Interview with Qingzi (Fanny) Zheng

UCSD Psychology BS ’18, Honors Program, attending PhD Program in Cognition, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa

1. What did applying to graduate school involve? 

Process: gain research experience and take relevant classes, research potential schools and advisors, take the GRE exam, talk to professors and ask for letters of recommendation, fill in applications, write personal statements, attend interviews. 

2. Can you provide a general timeline of how the application process went? 

I took the GRE exam on Halloween (fun haha!). That was Oct 31. Then I asked for letters of recommendation and meanwhile, started to fill in school applications. Then I wrote personal statements and submitted all of them at the end of Nov. 

(Recommendation: I submitted all of them at the same time even when different schools may have different deadlines. Some were due at the end of November and some on December. I did it this way so that I could focus on classes and school work.) 

3. Were there any resources that you relied on that were especially helpful in the application process? Were there any persons that helped you especially? 

- Writing center: personal statements 

- Career service center: resume, practice interview skills

- Peers: encouraging each other 

- Teaching assistants (graduate students): learning about their application processes and Ph.D. experiences. Danbi (my teaching assistant for Cognitive Psychology), Jonathan and Angus (graduate students in my lab) helped me a lot!

- Professors: Dr. Viola Stoermer, Dr. Tim Brady, Dr. Gail Heyman (recommendation letters) and Dr. Emma Geller (mock interviews and genuine feedback)  

4. Did you have to be interviewed, and if so, what were the interviews like? 

Yes, I was invited for the interview. I flew to Iowa in February, when it was still snowy. The entire interview process spanned from Thursday night to Saturday afternoon. Thursday night, we had a casual get-together with just the graduate students at University of Iowa. Friday, there was an orientation/ introduction about the psychology program. Then, I had individual interviews with 5 professors. Every single professor had asked me to talk about my honors research project and my research interests. 

5. Did you have to take any additional classes beyond those required for your major, in order to qualify for the programs you applied to? 

The short answer is no. The long answer is definitely recommended joining the Psychology department’s honors program and taking the research methods classes (PSYC 111A, 111B). In the program and the classes, I learned statistics and also gained research skills.

6. Are there any other tips that you would offer to students that are considering applying for the same programs that you applied (and were accepted) to? 

Develop professional network: attend conferences, department colloquiums and brown bag events on campus. Talk to people about your research projects and ask them what they are working on. I met my advisor at Psychonomics, an annual Cognitive Psychology conference. We had a great discussion on visual research. I ended up applying to work with her and got accepted to the program. It is important to talk to people about research because it shows your passion and helps you connect with others who work on similar topics.

7. What would you attribute your success in graduate applications to?