Social Psychology Fall 2017 Applicants

[PsychaLotl]

On 2/9/2017 at 2:50 PM, ntz said:

Congrats! Mind if I ask who your POI is? 

I can pm you

[SocCog]

@almondicecream Thanks, That does make me feel better about Princeton. Also, we have the same POIs at Cornell. Haha. 

[almondicecream]

15 hours ago, SocCog said:

@almondicecream Thanks, That does make me feel better about Princeton. Also, we have the same POIs at Cornell. Haha. 

Lol nice. Cornell is def one of my top 3 dream programs (although I may or may not have thrown a small fit when Dave moved to Umich). Looking at the schools you applied to, I kind of get now who you're interested in.   I'm not sure if Cornell has sent out interviews/acceptances yet... there's one on the results section for an interview (notified Feb 17), but someone on this forum stated that Cornell had already sent out its acceptances, so I'm a bit confused. I think I'm probably going to get a straight rejection since in 2015 Melissa emailed me in early February to let me know I was on the waitlist. :|

Do you plan to apply next year if you don't get an acceptance?

Edited February 27, 2017 by almondicecream

[Blackwater]

I have heard from NIU, and they should be sending out acceptance letters within the next week or so.

On 1/28/2017 at 11:34 AM, marsbars said:

nothing from iowa yet. 

Also waiting on Florida State, Northern Illinois, Southern Illinois at Carbondale, Wyoming, Nebraska,Kentucky,Ole Miss ,Bama,and to hear back from a phone interview. 

Anyone have news from any of these???

 

[marsbars]

3 hours ago, Blackwater said:

I have heard from NIU, and they should be sending out acceptance letters within the next week or so.

 

Thank you for updating
I wish us both the best of luck! 

[SocCog]

9 hours ago, almondicecream said:

Do you plan to apply next year if you don't get an acceptance?

Yep. That's the plan. I don't have a backup. Other than next time I'm going to do everything different and I'll apply to a couple MAs too.

 

My Temple rejection came in the mail today. I figured it would be mailed, since the rejection went up on the website so long ago and yet I didn't get an email.

I burned it. No, not just burned. I set it on fire. Potentially the most cathartic moment of my life. 

[almondicecream]

2 hours ago, SocCog said:

Yep. That's the plan. I don't have a backup. Other than next time I'm going to do everything different and I'll apply to a couple MAs too.

 

My Temple rejection came in the mail today. I figured it would be mailed, since the rejection went up on the website so long ago and yet I didn't get an email.

I burned it. No, not just burned. I set it on fire. Potentially the most cathartic moment of my life. 

Aw I think you have to celebrate the small victories. I have a google drive folder where I stash email screenshots of my first paid part-time RA position, my first waitlist email, and my first full-time lab manager position. It helps me to sometimes look at those and remember how much joy I felt when I finally accomplished one step.

[marsbars]

21 hours ago, Blackwater said:

I have heard from NIU, and they should be sending out acceptance letters within the next week or so.

 

I really hope that I hear back- I saw that someone got wait listed, really hoping that the "no response" doesn't denote a rejection. 

[The Mountain Goat]

UC Santa Cruz results are out. Received another rejection! I'm a bit sad because it would have been a really good fit... I don't really feel comfortable sharing it with anyone around me. Do you guys find it helpful to discuss rejections with people? 

Anyways, still have four more universities left ... 

[dormcat]

16 minutes ago, The Mountain Goat said:

UC Santa Cruz results are out. Received another rejection! I'm a bit sad because it would have been a really good fit... I don't really feel comfortable sharing it with anyone around me. Do you guys find it helpful to discuss rejections with people? 

Anyways, still have four more universities left ... 

If it helps, I've now been rejected from UCSC twice (social and this round developmental). Both my interviews were weird as hell -- both PIs were similar in their off-putting affect/general disinterest during the interview. I've mentioned it before in this thread but this year I felt like I was being grilled (asking me if I really deserved my achievements, where else I applied and for which PIs, etc.). Not sure if you interviewed and still got good vibes about fit. It really stings to be rejected from someplace you feel you're a shoe-in, but in the case of grad school I think everything happens for a reason. Feel free to message me if you want to talk more!

[almondicecream]

16 minutes ago, dormcat said:

If it helps, I've now been rejected from UCSC twice (social and this round developmental). Both my interviews were weird as hell -- both PIs were similar in their off-putting affect/general disinterest during the interview. I've mentioned it before in this thread but this year I felt like I was being grilled (asking me if I really deserved my achievements, where else I applied and for which PIs, etc.). Not sure if you interviewed and still got good vibes about fit. It really stings to be rejected from someplace you feel you're a shoe-in, but in the case of grad school I think everything happens for a reason. Feel free to message me if you want to talk more!

I'm not sure why grilling is really that necessary for interviews. :| I feel like merely asking someone about their research interests, what papers have recently gotten them really excited, etc. are a pretty good indicator of their depth of knowledge (e.g. someone who doesn't know much will be like "I like to take a socio-cognitive approach to goal pursuit. For example, I'd like to see how lay theories about goal pursuit affect whether people attain their goals.")

