Fall 2018 Social Psych PhD/Master applicants

[Jason2018]

On 1/23/2018 at 3:30 PM, Stauce said:

It seems like Social Psychology invites have died down on the results page.

Has anyone heard from any of the following for Social Psychology?

• Cornell
• UCSB
• Columbia
• Pittsburgh

Also, just to confirm, it sounds like all invites have concluded for the following, right?

• Texas at Austin
• Penn State
• UNC-Chapel Hill

I would assume Penn State's invites have been all sent out since the interview weekend is just one week away. 

[turpentine]

7 hours ago, Pausego1 said:

I’ve been looking everywhere for some updates on UMich’s social psych. program. Has anyone heard anything from them yet? 

I haven't heard anything about acceptances or rejections on the results page, and there hasn't been an update on the Wolverine Access page. I'm assuming rejection (guessing accepted students just haven't posted on the results page). 

[iamtks]

On 1/15/2018 at 1:11 PM, RyanMc1289 said:

Hi everyone,

I am in the waiting period for some PhD programs in social psych, but have heard back from quite a few. I am just about to finish my master's degree. Here are some personal stats:

• 4.0 grad school GPA; 3.55 undergrad GPA
• GRE V/Q/W = 160/159/5.0
• 2.5 years research experience in two labs; great letters of rec (I only know this because a few people who interviewed me told me to make sure I thanked my letter writers)
• 2 publications (1 is first-authored); 2 papers under review (1 is first-authored)
• 2 semesters TAing methods and stats classes; 2 semesters tutoring stats; 1 semester working as a data analyst

I have had informal Skype interviews with POIs at Penn State, Brown University, Boston College, UNC Chapel Hill, Ohio University, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Illinois at Chicago, and Florida State University.

I have been invited for in-person interviews to all of the above but Urbana-Champaign and Brown University. Does anyone else know what's going on at Brown? I have seen some people post that they have been invited for in-person interviews there, and others post that they were informed they were rejected after Skype interviews. I haven't heard anything since my Skype meetings.

I also applied to UC Irvine, University of Utah (Organizational Management), Northwestern Kellogg School of Management (Management), University of Chicago Booth School of Business (Behavior Science), Harvard, and Cornell. Anyone hear from any of these places?

I hope this helps!

that's a lot of programs, congrats! I'm just wondering when UIC's in-person interview was and have they already made offers? additionally, who's the PI you applied to work with? I have not heard back from Irvine and Harvard but I have been postings on gradcafe.

 

On 1/15/2018 at 2:46 PM, statisticalsleuth said:

I've heard from Cornell.

congrats! when is the visiting weekend? and who is your PI?

[Stauce]

UNC-Chapel Hill has informed me that all invitations have been sent out for social psychology officially.

[Social_psyc]

20 hours ago, iamtks said:

that's a lot of programs, congrats! I'm just wondering when UIC's in-person interview was and have they already made offers? additionally, who's the PI you applied to work with? I have not heard back from Irvine and Harvard but I have been postings on gradcafe.

 

congrats! when is the visiting weekend? and who is your PI?

I also had Skype interviews with professors from Brown and UIUC. The PI at Brown got in touch a week after our Skype conversation to let me know that, unfortunately, I didn’t make the cut/ wasn’t invited to official interview weekend. I believe that, at this point, all official invites have already been sent, but I could be wrong.

The PI at UIUC told me they didn’t have interview days (just visiting days for students who were already accepted to the program). He contacted me afterwards to extend the offer. 

I also applied to Booth (Behavioral Science) and Harvard, but I haven’t heard anything back.

[ZachOxford]

Hey, all! Just got accepted to UCLA’s social psych PhD today, so I’ve taken the offer and will be starting in the fall. Looks like my spot at CU-Boulder, Portland State, and Northwestern will be less competitive from here on out hopefully, so good luck everyone! I’m excited to see where everyone ends up ☺️

[rnf13]

12 hours ago, ZachOxford said:

Hey, all! Just got accepted to UCLA’s social psych PhD today, so I’ve taken the offer and will be starting in the fall. Looks like my spot at CU-Boulder, Portland State, and Northwestern will be less competitive from here on out hopefully, so good luck everyone! I’m excited to see where everyone ends up ☺️

Congrats!! 

[Stauce]

On 1/26/2018 at 9:51 PM, ZachOxford said:

Hey, all! Just got accepted to UCLA’s social psych PhD today, so I’ve taken the offer and will be starting in the fall. Looks like my spot at CU-Boulder, Portland State, and Northwestern will be less competitive from here on out hopefully, so good luck everyone! I’m excited to see where everyone ends up ☺️

Congratulations man, that's a great program. Best of luck with your doctoral studies

[Stauce]

Anyone hear anything from UCSB's Social Psychology department? I saw someone reach out to their department a couple weeks ago on the results page, and they were informed that they would not be making decisions as a committee for a couple weeks, and I figured it was about that time. It seems as if they may be one of the last programs who may not have sent invites yet, so I wanted to see if anyone had been in touch with faculty there

[April12345]

1 hour ago, Stauce said:

Anyone hear anything from UCSB's Social Psychology department? I saw someone reach out to their department a couple weeks ago on the results page, and they were informed that they would not be making decisions as a committee for a couple weeks, and I figured it was about that time. It seems as if they may be one of the last programs who may not have sent invites yet, so I wanted to see if anyone had been in touch with faculty there

No info to share but I've been wondering the same thing. It's technically my last hope for schools (and first choice)...

