Social Psychology Fall 2017 Applicants

[selfservingbias]

Also, if there are any applicants to UMich's joint Psych and Women's Studies program (I'm fairly sure I saw someone post about it at some point), I talked to someone today who said acceptances and rejections will be going out either this week or next! Ah! 

[thirdfromthesun]

22 minutes ago, selfservingbias said:

Also, if there are any applicants to UMich's joint Psych and Women's Studies program (I'm fairly sure I saw someone post about it at some point), I talked to someone today who said acceptances and rejections will be going out either this week or next! Ah! 

That was me who had posted about the joint program, haha. Thank you so much for that news!

I asked my mentor (who's a social psych prof at UConn) if UConn has sent out invitations yet-- she didn't respond, which leads me to believe they have not. 

Edited February 2, 2017 by thirdfromthesun

[selfservingbias]

7 minutes ago, thirdfromthesun said:

That was me who had posted about the joint program, haha. Thank you so much for that news!

I asked my mentor (who's a social psych prof at UConn) if UConn has sent out invitations yet-- she didn't respond, which leads me to believe they have not. 

The list of programs that we have applied to keeps getting more and more similar.  

Thanks for the update on UConn! I did read somewhere that they don't do interviews, so maybe that's why they seem to be lagging a bit more than others. Fingers crossed! 

[C is for Caps Locks]

Heard from my POI at ASU, setting up a Skype inteview for next week. 

Otherwise, traveling for another weekend (yay for good problems!).

[constantlyfretting]

I just got my first positive contact, a phone interview request from Baylor! Honestly, I expected to be rejected immediately so this is a huge surprise.

It was kind of odd though, as the person who contacted me wasn't one of my POIs. I guess they might be part of a committee or something. Has anyone else encountered this? 

Good luck and positive vibes to all of y'all!

[WAJ]

1 hour ago, C is for Caps Locks said:

Heard from my POI at ASU, setting up a Skype inteview for next week. 

Otherwise, traveling for another weekend (yay for good problems!).

If you don't mind, can you PM me your POI name? Thank you!

Edited February 2, 2017 by WAJ

[What'sMyName]

8 hours ago, Phd2b18 said:

Congratulations on the skype interview, and may the odds be ever in your favor!

Thank you! That surely is an accurate reference for where we are in the process 

[What'sMyName]

5 hours ago, selfservingbias said:

Also, if there are any applicants to UMich's joint Psych and Women's Studies program (I'm fairly sure I saw someone post about it at some point), I talked to someone today who said acceptances and rejections will be going out either this week or next! Ah! 

Did you interview for this program? I also applied, but I haven't heard a peep from that one.

[What'sMyName]

Curious about how you all think of this: How important is the rank of a program to you?

For instance, if a program isn't highly ranked, but the research is a really great fit for you, does that negate the fact?

Is research fit more important, or the status going to a top 20 program more important?

Is a PhD from a lower ranking program better than no PhD at all?

[selfservingbias]

13 minutes ago, What'sMyName said:

Did you interview for this program? I also applied, but I haven't heard a peep from that one.

I did not. As far as I know, they don't do interviews.... I could be wrong about this though. I'm nervous to hear back from this one. It's a reach for me (low GRE quant), so I don't have very high hopes  

 

Best of luck to you! 

[What'sMyName]

2 minutes ago, selfservingbias said:

I did not. As far as I know, they don't do interviews.... I could be wrong about this though. I'm nervous to hear back from this one. It's a reach for me (low GRE quant), so I don't have very high hopes  

 

Best of luck to you! 

Best of luck to you as well! If you hear something (anything at all!) Please let me know! That would be a dream program and I had already written it off thinking it was too late to hear anything. You've gotten my heart racing with nerves 

[selfservingbias]

23 minutes ago, What'sMyName said:

Best of luck to you as well! If you hear something (anything at all!) Please let me know! That would be a dream program and I had already written it off thinking it was too late to hear anything. You've gotten my heart racing with nerves 

I will keep you posted, and please let me know if you hear anything too! It is definitely a dream program!

[ForeverJung]

1 hour ago, What'sMyName said:

Curious about how you all think of this: How important is the rank of a program to you?

For instance, if a program isn't highly ranked, but the research is a really great fit for you, does that negate the fact?

Is research fit more important, or the status going to a top 20 program more important?

Is a PhD from a lower ranking program better than no PhD at all?

From what I heard from Professors, it is getting very difficult to get tenure track positions as a lot of departments are getting rid of them. He advocated that the ranking of the schools make a big difference as there are a lot of people getting their PhDs and only a few tenure track spots. By going to a top school you would have a better chance at getting a good Professor position. In my opinion however, I feel that you make your own destiny in terms of the work you accomplish in Grad School. I think it depends on who you ask.

[MyDogHasAPhD]

1 hour ago, ForeverJung said:

From what I heard from Professors, it is getting very difficult to get tenure track positions as a lot of departments are getting rid of them. He advocated that the ranking of the schools make a big difference as there are a lot of people getting their PhDs and only a few tenure track spots. By going to a top school you would have a better chance at getting a good Professor position. In my opinion however, I feel that you make your own destiny in terms of the work you accomplish in Grad School. I think it depends on who you ask.

I agree with a lot of this. Personally, I have been looking at programs not necessarily in terms of rating, but how well prepared I am going to be for life outside of academia, as well as for tenure track positions. Given the future of tenure track jobs (or lack thereof), I have found myself wanting to prepare for the worst and looking at stats sequences and methodology courses and weighing in what preparation I would get for non-academic positions when applying to schools. Obviously tenure track academic positions are ideal, but these student loans aren't paying themselves.... oy. 

