Loric

Ugh.. Just stop talking until you take a theater history class or at least google it.

Anyone willing to abuse language to such a severe degree is not entitled to any say on the matter.

I packed up and moved clear across the country for my first grad school tango. I got a lovely 2 story loft apartment with a killer view and a gas fireplace for no apparent reason (it never got below 40). I paid more in rent than everyone else in my cohort.
 
Due to sheer willpower, I hosted a few dinner parties and game nights. In general, most people dont have the time for the typical college stuff at the grad level.
 
I hated the locals. I hated the location. I disliked going out into the town/city and dealing with the people. Driving anywhere was a nightmare. With time, the color of the flowers began to annoy me. This is how you know you've made a mistake in your choice of location and program. Flowers.
 
So my apartment was really my respite from everything I wanted nothing to do with. I had a blue microwave that played a song when it was done instead of beeping. I had an orange couch and a turquoise leather chaise lounge. I had a ridiculous dining table that seated 8 for no apparent reason that I'd randomly decorate as if I was Martha Stewart reincarnated. I had a drafting table I never used setup with impressive sketches and selected literature for if anyone did happen to come over. I had wall art - big gigantic wouldn't fit in my car and had to be strapped to the roof and driven home slowly wall art.
 
And there in my little womb I occasionally saw guests and plotted my revenge. My glorious glorious revenge on that awful state and it's awful people.. and their flowers. I sat on my bedroom balcony, peering out through the floor to ceiling window that was my rear apartment wall, and contemplated the many ways to exterminate those flowers.
 
Ah, those were the days.

Ok, if you're not looking for a relationship you're not dating - you're sleeping around and hanging out with random people. A hookup is not a date.

You can submit whatever you want, as long as you acknowledge there's some who will reject you outright just on "Did not follow instructions."
 
Those people LOVE rejecting people for that one, so they seek it out.
 
But otherwise, you face a 50/50 chance no one will ever even read it anyways.

Couple notes (mainly for the peanut gallery)..
 
What a school advertises and promises can be vastly different from what actually happens. This includes funding and class availability and general "not being a total jerk" when it comes to advisers.
 
I had an adviser who expected me to work until 3am on a project in his garage at his condo across town despite it being against every rule and regulation at my school (not to work past 11pm, not to work off site and in particular not at the faculty's home). Sometimes they are just raging pricks.
 
A lot of this website is about wanting to get in, so if there's little bits of information that show up which clearly show that getting in is not a picnic, that it's not just hard classes but possibly impossible people and expectations, unfair treatment, and sometimes rampant abuse of the student and broken rules.. well.. people dreaming to get in don't want to see that and react adversely to the message and messenger.
 
"I wouldn't quit."
 
Yes you would, you'd quit when your adviser began to sexually harass you. You'd quit when arguments turned to shouting and then turned to throwing things. You'd quit when your health began to fail from stress. You'd quit when the faculty chose to ignore safety protocols and put your life in danger. You'd quit when ethics were treated like obstacles to funding. You'd quit when you were told to pass a student in your class, despite them obviously failing, because they were related to the dean.
 
Sometimes.. no, often, life is not a cakewalk served up on a silver spoon. People do tend to suck and it's only a matter or making the best of what crap you're presented with - and sometimes the "best" is to leave.
 
Let me know how confident you are that little problems can be glossed over and people are just too sensitive when you're read the riot act for being late because you were re-ended in route while the golden boy struts in even later than you (in the middle of your chewing out) and is praised for the tie he chose to wear.
 
These things have not all happened to me (thank god) but they have happened to people in graduate school.

"Why did I ever want an orange sofa..?" - something I often ask myself.

With pretty much everyone on this forum wanting to get into grad school.. it is inevitable that there's some misunderstanding as to why people quit graduate programs.
 
Well, I dragged this out of the Philosophy forum for your reading pleasure:
 
http://www.colorado.edu/sites/default/files/attached-files/APA%20Report%20document.pdf
 
Things got so bad that the department stopped admissions for this year while they try to hash things out. But what about the appearance on the outside and before the report was made public? People were fighting to get in. It was seen - and is still seen, per the report - as providing a great level of education. It's just, ya know, an environment that's hostile and harassment filled.
 
That's just one of the many reasons people quit.
 
