Maleficent999

One of the schools I applied to *might* start notifying at the end of this week if they follow the same schedule as last year. Needless to say, my stomach is in knots!

I'll probably think about taking some classes at a local community college if I'm not accepted this year. Maybe a foreign language class or some sociology courses just for fun. Good luck!

Thanks! Hopefully, for the both of us, it doesn't come down to that.

What degree program are you applying to?

This might sound ignorant, but is there too high of a TOEFL score? I don't know anything about it.

I'm somewhere between the OP and the last post. I'm somewhat at peace with everything and happy because I still have hope that might dreams might come true. I haven't been rejected or accepted anywhere. For at least another two weeks all I can do is wait. I have more free time and I'm less stressed out. On the other hand, I'm terrified of the possiblity of my dreams getting delayed another year or more and I can't stop the mood swings. Some days I feel like I might get multiple offers, other days I'm sure the entire adcomm will be laughing at my application. If I'm not accepted somewhere by the end of January I'm sure I'll be leaning much further toward trying to figure out the closest tall building off which I can leap.

That is exactly how I feel. My verbal is alright but I know it would've been higher if I hadn't essentially given up halfway through due to my inadequacy on the quant sections. Since I basically used existing knowledge for the quant, I would probably not stress on those and focus on doing really well on the verbal...if I have to retake it. And hopefully I won't.

I wish I had retaken the GRE but I'm not sure I would've had enough time to prepare and get a much higher score. Will definitely be retaking if I'm not accepted this round.

I'll be checking around until then but, agreed, I won't start freaking out until the end of January and I won't start pulling my hair out until the end of February.

"Faculty" posted in a thread on the Sociology forum saying things will start heating up for us at the end of January. Based on the results search I agree but it's not going to make this month any easier. It'll either be the slowest or the fastest month. I haven't figured out what way it will go quite yet.

If I am accepted, I will likely quit my full-time job 2-3 weeks before I plan to move to take some time to rest, see friends/family, and watch as much Netflix as I possibly can. Other than that, I haven't thought about it much.

I'm in the "second-guessing everything" stage. I have to actively force myself not to re-read any of my SOPs.

I, too, am stuck in a job at present that is a terrible fit. I can't wait to get out of here and give them a big middle finger (at least in my mind) when I bounce out of here.

When is an appropraite time to start freaking out as we wait for decisions? Because I am now...3 months of this is going to be torture.

I was supporting myself by working full-time through undergrad so unfortunately I wasn't able to work in any labs (aside from the lab I worked in at my school) or take any internships over the summer. However, I did have a friend who traveled to different schools almost every summer and worked in different labs with different professors. She just emailed them months in advance. I'm talking in November to work with them the following summer. She seemed to have a lot of success with that. On the flip side, I don't think you'll be looked down upon if you don't do that every summer. Like I said, I only have lab experience with my alma mater and I don't expect too many people will have a lot more than that. It is definitely an advantage but I doubt it is a disadvantage if you don't do it. Just my $.02.

Thank you for the advice. I think I will simply remove her as a recommender from the applications I still can and call like you suggested. I was hoping she would be a nice addition to my LORs because she has nominated papers I've written for publication in student journals at my alma mater and seemed to think I have a lot of potential. But you're right, not worth the stress and I won't ask again. My other LOR writers promised "glowing" recommendations so I'm not going to worry about it. Thanks, again

So I saw a few related threads but this is a pretty unique situation and I need advice. A few of my applications allowed me to submit for more than the minimum 3 LORs. I had a professor my last quarter in college that really liked me and she agreed to write one of my LORs. I have 3 other recommenders that have known me for years so I submitted them as my main 3 LORs and they have all submitted already. I decided to make her my optional/additional recommender for those several applications that allowed me to. Well, my 12/1 deadlines rolled around and she hadn't submitted. She told me to email to remind her a few days before and I had. I emailed her asking if she would be able to upload them and I ended up getting a bit of a "calm down and stop emailing me" response but she submitted for those deadlines the night they were due. She mentioned that she knew my next deadlines were 12/15. Well its now 12/27 and she still hasn't submitted my LORs for those deadlines. I'm afraid to email her because I don't want to set her off and end up getting a bad LOR, especially since it's optional. Is it possible she's writing a different letter for EVERY school? I feel like most professors use the same form LOR and maybe change who they address it to, right? My question is: Some schools allow me to withdraw/resend LORs that haven't been submitted. Since her's is optional, what do I do? Does it look bad if not all of my designated recommenders submitted their LORs? Should I resend it as a "hint" or withdraw it and risk her getting pissed if she realizes I withdrew the recommendation? OR do I just leave it since it wasn't a required LOR and hope the adcomm understands? Thanks in advance! Advice appreciated.

"All Hands on a Grain of Sand" by Amelia Curran

I might mention something about being open-minded and leaving room for growth.

I have extended (read: not even actually related, but kind of related...I don't know) in the city where my top choice school is located. They literally post pictures/info relating to the city on my Facebook every week and tell me to "try really hard to get into [that school]." While I appreciate the enthusiasm, all I can think is: YES, OF COURSE I'M TRYING REALLY HARD TO GET IN THERE. IS THAT EVEN A SERIOUS STATEMENT?!

social worker

If you don't mind upstate NY, check out the University at Buffalo.

Some requested my name, app year, and program. For those that didn't I put page number, last name, and first initial.

I am currently in the boat you'll be in next year. I, like Meowth, thought I'd have more time but I ended up being pretty swamped for time too. If I could go back and change anything it'd be that I'd take the GRE pretty soon after graduation instead of waiting until the Fall. I don't regret the decision to take a year off though. It would've been impossible for me to take the GRE and apply to all the schools I want to while I was still an undergrad because I worked full-time back then too.

This was great advice. Most of the schools let me submit an updated version of my CV. Only 2 said it would be an unfair advantage and didn't let me.