captiv8ed

Don't stress Coffee. In my program, we have quite a few students who came straight from undergrad.

Sure- round one was V-600 Q-410 (!!) AW-5.5 Round two was about, hmm, maybe 5 weeks later V-600, Q-590, AW- 5.5 I applied to one top 10 program, 2 top 20 programs, 3 30-50s and one 50-60 I was rejected outright and early at the top 10 program. Waitlisted at one of the top 20, but didn't get off the wl, rejected at the other. Accepted to all three of the 30-50, one with a fellowship, the other two were off the waitlists. And I was rejected at the bottom program. Good credentials, RA with someone who is well known in the field, TA position from that same person, three conference presentations, three (and in one case four) good solid lors, a very well-thought ripped apart, put back together, peer reviewed, writing center director reviewed, faculty reviewed sop. And one sucky GRE score and one mediocre one.

I will add since I am procrastinating on writing a paper for strat. VISIT!!! I almost went to a great program in a part of the country that would have made me miserable because I almost didn't visit. I did visit and left with such a deep feeling of sadness. The next week I visited the program that I only applied to on a whim and only visited because it was an excuse to visit a place I had never been. I fell in deep and serious like with it and am now attending. Although fit matters, and rankings matter, I chose location over both of those. I have a husband and kids that came along for the ride, so I know that isn't the case for everyone. But the visit is definitely important. STUDY THAT GRE!! To echo jacib, although it can't get you in, it can certainly keep you out. I had letters of recommendation from really well known faculty at two different schools, a pretty solid record and SOP, and I was rejected at all my top 20 schools. I was able to get into 30-50 level schools, but I am sure that my GRE was a negative mark on my app. But with that said, these schools are INSANELY competitive. Think about choosing 5 or 6 applicants from a pool of over 100. And a good chunk of them are going to be really really qualified. MAKE GOOD CONTACTS. Use your network, find out if anyone you know knows people you want to work with, ask them to send letters on your behalf, name drop when you are emailing and definitely email the people you want to work with. DON't STRESS. Ha ha!

strathmore, maybe I can make you feel better. I came from a small, nurturing alternative liberal arts college. I am now in the MA portion of a PhD program. My program is not Ivy league, and it is not a top 10 program. Even hanging out here can make me feel like a loser because it seems that EVERYONE here is in a top program (I know this isn't true, but I lead with my inadequacies, and so that is what comes across). Of course, all the professors are from top 10 programs, which somehow makes me feel even worse and also shows me how arbitrary the whole ranking system is. But anyway, I failed my stats exam this week. Failed it. Nothing looked right or familiar, and I couldn't memorize the formulas. I am in one class that has been so hard I want to cry and yet, so many students are positively fluent in the jargon and methods. A bunch of students in there are further along and are planning to take their qualifying exam in the subject. I wrote an essay for the class, which many people liked and the instructor told me in some ways it was fine, but I missed the whole concept of the question! She assured me that I should ask her questions if I have trouble, but I had no idea that I was missing the point! So yes, it is a very very rough first semester. Most students in my cohort either have a BA in our field or have an MA. And so they are all somewhat conversant. However, I have my thesis topic nailed down and have a committee. I already have ideas for my diss, and I am treating the classes as a learning environment. This is stuff I need to know and I don't know yet. I have a high learning curve, but I am going to do it. Even if I end up having to repeat a course, I don't care. The point is the degree and the knowledge that comes with it. I am not going to compare myself with anyone else (or at least that is what I keep telling myself). Good luck and I know how much it sucks!!

My schedule Mon: 9:45-12 Office Hours/TA Tues: 1:30-4 Stats and Pro Sem Wed: 9:45-12 Office Hours/TA 3-6 Strat Thurs: 1:30-6 Stats and Methods Fri: 9:45-12 Office Hours/TA I am trying to spend additional time on campus so that I can feel like a student and actually get work done. My days feel very broken up and I am not finding big chunks of time to read.

