captiv8ed

1. I wish I would have fully grasped how busy I would become. It is so much more work than undergrad.

2. In that vein, I wish I would have done more prep work, gotten more freezer meals cooked and frozen before school started.

3. I got excellent advice from a friend: Set a time limit and don't go over it. Let's say it is 40 hours or 50 hours or whatever. When you reach it, STOP! Even if you haven't finished the reading. There are times when you have no choice and will have to break it, but try your best to stick to it.

4. Find a place you love and when it gets too much, go there and stay there until you have gained perspective. It could be the ocean, the forest, or our back yard.

5. EXERCISE! I have stayed sane by walking to school most days and taking walks with my husband at night. It gives us a chance to reconnect and let's me look away from the screen.

6. Learn to focus and cut out distractions. I installed Rescue Robot and it lets me know how long I have spent on each site and how productive I am. It is a free app and you can put it on multiple computers. I find it wonderful because so much of my time is spent on the computer or at home reading, so it is very easy to get sucked down rabbit holes. I have canceled my social media accounts as well, to cut down on mindless surfing.

7. Try to move to your new place early if you can. Having a couple weeks to settle, unpack, and get your bearings before you are hit with school is wonderful.

8. You will no longer be the smartest person in your class. Get over it. Also, don't be intimidated by other students. Remember they have had different training and preparation. One of the hardest things as a first year was to be thrown in a class with students who already have their master's and are studying for their qualifying exams. The only way I survived was that one of my classmates pointed it out to me and said to keep reminding myself of it.

9. One of my biggest breakthroughs this year has been learning to take criticism without automatically assuming it means I am stupid. Important lesson!

10. Have fun and remember you are in an incredibly privileged position. I think 5% of Americans have an advanced degree.

Um, no. Bottom line, it was your decision to send the apps out. Having said that, I too was heavily advised to apply to grad schools, and it's not looking good for me right now. I'm frustrated, absolutely, but at my advisers????- No. It's not their fault. Yeah, I too probably would not have even thought of grad school had they not mentioned it, but it's not their fault I haven't been accepted anywhere. I'm responsible for making my own decisions. I'm not sure how it is that you are not responsible for yours.

This is a very kind and helpful response, and I appreciate it. I'm not trying to "blame" anyone: I'm angry that they encouraged me to apply but, mostly, that my profs were assuring me that I would get in; I think that is my biggest peeve with the advice, that it was so unrealistic.

And just to understand why I'm so upset: I haven't worked in three years and I passed up other opportunities because my profs were so certain that I would get in. Now I haven't and the response from them is, "Oh, well." I think that deserves a bit of righteous anger.

Remember that many, many strong candidates are turned away. Your professors saw potential in you and told you so, but there's no guarantee of anything in life. It isn't their fault that tight budgets, behind-the-scenes politics, and departmental goals drove admissions decisions away from you. Perhaps it is better that you have been rejected now and have a mere few months delay before pursuing a career, as opposed to spending years and years of your life to wind up without a job. Blessing in disguise?

Also, I wouldn't worry about employers reacting badly to you as a result of this. Life happens. Just say it matter of factly.

ETA: Other people have made the same points above, but I wanted to ask: Do you really think your professors are cackling and rubbing their hands together, saying "Ooh, she fell for it?" I get the impression you do.

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Well first off, reviewing applications is part of their job. So lets quit acting as though they are doing us a favor and going above and beyond their jobs to review our apps. They even take good money from us to get our apps reviewed. Secondly, it doesnt take more than 2 hours to read a SOP, 3 letters, and writing sample of an applicant. Third, none of the programs I have applied to receive 450 applications - most of the schools receive roughly around 50 to 150. So multiple 2 with 100, and you get 200 hours, or 28 working days comprising of 7 hrs each. Four adcom members could review these 100 apps within 7 days between them, if they were doing this ful-time. If half time, then lets say 14 days. Thats about 3 weeks. Anyhow, throw in another 5 weeks for re-reading, arguing, debating, etc!! And as you yourselff noted, not each app is reviewed by every single committee member, as quite a few of these would be rejected in the first round itself. So the re-reading etc i sdone only a subset of the apps. If you think more than two months is reasonable to wait, you've never worked in the private sector!!

