shadowclaw

Hey, 20% isn't bad. Cornell accepts maybe 8 -10%% for their Ecology program.

Yes! I love this. In all seriousness, I am hoping that if I don't make it into a PhD program (applied to 5, rejected from 1 and probably rejected from another), that I will get into a Master's program. I've applied to one, and am in the process of applying to a second, and plan on applying to a third when I get more funds. I feel confident that I can get into one of the master's programs. The biggest obstacle is that I was several different majors before studying biology, and had messy academic record during that time (some awesome semesters and some really cruddy semesters). My grades as a biology major are almost perfect, so I'm hoping that will overshadow the past grades. I can also afford to pay my way through my Master's at a state school if I don't get a TA or GA. The only part I dread about that is that I will have to keep working, and I really really don't want to stay at my job for another two years. I can try to find another one, but I would much rather devote the next several years to study! In the event that I can't get in anywhere, I guess I seek out a job and hope I can find somewhere close to home!

Congrats to everyone getting invites and acceptances today! Back to class today for me, and I'm so glad. In the past week, I've managed to calm down and check my e-mail every few hours instead of every 15 minutes. Now that I have class to go to, I have distractions! I did get an e-mail today from one of my schools... letting me know that my materials have been sent to the admissions committee (they were waiting on a transcript). I really wish there were some results for Penn State's Ecology program! There isn't an official deadline, but the website says that applications received before January 15th will get first consideration. That's tomorrow! So I guess I won't hear anything for at least two weeks, if not longer. It's probably my top choice... I'm not sure if Penn State or Syracuse is my top choice. They are both great fits for my research interests, although I favor Penn State because it doesn't involve moving out of state. I probably won't hear from Syracuse for two weeks, either (or Pittsburgh)... so I guess I need to hold tight for two weeks!

Wow, I don't use twitter and have never even looked at it, but I sure am tempted now... must not look! Eep!

I believe the ones I get are because I signed up for some school search thing when I took the GRE. I got a lot of them early on, which I liked because it introduced me to soem progams I hadn't known about. Now, however, I keep getting emails from the same 3 or 4 schools (mostly medical schools, which I'm not interested in) that keep inviting me to open houses and online gy.graduate fairs. I also keep getting letters in the mail from programs that have nothing to do with my intended program of study, like architecture and sociology.

I looooove carmelized onions. I tried it on a pizza once, and it was pretty good, but I think it needed different sauce and cheese to really work with the flavor. Fig sounds really interesting.

Congrats on the interview. It seems like a LOT of people got rejected from Washington University in St. Louis this week (myself included).

My favorite pizza is from a little local place, and it is perfect plain (or with extra cheese). It's thick crusted (and has beer or rum in the crust, I don't remember which haha) and has american cheese (plus some other cheeses) on it. It's so cheesey and scrumptious. I can eat a whole tray myself Otherwise, a really good pizza I make has sweet sauce, roasted red peppers, sausage, and roma tomatoes marinated in balsamic vinaigrette. Plus mozzarella cheese. I like it on a thinner crust (but not too thin). So tasty.

I've applied to six programs so far. I heard back from one (which had a December 1st deadline)... but it was a rejection. I'm fairly certain I'm going to get a rejection from Cornell as well (which was also Dec 1st), but I don't expect that until March based on the results. I don't expect to hear from Pittsburgh or Syracuse until the end of the month or even the beginning of February, and there are zero results for the programs at Penn State and Drexel, so I have no idea about those.

Finally heard back from somewhere! Too bad it was a rejection. I got an e-mail from Washington University this afternnon... standard form letter about there being a large pool of qualified applicants. Maybe some better news will come later this week!

Finally heard something back from one of my schools: rejected from Washington University. I was so excited when I saw the e-mail, and then I opened it and my heart sank. It was one of those e-mails that tell you to read the attached pdf file. I was pretty sure I wasn't getting in anyway since invites were sent out before Christmas, but I still had some hope Oh well! Hoping I'll get some good news from another school soon! So sorry to hear that! I know I would be crushed if one of the people who inspired me to go to graduate school passed away. I hope you feel better.

Well I am sometimes anxious about things (especially final grades, even when I know that I did well). However, I'm not prone to obsessively checking my email and searching forums to see how strangers are faring at the same things I am doing. There's just something about this process and how important it is that makes me refresh my email on my phone every 15 minutes when I'm away from home, and to stare at my computer constantly. So don't worry, you're not alone.

I have this issue with some of my programs. There are no results at all for PSU's ecology program, and only two results for Syracuse's biology program. Not much to work off of! I don't think there are any results for Drexel's environmental science program, either. It's probably better that way. The programs that do have lots of results sent out invites already, and I didn't get one. I'm still hoping that the invites that went out already went to people who applied early, but that's wishful thinking on my part.

