DerpTastic

The, "I'm an idiot" person actually had three posts. ):
 
Stanford rejection: "Such divas. Maybe I should have sent 3 copies of my transcripts instead of 2?"
Stanford rejection: "hmmm...my plans to take over the world have been set back a bit, it seems. ah well, stripping it is."
MIT rejection: "WOW. VERY FUN. MUCH REJECT."
MIT rejection: "YOLO"
Uni of Maryland: "overqualify?"
 
 
Some acceptances I liked:
"P.h.yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwww"
"Hep-ex. Faced some tough rejections, X-Files got me through it all."
"Feelin' macho"
"Dr. Sheldon Cooper!!! I am coming!!! Are you ready for a duel with a god? here I am, your rneternal rival! WOW"
"HOLY SHIT!!!!!!!! OMSDFNASIDFNSADIFSADFASDFSADF *Keeping my cool*"

Just because the logic that, "It worked for me, so it must be good," kind of bugs me in a pet peeve kind of way, I'll reply to this.
 
Just because you put something in and didn't get denied does not mean that it did not have a negative impact on your application. One of my letters of recommendation was sent in a few days late. I really can't say if this negatively affected my application or if it didn't make an impact. I was accepted to most of the programs I applied to, but that doesn't tell you whether or not it affected it. There are many small parts that make up your application. One small thing won't usually push them over the edge, but it still doesn't count as a positive thing in your application.
 
(But perhaps you did make it work. I can't really say. In general it's best to avoid that though.)
 
It's hard to tell just from an acceptance or denial whether one thing in your application made a difference. :S

I only want A's.

The, "I'm an idiot" person actually had three posts. ):
 
Stanford rejection: "Such divas. Maybe I should have sent 3 copies of my transcripts instead of 2?"
Stanford rejection: "hmmm...my plans to take over the world have been set back a bit, it seems. ah well, stripping it is."
MIT rejection: "WOW. VERY FUN. MUCH REJECT."
MIT rejection: "YOLO"
Uni of Maryland: "overqualify?"
 
 
Some acceptances I liked:
"P.h.yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwww"
"Hep-ex. Faced some tough rejections, X-Files got me through it all."
"Feelin' macho"
"Dr. Sheldon Cooper!!! I am coming!!! Are you ready for a duel with a god? here I am, your rneternal rival! WOW"
"HOLY SHIT!!!!!!!! OMSDFNASIDFNSADIFSADFASDFSADF *Keeping my cool*"

You could always try a pair of flats, might be more comfortable, imo.

I look for any excuse to miss classes. Graduate classes are often boring and useless (in my field) and are only there to satisfy archaic graduate school requirements. 

And yet you're pushing to get a cheap date or knocked up while you're doing your MSW.
 
To quote The Room, the greatest movie of all time: "Keep your stupid comments in your pocket."

Personally, I just can't wait 5+ years to get married! 

Why would you take time off to get married in grad school? You could always do it in the summer or after graduation... school is hard enough I do know a girl in my program who might have a fall or spring wedding next year, I personally wouldn't ever do it but whatever

MFA's average cost is like 30K. Which isn't that much money considering the OP has been out of school for 6 years.
 
Secondly, I find it kind of ironic that someone that is applying to Ph.D. programs in English Lit is being judgmental towards someone's choices considering that degree is probably one of the least convertible degrees you can do. 

I'm trying to think of a good reason not to mark this as spam.... And having a hard time.

Bullshit.
 

 

 
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-how-and-why-sex-differences/201104/why-dont-women-ask-men-out-first-dates

We had a student in my undergrad that did this. There was always a constant "yes" or "mmmhmmm" coming from him. It was especially annoying when the professor would ask something along the lines of, "everyone understand?" (He would immediately say yes, and the professor would move on, anyone hanging on had to reel the professor back in).
 
No one ever did anything, it kind of screwed him over a few times because he was only following about half the time. Some professors call you out by asking you a question. He started doing it a bit less because of that.
 
I'm not sure why it reminds you of black congregations. That comment seems more racist than bringing it up to him. I can see that you're annoyed, and I honestly understand where you're coming from, but this has really nothing to do with race, and I don't think he would think that if you brought it up to him. I've found that at least our classmate just wanted sort of suck up to the professor. Make the prof think more highly of him.
 
I don't really have any advice of bringing it up. We never brought it up to the student, because it is a little hard to word it in a good way that doesn't sound like you're awkwardly asking them to shut up. Personally I always sat away from him so that at least if he mumbled, I couldn't hear it.

We had a student in my undergrad that did this. There was always a constant "yes" or "mmmhmmm" coming from him. It was especially annoying when the professor would ask something along the lines of, "everyone understand?" (He would immediately say yes, and the professor would move on, anyone hanging on had to reel the professor back in).
 
No one ever did anything, it kind of screwed him over a few times because he was only following about half the time. Some professors call you out by asking you a question. He started doing it a bit less because of that.
 
I'm not sure why it reminds you of black congregations. That comment seems more racist than bringing it up to him. I can see that you're annoyed, and I honestly understand where you're coming from, but this has really nothing to do with race, and I don't think he would think that if you brought it up to him. I've found that at least our classmate just wanted sort of suck up to the professor. Make the prof think more highly of him.
 