Anyhow, I really dont want to nit pick on numbers, etc. Suffice it to say, that there are (Thank God!) some schools who do seem to have their act (and attitude) together and are able to keep the applicants informed of where they are in the decision process, and get back to them in timely nature. Now these are not tier 2 or 3 schools, where you think they receive only a handful of apps. And I have seen a good mix of state and prvate schools in this category ( so please dont revert back saying prvt schools have the money to hire the staff!). Existence of such schools makes it justified to question the processes of other schools

And by the way, I never once said the app process is corrupt. There is a difference between corruption and inefficiency. I said its long drawn out, to the extent that some schools think its totally ok to keep absolutely silent on the status of a candidate's application for over two months!

I don't necessarily think a long time frame is evidence of inefficiency or unprofessional behavior on the part of the programs. Indeed, think of all the time it takes to read letters, SOPs, writing samples, and supplementary materials. Now multiply that by anywhere between 50-450 applications. Now realize that almost all of these applications have been read by several adcomm members, and many have been read by all of them. Now include the amount of time they go through to argue about who to admit and prioritizing the waitlist. Now include the time they put in to hashing out financial offers. Also, they ALL have other jobs. Two months sounds fairly reasonable to me.

Keep in mind also that the Grad Cafe members are self-selected among applicants as 1) most anxious, and 2) most driven. Thus it is not surprising that some of them are hearing back in January, because those folks happen to have very impressive hit-it-out-of-the-ballpark profiles (a side benefit to being both driven and anxious - worrying leads to great revisions). Most of us, however, are good, but about the same amount of good as the competition. It is reasonable that it takes some time to evaluate us.

However, I understand that anger is one of the emotions that comes out of anxious waiting. If the application process is really corrupt in some way, then, sure, anger is a logical response. But these programs are investing money and years into students, so it isn't too much to expect them to be measured about it.

But they are going to notice you are going to that school and working on your degree. It isn't like it can stay hidden forever.
Plus, the whole thing from application to tenure is such a long slow horrible grind. Why wouldn't we want to stop and celebrate our happy points along the way?

Why does it seem more conceited to say that you were accepted into your top choice?
My uncle decided to climb a mountain. He fell down a crevasse and posted about his fall on facebook. Just last week he posted that he was going back up on a mountain. And then he posted about his successful climb. Is that conceited bragging? Maybe. But so what, his friends and family want to know and cheer him on.
I have gone through difficult times in my life. Hell yeah I am going to tell people if I got into my top choice. And I think more of my friends would be pissed off if I didn't tell them than if I did.

But they are going to notice you are going to that school and working on your degree. It isn't like it can stay hidden forever.
Plus, the whole thing from application to tenure is such a long slow horrible grind. Why wouldn't we want to stop and celebrate our happy points along the way?

Life is good for Life is Good!! It is all really outstanding, but I think your advisor and your sit down meeting is especially helpful!!

Cpaige, Your Russian work is incredibly impressive!! Are you fluent in the language as well? And great job on the GPA!!

Astro, Come on, just post and you will feel better!!

OK Braggarts, be sure to follow up on everyone and give them lots of positive feedback!

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!

It seems like you have already made up your mind, so why are you asking?

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

Folks,

Took my GRE few days ago and got a 1570. 800Q+770V (Awaiting Writing).
I would like to share my experience with y'all:

Preparation Time - 1.5 Month (APPROX)

Coaching- Self+ Online

BOOKS & Software-
GRE Barrons
GRE Big Book
Princeton Review (Only last few days)
Powerprep from GRE website


Websites-
www.number2.com (Great for vocab practice)
www.missiongre.com (Excellent essay evaluation dirt cheap and admission counseling tools)
www.greguide.com (Occasional Practice)


Profile-

BS-CS -university of tennessee -knoxville
GPA- 4.0
One Project at NASA
Internship at Lockheed Martin
Expecting excellent recos

Let me know if there are questions

I recently received an e-mail informing my incoming cohort when our department orientation is and wow...that made this real for me.

I have been in a sort of denial about the realities I am facing and now I'm panicking.

I am pursuing an anthropology PhD and would like to know what I can expect at a department orientation.

