2015 - Social Psych

[FinallyAccepted]

Last year (yes, I got fully rejected and am back for Round 2 this year), someone started a Social Psych specific topic within the Psych forums which was kind of nice.  It ended up really handy when interview invitations started to go out, because many people had better insight than I did about when to give up on a school if you hadn't heard anything yet, advice about what questions to prepare for in interviews, etc.

 

I'll start.

 

I'm Shana from the midwest.  My undergrad is in Social Studies ed. with a minor in Psychology ed.  This is my 8th year as a high school AP Psychology teacher.  Three years ago, I decided that I wanted to do something more psych research oriented and went back to get my masters which is what I now have (MS in General Psychology).

 

I'm really interested in intergroup relations and prosocial behavior.

 

Like I said before, I applied to 9 schools last year, and got rejected from each- so at least I've experienced that initiation.  Others on GradCafe told me it wasn't that uncommon not to get in the first year.  (In fact my favorite rejection was from Penn State.  It was an e-mail with the subject line "PSU decline."  No anticipation of opening that one.)  I'm reapplying to a select few of those same schools, and going in other directions for the rest.  I have't quite decided where all to apply, as I'm still contacting POIs at different schools.  After last year, I cast a VERY wide net and made some changes to my qualifications.  Fingers crossed that this is my year...

 

Who else is looking to get into a Social program?  Where are you looking?  With which POI(s)?

[VulpesZerda]

I'm applying to Social programs!! Thanks for starting the thread. 

 

I'll be applying to social psych PhD programs that have some emphasis on applications to health behavior. My research interests basically lie in the areas where social psychology overlaps with public health. I have 8 programs picked out right now for social/health psych, and 2 public health PhDs. My top choice is UConn.

 

GRE is October 11. So fun to study for that while dealing with coursework! 

[FinallyAccepted]

I'm in the process of applying to: UCSB, IU, Iowa, KU, Tufts, StonyBrook, UT Austin, Oklahoma State, Miami of Ohio.  Still waiting to hear back from WashU, Tulane, Northwestern & UC Boulder.

 

VulpesZerda, are you currently an undergrad?  Good luck on the GRE.

[VulpesZerda]

On 9/28/2014 at 11:02 PM, shana.teacher said:

I'm in the process of applying to: UCSB, IU, Iowa, KU, Tufts, StonyBrook, UT Austin, Oklahoma State, Miami of Ohio.  Still waiting to hear back from WashU, Tulane, Northwestern & UC Boulder.

 

VulpesZerda, are you currently an undergrad?  Good luck on the GRE.

 

We have StonyBrook in common! Yes, I am an undergrad. And thank you! I'll probably need a lot of luck, lol.

[FinallyAccepted]

We have StonyBrook in common! Yes, I am an undergrad. And thank you! I'll probably need a lot of luck, lol.

 

Who is your POI at Stony Brook?

[VulpesZerda]

Who is your POI at Stony Brook?

I PMed you!

[EastCoasting]

For what it's worth the first year I got 1 interview and no acceptances, and the second year I got a handful of really good offers. I am curious who you are applying to work with at UT and UCSB?

Either way, good luck! I can certainly appreciate how stressful this can be...

[gellert]

I applied last year for social psych Ph.D. and am now attending my top choice program.  If any of y'all have questions about the application process, feel free to ask me here or PM me!  Good luck, everyone.

[FinallyAccepted]

For what it's worth the first year I got 1 interview and no acceptances, and the second year I got a handful of really good offers. I am curious who you are applying to work with at UT and UCSB?

Either way, good luck! I can certainly appreciate how stressful this can be...

 

Thanks!

 

That's what I'm hoping for: a disappointing rookie year and an outstanding sophomore one.  I do feel more confident, so we'll see.  I'm not sure how the various programs feel about students who already have a masters (not that I got the masters to get out of classes, necessarily).

 

This year, I decided to apply with more innovative, less established/well-known POIs.  I'm more excited about the professors this year than last year.  My fingers are definitely crossed.

 

UT - Bertram Gawronski

UCSB - Brenda Major

[lewin]

 

This year, I decided to apply with more innovative, less established/well-known POIs.  I'm more excited about the professors this year than last year.  My fingers are definitely crossed.

 

UT - Bertram Gawronski

UCSB - Brenda Major

 

Question -- are you saying that about those two, or about other POIs? Gawronski is one of the top people in his cohort and Major is one of the top people in the field overall. They'll both be in high demand. Brenda Major won the SESP theoretical prize this last week (for most influential paper of the last 25 years). Gawronski won the SESP career trajectory award last year, and this year his PhD student won the PhD Dissertation award.

 

Happy to elaborate more here or via PM if you like.... I just mean this as a friendly correction if you were thinking of them as "less established/well-known".

Edited October 6, 2014 by lewin

[FinallyAccepted]

Question -- are you saying that about those two, or about other POIs? Gawronski is one of the top people in his cohort and Major is one of the top people in the field overall. They'll both be in high demand. Brenda Major won the SESP theoretical prize this last week (for most influential paper of the last 25 years). Gawronski won the SESP career trajectory award last year, and this year his PhD student won the PhD Dissertation award.

 

Happy to elaborate more here or via PM if you like.... I just mean this as a friendly correction if you were thinking of them as "less established/well-known".

 

Sorry, those two parts were separate. 

 

First, as a rule, I'm applying more (frequently) with less established (earlier career, only had a couple grad students so far) POIs whose research is really interesting. 

