grad_wannabe

To be perfectly honest, I wouldn't go for a master's in journalism at all. With publishing in such an upheaval, and the old guard of journalism and newspapers crumbling, there's not really much of a return on a masters in j. right now. Bloggers are getting more journalistic respect and a wider audience than reporters who went the traditional route. I can't even begin to list all the newspapers and magazines that are slashing their payrolls right now. I have a friend at Columbia's j-school right now. All her professors talk about is Twitter. She hugely regrets enrolling. EDIT: But then again, I'm going for an MFA in Art, which is a very expensive ticket to life-long poverty. I am the last person who should be giving advice on the return on a masters.

I have a roadtrip planned with four of my best friends at the end of March. I didn't mean to plan it this way (the purpose of the trip is a concert in San Fran that weekend) but I realized after starting the planning that I was probably going to know most, if not all, of the decisions by that point. If I got in nowhere: use the trip to start scoping out places to move, since I won't have anywhere else to go! If I got an acceptance: walk about with a happy glow the whole time. I'll be seeing people I haven't seen in awhile, so I might get to do the half-modest, "Oh, yes, I did hear from the adcoms, turns out they want me at [...]!" (which will doubly suck if I got in nowhere: "oh, yeah, sorry we haven't talked in awhile, I was kind of a hermit for six months while I applied to grad school ... no, didn't get in anywhere, haha!")

Generally it's a very good idea. I visited 3/4 of my choices before applying. Shows initiative and gumption, plus it gives you the all-important recognition factor during app reviews.

I had one application due December 1. The head of that department told me no decisions will be made until mid-March. Good things come to those who wait, I guess...

I don't think it really matters. Most of the schools I applied to sent me emails along the lines of, "Now that the deadline has passed, we're going to begin cataloging materials" followed by another email, usually a week or two later, that said, "Now that we're done cataloging materials, the admissions committee will begin looking at applications." I had one professor that sent her rec letter for me to the school in mid-November. I submitted the application the day before it was due, December 15. They just TODAY marked on my status web page that the rec letter was received. 2 months later. I second the above poster that remarked on the difference between a hard deadline and a rolling deadline. In the latter, the date you send in your app definitely matters.

Just checked my status for that school again - updated to Application Complete!

I got an email from one school stating, "We have finished cataloging all received materials. Please check your status online." So, I checked, and one rec letter and one transcript were red-marked as "UNRECORDED." I got a "rec letter received" confirmation email for this very prof, from this very school, back in November. I sent the transcripts in the same package as my portfolio. The portfolio was marked as "RECEIVED" while the transcript was not. I sent them a slightly frosty email, stating that I had absolutely sent in those materials months ago, but if they had misplaced them then of course I would send additional copies. I received no reply, but on my App Status page, the transcripts were suddenly marked "RECEIVED." The rec letter, though, still says unrecorded. Blerg. Just waiting for them to tell me to bend over and grab my toes at this point.

I know a guy who is thinking about doing this very thing. I ran into him at the mall a couple weeks ago (apparently I live in a nineties movie), and he asked what I was up to. I said, "I'm going to the stationery store to get thank-you cards for my rec letter writers. They were all so awesome and giving. How 'bout you? How goes your apps?" (knowing that we have at least one, possibly two overlapping schools.) He paled and said, "Not good, not good. Practically all of my writers flaked on me. Pretty shitty. At this point I'm thinking about just writing my own letters and signing their names to them." I was floored and only managed to say, "Gee, man, maybe that's not such a good idea ... uh I gotta go." I have no idea what he decided to do. EDIT: Oh dang I didn't even notice the dates on this. Bah Ghost of Threads Past!

It's a terrible Catch-22 - it's harder to find jobs, so more people apply to grad school. But, because everyone is applying, it's now harder to get into grad school as well. On top of that, schools have less funding and less people are leaving academia for private-sector work, therefore it's even harder to get into grad school. And on top of THAT, academic posts are disappearing as budgets are being slashed, so even if we do manage to get INTO grad school, the job market is going to be that much shittier when we get out. Plus, everyone who goes into grad school during this economic slump is going to get out at the same time, so the market is going to be glutted with uber-educated people in about three years, all competing for the same shrinking number of posts. All herald the new Greatest Generation. (I was recently hanging out at a friend's house, there were six or seven people sitting on a patio smoking cigarettes, all recently graduated uni in very different academic backgrounds - humanities, poli-sci, art, chemistry, physics, etc. I asked who there was either already in grad/law school or in the process of applying - ALL hands went up. That was startling.)

