Crucial BBQ

I am old (well, one of the older members of this forum) and remember 2008 very well. 
 
In 2008 I had decided to go back to school.  I had already went to school earlier in life for Film, then switching to Screenwriting... only to have dropped out right before my senior year because I felt I had learned enough. And that despite being in a Screenwriting program we still had film some of our projects, which back then was at a cost of about $300/minute.   Yes, film.  The cost did include developing the film and of course sometimes the lab messed up and your footage was ruined, or you didn't get the shot.  The capstone project was to be a 30 minute screenplay and short.  
In 2008 things were not that bad.  In 2009 things started to get hectic which lasted until around 2013.  Undergraduate institutions received more applications and competition increased, sure, but it was grad schools that had become flooded.  This was also around the time when it became really popular to apply to MIT, Harvard, Stanford, and so on, both for undergrad and grad.  It was mostly with MS programs and in part because graduating undergrads wanted to stave off student loan repayment as they were graduating into a weak economy but it was mostly older adults hoping that an MS would give them job security and/or more earning potential.  Ph.D. programs, too, saw an uptick in applications although I remember acceptances had dropped.  Universities had put a halt on hiring and professors looking to retire stayed around a little bit longer.  Community colleges, on the other hand, were hiring and many it seemed to even expand.   
Public schools lost a lot of funding but private institutions fared fairly well, iirc. Tuition also started to go up dramatically around this time, I believe.  For academic research I want to say that it was the Humanities hit the hardest.  
However, there was no world-wide pandemic.  It's still too early to tell how the 2020/2021 admissions cycle, funding, or job outlook will be affected.  

I think it is just as shocking for everyone leaving their parents' plans and getting their own.  Or those monthly bills that come every month, month after month.  Certainly lends a new appreciation to how much support we truly get from our parents. 
I have been suffering from GAD and panic attacks since about 2002 or so.  Ironically, I am at my most calm right now, although I had my first panic in a week and a half yesterday morning.   

I am old (well, one of the older members of this forum) and remember 2008 very well. 
 
In 2008 I had decided to go back to school.  I had already went to school earlier in life for Film, then switching to Screenwriting... only to have dropped out right before my senior year because I felt I had learned enough. And that despite being in a Screenwriting program we still had film some of our projects, which back then was at a cost of about $300/minute.   Yes, film.  The cost did include developing the film and of course sometimes the lab messed up and your footage was ruined, or you didn't get the shot.  The capstone project was to be a 30 minute screenplay and short.  
In 2008 things were not that bad.  In 2009 things started to get hectic which lasted until around 2013.  Undergraduate institutions received more applications and competition increased, sure, but it was grad schools that had become flooded.  This was also around the time when it became really popular to apply to MIT, Harvard, Stanford, and so on, both for undergrad and grad.  It was mostly with MS programs and in part because graduating undergrads wanted to stave off student loan repayment as they were graduating into a weak economy but it was mostly older adults hoping that an MS would give them job security and/or more earning potential.  Ph.D. programs, too, saw an uptick in applications although I remember acceptances had dropped.  Universities had put a halt on hiring and professors looking to retire stayed around a little bit longer.  Community colleges, on the other hand, were hiring and many it seemed to even expand.   
Public schools lost a lot of funding but private institutions fared fairly well, iirc. Tuition also started to go up dramatically around this time, I believe.  For academic research I want to say that it was the Humanities hit the hardest.  
However, there was no world-wide pandemic.  It's still too early to tell how the 2020/2021 admissions cycle, funding, or job outlook will be affected.  

I read one the other day that simply read: "Wow!"
 
 
My favorites are more of a type and not any one in particular.  They fall under two categories:
 
"I have the highest GPA and GRE scores of anyone in the history of the World.  I published in every single research journal on the planet.  I won ten Nobel Prizes last year...I was so positive I was going to be accepted that I moved to [location of school] before I even submitted my application.  Graduate school admissions officers are a bunch of imbeciles who are too ignorant to exist".  A bit of an exaggeration, sure, but these types of "quotes" are there. 
 
And,
 
"No biggie.  I knew I was not going to get accepted".  

I read one the other day that simply read: "Wow!"
 