At the program where I want to accept, I got to sit on the floor of a basement with disco lights going, and the professor with the biggest h factor in the social area sat down to me while I was stuffing my face with pasta and we chatted about aquarium-keeping and gardening for 15 min.

I don't think that asking about other PIs you've applied to is that weird, though. It's interesting to know what the students' interests are, and I find myself asking that question of other interviewees because I'm curious what kind of stuff they're interested in.

Edited February 28, 2017 by almondicecream

[OptimiscallyAnxious]

1 hour ago, dormcat said:

If it helps, I've now been rejected from UCSC twice (social and this round developmental). Both my interviews were weird as hell -- both PIs were similar in their off-putting affect/general disinterest during the interview. I've mentioned it before in this thread but this year I felt like I was being grilled (asking me if I really deserved my achievements, where else I applied and for which PIs, etc.). Not sure if you interviewed and still got good vibes about fit. It really stings to be rejected from someplace you feel you're a shoe-in, but in the case of grad school I think everything happens for a reason. Feel free to message me if you want to talk more!

I'm sorry that was your experience (and twice). The interactions I've had with my POI from UCSC has been extremely positive. Unfortunately, my POI was unable to take on a student this year. However, I found that she was very supportive and encouraging. 

[Xavier Laflame]

To those who have been accepted to Nevada, has your MyNevada page changed? Also do you know if they have sent all the acceptances yet?

[C is for Caps Locks]

3 hours ago, almondicecream said:

At the program where I want to accept, I got to sit on the floor of a basement with disco lights going, and the professor with the biggest h factor in the social area sat down to me while I was stuffing my face with pasta and we chatted about aquarium-keeping and gardening for 15 min.

Haha, exactly, the best interviews for me were the super low-key ones where it was just clear that me and my POI got along fabulously. 

[Waitingforgrad]

12 hours ago, Xavier Laflame said:

To those who have been accepted to Nevada, has your MyNevada page changed? Also do you know if they have sent all the acceptances yet?

Hi, I just received an acceptance yesterday. I checked MyNevada page over the weekend (so before I was accepted) and saw it changed, and actually thought I was rejected since I could no longer pull up my application.

I saw that some people received their acceptances earlier than me, so perhaps they're doing it by who you applied to work with? I'm really not sure. 

[dormcat]

17 hours ago, almondicecream said:

I'm not sure why grilling is really that necessary for interviews. :| I feel like merely asking someone about their research interests, what papers have recently gotten them really excited, etc. are a pretty good indicator of their depth of knowledge (e.g. someone who doesn't know much will be like "I like to take a socio-cognitive approach to goal pursuit. For example, I'd like to see how lay theories about goal pursuit affect whether people attain their goals.")

At the program where I want to accept, I got to sit on the floor of a basement with disco lights going, and the professor with the biggest h factor in the social area sat down to me while I was stuffing my face with pasta and we chatted about aquarium-keeping and gardening for 15 min.

I don't think that asking about other PIs you've applied to is that weird, though. It's interesting to know what the students' interests are, and I find myself asking that question of other interviewees because I'm curious what kind of stuff they're interested in.

I ask other interviewees/recruits as well, but I don't think it's really appropriate for a PI to ask during an interview. A lot of us are applying for different areas/types of work. My interests are unfortunately quite niche, to pursue them in grad school I applied to 12 programs across four areas of psych (social, developmental, community, personality). So when someone in the developmental program asked where else I applied, after grilling me about whether I am sure I want to be in developmental program, and I only have two other developmental program I'm applying to...it was really uncomfortable. I didn't really feel like that should factor into their perception of me, regardless of whether or not it's interesting (and it totally is). The only other POI who asked about this specifically asked where I accepted when I declined an offer. Even the grad students at other visits intentionally avoided asking this question and changed the topic if someone else brought it up. At an interview weekend the area chair's "thing" was to ask each recruit what their choices were and give his input, but it was really light-hearted and jovial. During my SC interview, it was after I had already been asked if I actually put in the work for my accomplishments or if my mentor did all the work and gave me credit.... In the right context (not your PI, not during a high-stakes interview) I think it's fine to ask where else one applied, but in that particular interview it was like they were trying to find a weak spot.

That experience sounds really positive! The school I accepted has a little mini-party once a month that includes spiked punch and tons of fruit, veggies, and hummus. Won my heart!

[hh0505]

20 hours ago, dormcat said:

If it helps, I've now been rejected from UCSC twice (social and this round developmental). Both my interviews were weird as hell -- both PIs were similar in their off-putting affect/general disinterest during the interview. I've mentioned it before in this thread but this year I felt like I was being grilled (asking me if I really deserved my achievements, where else I applied and for which PIs, etc.). Not sure if you interviewed and still got good vibes about fit. It really stings to be rejected from someplace you feel you're a shoe-in, but in the case of grad school I think everything happens for a reason. Feel free to message me if you want to talk more!