I have SEVERE social anxiety and want to know how much socializing I will be expected to do or is it just more of a sit and listen kinda thing?? I know every dept is going to be different, but what have your experiences been like?

Also, they encouraged us to join our depts facebook account if we want to meet people. I do not do social networking sites. Will this put me at a disadvantage? Will everyone already be buddies by the time I get to meet them?

I'm also already feeling like an idiot.

I googled most of the names from my cohort list and wow..I am for sure bottom of the barrel here and that makes me feel like crap. I have always questioned by abilities and now, to have my computer starring at me, screaming, "YUP! YOU ARE THE LEAST EQUIPPED PERSON IN YOUR PROGRAM!" makes me so uneasy. I feel like not even showing up and giving this thing a try. To make matters even better.. I am unfunded for my first year, great, everyone else is likely taken care of and this makes me feel more like a big loser and like I do not belong.

So, not only am I an unfunded, socially anxious, facebookless idiot but my advisor is on sabbatical for a year and I will feel like an even more out of place, misguided freak.

Help

I like that you throw the words kindle, moleskin, and macbook around - but then use a $50 camping backpack to keep them in.

I have actually foudn the tests in the PR more difficult than the powerprep tests. Or at least I score lower on them.

I just got back from apartment hunting and was wary of places too close to the tracks as well. I'm sure the UI undergrads on here can speak to this better, but the tracks are for freight trains that seem pretty active. I managed to ask a girl walking out of an apartment building near the tracks how bothersome the noise was, and she said that the trains go through late every night, and blow their whistles (eek!). She was apparently woken up every night for about the first two weeks she lived in the apartment, and then got used to it.

I'm going to graduate school where it snows and I've lived in an area where it doesn't snow for my entire life. What should I wear during the winter/snow seasons? I'm pretty sure normal sunny California winter clothing doesn't cut it.

So glad my GA is going to be as high as it is, 35k =)

15-20 is definitely not low ranked. I am having to really check myself as I answer this because that statement really raised my hackles.
I think it is generally frowned upon to leave one program for another, so going into it with that being your plan could be really awkward. Also, think about having to ask for LORs from people who have sunk a lot of time into training you with the expectation that you were going to be there for the duration. Also, think of how awkward it would be if you went through that process and then got rejected and so had to stay at the school that you just try to bail on.

Unfortunately that doesn't mean you would have gotten in. I had email contact with a serious big shot who told me he was very interested in my work and would love to work with me if I was admitted. But I was rejected. The dean of another program sent along a personal note to the committee to let them know he was interested in me and would like to work with me. And I was rejected. So unless this person was on the ad comm, it would be a crap shoot. And even if the prof was on the ad comm, it would still be a crap shoot. However, you might as well pick up the conversation again.

I have seen so much worry about everything here. I have felt so much worry.
So, let's play a game. Let's put all of our positive academic achievements here, and then tell each other how helpful they are for admission!!
Rules:
No negatives! Please don't put anything to weigh down your positives, like "My GPA is great (too bad it is in the wrong field)" or "I don't think that your underwater basket weaving skills are really going to have much of an influence on the political science adcom." This is just about being positive and encouraging. I think we all need reminders of why we are well qualified for what we are doing!
Is anyone interested in playing? I will post my list, but I am not going to until I see that people are interested. Bragging on strengths is really hard, and much more so if you are the only one doing it.

15-20 is definitely not low ranked. I am having to really check myself as I answer this because that statement really raised my hackles.
I think it is generally frowned upon to leave one program for another, so going into it with that being your plan could be really awkward. Also, think about having to ask for LORs from people who have sunk a lot of time into training you with the expectation that you were going to be there for the duration. Also, think of how awkward it would be if you went through that process and then got rejected and so had to stay at the school that you just try to bail on.

15-20 is definitely not low ranked. I am having to really check myself as I answer this because that statement really raised my hackles.
I think it is generally frowned upon to leave one program for another, so going into it with that being your plan could be really awkward. Also, think about having to ask for LORs from people who have sunk a lot of time into training you with the expectation that you were going to be there for the duration. Also, think of how awkward it would be if you went through that process and then got rejected and so had to stay at the school that you just try to bail on.