RubyBright

dude ranch

Bumping this to ask if anyone has received any HFac acceptances...

Monday has to be the most disappointing day of the week now. I get so excited at the end of the weekend, because MONDAY is coming, and ad coms might tell me my fate! And then Monday goes by in silence. And I feel sad.

blazing fire

Check your program's web page. They normally post expectations, which vary wildly.

true love

skinny dip

Viggosloof, that is hilarious. Thanks for the laugh. My mother just wants me to go to an unfunded local master's program, instead of going to an out-of-state fully funded PhD. I feel like your dad wanting to go cross-country skiing is a better school-choosing reason!

magic spell

Agree with Callista, OhMySocks! If the universe just didn't want you to have a chance at all, you would have noticed after they made decisions. Don't give up hope yet!

yellow Lab

Oooooh, Monday! My new favorite day of the week.

I think you need to concentrate on Master's programs and try for a PhD after that. You have to understand that in many PhD programs, anything below a B is considered a failing grade. They may be doubtful about your chances of completing their program successfully, given your current GPA. Taking the time to either raise it (as possible) or earn a Master's with a solid GPA will help.

heavy cream

An old doctor of mine had a Bernese that he brought to the office with him every day! That was how I became acquainted with them and their shorter-haired cousins. My family has had a 100-pound German shepherd for about ten years now, and she's the best. It's hard to imagine why anyone would prefer having an ankle-biter. Woo! Congratulations, eaboo!

Ah, love it! I'm hoping to be able to afford a dog within the next few years. Swissies and greyhounds are awesome dogs. I'm partial to the large breeds.

bar none

I'm actually glad to still be in classes. This will be the only semester of my undergrad career without any gen eds, and I have an overloaded class schedule of major courses. So it's really interesting stuff, and at least it keeps me from staring zombie-like at my email, hitting the F5 key all day long.

set point

I can hardly begrudge them their weekends - especially since so many of the adcoms are full of already-busy professors. But a member of one of my adcoms is going on vacation. Legitimate, put-all-the-applications-on-hold-until-I-finish-beaching-it-up vacation. I'm mostly amused by the irony of going on vacation in January/February, and thus interrupting the application review.

electric charge

candy striper

It varies a lot by state and school. I know some schools consider their TAs/RAs as state employees, so they automatically grant in-state and waive tuition. Others say they're ineligible for employee tuition waiver, but they may offer a waiver through the funding package. Still others charge the whole amount straight, but then provide funding to cover it. Those are just what I've encountered; I'm sure there are tons more variations, because anything dealing with money and higher education is convoluted and rarely logical.

over caffeinated