I quit my first grad school because there was shouting and screaming and unprofessional behavior and expectations to attend events in my free non-business time and socialize with professors whether I wanted to or not.. alcohol.. throwing things.. shouting.. etc.. and I had no idea how RA/TA-ships were allocated and had no idea how teaching positions were distributed despite having one either.
 
I know a lot of people on this forum are going to look at what happened in Colorado at the Philosophy department and think "gee.. that's a bad situation, but a one off, and I'm sure my school will be fine... because of XYZ.. rationalize.. rationalize.." etc..
 
There's a lot of little Colorados out there that are ticking timebombs of ruined careers. Get to know the schools you're applying to and really do your best to feel them out. You can't avoid these things entirely, but you also need to remain empowered if they do occur. Speak up, report things that aren't right, and don't cater to a culture that is unprofessional in your workplace and place of education. 
 
There's a thread on the forum where a person asked if they should seek out a formal means to report a professor who dropped them mid-thesis with little excuse and little help to even find a new advisor. The reply from these forums? "oh, consider your future and career before you go and report anyone for any wrongdoing."
 
That's not the right approach. That's retaliation and should be completely unacceptable under any good University's policies. If the professor really did something wrong (which is up to the people assigned to making such decisions, not you) and there's a way and a venue to report a claim - it should be reported. Not swept under the rug.
 
In my case I had a "meeting" with the professor who was causing the problem, thinking I was being a mature adult and handling the issue - where my advisor was asking (demanding) me to do things that were blatantly against the University policies. I brought a copy of the handbook and cited how what was going on was wrong and needed to be corrected. I was told "It's grad school, suck it up, everyone has to do this sort of thing."
 
I quit within 48 hours of that failed meeting due to a series of stressful event (even a car accident for good measure!) and a complete lack of faith in the school and it's systems. I see people dreaming of getting in and posting rampantly on here about their hopes and aspirations and how it's their top pick. Yikes, if only they knew. I've done my best to PM a few people and gently/rationally voice my concerns, but I can't catch them all, you know? And not everyone will listen.
 
Often it's seen as the bitter rambling of a "failed student" - no, seriously, I quit. I was called by the department chair and dean and begged to come back. They didn't want to lose me.
 
And on top of all that, I've had it said to myself and seen it implied to others on this forum that people are somehow 'lesser' for quitting a program that is so screwed up. That's wrong too. Stop doing it, stop posting those things.  I know you want to get into graduate school and you've built it up as some grand dream.. but the reality is that some programs - even reportedly "good" ones (see: Colorado) - can be absolute awful situations for a graduate and should really be avoided until they correct their ways. 

God, you have a lot of time. I wouldn't give any of those things more than 90 days worth of attention, so you can theoretically do it all.
 
I did the old test too - 2009 - and i suspect i'd be "teh suck" on the new test because I'm not used to academia and most certainly not for that type of test. Take a practice test and see if it's reasonable to get a "better" score.

You can submit whatever you want, as long as you acknowledge there's some who will reject you outright just on "Did not follow instructions."
 
Those people LOVE rejecting people for that one, so they seek it out.
 
But otherwise, you face a 50/50 chance no one will ever even read it anyways.

With pretty much everyone on this forum wanting to get into grad school.. it is inevitable that there's some misunderstanding as to why people quit graduate programs.
 
Well, I dragged this out of the Philosophy forum for your reading pleasure:
 
http://www.colorado.edu/sites/default/files/attached-files/APA%20Report%20document.pdf
 
Things got so bad that the department stopped admissions for this year while they try to hash things out. But what about the appearance on the outside and before the report was made public? People were fighting to get in. It was seen - and is still seen, per the report - as providing a great level of education. It's just, ya know, an environment that's hostile and harassment filled.
 
That's just one of the many reasons people quit.
 
I quit my first grad school because there was shouting and screaming and unprofessional behavior and expectations to attend events in my free non-business time and socialize with professors whether I wanted to or not.. alcohol.. throwing things.. shouting.. etc.. and I had no idea how RA/TA-ships were allocated and had no idea how teaching positions were distributed despite having one either.
 
I know a lot of people on this forum are going to look at what happened in Colorado at the Philosophy department and think "gee.. that's a bad situation, but a one off, and I'm sure my school will be fine... because of XYZ.. rationalize.. rationalize.." etc..
 
There's a lot of little Colorados out there that are ticking timebombs of ruined careers. Get to know the schools you're applying to and really do your best to feel them out. You can't avoid these things entirely, but you also need to remain empowered if they do occur. Speak up, report things that aren't right, and don't cater to a culture that is unprofessional in your workplace and place of education. 
 
