My official position on the PhD application decision process by programs is that I am in no big hurry to find out the results of my applications, that mid-to-late January is still early days yet, and that I have plenty (i.e., my thesis) to keep me busy over the coming months so I needn't worry about what is going to happen in the summer or the fall.
In reality, the wait is sort of driving me crazy and it's very easy to get distracted from schoolwork by thinking about the outcome of my applications, checking various online forums where people report their results, etc.
If these forums are accurate, three psychology programs to which I've applied but heard nothing from have contacted other applicants with interview requests or acceptances. Two of these I feel pretty confident about, because multiple people have reported being contacted, but the other one (an acceptance without an interview) I'm not so sure about. I can't quite tell how I feel about hearing this news other than I am feeling a bit anxious. Of course, I would be feeling anxious about all of my programs if I didn't have access to this information, so I think it's been a good thing on net.
Appropriately enough, I've been spending the day looking up articles for my thesis on the topic of how certainty affects information search and information processing. I'd say my own experience here supports the general finding in the literature that uncertainty is associated with greater information search and more extensive, systematic processing of information.
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Oh, my experience supports this. When I was a kid I used to be attracted to horoscopes only when I was feeling very uncertain about things.
(But ever since I had a very ignorant useless horoscope for the day when there was a fire in the house, I stabbed my hand on a cactus opening a window (to let smoke out), I hurt my thumb trying to close a garage door, and while still holding ice on my thumb, a bee stung my on my lip, I've never been tempted by horoscopes again.)
I hadn't thought of this in the context of horoscopes, but that's a great example.
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