 

Second, I was responding to the two specific POIs that someone had asked about.  I certainly didn't mean to offend by denying these esteemed researchers their due recognition.  Oh no, Major and Gawronski are setting my sights pretty high.  Although when applying to Social Psych, there's really no such thing as low sights, really.

[lewin]

Sorry, those two parts were separate. 

 

First, as a rule, I'm applying more (frequently) with less established (earlier career, only had a couple grad students so far) POIs whose research is really interesting. 

 

Second, I was responding to the two specific POIs that someone had asked about.  I certainly didn't mean to offend by denying these esteemed researchers their due recognition.  Oh no, Major and Gawronski are setting my sights pretty high.  Although when applying to Social Psych, there's really no such thing as low sights, really.

 

Gotcha, I figured maybe I had mis-read you and it seems I did. And I'm definitely not offended, but I wanted to speak up just in case, so you accidentally didn't give the wrong impression to somebody important!

 

 

ETA: Gawronski just moved to Texas last year so maybe he'll be taking more graduate students than usual to get the lab up and running. Good luck!

Edited October 7, 2014 by lewin

[EastCoasting]

Both the UT and the UCSB crowds are super nice. If you want to PM me with more details about your research interests I'd be happy to recommend other PIs that might fit your bill, either in those schools or elsewhere.

[aidalb]

Hi everyone!

 

Just thought I would introduce myself. My name is Aiden, and I'm from Bristol in the UK. I'm applying for social psych programs this year too. I've actually sent off my applications to four and am about to send off my last one. Thought I would try and get them early as I gather there is potentially more paperwork and bureacracy for international students. I'm also applying to some courses in the UK.

 

My interests lie in more social-political psychology and specifically ideologies and belief systems. I've found some good people that I would love to work with and have done the whole 'Hey this is who I am and I'll be sending some stuff in'.

Has anyone had a kind of tactic where they've spread their applications across the whole ranking system? I've tried to take some from each tier (this was still a lot of guesswork on my part as I'm unfamiliar with the US system).

 

I am trying to figure out how to do that cool thing at the bottom where it tells everyone where and what I'm applying to.

 

Good luck everyone!

[lewin]

My interests lie in more social-political psychology and specifically ideologies and belief systems. I've found some good people that I would love to work with and have done the whole 'Hey this is who I am and I'll be sending some stuff in'.

 

That's very specifically my area of research-- PM me if you want subjective opinions on whomever you've applied with, or more suggestions for possible POIs.

[psych face]

Has anyone had a kind of tactic where they've spread their applications across the whole ranking system? I've tried to take some from each tier (this was still a lot of guesswork on my part as I'm unfamiliar with the US system).

 

 

I applied across the rankings too. There's a cluster in the top ten, but then there are about 6 scattered on up through about #60. But I chose these schools based on where the people working on my very narrow topic of special interest are. I hope it helps to have variety. Some people choose that way for 'safety' schools, but I think that's a poor way to think of it. Ideally, I want to be able to honestly tell these people it would be awesome to go to school there if they brought me to an interview and asked me to my face.

[VulpesZerda]

Would anyone be willing to critique my SOP? :-)

[informant]

Berkeley SP program started looking at applications this week. First the student committee rates applications, then ones with a high rating are passed on to professors. They're taking it slow, though. Only looking at >10% this week. Should be another 5-7 weeks before you hear anything.

[FinallyAccepted]

Berkeley SP program started looking at applications this week. First the student committee rates applications, then ones with a high rating are passed on to professors. They're taking it slow, though. Only looking at >10% this week. Should be another 5-7 weeks before you hear anything.

Not that I applied at Berkeley or anything (just out of curiosity), but when you say "ones with a high rating are passed on to professors," what constitutes a high rating? All that meet a certain threshold for GRE, GPA, etc.? The top n (10, 20, 50...) applications per professor on these scores? Feeling of fit with a lab?

[_intrigue_]

Berkeley SP program started looking at applications this week. First the student committee rates applications, then ones with a high rating are passed on to professors. They're taking it slow, though. Only looking at >10% this week. Should be another 5-7 weeks before you hear anything.

 

Out of curiosity, what else do you know about their process? Are they looked at in a certain order? Are they passed on to professors all at once, or in waves? How are applications rated?

[lewin]

Ha, the slightest hint of an insider scoop is like blood in the water to the sharks here.

 

Frankly I find it weird that the students take first pass. Must be some Berkeley hippie collectivist crap

[FinallyAccepted]

Ha, the slightest hint of an insider scoop is like blood in the water to the sharks here.

Yeah, seriously.

Honestly, it just would have been nice after not making it in last year to have had any feedback about "Why not me?" More insight on the process would be helpful.

Edited December 1, 2014 by shana.teacher

[lewin]

Honestly, it just would have been nice after not making it in last year to have had any feedback about "Why not me?" More insight on the process would be helpful.

 

It's been a while since I've seen this article so repost: Kisses of Death in the Grad School Application Process.

[psych face]

Berkeley SP program started looking at applications this week. First the student committee rates applications, then ones with a high rating are passed on to professors. They're taking it slow, though. Only looking at >10% this week. Should be another 5-7 weeks before you hear anything.

 

Is this normal? I had no idea we had to get through grad students first. That kind of creeps me out. Knowing grad students and being one myself, I'm not sure I trust those people.

 

(For people who lack a sense of humor, that was supposed to be sort of funny.)

[lewin]

That kind of creeps me out. Knowing grad students and being one myself, I'm not sure I trust those people.

 

I had the same thought and was NOT kidding.