cupofnimbus

Me neither, not even close. The closest I get to wrapping my head around it is when she wonders aloud if she's going to contribute to a robot apocalypse. Then I crack a joke about political apocalypse, because that's all I've got.

Ahhhh, one of my oldest and dearest friends just got into her first choice PhD program in robotics and I AM SO HAPPYYYY FOR HER IT MAKES UP FOR ALL THE EMOTIONAL DUMPS I'VE BEEN IN TODAY eta: that's kind of weird, isn't it? But ahhhhh, people getting their dreams fulfilled!!

Okay, good! I caught myself wondering if it was all right to congratulate someone on a wait list, even at somewhere like Michigan! Congratulations

Congratulations! (Yes? Congratulations.)

"But just look at the potential! The brilliance hiding under your silly traditional notions of good and bad!" You know how romance novels are like the most exaggerated kind of daydream fantasy? It feels like that. It's why I like reading romance novels.* *This is actually why I am a terrible candidate for a PhD in Serious Political Science

There's some fears on the PoliSci thread about having to tell people, so you are not alone at all. I'm not so afraid of that as mortified that I even tried to go about it knowing that my candidacy is only strong for my enthusiasm for working in my field. And, yeah, the money horror. I keep telling myself not to even think about much closer I could be to my wedding savings goal if it weren't for the tears and money I put into grad applications. I FEEL YOU SO MUCH

If it does work out that way, you won't be alone, and the person who will feel worst about it is you. Which may not be a help for you, but it will turn out okay. It will! There's the next cycle, and life goes on!

Actually, Michigan's site sort of said the bit about everyone having a shot, which is why I applied! I wanted to shoot as high as possible because I'd have been disappointed if I didn't. But while I was looking at schools, if I caught the slightest whiff of pretension, I got the heck outta dodge and refused to apply at all. The way I see it, there's not much I can do about some parts of my application without a time machine (I graduated college in 2008!), and if those things are the deciding factors for me, then... well, there's no use crying over spilled grade points. I think I'm getting shut out, too. The ND and Vandy acceptances last night and the rash of Penn State acceptances a while back seem to point that way. I'm disappointed, and I'll feel properly sorry for myself when I've got it all pinned down. I feel you there, pretty strongly.

I knew I was throwing money into the abyss, but it was the only program I applied to knowing that there was 150% zero chance I was going to be admitted. So, of course I had to give it a try!

Good luck to you both!

^^^^^ This, this this, thank you so much for this, and everything else in there. I'm pretty determined to be doing this thing I care about so much, however I have to go about doing it. So, even if I'm not thrilled with some aspects of my applications, I'm still going to give it a shot.

And then someone came into my office to ask me to help with work stuff and I didn't get to feel bad for myself very long. Condolences to the rest of the Michigan Massacre of February 2014, and congratulations to the impending admits! (Um, SURELY there will be, right?)

Aaand there's the Michigan reject.

My coping strategy for bad days/disappointments/sadness is the same as yours: chocolate, feel-good movie/book, tea/hot cocoa/fishbowl of wine, a fluffy blanket, and a good session of feeling sorry for myself. Then, after I've let myself wallow for a day, I kick myself back out into the world and get back to it. I've gone the whole way and convinced myself that I'm going to be rejected everywhere, so this plan is being enacted this weekend.

Seriously?

No, no. We can't think of how much it cost. It will only incite bitter weeping.

Nightmare. You mean nightmare. (My condolences, though. Good to finally hear, I bet!)

NOSE GOES.

Thanks! Mine hasn't changed, so I suppose it's logical to assume a reject, even if a little early.

Congrats! That is super awesome! You're on fire!

How'd you do yesterday? Still waiting on responses?

Hang in there. I'm stinging a bit from the Notre Dame news (they were one of my top choices on account of overall fit and their relationship with Kroc), but we'll get through!

I think this week is going to be a blood bath for me (I've already received one rejection). Two of my other schools--one of them very, very high on my list--sent out a bunch of acceptances last night with no waitlists or rejections, so they are implicit rejections, I think. Even though I have back-up plans to across-the-board rejections (I'm several years out of undergrad and a Master's program, so I have a job and career), my ego is still a little bruised! Bitter weeping and chocolate, that is how I am going to treat the rejection woes

Congratulations to the Princeton, ND and Vandy accepts! (And everyone else I'm forgetting!) Can any of the ND and Vanderbilt accepts confirm whether their status has changed online? I'm going to go check, but I am admittedly not very confident now...

No data signal on Metro, either, so I'm going to be refreshing my email as soon as I get above ground again, and then under the table at a meeting tonight...