I feel for you. At one school's invite day I met with 6 professors in the afternoon. Half of them grilled me about every perceived discrepancy or shortcoming they gleaned from my SOP and resume. Some went as far as to grill me about subject matter as if I were taking an oral exam. Thankfully the other half made it clear to me from the onset that they wanted to recruit me, and our interviews were a mix of enjoyable conversations about mutual interests (both research-wise and extracurricular) and pitches re: their labs and telling me about their most current research that wasn't publicly available.

At another school I had 3 Skype interviews, with one being a pleasant conversation and recruitment pitch, one being a grilling (where the professor was on e-mail for at least 1/3 to 1/2 of the time), and the last being a Q&A session for me to ask questions (but where the professor seemed distracted and disinterested).

My UCSC interview was very pleasant, and at the end of the interview I was given what I thought was a verbal / informal offer of admission. We even corresponded, after I sent a thank you e-mail, about possible future research. I was told I would receive a formal offer with funding information in the coming weeks. Then everything went silent, and I got the form rejection e-mail yesterday. 

[almondicecream]

6 minutes ago, hh0505 said:

My UCSC interview was very pleasant, and at the end of the interview I was given what I thought was a verbal / informal offer of admission. We even corresponded, after I sent a thank you e-mail, about possible future research. I was told I would receive a formal offer with funding information in the coming weeks. Then everything went silent, and I got the form rejection e-mail yesterday. 

Lol and I thought my institution was not being friendly on our recruitment day because there were two points in the day when the recruits didn't know where to walk because no one was helping them.

[OptimiscallyAnxious]

8 minutes ago, hh0505 said:

My UCSC interview was very pleasant, and at the end of the interview I was given what I thought was a verbal / informal offer of admission. We even corresponded, after I sent a thank you e-mail, about possible future research. I was told I would receive a formal offer with funding information in the coming weeks. Then everything went silent, and I got the form rejection e-mail yesterday. 

Wow, that is so strange. I'm sorry things turned out that way... it seems like you were pretty much in.

[SocCog]

Just got my UCI rejection. 

[Veronicat]

Still waiting to hear from UW, UIC (Psych), DePaul, and UC Santa Barbara. I know UCSB sent invites for interviews a while ago, but a formal rejection would still be nice. Has anyone heard from these schools?

[MH429]

2 hours ago, Veronicat said:

Still waiting to hear from UW, UIC (Psych), DePaul, and UC Santa Barbara. I know UCSB sent invites for interviews a while ago, but a formal rejection would still be nice. Has anyone heard from these schools?

Hey there! I didn't apply to any of those schools but I currently work at UIC in their psych department now. I know that they had visiting/interview day back in late January or early February. I can't recall exactly when. To my knowledge, acceptances have been sent out already. The whole department seems to work pretty quickly.

Of course, there's always a chance I could be wrong. The department is massive so theirs always the possibility a few faculty haven't made acceptances yet.

I hope you hear good news soon!

[Sneidinger]

18 hours ago, hh0505 said:

I feel for you. At one school's invite day I met with 6 professors in the afternoon. Half of them grilled me about every perceived discrepancy or shortcoming they gleaned from my SOP and resume. Some went as far as to grill me about subject matter as if I were taking an oral exam. Thankfully the other half made it clear to me from the onset that they wanted to recruit me, and our interviews were a mix of enjoyable conversations about mutual interests (both research-wise and extracurricular) and pitches re: their labs and telling me about their most current research that wasn't publicly available.

At another school I had 3 Skype interviews, with one being a pleasant conversation and recruitment pitch, one being a grilling (where the professor was on e-mail for at least 1/3 to 1/2 of the time), and the last being a Q&A session for me to ask questions (but where the professor seemed distracted and disinterested).

My UCSC interview was very pleasant, and at the end of the interview I was given what I thought was a verbal / informal offer of admission. We even corresponded, after I sent a thank you e-mail, about possible future research. I was told I would receive a formal offer with funding information in the coming weeks. Then everything went silent, and I got the form rejection e-mail yesterday. 

This is the part I think is unnecessary and antiquated. This isn't a game show and yes we are inexperienced which is why we are applying to schools and using any all means to get there and it's not realistic to have everything figured out when you are not a professor. I literally had someone be so rude over email I was flabbergasted. I wanted to go off because it was so rude but instead gave a polite apology explaining the truth where her presumptions were wrong. She was like you didn't gaff anything of value to my research. Like I didn't spend enough time and didn't elaborate. It's like what?? 

[Sneidinger]

So I didn't get into UCI but my daughter who is bipolar, and is the reason I want to move there, is at their hospital right now. Should I send them a message and tell them? Lol. 

[01848p]

On February 22, 2017 at 6:32 AM, SocCog said:

I haven't heard anything from Washington. Nothing on the application site or Identity.UW. The application does say "they will send you notification of their decision by email or postal mail." So they might be mailed. 

UW has already extended interview offers.

Edited March 2, 2017 by 01848p