I don't really have any advice of bringing it up. We never brought it up to the student, because it is a little hard to word it in a good way that doesn't sound like you're awkwardly asking them to shut up. Personally I always sat away from him so that at least if he mumbled, I couldn't hear it.

I only want A's.

I say graduate student unless its a very specific question; I've always found the distinction pretentious even if its valid. 

I agree that you personally have the right to feel any way you want, including annoyed. But I don't think academics should have the right to feel this way. As Eigen also said, research/academia is a job like any other. If you create an artificial requirement that you must be devoted to it / have it as your main passion, then you are precluding people who are unable to do so from succeeding in academia. If, for example, you say that an academic should not worry that their jobs don't pay very much compared to how much time they have to invest in it (because academics is a passion, not a way to pay the bills), then you are precluding people who need a job as a means to an end.
 
That is, this gives an unfair and unearned advantage to a person who does not have high health costs, dependents to support or other family issues that require a job that can reliably pay the bills etc. This limits academic/scholarly work only to those who are able to treat their scholarly/academic work solely as their passion instead of as a way to pay the bills. And ultimately, this means a less diverse pool of people to think up ideas for research/academics in general. I am referring to all fields of academics/scholarly work, not just the applied ones, by the way. So I would argue that by requiring a scholar to treat his or her work as a passion solely instead of a way to earn money, one would be hurting the pursuit of knowledge in the long run and also create further social inequality. Therefore, I would strongly argue against anyone who makes the claim that academics/scholars should enforce this "passion" requirement on other scholars. As a professional group, academics/scholars do not have the right to discriminate in this way. As a person/private citizen though, you are free to feel whatever you want.

I think you're generalizing academics to what you would like/hope they should be. Not what they are. And honestly, the "ivory tower" view of academia is a pretty archaic view from when academia was in the purview of the privileged elite that could afford not having to support themselves in pursuit of their dream. 
 
Research is a job, just like many others. Academia is a business, and getting a degree is a means to an end. You can like your job- in fact, it's a good thing if you like your job. It's rarely a good thing if your job consumes your life. 
 
Passion is fine, but an all consuming passion is in no way, shape or form necessary to be a top-rate scholar or academic. 
 
It's great if scholarly work is your all consuming passion. More power to you. But it's a pretty narrow view to impose that requirement on all of the people around you. 

I think I would try any beer at 50 cents a can. (I'm classy that way  )

I think I would try any beer at 50 cents a can. (I'm classy that way  )

I'm not alone! Cheap beer. <3
I'm not a huge fan of Miller, but Budweiser and Rolling Rock are two of my go to beers.

The only one on that list was that I knew I was going to college. (Just because my family almost never made me believe not going was an option). My GPA in high school was actually somewhere around 0.2 lower, and I did generally all homework the day it was due, in the period before it was due. I've sort of lost that bad habit.

cheap beer: Budweiser, Miller, Rolling Rock, PBR...there's a special place in my heart for all these water-beers!
 
I'm also beer snob: Dark Horse Scotch Ale, Bell's Two-Hearted...can't get Bells or Dark Horse where I live unfortunately ...also imperial stouts, double IPAs..

I have such a success story. I could never have dreamt to stand where I stand now. Just hope that posting this is the right decision. My story is a bit extreme perhaps, but I suppose that it is far from unique.
 
I was ahead in school and struggled hard having to do work years beyond my level. (I live in a country where home schooling is not allowed.) I was terribly lazy and still a straight A student. I hardly ever did a thing. I am so embarrassed looking back, but it did not know any better at the time. Socially it was okay (in elementary and high school, anyway), so most of the time I coped though I developed a severe social anxiety due to not being acknowledged. There have been times that I would get depressed. I hit rock bottom in 11th grade, despite being in a very good gifted program. I always tried to find challenges somewhere (extracurriculars, taking additional courses, early college entrance, but also not attending classes, not studying for tests; the whole range of both desired and undesired behaviors), but in 11th grade it was just over. There were no more advanced classes to take, no more classes not to attend. I then decided to skip 12th grade all together. Not because college/university would necessarily be better, since at the time I was convinced I was "just not a student type". I skipped 12th grade, because college could be no worse.
 
And it was not worse. It was better. I could study something that really interested me. For the first time I was not by far the most advanced student and that was (literally) a life saver. I learnt all these things I never learnt in school: taking notes, asking questions, persistance, spending time on something. Somehow I largely overcame my social anxiety. I have no idea how that happened, but I do know that 'fitting in' at least sómewhere is crucial for people. I had never fit in anywhere before, so this was a new experience for me. You can imagine how ambivalent I am about leaving my current institution.
 
I now hold two acceptances for Master's at world top 10 universities. I have this surreal "WTH just happened?" feeling. I cannot help but being very grateful to all my teachers and everyone who believed in me and tried their best to accommodate me. It is thanks to them that I made it through school in the first place. I am very happy to see my school continue to make progress in gifted education. I know for a fact that if I had not been allowed to skip 12th grade, at the very least I would have been nowhere near where I am now. It is very likely that I would have dropped out.