There's a thread on the forum where a person asked if they should seek out a formal means to report a professor who dropped them mid-thesis with little excuse and little help to even find a new advisor. The reply from these forums? "oh, consider your future and career before you go and report anyone for any wrongdoing."
 
That's not the right approach. That's retaliation and should be completely unacceptable under any good University's policies. If the professor really did something wrong (which is up to the people assigned to making such decisions, not you) and there's a way and a venue to report a claim - it should be reported. Not swept under the rug.
 
In my case I had a "meeting" with the professor who was causing the problem, thinking I was being a mature adult and handling the issue - where my advisor was asking (demanding) me to do things that were blatantly against the University policies. I brought a copy of the handbook and cited how what was going on was wrong and needed to be corrected. I was told "It's grad school, suck it up, everyone has to do this sort of thing."
 
I quit within 48 hours of that failed meeting due to a series of stressful event (even a car accident for good measure!) and a complete lack of faith in the school and it's systems. I see people dreaming of getting in and posting rampantly on here about their hopes and aspirations and how it's their top pick. Yikes, if only they knew. I've done my best to PM a few people and gently/rationally voice my concerns, but I can't catch them all, you know? And not everyone will listen.
 
Often it's seen as the bitter rambling of a "failed student" - no, seriously, I quit. I was called by the department chair and dean and begged to come back. They didn't want to lose me.
 
And on top of all that, I've had it said to myself and seen it implied to others on this forum that people are somehow 'lesser' for quitting a program that is so screwed up. That's wrong too. Stop doing it, stop posting those things.  I know you want to get into graduate school and you've built it up as some grand dream.. but the reality is that some programs - even reportedly "good" ones (see: Colorado) - can be absolute awful situations for a graduate and should really be avoided until they correct their ways. 

With pretty much everyone on this forum wanting to get into grad school.. it is inevitable that there's some misunderstanding as to why people quit graduate programs.
 
Well, I dragged this out of the Philosophy forum for your reading pleasure:
 
http://www.colorado.edu/sites/default/files/attached-files/APA%20Report%20document.pdf
 
Things got so bad that the department stopped admissions for this year while they try to hash things out. But what about the appearance on the outside and before the report was made public? People were fighting to get in. It was seen - and is still seen, per the report - as providing a great level of education. It's just, ya know, an environment that's hostile and harassment filled.
 
That's just one of the many reasons people quit.
 
I quit my first grad school because there was shouting and screaming and unprofessional behavior and expectations to attend events in my free non-business time and socialize with professors whether I wanted to or not.. alcohol.. throwing things.. shouting.. etc.. and I had no idea how RA/TA-ships were allocated and had no idea how teaching positions were distributed despite having one either.
 
I know a lot of people on this forum are going to look at what happened in Colorado at the Philosophy department and think "gee.. that's a bad situation, but a one off, and I'm sure my school will be fine... because of XYZ.. rationalize.. rationalize.." etc..
 
There's a lot of little Colorados out there that are ticking timebombs of ruined careers. Get to know the schools you're applying to and really do your best to feel them out. You can't avoid these things entirely, but you also need to remain empowered if they do occur. Speak up, report things that aren't right, and don't cater to a culture that is unprofessional in your workplace and place of education. 
 
There's a thread on the forum where a person asked if they should seek out a formal means to report a professor who dropped them mid-thesis with little excuse and little help to even find a new advisor. The reply from these forums? "oh, consider your future and career before you go and report anyone for any wrongdoing."
 
That's not the right approach. That's retaliation and should be completely unacceptable under any good University's policies. If the professor really did something wrong (which is up to the people assigned to making such decisions, not you) and there's a way and a venue to report a claim - it should be reported. Not swept under the rug.
 
In my case I had a "meeting" with the professor who was causing the problem, thinking I was being a mature adult and handling the issue - where my advisor was asking (demanding) me to do things that were blatantly against the University policies. I brought a copy of the handbook and cited how what was going on was wrong and needed to be corrected. I was told "It's grad school, suck it up, everyone has to do this sort of thing."
 
I quit within 48 hours of that failed meeting due to a series of stressful event (even a car accident for good measure!) and a complete lack of faith in the school and it's systems. I see people dreaming of getting in and posting rampantly on here about their hopes and aspirations and how it's their top pick. Yikes, if only they knew. I've done my best to PM a few people and gently/rationally voice my concerns, but I can't catch them all, you know? And not everyone will listen.
 