[turpentine]

Anyone heard from UMich? I've been assuming rejection for the past few weeks but still haven't seen anyone posting about acceptances or rejections.

[rnf13]

4 hours ago, turpentine said:

Anyone heard from UMich? I've been assuming rejection for the past few weeks but still haven't seen anyone posting about acceptances or rejections.

I haven't heard anything

[motherofdragons23]

To the KU poster, was the email a mass email? 

 

Thanks!

[dlk527]

Anyone heard from Tufts or UC Irvine? :/ 

[RyanMc1289]

I am pretty sure UC Irvine has already sent their invites/had their interview days. I don't know for sure though - I have seen a few results searches that indicate that is true. A friend of mine (from my MA cohort) had an informal Skype interview with someone from Tufts.

[dbon2113]

Hello everyone 

If you have not heard anything back from the schools or POI that you applied to at this point... is it safe to say you've been rejected? (social psychology PhD programs)

Thanks

[SocialPsych18]

On 1/30/2018 at 6:21 PM, motherofdragons23 said:

To the KU poster, was the email a mass email? 

 

Thanks!

Hi! I was notified I was selected for phone interview in a generic email. I was interviewed via phone by 2 professors approximately two weeks ago, and accepted 2/1 via email from the program director.

[Stauce]

1 hour ago, dbon2113 said:

Hello everyone 

If you have not heard anything back from the schools or POI that you applied to at this point... is it safe to say you've been rejected? (social psychology PhD programs)

Thanks

Take what I say with a grain of salt as it is my first time through the process as well, but I think it looks likely you have been rejected, but not completely certain. You could be invited still if an applicant is accepted to a top choice and they decline one of their other invitations as a result, opening up a spot for you.

[motherofdragons23]

1 hour ago, SocialPsych18 said:

Hi! I was notified I was selected for phone interview in a generic email. I was interviewed via phone by 2 professors approximately two weeks ago, and accepted 2/1 via email from the program director.

Thank you! Congratulations on your acceptance! 

[PokePsych]

7 hours ago, dbon2113 said:

Hello everyone 

If you have not heard anything back from the schools or POI that you applied to at this point... is it safe to say you've been rejected? (social psychology PhD programs)

Thanks

Someone a few pages back who applied last cycle said he/she still got responses around mid feb. Depends on the schools I guess

[motherofdragons23]

Hi everyone! I noticed our thread doesn't have a lot going on, so I just wanted to say that I hope everyone is having a great week!

[Downapeg]

It’ll probably show how much of a noob I am to ask this at this point in the application season, but what criteria did everyone use in deciding between applying for Masters vs PhD programs? Here in my little pond, my personal stats are strong. My advisors have been telling me to reach for the friggin stars - PhD programs. I did, and the rejections have been pouring in. I’m beginning to realize that I’ve been insulated and unrealistic in applying primarily to PhD programs, ignorant of the fact that my personal stats make me a little fish in the big pond of inter/national applicants. I’m now currently in the process of applying to a bunch of Masters programs. All this to say: this process has certainly knocked me down a peg. Is anyone else struggling with the realization that they’re not as hot shit as they previously thought? 

[roii]

Hey guys, I have not heard back anything from any school in the past half month. Not even generic rejection letter...  I am extremely nervous and wondering whether I should assume that I am rejected already, or is it possible that I am waitlisted without being notified? Should I email them and ask? How should I ask?

Thank you and good luck everyone!!

[ekat]

On 08/02/2018 at 9:47 PM, roii said:

Hey guys, I have not heard back anything from any school in the past half month. Not even generic rejection letter...  I am extremely nervous and wondering whether I should assume that I am rejected already, or is it possible that I am waitlisted without being notified? Should I email them and ask? How should I ask?

Thank you and good luck everyone!!

Hey! The same bullshit. Nothing at all and statuses on the sites have not changed as well. It drives me crazy

[JustSad]

On 2/8/2018 at 11:31 PM, Downapeg said:

It’ll probably show how much of a noob I am to ask this at this point in the application season, but what criteria did everyone use in deciding between applying for Masters vs PhD programs? Here in my little pond, my personal stats are strong. My advisors have been telling me to reach for the friggin stars - PhD programs. I did, and the rejections have been pouring in. I’m beginning to realize that I’ve been insulated and unrealistic in applying primarily to PhD programs, ignorant of the fact that my personal stats make me a little fish in the big pond of inter/national applicants. I’m now currently in the process of applying to a bunch of Masters programs. All this to say: this process has certainly knocked me down a peg. Is anyone else struggling with the realization that they’re not as hot shit as they previously thought? 

Well, I made similar rationalizations after being unsuccessful last year but this year, there have been few other revelations.

Unless you are aiming for Ivies (then you need stellar grades and stellar everything), I think it's not just the credentials (like GPA, GRE score, etc) that matter. Fit matters a lot. Also, a huge factor is if you are an international student (with international degree)-then you need to be a REALLY good fit and have really good credentials. Having Master's probably help but only go for it if it's funded..the other option (especially if you are an American) is to get few years of research experience as an RA in a good lab somewhere.

Another point to keep in mind is that a lot of it is a crapshoot (a term I actually learned in gradcafe lol). I got interviewed from a top school but wasn't even considered for interview from much lower ranked schools (in some of these, I was possibly an even better fit!). Such stories abound in gradcafe.

One more thing, if you really think you are a good fit for a lab, then get in touch with the concerned professor as early as possible (that's one advice I am giving myself too, for next year, incase it doesn't work out this year too) and keep in touch with them-exchange ideas, comment on their research, ask insightful questions.

All the best!