at UT:Austin and UC Davis, but I'll find out a more definitive list once my letter of interest net goes out.
cw01 Posted October 21, 2014 Posted October 21, 2014 Another developmental prospect here! My primary interests are in language development, particularly word learning and phonological development. And also how language development is related to cognitive development. I have actually worked on a project that explored the differences of bilinguals and monolinguals in their EF! As for my application though, I'm applying to some developmental programs but also a lot of cognitive psych and cognitive science programs since I'm interested in adult language processing as well. I'd be happy to chat more with you guys about dev psych tho!
EastCoasting Posted October 21, 2014 Posted October 21, 2014 There are a lot of psychology developmental faculty at human development and family studies departments. You guys should look into those as well.
vygotsky_circle Posted October 22, 2014 Posted October 22, 2014 Charleswu.01, which developmental programs are you applying to? We have a lot of overlapping interests!
cw01 Posted October 22, 2014 Posted October 22, 2014 Charleswu.01, which developmental programs are you applying to? We have a lot of overlapping interests! I'm applying to mostly top programs like Harvard, Stanford, which I have no idea whether I can get into... Then I'm also applying to UMich and possibly Maryland and Rochester for developmental ones..What about you?
vygotsky_circle Posted October 22, 2014 Posted October 22, 2014 I'm applying to mostly top programs like Harvard, Stanford, which I have no idea whether I can get into... Then I'm also applying to UMich and possibly Maryland and Rochester for developmental ones..What about you? I'm applying solely to developmental programs, aside from UCSD for which I am applying under Cog Sci. But I'm looking at Iowa, Vanderbilt, Stanford, Oregon, and a few others
kurumi2117 Posted November 5, 2014 Posted November 5, 2014 I'm applying to Developmental and HDFS programs. My interests are more in the developmental psychopathology domain.
NCAR823 Posted November 6, 2014 Posted November 6, 2014 (edited) Another developmental prospect here! My primary interests are in language development, particularly word learning and phonological development. And also how language development is related to cognitive development. I have actually worked on a project that explored the differences of bilinguals and monolinguals in their EF! As for my application though, I'm applying to some developmental programs but also a lot of cognitive psych and cognitive science programs since I'm interested in adult language processing as well. I'd be happy to chat more with you guys about dev psych tho! Hey charleswu.01& vygotsky_circle, I am also interested in the relationship between language and cognition. I am currently in a Master's program with Mass General Hospitals health professions institute and am brainstorming thesis topics and preparing my transition into PhD. I would love to hear about your experiences and goals! My background is in education and now SLP, but my main interests are in research between literacy, language comprehension, cognition, and development. Any particular insights you could provide as I build my experience would be great! Edited November 6, 2014 by NCAR823
FantasticalDevPsych Posted January 11, 2015 Posted January 11, 2015 Starting this tread back up again as was wondering where my fellow developmental applicants were! My primary research interests are in cognitive development, specifically the fantasy-reality distinction. I'm very curious about how different media affects this ability and did my undergrad honors thesis on it. I've applied to 5 programs (4 in the US that are all Developmental and 1 in Canada that is in Education) who had POIs interested in the fantasy-reality distinction and am waiting to hear back from them now!
fhn Posted January 12, 2015 Posted January 12, 2015 Just spoke to Duke psychology dept and was told that developmental psychology applicants should hear by the end of this week if they are invited to an interview... hope this helps
fhn Posted January 15, 2015 Posted January 15, 2015 just called yale psych dept. all interview invites have been sent out to any developmental applicants the dept is interested in. I said I hadn't received an invite, and asked if I could therefore assume my application was unsuccessful - and I was told that yes, I could assume rejection,
psychica Posted January 16, 2015 Posted January 16, 2015 Has anyone heard from or knows when UVA (developmental) or Georgetown (Human Dev and Public Policy) will extend interview invites?
FantasticalDevPsych Posted January 16, 2015 Posted January 16, 2015 Psychica, I applied to UVa for Developmental! Haven't heard anything from the school or my POI but saw this on their FAQ page of their website: "Can I call the Graduate School to see if my application is complete? No, please do not call the Graduate School to see if your application is complete. They are so busy that they will just transfer you to the department you applied that probably will not be able to tell you anything until after February 15." They are one of my top two schools (w/ UT Austin) so very interested to hear back!
psychica Posted January 16, 2015 Posted January 16, 2015 lol! I guess I'll just resort to the grad cafe results page!
FantasticalDevPsych Posted January 16, 2015 Posted January 16, 2015 Yes me too! Just thought I'd post that after I did something similar yesterday (I seem to remember finding that Feb 15 was a good guideline)! Also who is your POI (if you would like to share)?
Generis Posted January 16, 2015 Posted January 16, 2015 Anyone apply to UT Austin? The lack of movement / info is killlllling me
FantasticalDevPsych Posted January 16, 2015 Posted January 16, 2015 (edited) Yes, I did! It and UVa are my top two schools and have heard nothing from either (or anywhere else for that matter)!! Also am about to finish my undergrad there (semester starts 1/20)! Edited January 16, 2015 by FantasticalDevPsych
Generis Posted January 16, 2015 Posted January 16, 2015 Undergraduate at Austin? How do you like it ?
FantasticalDevPsych Posted January 16, 2015 Posted January 16, 2015 Yes! My PI is my POI! I really like it here and working with my PI is great! Feel free to PM me any questions!
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