Often it's seen as the bitter rambling of a "failed student" - no, seriously, I quit. I was called by the department chair and dean and begged to come back. They didn't want to lose me.
 
And on top of all that, I've had it said to myself and seen it implied to others on this forum that people are somehow 'lesser' for quitting a program that is so screwed up. That's wrong too. Stop doing it, stop posting those things.  I know you want to get into graduate school and you've built it up as some grand dream.. but the reality is that some programs - even reportedly "good" ones (see: Colorado) - can be absolute awful situations for a graduate and should really be avoided until they correct their ways. 

Just a note about SOP - it only helps if they read it. It can be one of the last things they do, if at all, at some programs.

"Hey did I miss anythign today?"
 
"Class.
XOXOX
-Prof Loric"

Well, I hear there are these schools that admit girls who are only looking for husbands. I've deduced those wont be good places to find lesbian partners, or atleast at minimum your "pool" of probable co-lesbians is x-1 versus just x at other schools.

The mere idea that your SO should get an expedited, or implied positive, admission result because you've been accepted in another program is offensive to me on a very base level.
 
Just be aware, for every positive notion you'll get in regards to the sitiation.. people like me exist and might be on the adcomm of the other program. Just suggesting any sort of preferential treatment would be playing with fire. Rather, more like dousing yourself in jet fuel and then jumping into a volcano.
 
There are not words to properly express how quickly I'd find every flaw in a pending application and banish it to the rejection heap if this sort of things was brought up.

Step 1:
 
Realize most people can't actually write, even academics.
 
Step 2:
 
Accept the realization of Step 1. No, really, most people can't write. If you measure the success of the written word in the ability to convey an idea between two parties.. they have failed.
 
Step 3:
 
Black Sharpie. Cross out gobble-gook that people use because they think it's how educated folks speak. You can even write on the top REDACTED for fun.
 
Step 4:
 
Take dozen or so remaining words and phrases from the 27-pages of single spaced full-justification text and stitch them together however logical. This is actually what's important.
 
Step 5 (optional) :
 
Send the author a tersely worded letter about their abuse of the language.

Also - if you're wondering "Where?"
 
The answer is ANYWHERE BUT BACK HOME. You feel like you can't live without your family up-the-butt 24/7. Nothing will be worse for you than going back there. Go anywhere else. Get a passport. Buy cheap flights anywhere random. Have adventures.
 
DO NOT GO BACK HOME.
 
The key to coping with compulsions is to delay, delay, delay. Do not go home.

Also - if you're wondering "Where?"
 
The answer is ANYWHERE BUT BACK HOME. You feel like you can't live without your family up-the-butt 24/7. Nothing will be worse for you than going back there. Go anywhere else. Get a passport. Buy cheap flights anywhere random. Have adventures.
 
DO NOT GO BACK HOME.
 
The key to coping with compulsions is to delay, delay, delay. Do not go home.

Also - if you're wondering "Where?"
 
The answer is ANYWHERE BUT BACK HOME. You feel like you can't live without your family up-the-butt 24/7. Nothing will be worse for you than going back there. Go anywhere else. Get a passport. Buy cheap flights anywhere random. Have adventures.
 
DO NOT GO BACK HOME.
 
The key to coping with compulsions is to delay, delay, delay. Do not go home.

I have to run across town after work to deliver some paperwork.. And then after that I have nothing I "have" to do. For the next several weeks aside from work. Terrifying.

That you can't figure that out is your problem.. I'm not here to get you into programs you obviously wont succeed in.

I cant help but giggle at seeing the Geography forum asking "Where?" rather than the typical "What schools?"

Something I learned too late my first go-round was to answer "No" to pretty much all requests for my free time from within academia. Not social things, but the "Oo, you can do XYZ, ell I'm working on a project and could really use.." sort of inquiries.
 
The answer is no.
 
Once I did that, my time began to free up. Quitting also freed my time, but i dont think you want to do anything that drastic.

Something I learned too late my first go-round was to answer "No" to pretty much all requests for my free time from within academia. Not social things, but the "Oo, you can do XYZ, ell I'm working on a project and could really use.." sort of inquiries.
 
The answer is no.
 
Once I did that, my time began to free up. Quitting also freed my time, but i dont think you want to do anything that drastic.