Ooh this is interesting! I work through video, installation and performance in an effort to better understand the way that narrative structures affect how we form memories and, by extension, how we build our own identities. I want to explore how technology and story-telling intertwine to affect the way we formulate our very selves.

I definitely feel the need to stop looking here. Last night I was snuggled in bed, secure in the knowledge that 3 out of 4 of my applications are safely submitted. I had safely put them completely out of mind, ready to forget them all about them. (In fact, the very idea that adcoms could be calling in a few months is strange and surreal. The application process was so drawn-out, multi-faceted, and frustrating, that the very act of just turning them IN felt like the end result. The knowledge that committees are going to be looking at them strikes me as odd, somehow.) Anyway, I was all snug in bed watching a DVD, happy to be done with the damn things. Then I remembered a post I'd read here, how someone obsessed over "who was looking at [their] application RIGHT NOW!" I started thinking, "Gee, someone could be looking at my portfolio ... at this very moment ... they could be (gulp) throwing them in the trash right now ... " My hands started to quiver, my heartrate jumped a few notches and I broke out in a cold sweat all over. Not nice.

Just got an email from MIT - their system was down all week. "We apologize for the inconvenience!" My status page has been updated - but they apparently chose to file SOME pieces from the last package I sent, but not all. "We have received your portfolio and transcripts from school #1, but not transcripts from school #2. Your application is incomplete." Me, shaking the computer - "THEY WERE ALL IN THE SAME PACKAGE! AARRGHHH!"

@ JohnDiligent - wow, that's a bummer. I can't imagine my mom being more into whatever the hell matchbox 20 is tweeting than my applications. I have a similar frustration with the confidence of my friends in my applications. My best friend moved to San Francisco last fall, where we have another mutual best friend. We call ourselves the Posse. My back-up plan, if I don't get into any schools, is to move up to the Bay Area so we can have adventures (at his insistence and kinda constant "move up here!" pestering). As the process has gone on, I've shared with him both the good and bad news any time anything happened with an application - every rec letter, every meeting. He's become convinced that I'll get in somewhere and won't move to SF. Our conversations are getting kinda weirdly bummed out. Me: "How's your room mate?" Him: "Eh, he has to work a lot. His friends are cool, though, you would like them. They're our kind of people." Me: "Oh, nice! If I don't get accepted anywhere and move up there, I'm gonna need some friends! Find some good people for me." Him: (in a sad, downtrodden tone) "No, you're going to get in somewhere. I know it. You're never going to move up here. (sigh)" Me: "Dude, 3 of the departments I applied to accept less than 10 people a year. A YEAR! I really probably won't get in anywhere." Him: (shaking his head) "Don't you get it? You're one of those people. You're meant to be. I just know it." Me: "AARRGHGH!"

I did one uneventful term (6 little credits) at a community college between my stints at universities, and was awarded three measly credits for a summer program I did in high school. I didn't report either of those on most of my applications because I thought they were so insignificant. Now I'm wondering if my applications will be considered incomplete and I just effed myself. Also, I spent an unusually long time in undergrad - 7 full time years. I didn't address this in any of my SoPs because I didn't really want to draw attention to it, and am now wondering if I, again, effed myself.

I had two trusted professors tugging me in two different directions - one told me over and over again that I should only be applying to east coast schools ("you need to get out of California, see something different, meet different people!"). The other fell all over himself to get me a meeting with a department head at a school outside Los Angeles. He actually called me over the holidays to say, "Did you apply to X school yet? You didn't? Why not? They're perfect for you! Here's what I'm going to do for you..." So at that point, I felt like i HAD to apply to his school. And then I felt shitty telling the first professor, "Hey, I know you said not to apply to schools here, but so-n-so was really pushing this one program, and ... I think I'm going to apply. I hope that's okay with you... " I felt like I was taking his advice and throwing it in his face. Felt weirdly torn and angsty about it for awhile, but I'm trying to reassure myself that this is MY life, not theirs to play with, and I shouldn't worry about offending anyone with my choices.

MIT's school of architecture uses their own system (it wasn't applyyourself, but I don't remember if it was embark - it's been a month since I uploaded the thing) and their online application status page won't even let me log in. I clicked the link in the "Your Application is Processing - Check This Page Frequently For Updates" email they sent me and it goes to an error page - "Are you sure you typed the correct URL?" I'm a little freaked wondering if this means I was already rejected and deleted from their system... trying to remain calm and tell myself it has to be an error on their end...