[What'sMyName]

16 hours ago, MyDogHasAPhD said:

I agree with a lot of this. Personally, I have been looking at programs not necessarily in terms of rating, but how well prepared I am going to be for life outside of academia, as well as for tenure track positions. Given the future of tenure track jobs (or lack thereof), I have found myself wanting to prepare for the worst and looking at stats sequences and methodology courses and weighing in what preparation I would get for non-academic positions when applying to schools. Obviously tenure track academic positions are ideal, but these student loans aren't paying themselves.... oy. 

I think it's important what you said, about being prepared for non-academic positions. There are actually a lot of possible jobs for PhDs in Psychology outside of just teaching at a university (although that is where I most likely see myself ending up). I also like what @ForeverJung said about making your own destiny. What I've been most concerned about is getting into a program where I don't feel like the research is the best fit and I will be forcing myself to finish it, not driven out of passion for what I am doing, but driven out of need to just get it over with. Stop the torture. The programs are so long. I mean, we are talking about spending 5 or 6 years of our lives dedicated to this. It scares me when I read about people hating their thesis and dissertation topics and crying when they look at them. I think these issues will definitely come to play when trying to weigh different programs - the preparation for certain jobs, as well as what can I do with this program and the research? I think perhaps if we work really hard and our passion for what we are doing really shows through during the process, even at a lower ranking school, we must be able to have enough successes to put us in a good position upon graduation....right??? 

[What'sMyName]

23 hours ago, constantlyfretting said:

I just got my first positive contact, a phone interview request from Baylor! Honestly, I expected to be rejected immediately so this is a huge surprise.

It was kind of odd though, as the person who contacted me wasn't one of my POIs. I guess they might be part of a committee or something. Has anyone else encountered this? 

Good luck and positive vibes to all of y'all!

I have gotten contacted by someone who was not my POI, but it was someone who was actually interested in being my advisor in the program. They had seen my application and saw it as a good fit for their future research tracks. However, it really depends on the school. Did this person specify anything in the request for the interview about why they themselves would be interviewing you? I have heard of some schools interviewing as a department and in such a case anyone could interview any applicant, and I'm sure they have a system of appointing who gets to interview who. But mostly what I have heard of is that the POI will contact the student directly in order to see if they would be a good fit interpersonally and how they translate off paper, etc. and then they make the recommendation to the department who decides as a whole. I think that professors have varying levels of ability to accept students after their applications have trickled through the hierarchy of the department, though, because some just say "I'm accepting this student".

Overall, after all that babble, it could really mean a few different things in terms why they are interviewing you.

[constantlyfretting]

57 minutes ago, What'sMyName said:

I have gotten contacted by someone who was not my POI, but it was someone who was actually interested in being my advisor in the program. They had seen my application and saw it as a good fit for their future research tracks. However, it really depends on the school. Did this person specify anything in the request for the interview about why they themselves would be interviewing you? I have heard of some schools interviewing as a department and in such a case anyone could interview any applicant, and I'm sure they have a system of appointing who gets to interview who. But mostly what I have heard of is that the POI will contact the student directly in order to see if they would be a good fit interpersonally and how they translate off paper, etc. and then they make the recommendation to the department who decides as a whole. I think that professors have varying levels of ability to accept students after their applications have trickled through the hierarchy of the department, though, because some just say "I'm accepting this student".

Overall, after all that babble, it could really mean a few different things in terms why they are interviewing you.

Wow, you managed to summarize the two conversations I had with professors about this whole thing in one paragraph. Hardly babble if you ask me. Thanks for the response. I think you're probably right, I will find out more during the actual interview itself. 

 

[What'sMyName]

3 minutes ago, constantlyfretting said:

Wow, you managed to summarize the two conversations I had with professors about this whole thing in one paragraph. Hardly babble if you ask me. Thanks for the response. I think you're probably right, I will find out more during the actual interview itself. 

 

Good luck on your interview!  I hope it goes well.

[dormcat]

On 2/2/2017 at 1:07 PM, selfservingbias said:

Also, if there are any applicants to UMich's joint Psych and Women's Studies program (I'm fairly sure I saw someone post about it at some point), I talked to someone today who said acceptances and rejections will be going out either this week or next! Ah! 

in response to you and @What'sMyName -- I've already heard from my POI with an acceptance, it seemed to me they made decisions in early January. I was invited to the invitation weekend informally then, and received my letter of offer last week.

Edited February 4, 2017 by dormcat

[PennyIsAHockeyFan]

Anyone heard back from U of T after attending the recruitment weekend? I'm going to assume I got rejected at this point because I performed pretty much terribly hahaha

[C is for Caps Locks]

I wouldn't worry, it hasn't been that long.

[8BitJourney]

For those waiting on Stony Brook: I believe the are interviewing some applicants now. Not 100% sure on the details (and sorry if this was discussed already - I'm a clinical applicant), just know someone in the department who mentioned it passing.

[B_Allen]

@PennyIsAHockeyFan hey i also applied to UofT and attended the recruitment weekend as well! i havent heard back either, but i was told that it would take about 2 weeks after the event to hear back, so hopefully this week we will hear something, fingers crossed. GOOD LUCK TO US BOTH!

[B_Allen]

@PennyIsAHockeyFan although i am in the cognition stream just fyi!

[01848p]

Is it normal to have 3.5 hours worth of interviews in one day? I just received an itinerary for a visit coming up this weekend, and I'll be meeting with 7 people, for 30 minutes each. My poor introverted self will be ready to enter a deep, week-long slumber by the end of the day ? ?

Edited February 6, 2017 by 01848p