 
My favorites are more of a type and not any one in particular.  They fall under two categories:
 
"I have the highest GPA and GRE scores of anyone in the history of the World.  I published in every single research journal on the planet.  I won ten Nobel Prizes last year...I was so positive I was going to be accepted that I moved to [location of school] before I even submitted my application.  Graduate school admissions officers are a bunch of imbeciles who are too ignorant to exist".  A bit of an exaggeration, sure, but these types of "quotes" are there. 
 
And,
 
"No biggie.  I knew I was not going to get accepted".  

So, what surprised me most....?
 
What surprised me most was that some web pages to program information are buried deep within the schools website with no logical way of navigating to it.  I originally had my heart set on going to grad school in Boston, and decided to check out Tufts for s&g's. I am not sure how I found it, but I somehow navigated to one particular option for program that turned out to be of related interest. I emailed a professor associated with this niche, gave him some info about me, what I am looking for in a grad program, etc...and he emailed me back...to offer his support....and to sit on my advisory committee when/if I was accepted... but wasn't taking students that year.  Since I was not applying at that time, I filed it away. Since then I have gotten a new computer and for the life of me could not find that darn page.  It didn't occur to me to check my email... I just pulled up his email, and was able to search his name and found his lab.  
 
I have applied to a school on the West Coast that has a similar "issue" as Tufts...the particular niche group/lab I am applying to has no logical way of navigating to it, yet, the webpage in question is a part of the university website and not some random faculty member's webpage. 
 
Then there was the issue of funding...or lack there of.  I had developed a good conversation with the PI of a particular lab at another school, and initiated a meeting.  It wasn't an interview, mind you, I just happened to be visiting that area and since I was already going to be near, thought I'd pop in.  We had a good chat, he gave me a tour, and so on.  Everything was awesome. Then, at the end, he mentions that his funding is running out and even though he has secured new funding, that new funding would not kick in for another year.  And that he may or may not already have a full lab. He didn't exactly say that he was not taking on new students into his lab, but kind of hinted that I should consider applying to another lab....even making a recommendation as to which one...or that I might have to pay for the first year out of pocket...Still applied, though. 
 
Speaking of websites, I noticed at least two programs had two different due dates each...depending on which part of the website you were on.  

Well, I did undergrad in Massachusetts and it took me a while to consistently get it right.  During the interim I just wrote Massoftwoshits. 
 
I went to a different school (that is, not MIT) and it is my understanding that it is difficult for an MIT undergrad to get accepted into an MIT grad program.  Anti-nepotism of sorts, I suppose. 

I read one the other day that simply read: "Wow!"
 
 
My favorites are more of a type and not any one in particular.  They fall under two categories:
 
"I have the highest GPA and GRE scores of anyone in the history of the World.  I published in every single research journal on the planet.  I won ten Nobel Prizes last year...I was so positive I was going to be accepted that I moved to [location of school] before I even submitted my application.  Graduate school admissions officers are a bunch of imbeciles who are too ignorant to exist".  A bit of an exaggeration, sure, but these types of "quotes" are there. 
 
And,
 
"No biggie.  I knew I was not going to get accepted".  

I read one the other day that simply read: "Wow!"
 
 
My favorites are more of a type and not any one in particular.  They fall under two categories:
 
"I have the highest GPA and GRE scores of anyone in the history of the World.  I published in every single research journal on the planet.  I won ten Nobel Prizes last year...I was so positive I was going to be accepted that I moved to [location of school] before I even submitted my application.  Graduate school admissions officers are a bunch of imbeciles who are too ignorant to exist".  A bit of an exaggeration, sure, but these types of "quotes" are there. 
 
And,
 
"No biggie.  I knew I was not going to get accepted".  

I read one the other day that simply read: "Wow!"
 
 
My favorites are more of a type and not any one in particular.  They fall under two categories:
 
"I have the highest GPA and GRE scores of anyone in the history of the World.  I published in every single research journal on the planet.  I won ten Nobel Prizes last year...I was so positive I was going to be accepted that I moved to [location of school] before I even submitted my application.  Graduate school admissions officers are a bunch of imbeciles who are too ignorant to exist".  A bit of an exaggeration, sure, but these types of "quotes" are there. 
 
And,
 
"No biggie.  I knew I was not going to get accepted".  

I read one the other day that simply read: "Wow!"
 