Great@! We moved in two weeks before orientation. We moved across the state with three kids. We love our new house and our neighborhood is fantastic. We are not in College Central, but it is only 1.5 miles to where my building is on campus. Uphill though!! I have been walking to and fro every day and have lost 7 pounds! Orientation was 3 days long and not too bad. There was a dept picnic and then a picnic and hike that the grad students hold for everyone, but especially for the new cohort. A chance to talk without faculty around. One of the grad students I met during the spring threw us a dinner party the week we got here, so we got to meet a lot of people that way as well. I really like the people. I have a workout buddy and definitely people I would call friends already (including my workout buddy ) My TA position is fantastic, and the workload for it is quite reasonable. I have already nearly formed my thesis committee and I have a good solid topic for it, so I will be working on my proposal this semester. I like my classes and I feel absolutely stupid in one, which will keep me humble! And yes, I really appreciated having the extra time to get settled before the crush. I recommend it as well.

I can't even read a pdf without printing it out, so I don't see how ebooks would work for me!

I dunno. It takes me about 10-15 minutes to search for all my books through bigwords and get them all ordered. I have never done a comparison with just amazon, but I save money for sure. All through undergrad I didn't use standard books and still found the hassle worth the savings.

There are people in my dept who didn't have a soc degree and got a TA gig. I have a nontrad background and I am a TA first year.

I use Bigwords.com and it searches lots of different selling forums, adds in shipping and calculates my best overall price.

I plan to limit myself. I am an older student with kids and we love the area we are in. Even if it means a compromise in the type of job I get, I will be geographically restricted. The area you are looking at seems pretty large with a lot of job options, so I would think you'd be okay.

Don't do it! I ran into one like that too. She emailed me and said she would need to run a credit check before she could show me the place. I emailed back and told her I wasn't comfortable with that and could we do something else and I never heard back

That is good to hear! Can I ask why you chose WSU over your other options? What were the biggest adjustments? How different is the weather from the other side of the state? It seems like every time I check Olympia's weather and Pullman's, they are very similar! Am I missing something?

I think you are fine. That seems like a pretty high paying field, so you should be able to pay off the loans fairly quickly. Ifyou had to borrow tuition and living expenses, that would be scary, but it sounds like a relatively small amount. I love your profile picture. That is really cool!

Yay! I am glad it helped! I love it

Something I have done to limit internet time: On Firefox, I have leechblock. It automatically blocks access to sites. You can set it to block certain hours of the day, or set it so that you can only have access for a certain number of minutes per hour. Or, for instance, you can allow yourself only 10 minutes an hour between 9 am and 6 pm. I have set mine to allow only 60 minutes of www.* sites per day, but have allowed .gov and .edu access. For Internet Explorer, I have installed Temptation Blocker, which I have to set each time, but I can tell it how many hours I want to stay off the internet and then it won't allow me in. Leechblock is in the add-ons for Firefox. You can customize the picture that shows up when you reach the limit, because the one they have is kind of gross. Temptation Blocker is a freeware app I found by googling.

Cool. Congrats

Since I am on the quarter system, I still have about a month of school left. I am doing a contract on theory, and I am watching a lot of movies for my contract. I am packing the house. At the end of June, we plan to to pack completely and store our stuff in our new town. Then we are going to head to the mountains and camp for the month of July. In August we will move in, get the kids settled and I have orientation by mid month. lastdazeman, if you don't mind saying, where are you going to be going?

Aw, I am jealous! I tried to register for classes and was told I can't do it until orientation.

I agree, although I think the threshold for me is about 15, as in, anything lower than 15 is all equally cold! The coldest night of my life was when I was a kid in Chicago. Wind Chill 82 below zero! Exposed skin would freeze in minutes.

Coya, I am not worried about you. A Carolina girl can handle the Atlanta heat. I just don't want anyone having delusions of mildness when it comes to Chicago summers!

Actually, Chicago summers are also ridiculously hot. It may be slightly less hot and humid, but not much. I grew up in Chicago, and summers are crazy hot and humid, winters are ridiculously cold and icy/snowy/windy, and shoulder seasons are very short. It really has the worst of both worlds But it is a fun city!

coya the stalker! lol. Remember that the built in team has all sorts of issues of their own because they are all going to be navigating new schools, so it might be rocky for us the first few months!