I hope so, for my sanity's sake. I would really really really like to hear something soon! Curious, how do you when the school's committee is meeting? Do some schools make that information available, or are you making that assumption based on the application deadline? Better yet, do you have inside information?

I had my first grad school dream last night... I dreamt that I got an e-mail from the EEPB department secretary at Washington University saying that I was "put on both lists today," whatever that is supposed to mean. Then I had a series of dreams that I got interview invites, but I would keep waking up after reading them and then fall back asleep and dream about it again. I had dreamt about it so many times, I was sure it must have happened when I finally got up. Alas, it did not. I did, however, have a day of distractions and didn't really think about applications and e-mails too much today. Looking forward to the weekend and not checking my e-mail a million times!

Yes, I applied to EEB programs except for at Drexel (I applied to Environmental Science there). Washington U already started sending out invites, but the remainder probably won't send them out until the end of January/beginning of February, based on the results. It's terrible waiting!

I hope so! I just want to hear something from someone. Even if I don't hear anything from the rest of the schools for a month, it would make me so much more calm if I got just one e-mail now. I looked at some of the days of the week that last year's applicants for my potential programs got their e-mails. Mondays and Fridays seem to be big days.

Well, my fiance hates his job, so he has no problem changing jobs once we move. Finding a job might be an issue, but we should be ok for a while if he can't find one right away. The real issue will be finding an apartment. We have cats, a lizard, and some fish, so we need a place that takes pets, which will eliminate at least half of the available apartments/houses. My fiance also hates the city, and I'm not too fond of it myself, so we will have some issues picking an area to live in. Some of the universities I'm applying to are in the middle of a big city, so moving to an "ideal" location would mean a lengthy commute from outside the city. Or else we have to suck it up and deal with living in the city for a few years. Also, it helped that before I even began seeking out schools to apply to, I ran the idea of graduate school past him first and asked if he'd be ok with moving to another state and such,

Today, I got five e-mails on my usually quiet account.... and not a single one was about grad school! Grrr.

Well, I've only applied to six programs, but I would certainly go to every interview if they don't conflict. Still waiting for an offer, though! I suppose if I applied to 20 programs, I realistically couldn't go to all of them, but since i've only applied to six, I think I'd be ok. It would certainly eat into my finances a bit, since I have no vacation time, and it would interfere with classes. But I don't think I'll get interviews everywhere anyway.

That's me, too! I have two e-mail accounts on my phone, with the same notification sound. I'm always saying rotten things to my phone when it's the other e-mail account.

An excellent point!

While I don't have any children, I will have a new husband this July and we will be moving in together (we currently both live at home with our parents). So there are three possible outcomes: 1) I get accepted into a program with funding and have to move. Depending on where I am accepted, I might move three hours away, four to five hours away, or I might move halfway across the country. We've got a lot of stuff sitting in my basement right now for our future apartment, and we're going to get more closer to the wedding. So basically, getting into any of my top choices means piling everything into a moving truck and hoping my husband can find himself a job in our new town. The thought of moving so far from my family scares me quite a bit (ALL of my family except for one brother live within an hour drive of me - and that includes aunts, uncles, cousins, and the like), but when I applied to graduate school, I made the choice to not let fear of the unknown dictate my life. 2) I don't get into a program with funding, but do get accepted to a Master's program at a local state school (possibly with a very low paying TA position and a discount on tuition). This means more student loans (which I really don't want, but the tuition is fairy inexpensive), and I'll have to work while I go to school, which I've been doing anyway as an undergraduate. However, I can barely stand my current job and the only reason I haven't let is because I don't want to get another job and then have to quit in a few months to go to grad school. So realistically if I want to remain sane, I'd need to try to find a good paying job that doesn't require a lot of hours so I can focus on my studies. And my husband and I would probably live in my parents basement for two years to save money. 3) I don't get in anywhere, and I get myself a real job. Student loans start getting paid back, and if my soul isn't completely crushed, I reapply next year

Well, I think both would really suck, but in my position, being accepted without funding basically means I'm not going, unless it was to a master's program at a state school.

I have the same feeling. I've been checking my e-mail obsessively since before Christmas, but I really knew that no one was going to send anything out during the holiday week. After tomorrow, schools will be reopening and it will be business as usual... and an e-mail can come at any time! This is the month in which if I'm going to be invited for an interview, it's most likely going to happen. With the exception of Pittsburgh, which I don't believe I'll hear from until early February. Still hoping that I'll magically get an invite to Washington University in St. Louis, even though I know some invites went out two weeks ago. Still telling myself those folks sent in their applications early (my last LOR went in about two days before the due date). I'm also really hoping to hear from Syracuse soon. Based on what few results there are for the bio program, I probably won't hear anything until the end of the month, but considering the due date was Dec 15th, I'm really hoping to hear something in the next week or two. It's one of my top choices and I felt really, really good about that application. Good luck to everyone. I hope January is good to you all!