 
My favorites are more of a type and not any one in particular.  They fall under two categories:
 
"I have the highest GPA and GRE scores of anyone in the history of the World.  I published in every single research journal on the planet.  I won ten Nobel Prizes last year...I was so positive I was going to be accepted that I moved to [location of school] before I even submitted my application.  Graduate school admissions officers are a bunch of imbeciles who are too ignorant to exist".  A bit of an exaggeration, sure, but these types of "quotes" are there. 
 
And,
 
"No biggie.  I knew I was not going to get accepted".  

I read one the other day that simply read: "Wow!"
 
 
My favorites are more of a type and not any one in particular.  They fall under two categories:
 
"I have the highest GPA and GRE scores of anyone in the history of the World.  I published in every single research journal on the planet.  I won ten Nobel Prizes last year...I was so positive I was going to be accepted that I moved to [location of school] before I even submitted my application.  Graduate school admissions officers are a bunch of imbeciles who are too ignorant to exist".  A bit of an exaggeration, sure, but these types of "quotes" are there. 
 
And,
 
"No biggie.  I knew I was not going to get accepted".  

I have been wanting to blog around here for about 5 years now yet kept on missing the windows...
Not sure which topic I fall under as I am one of the oldest members around here.  As such, I have a different take on the application process and on both life before and after graduate school.  Granted, I have yet to graduate from grad school myself, am currently in an MS program, and will be applying to Ph.D. programs next year, I have been out in the world for longer than, well, a long time.  I also have had to navigate through both undergrad and now an MS program largely on my own with zero help (including financial) from family and/or friends.  I have a lot to talk about.   

I read one the other day that simply read: "Wow!"
 
 
My favorites are more of a type and not any one in particular.  They fall under two categories:
 
"I have the highest GPA and GRE scores of anyone in the history of the World.  I published in every single research journal on the planet.  I won ten Nobel Prizes last year...I was so positive I was going to be accepted that I moved to [location of school] before I even submitted my application.  Graduate school admissions officers are a bunch of imbeciles who are too ignorant to exist".  A bit of an exaggeration, sure, but these types of "quotes" are there. 
 
And,
 
"No biggie.  I knew I was not going to get accepted".  

I read one the other day that simply read: "Wow!"
 
 
My favorites are more of a type and not any one in particular.  They fall under two categories:
 
"I have the highest GPA and GRE scores of anyone in the history of the World.  I published in every single research journal on the planet.  I won ten Nobel Prizes last year...I was so positive I was going to be accepted that I moved to [location of school] before I even submitted my application.  Graduate school admissions officers are a bunch of imbeciles who are too ignorant to exist".  A bit of an exaggeration, sure, but these types of "quotes" are there. 
 
And,
 
"No biggie.  I knew I was not going to get accepted".  

I have been wanting to blog around here for about 5 years now yet kept on missing the windows...
Not sure which topic I fall under as I am one of the oldest members around here.  As such, I have a different take on the application process and on both life before and after graduate school.  Granted, I have yet to graduate from grad school myself, am currently in an MS program, and will be applying to Ph.D. programs next year, I have been out in the world for longer than, well, a long time.  I also have had to navigate through both undergrad and now an MS program largely on my own with zero help (including financial) from family and/or friends.  I have a lot to talk about.   

I grew up in Sacramento, so UC Davis for sure--even if you live in Sacramento. UC Berkeley as well for nearly all of the Bay.  For UCLA, not sure, but imagine it will depend on how close to campus you live and/or how close to a transit line.  Not sure about Irvine. 

It had appeared to me that applying straight from undergrad was more common.  Also, many (around here) do Masters programs first as way to mitigate low uGPA, pick up more research experience, and so on in effort to make themselves stronger candidates for Ph.D. programs. 
I did apply to Ph.D. programs during my senior year but I did not first step foot onto a college campus until age 23 and that was at a community college taking random courses to get a feel for what college was all about.  I already knew I wanted to study Biology, though, and I certainly did not graduate within 4 years. 

For me it was definitely from Internet searches into various topics relating to the graduate school application process.  I no longer remember what that initial first search was, and I had landed on GradCafe numerous times over the course of six months or so before signing up.  I do know that I did join so I could respond to a particular thread, though.  

