Cazorla

CONGRATS!
 
   
Going to a PhD without funding is a terrible idea. My advice would be to work on your application and try again next year. If you're going to do this, pick the better fit between Florida and Claremont (unless there is a big difference in cost, in which case I would go with the cheaper one). But seriously, reapply next year. Doing a PhD without funding is a terrible idea.

CONGRATS!
 
   
Going to a PhD without funding is a terrible idea. My advice would be to work on your application and try again next year. If you're going to do this, pick the better fit between Florida and Claremont (unless there is a big difference in cost, in which case I would go with the cheaper one). But seriously, reapply next year. Doing a PhD without funding is a terrible idea.

CONGRATS!
 
   
Going to a PhD without funding is a terrible idea. My advice would be to work on your application and try again next year. If you're going to do this, pick the better fit between Florida and Claremont (unless there is a big difference in cost, in which case I would go with the cheaper one). But seriously, reapply next year. Doing a PhD without funding is a terrible idea.

Claiming Chapel Hill post. First admission, seccond cycle! American subfield. Thanks to everyone who has been suportive throughout the process!

Everyone, group hug right now.

Everyone, group hug right now.

Everyone, group hug right now.

Everyone, group hug right now.

Everyone, group hug right now.

I like the parts where, like, somebody says "hey, I got into Harvard!" and then everybody else is like "oh, man, that's great that you got into Harvard!"  Or, like, the parts where somebody hasn't gotten in anywhere and has been depressed but then they get in somewhere and they're like "hey, I hadn't gotten in anywhere and had been depressed but now I got in somewhere!" and then everybody else is like "oh, man, that's great that you got in somewhere!"  Or, like, the parts where somebody is like "Hey, should I mention my mother's pasta e fagioli in my SoP?" and then somebody else is like "YMMV, but I mentioned my mom's pasta e fagioli in my SoP last year and didn't get in anywhere, but this year I didn't mention pasta e fagioli and got in places, so by Mill's method...."  Or like, I like the parts where people are like "Hey what books should I be reading next year?" and then other people are like "oh, you should probably be reading this book and that book" but then I'm like "you should probably be getting drunk with your old friends before you make new grad student friends that are bad drinkers." 
 
I really like this new thing where people are like "Don't be a jerk!"  And they're all like "hey, one reason to not be a jerk is that coach said not to be a jerk!"  As if they were going to be jerks if I hadn't said anything.  I get to be a treatment in a Rubin model.  It is very flattering, even if it is just pretend-mattering.  Hey, that rhymed.
 
Apparently I also like typing with the comedic timing of Mitch Hedberg.
 
I do not like the heavy.  This is probably related to the fact that I also am kind of sad that I won't get to be a dumb grad student next year; even though I will no more intelligent or accomplished or well-paid than I am now (which is nil on all dimensions), I will have to kind of pretend to be a grown up.  It's kind of making me sad.  I hope you guys will take advantage of getting to be dumb grad students.  You won't have to iron or tuck in your shirts.  You'll get to sit around and brainstorm and woodshop and spitball and mix it up and make it happen and stir the pot and take the time to really learn the deep, substantive meaning of the Lagrangian multiplier and reading Rousseau and saying "hey it would be cool to model the Lawgiver" because that's a fun idea that you get to have when you're a dumb grad student and maybe you'll even think you did something really novel and interesting only to find out that Abraham Wald did it a kajillion years ago or that Daron Acemoglu had six working papers on the topic when he was 12 and all of them turned into Econometricas and you don't know if that should make you feel good or bad or scared on a dimension so much deeper and more existential than regular fear that "scared" probably isn't the right word and next thing you know you'll be worried about your diction even though it is the least important part of any of this.  I will be working on not swearing and not making jokes about Father O'Malley or "the old bestiality days."  No longer will be I able to teach students about exogenous shocks by describing punching a guy in the stomach so hard that he poops himself.  Allofasudden, I will have to be the good cop, and all of you guys will get to be the bad cops, skillfully trained in breaking down every argument, every research design, every set of assumptions, every data set.  I already miss being a grad student.
 
It is also sad that the NIT games tonight were so bad that I found myself saying "hot damn!  I wonder if Property Brothers is on."  It was.
 
Not too many of you have met me, though I've been on here a long time.  I suspect I will continue to come on even though I am old and grizzled and constantly crippled and lacking in hair.  Some of the talk today was heavy and I didn't like it because I like thinking about rainbows and sunshine and whether the composition of an arbitrary set of correspondences is upper hemi-continuous.  But one thing did kind of make me sad for other reasons.  Those few of you that have met me could probably surmise that I think loyalty is cool or at least that I think effort put into my friends and colleagues and the department itself is not effort wasted.  It's cool with your friends and with your colleagues and with your professors and with the younger grad students and even with the Pleges [sik] and with the secretaries and with the janitor lady that really gets glad when you take the time to ask how she's doing and even with the undergrads that try so hard on a daily basis to suck your brain from your skull and your soul from your heart.  This is not a business that rewards loyalty, which is kind of a bummer.  I am not trying to say that it is such a business, or even that such a business exists.  It probably doesn't.  You must be your own advocate, from supporting your own ideas in contentious advising meetings to writing in a clear, confident prose to choosing the best situation for yourself to being willing to negotiate politely and humbly and unjerkily.  But in the course of your career you will make many decisions, and some will be good and some will be bad and some will not be entirely clear and I would like to think that some sense of community matters.
 
