FaultyPowers

Ohhhhhhhhh what a day. Last night at around 8 pm, a POI emails me and asks why he can't find my application. I manage not to pee my pants because I know that I definitely did not space out on the date, it definitely IS January 2nd. We have another phone call planned for tomorrow, and he'd wanted to read my LORs, writing sample, and personal statement before then. He wanted to read the entirety of my application before our second phone interview. He wanted to read the entirety of my application before our second phone interview, which is taking place BEFORE the official review process has begun. I mean...I know it's good to be early but, really? I didn't figure that January 2nd meant December 15th! So of course I sat here aaaaall day trying to get together as much material as I could to email him, including emailing all my letter writers to ask if they wouldn't mind informally emailing him their letters. And despite my telling them "I KNOW this is short notice, he just requested these TODAY", etc., each of them wrote back to scold me for giving them such short notice. One actually refused! Thanks guys!! So today I learned that it pays to be early. Really, really, reeeeally early.

I found it difficult to share when I did share When we moved the apartment was almost completely empty despite three other people still living there.

You will probably have to share a place. Not the worst luck but....meh. I lived in a shared house in SF for years, paying I think $650 at the most? Which actually IS cheap, I'm afraid to say! One advantage to sharing a place is that often the houses that are filled with roommates are Rent Controlled Unicorns that are all locked in at whatever they cost when the first person signed the first lease. In that regard it's almost a better idea to live in SF than Berkeley, because with fewer students there's less seasonal move-in move-out. If/when anybody gets their acceptances I can give you all the housing info you might need in terms of where to look, where to live and where to avoid. I've lived here forever.

I sent in I think a 4 page writing sample, because I figured if you want brief, this is brief, it's from my MA thesis so it's clearly part of a larger body of work and it was a complete section in and of itself. At that point I was like, you got my SOP, you got my personal history statement, I doubt at this point you're going to be on the fence about whether I'm an adequate writer. You've either determined that I am or that I'm not.

I inadvertently ended up doing the same thing to Tulane last year. The fact that your SOP was supposed to be 500 words was BURIED somewhere in the grad school pages, not the department pages. I emailed the DGS and he said it didn't matter. Of course I then didn't get accepted...but when my POI discussed why I hadn't been accepted with me that was not in any way part of it.

I knooooooooooow! Who have you applied to work with?

As I was leaving work yesterday I put my sandwich wrapper in my purse and threw my keys in the trash.

I'm working on my 3rd out of 6 right now. This one is throwing me for a total loop though, because the project I'm pitching is completely dissimilar to anything else I talk about on any other application. It came out of emailing my POI back and forth and identifying a topic that he specifically would be interested in supervising. It's one of those schools where the fit is not intuitive but *could* work out really well. So for the first time in months I'm staring at a completely blank page. Come on brilliance! Where are you when I need you!?

It's worse here for sure but I don't think it's particularly low in the rest of California. Rooms will be from around 700 and up, unless you get some crazy good deal, studios are maybe 1300+ and it goes on from there. There's rent control but only if the building is over 30 years old and if not rent will increase 10% per year at least. It's ah... it's bleak out here.

Let me give you what I think is the perfect example of how bloody expensive it is here. If I get into and go to Berkeley, I'm planning to hire a contractor and pay to convert a 2 car garage at my mother's house to an apartment. It is literally cheaper to BUILD an apartment than it will be to rent one. I almost hope that's how it works out, just for the sheer absurdity!

Hellooo. Since the application deadline for Berkeley has already passed I figured we could use a forum to corral everybody who has applied. We might end up as cohorts after all! Maybe. Probably not but...maybe. And we could also keep track of any Berkeley-related developments that way. I'm applying to the Archaeology focus, and specifically to do Bioarchaeology with Sabrina Agarwal as my main advisor, Rosemary Joyce as my second. I had an informal interview with Dr. Agarwal yesterday - NOT AT ALL anything that resulted from applications, merely as a result of my already living in Berkeley and asking her if I could come by and introduce myself/chat about the program, etc. - and I felt like it went really well. She seems like an awesome person to work with. Even gave me a cookie! I haven't been able to meet with Dr. Joyce but I've at least spoken to her via email. I didn't get too much information about the program or about funding, but Dr. Agarwal did mention something about the department trying their best to give everyone some kind of support. How far that would actually go in the Bay Area is debatable though!! And she said that formal decisions are usually available early February. Soooooo...anybody else out there?

I'm just going to assume that the AAAs are the reason that ALL of my recent emails to professors have gone unanswered. ... starting to feel like I'm shouting into a cave over here.

Excellent. Gmail draft deleted.

Oo! Clever you! I wish I'd been able to go this year. I'm going to the SAAs (since I, y'know. Live there) but I feel like they have less potential to do me much good since they're after decisions are announced! I guess they might be good if I have to apply again next year. Oh god. "Next year"...ohhhh...

What are everyone's feelings on the "letting you know I've submitted my app" emails? Polite and neutral or pushy and off-putting?

Oh my god that would make my entire week. Did they just email you apropos of nothing or had you sent one of those "just letting you know that I've submitted my application!" emails?

Does anyone know what the funding actually IS at Berkeley? Because I've applied there as well but I already live in Berkeley...and I have to move whether I get in anywhere or not! I'm paying over 2Gs for a one bedroom. So... yeah. You are correct to be concerned.

That sounds like a problem!!! Which application is that for?

Yep, I found a grammatical error in my statement of personal history. Sigh.

Anthro pages say application is due December 2nd, grad page says December 1st. Note to self, always check the year. Note to Berkeley, really? Somebody is calling in sick today

Thank you. Because your saying that made me double check the Berkeley website and see that in the Anthro pages it says the application is due by midnight December 2nd...2013. On the main grad page, lo and behold, December 1st.

Hi Letter Writer! I just thought I'd send you a quick text to let you know that your letter is due on Tuesday! I don't know if you've gotten my three previous emails about it, since you've never responded to any of them! I do know that you haven't turned your letter in yet though, because I've gotten emails from the school telling me they've gotten everybody else's but not yours! How you uh, how you comin' on that letter you're working on? Huh? Gotta a big, uh, big stack of papers there? Gotta, gotta nice little letter you're working on there? Your big letter you've been working on for 2 months? Huh? Gotta, gotta compelling recommendation of me as a prospective doctoral student? Yeah? Gotta description of some obstacles I've overcome? Huh? Gotta recommendation brewing there? Working on, working on that for quite some time? Huh? Yea, talking about that 2 months ago. Been working on that the whole time? Nice little narrative? Beginning, middle, and end? Some friends become enemies, some enemies become friends? At the end your recommendee is richer from the experience? Yeah? Yeah? No, no, you deserve some time off.

PMd you

I haven't gotten it yet! But I'm thinking a crunchy thing, a spicy thing, a squishy thing, and then mango.

I'll need it. I just spent 45 minutes deciding which Thai place I'll be ordering delivery from in six hours. Clearly I am a master of task-management.