So you feel that you got burned, which is the crux of your frustration.  That is to say that you are upset that the woman with the lesser application got into the same caliber of program as you while the woman with the same application as you got into the better program.  If you examine yourself and not the situation you'll likely find that you are suffering from a case of entitlement; for what-ever reason you feel you deserve a better program.  Ask yourself this:  instead of comparing yourself to those two women what if they were men instead?  
Now, is the situation you present justifiable?  I dunno.  What I do know is that all three of you are obviously otherwise qualified.  You do not know what exactly qualified the woman into the better program.  Perhaps she has interest in area of mathematics and/or prospected an area of research that is not only different from yours but also one that just happened to line up with what her program was looking for.  Perhaps she better sold herself in her SOP or had stronger LORs.  Maybe she was found to be interesting during the interview or maybe the person who brought her on board was a woman, too?  And if so, good for them.
 

So you feel that you got burned, which is the crux of your frustration.  That is to say that you are upset that the woman with the lesser application got into the same caliber of program as you while the woman with the same application as you got into the better program.  If you examine yourself and not the situation you'll likely find that you are suffering from a case of entitlement; for what-ever reason you feel you deserve a better program.  Ask yourself this:  instead of comparing yourself to those two women what if they were men instead?  
Now, is the situation you present justifiable?  I dunno.  What I do know is that all three of you are obviously otherwise qualified.  You do not know what exactly qualified the woman into the better program.  Perhaps she has interest in area of mathematics and/or prospected an area of research that is not only different from yours but also one that just happened to line up with what her program was looking for.  Perhaps she better sold herself in her SOP or had stronger LORs.  Maybe she was found to be interesting during the interview or maybe the person who brought her on board was a woman, too?  And if so, good for them.
 

So you feel that you got burned, which is the crux of your frustration.  That is to say that you are upset that the woman with the lesser application got into the same caliber of program as you while the woman with the same application as you got into the better program.  If you examine yourself and not the situation you'll likely find that you are suffering from a case of entitlement; for what-ever reason you feel you deserve a better program.  Ask yourself this:  instead of comparing yourself to those two women what if they were men instead?  
Now, is the situation you present justifiable?  I dunno.  What I do know is that all three of you are obviously otherwise qualified.  You do not know what exactly qualified the woman into the better program.  Perhaps she has interest in area of mathematics and/or prospected an area of research that is not only different from yours but also one that just happened to line up with what her program was looking for.  Perhaps she better sold herself in her SOP or had stronger LORs.  Maybe she was found to be interesting during the interview or maybe the person who brought her on board was a woman, too?  And if so, good for them.
 

So you feel that you got burned, which is the crux of your frustration.  That is to say that you are upset that the woman with the lesser application got into the same caliber of program as you while the woman with the same application as you got into the better program.  If you examine yourself and not the situation you'll likely find that you are suffering from a case of entitlement; for what-ever reason you feel you deserve a better program.  Ask yourself this:  instead of comparing yourself to those two women what if they were men instead?  
Now, is the situation you present justifiable?  I dunno.  What I do know is that all three of you are obviously otherwise qualified.  You do not know what exactly qualified the woman into the better program.  Perhaps she has interest in area of mathematics and/or prospected an area of research that is not only different from yours but also one that just happened to line up with what her program was looking for.  Perhaps she better sold herself in her SOP or had stronger LORs.  Maybe she was found to be interesting during the interview or maybe the person who brought her on board was a woman, too?  And if so, good for them.
 

When I recently met with the program director for a particular program at UC Davis, I was asked about my GPA.  I responded with, "it's low".  I was asked how low?, I hesitated, and then was asked if it was at least a 3.0?  I said yes, to which the program director broke out laughing-saying I had absolutely nothing to worry about.  
 
It might be worth it to briefly mention an F or a D or two, perhaps a C- even, but I'd leave Cs and above alone.   

I read one the other day that simply read: "Wow!"
 
 
My favorites are more of a type and not any one in particular.  They fall under two categories:
 
"I have the highest GPA and GRE scores of anyone in the history of the World.  I published in every single research journal on the planet.  I won ten Nobel Prizes last year...I was so positive I was going to be accepted that I moved to [location of school] before I even submitted my application.  Graduate school admissions officers are a bunch of imbeciles who are too ignorant to exist".  A bit of an exaggeration, sure, but these types of "quotes" are there. 
 
And,
 
"No biggie.  I knew I was not going to get accepted".