tskinner

We're just a hot mess! (20 min. 'til February on the West Coast )

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG

By nature, I'm a very optimistic person...but, not here. I'm lucky to have a very supportive family. This has come in handy during many tough times in my life, but sometimes they go overboard. For example, everyone in my family keeps telling me to "not worry," because I'll "probably get into every program you applied to." I'm more realistic and have better understanding of the process to know this is impossible, and they're only setting me up for failure.

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG

I wasn't paranoid about that.

HOLY CRAP! 16 MORE SCHOOLS! That must have cost you a fortune to apply! And Congrats on your acceptances!

Googleで翻訳したそう！

日本語を話せる人がいる？俺は、去年４ヶ月日本に住んでいた。　阪神の西宮市　（兵庫県）。実は、アメリカに帰ってから、日本語早く忘れてる。 （悪い文法　ごめんね）

Congrats! Just wondering if there was any change in your "submission status" when you access your application?

It seems that a few programs are sending out decisions earlier than usual this year, like Davis.

Phew. thanks!

Great work! There's nothing more rewarding that changing one's signature from applied to accepted.

I second that.

Subfield: IR Interests: WAR and PEACE! Why do we go to war? Why do we not? I'm particularly interested in why we stop once we've started (especially since nowadays the endpoint is becoming less clear). Also interested in the role and effectiveness of diplomacy and economic sanctioning. If I have to pick a second (sub-sub field), I said I'd do comparative simply because of the international component, but I'm becoming very interested in methods.

I swear they know how we read into e-mails that start with Congrats! They all laugh maniacally as they compose those messages.

lolz i haz diz nitmare evry nite!

Sweet.

I'm one of those who's switching sides in the transfer to graduate school. In my undergrad I am majoring in Applied Economics and International Affairs and Commerce. In all these four years I have taken two political science courses: Intro to and International. I really like Econ and the tools of it, but I slowly became jaded about the subject matter and the assumptions they make. I still love micro, but hate macro. I'm wondering how many other field switchers are out there!?

I would say to do a handwritten card. To ensure it gets to them on time, bring it with you to the interview and write it immediately following it and drop it in the nearest mailbox. I think the extra personal touch is really worth the effort.

I had this same problem! I am earning both a BA and BS concurrently in I.R. and Economics, and only one of my applications had this as a choice. For those that let my type in the degree, it usually only allowed four characters, so I couldn't even abbreviate to BA&BS. For on of the applications I remember listing my university twice under attended universities with the same dates of attendance to put in both degrees! >.<

This is what I got: "For the remainder of your first year and for the following four years, the Department anticipates covering in-state fees and a stipend through a combination of Teaching Assistant assignments, Research Assistant assignments, and Readerships. Appointment to any of these positions includes graduate student health insurance. Our strong expectation is that the department will fund your graduate work for five academic years. This support is contingent on the availability of funds and your satisfactory academic progress in the program, as determined through course grades, faculty evaluations, teaching evaluations, and adherence to departmental and university graduate student policies." (I'm an in-stater)

I was told that I will get funding through teaching and research assistantships and readerships. Quick question: What's a readership?

I called my boyfriend first. Poor guy. He got back from work at like 4am the night before and I woke him up. He didn't sound too thrilled because of how exhausted he was. Later that day he asked if he dreamed it and acted appropriately when I told him that he didn't.

The Economist in me wants to yell: IGNORE THE SUNK COSTS! So what if you've put in all this time so far. If it's not making you happy, don't factor the work already done into your decision. That being said, I still think the benefits of hunkering down and working through the pain to produce a senior thesis outweighs those of quitting and taking another course. Sure, you'll be able to read more about topics you really like, but you're going to have five years (not to mention the rest of your academic career) to do that. If (heaven forbid) you do need to apply another time, there is nothing like a produced thesis to make a stronger bid (my biggest regret is placing myself in a situation that made writing a thesis impossible). While it may not interest you, try to think of this as good training when you become the research lackey of your future graduate school advisor. In a perfect world, your advisor will only want help with topics that fully interest you, but who knows? If you decide to drop the thesis, you better take a very challenging course that will truly add value to your application. Also, I worry that if you already applied and told graduate schools that you are writing a thesis and you back out that they will be very upset when they get your new transcripts and find out you "lied" about your last semester classes. It would be a little embarrassing to e-mail them that you dropped your thesis because the topic was uninteresting. So I'm gonna' give you a little tough love here: SIT DOWN, WORK THROUGH IT, AND WRITE THAT THESIS! (I hope there was some help in this circular, stream of consciousness set of advice! )