I should note that this ramble was written with an intentional style and was influenced only by the impeccable fixing-up skills of the aforementioned Property Brothers and perhaps also to the squawking of Mingus albums playing in the background.  To the best of my knowledge all of the numerous subject-verb dyads above feature correct conjugations which should serve as an indicator of sobriety and attention to detail and craftsmanship.  The aim here was to reduce the heavy, which to my eye has been done competently though inelegantly and self-indulgently.  You all seem like good enough people to be willing to take on those costs in the name of humoring an old man finding himself being put onto an iceberg floating away to the icy sea.  Did I say self-indulgently?  I meant megalomaniacally.

Also, for more background, see these threads:
 

 
Quote: "My adviser and colleagues are so cool. I couldn't imagine doing this to them. A PhD is a very "personal" thing. I'd feel very manipulative and I would feel like I was letting the team down if I dropped out. The process is tough for us students, but it is also tough for advisers: they are putting time, money, and energy into us. We take a gamble on picking a school, hoping that our advisers are supportive of our ideas, and at the same time, our advisers are taking a gamble on us.
Before starting my PhD program I would have been cool with this, but now that I know what it is like, I wouldn't recommend others try a stunt like this. It's a real jerk move. "
 

 
Choice quote from the second thread:
"This gets asked all the time on these boards, you should check out past topics. My personal feelings, along with the consensus on these forums, is that this is generally a bad thing to do. You will definitely burn bridges and make things complicated for yourself. Do you think your adviser at the 1st university would really write you a strong LOR for the 2nd university? How would you explain yourself in your SOP for the 2nd application? You are clearly going to have to show you enrolled into a PhD program and then quit. How excited do you think the 2nd school will be about taking someone on who has already done that once?"
 

 
Choice quote:
 
"This is more from my personal view and other fellow grad student views as I have not discussed it with professors, but I believe it is generally frowned upon to leave the PhD program after getting your Masters. I think you are potentially blackballing yourself from academia. It basically just looks like you wanted to come in and get a free Masters and then leave. You waste the school's time and your adviser's time and worst of all you take another potential student's spot that legitimately wants to go there. I would also think that any future schools would be very cautious with your application since you went to another school and left after a Masters. In their eyes, they might think you would just do that again. I would also think your adviser would not write you the best LOR. Imagine if your were the advisor, you are doing work you are proud of, building up good relationships, and then you find out one of your students never wanted to be in your lab to begin with and then they want to leave for another university which basically means they used you to get a Masters, and then they ask you for a letter of rec? 

Sorry if this sounds harsh, but I am against the attitude of accepting a PhD spot with no intention of finishing. If you like the school you are accepted to and you like the work they are doing, you should go there and be happy. "

Coach, it's getting heavy again.

Coach, it's getting heavy again.

When you put it that way, most of the other reasons to leave seem pretty feeble, too ;-).  I wouldn't have transferred to placate an SO.  Then again, I am equally unattractive everywhere.

That Rosicky goal 

That Rosicky goal 

claim LSU acceptance.
They said, no assistanship is available for me, but they nominated me to Graduate School
Tuition Award. It covers all the tuition fees, but I do not know whether it provides monthy stipend or not. How do you think?

Last rejection from Maryland came this morning. No surprises, but that closes out my cycle. Can't say I'll totally disappear, since I'm already planning for next cycle, but I'll be taking a couple of weeks to rest off the emotions from this one. Huge, huge congratulations to everyone with good news this time around, and best of luck in the fall! And thank you to all of you, for being such a great support group during this process.

Just got a phone call from the DGS at Pittsburgh (top choice!). Admitted off the waitlist! One of the best days of my life! 

This got heavy, man.

I wrote it, and I promise it was not spamming and jelly as I've already confirmed my spot at one particular program. 
It has nothing to do with anything else but the fact that those messages are extemely disrespectful to any of the other users at GC that are waiting on their notifications, or even those who didn't get in at all.
 
I meant everything I wrote and I would write it again. People should care a little bit more about the other ones in the same situation and not just let their egos write.

I do think that way too, and I'm really not that concerned about results themselves 'cause my cycle is pretty much over and I'm happy with it. But I keep reading these messages and I just couldn't take it any more. Many are worried and anxious about their particular situation, and other ones just don't care at all, and it's a horrible thing. Maybe, I have not been diplomatic with my message, but I don't think a little empathy is too much to ask. 

I get it. Every time I see posts like that, I try to think that people are probably stinging from the rejection and trying to rationalize their feelings and confusion about the process. 
 
But I definitely get that it stings when someone puts down a program that someone else might be really excited about, and it's not a very nice thing to say.
 
(The process is starting to get to everyone, I think.)

Stop that. You'll be fine. I have been reading this thread from the beginning and I can tell from your posts that you're intelligent and know what you're talking about with respect to your research interests. Don't get down on yourself and use this as motivation to improve your application in the case that you strike out (or get in somewhere but decide to reapply next year).
 
Also, you still have five schools. Your cycle is far from over.
 
Cooperstreet, I PMed you.

Stop that. You'll be fine. I have been reading this thread from the beginning and I can tell from your posts that you're intelligent and know what you're talking about with respect to your research interests. Don't get down on yourself and use this as motivation to improve your application in the case that you strike out (or get in somewhere but decide to reapply next year).
 
Also, you still have five schools. Your cycle is far from over.
 
Cooperstreet, I PMed you.