lbp2488

It was last night for me. I was eating dinner on the couch, trying to soothe myself after an overwhelming day at work. My boyfriend was out at a poker game with his colleagues, and it was actually one of the few nights we hadn't eaten dinner together over the past few months. So there I am, eating my salad and watching the Top Chef finale (finally!), when one of the contestants served something called breadfruit. "Breadfruit?! Sounds amazing! I must know what it is." So I picked up my phone to google it, and the unofficial email from my POI was waiting for me. I texted my boyfriend, who later told me he'd had to contain his own excitement during the poker game (not because it was poker, but because the notification was unofficial and he didn't want to risk it!). Then I sat and cried, and once the wave of (AMAZINGLY GOOD) shock and overwhelm passed, I finished my dinner, happy as can be. I didn't sleep. I'm the happiest kind of tired right now. Still processing. Oh, and I was not expecting to hear back until mid-March, so it was an incredibly pleasant surprise.

Thanks Pachel and TheGirlWhoLived! Pachel - this one school did not accept the explanation you suggested, though other schools did. The transcript should come through though... hopefully. It really depends on the school. Some schools require official transcripts from every institution with your application, some accept unofficial with the application but require official transcripts once you've been accepted. Some schools are okay with transfer credits being listed in your "main" transcript, others (as I've explained) want grades listed too... I'd check the application requirements, as they are usually fairly clear about it, and contact someone in admissions if it's not clear.

Thanks! I found a way to request a transcript by digging through their site, but the program admins have still not responded to my emails or calls about whether it would actually contain grades, so I'm crossing my fingers on this one. It's strange though, only one school has pushed back and asked for grades. I didn't have this problem with any of the 11 programs I applied to in 2011 (for which the study abroad courses would have actually been slightly relevant) or any of the other programs I applied to this year. Hopefully this transcript will have grades... And hopefully this isn't holding up the review of my application.

I need advice. One of the schools I've applied to is requiring a graded transcript from my semester abroad. I have transfer credits for this semester listed on my official transcript, but there are no associated grades. I never received a graded transcript, and no one in the study abroad program's staff will respond to my inquiry about whether they can provide one. I was able to get in touch with my study abroad program director, who no longer works there, and she said they didn't keep transcripts, so it's highly unlikely that they will be able to provide one now. I've communicated all of this to the admissions staff person, but they are pushing back, saying they require graded transcripts since the credits counted toward my undergraduate degree. This is in spite of the fact that the grades I received abroad obviously didn't transfer to my undergrad institution, as I only got transfer credit, so they did not affect my GPA. I told them this very clearly, too. Does anyone have advice on how to handle this? What can I say to the admissions staff person to get them to understand that I can't conjure a graded transcript out of thin air? I'm worried that they are not going to review my application because of this, and it's something that is out of my control.

Thank you, Domino, for a much needed laugh. I completely relate.

If you're a particularly anxious person, I think there are bound to be "what if I'm making a mistake" questions popping up regarding pretty much any major life decision... and often the minor ones, too. Those types of thoughts are normal and they don't actually mean anything. Like the others have said - all we can do is weigh our options, make whatever is the best decision based on the information we have, and trudge onward in spite of the what-if voices that chime in along the way.

Same plan here. Oh god, I want to travel almost as badly as I want to go to grad school next year. I've been working in a job that is not a good fit for me since I graduated in 2010, and I have built up such a longing to be back in an academic environment and for the opportunity to travel more than 2 weeks a year! I've I don't get in anywhere, I will think seriously about my options and leave this job anyway.

Ha, right there with you. You should hold onto that last sentence (I mean the one before the "Ugh" of course) for when you're stressing in grad school!

This is a great way for us all to pick up some healthy new habits! Ha. Mine would be too much snacking on cereal and peanut butter due to my inability to focus on anything for more than a few minutes, obsessive results-checking (duh), fantasizing that schools might just make decisions earlier this year and getting way too excited about an email notification... until I read the email and inevitably respond (internally, of course) with a surge of rage and frustration with a dose of hopelessness. It doesn't help that I'm working in a job that's a bad fit for me and that the work flow is super light right now. (Don't tell them I said that. I still need to finish a couple more statements for backup-plan programs.)

Haha, exactly. I was going to say "terrible fit" but I was typing that at work, so I felt like I should be slightly more diplomatic... not that "it's a bad fit" isn't also a pretty damning thing to say.

I completely understand, and I'm sure pretty much everyone else on here does, too! It's so painful not to know, and the emotional rollercoaster is intense... Some days I'm fairly confident, others I'm 99% sure I'll be going with my backup plan. But the pessimist in me is grateful to have some time to sit with the possibility that I could in fact get into a good program - and finally say goodbye to a job that is a bad fit for me. It feels good to commiserate