I'm wondering about social network postings, actually - how many of you will post acceptances publicly on Facebook? I knew a girl who thought it very uncouth to post results on F-book. She was modest and preferred to tell people only if they asked directly, plus she said she felt some animosity from people who didn't get into their schools. But then again, isn't this what social networks are for? Sharing news? There was an article in the NY Times about it, the writer thought it base to post college acceptances: "Accepted, Rejected or Deferred? Keep the Answer Off Facebook." I think it's totally okay to post at least where you decide to go, just maybe not a list like, "Look at all my acceptances!"

I had a weird delivery problem last night - I submitted an application online at 11:30 pm ON the due date, 01/05 (I'm the same time zone as the school). Cutting it close, i know! A box popped up that said, "Your application was successfully submitted on 01/06/10." Cue my freak out and email to the admissions office, "Oh no! I swear I submitted it on 01/05! Will this show as 'late' on my application?" Checked my online status this morning - the very same system that told me 01/06 last night now says, "Your application was successfully submitted on 01/05/10." Cue my second email to admissions: "Uh, SlideRoom now correctly says I submitted on 01/05, I guess everything's okay now?" Finally got an email back from them: "I'm sure that's fine."

I had a dream where I showed up to a school for an interview, and was placed in a classroom full of other applicants. There was a guy up at the front of the room in a white button-down and glasses, holding a clipboard. Each applicant was called to the front of the room to give a presentation of their application materials, but I didn't have mine. The guy with the clipboard called my name, and I walked up with that chagrined, tail-between-the-legs feeling. I remember the feeling of trying to mutter an excuse while awash in shame and embarrassment. In response Clipboard Guy grabbed me, threw me over the desk at the front of the room, and raped me. I think I've been watching too much Law & Order...

I had the same situation: one of my LoR writers didn't like the online systems for NYU or MIT, so she mailed her letters directly to the respective graduate offices. I emailed both offices about a month after she said she mailed the letters. Both schools said the same thing, basically: "we're too swamped with materials to look for your letters. If we find, in the course of our regular application review, that you're missing anything, we will let you know." so, even if you do call, you likely won't get a satisfactory response.

Applications: 4 99% sure I will not get in: 1 Decent shot based solely on application (~30% sure I'll get in): 1 Pretty good shot based on aggressive networking (~20% and ~40%, respectively): 2 Then again, this is my first round of applications. I made it a rule to ONLY apply to long-shot schools. I have no sure safety by design.

I attended CSU Fullerton's Honors Program. I was also a Presidential Scholar. Do it. There are a lot of resources and perks available to the Honors kids that the regular student body does not have access to. There's an Honors-exclusive office and study lounge with unlimited free printing (which, believe me, really comes in handy when you have 3 essays due the same day during Finals week and you spent all your money on beer). There are research opportunities and plenty of free events, symposiums, and lectures. If I remember correctly, the Honors kids also have privileged access to class registration and dorm reservations (the Honors kids get to register for classes and reserve dorms first, I think - though that may have been a Scholars perk. I don't remember now.) There are also free-food events. Yes, the classes are harder, but they're much smaller. You'll be taking your lower-division general ed classes, like logic, philosophy and speech, in group seminars of 12 or 14 instead of a large lecture class of 200. Much better access to faculty, which means better LoRs down the line. Plus, the classes are just more interesting. One caveat - I wasn't there for junior or senior years (I transferred to UC Irvine) so I couldn't tell you whether the required Honors thesis project or the upper-div Honors classes are a huge time-suck.

I had a miniature very-last-minute freak out of my own last night! I'm applying to NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program. An optional part of the app is a creative portfolio, which they said on their website they prefer be submitted as a URL (which makes sense, considering the nature of the program). This portfolio's not required, but since I'm applying from an arts background, rather than a programming or professional career, I thought it pretty necessary. So, Dec. 1 was the deadline. Last night I was pushing it - still hadn't submitted the URL. I'd been working on that site for months, and had been going at it non-stop for the last week or so (pretty much since the last bite of pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving). I'd already submitted everything else: I'd priority-mailed the transcripts to get there 11/27, both the rec letters were done, and the Apply Yourself part was submitted and paid for on 11/30. All I had left to do was submit the URL in an email to the admissions office. Got to be around 8 last night. Getting down to the wire and I'm not qquuiitte done yet. You know the feeling? I still had to make the list of required plug-ins .... and then I remembered I'd promised to drive a friend to the airport. I planned to be back home again about 9:30, so I still had a couple hours to get it in before midnight. I left the house, drove over and picked her up about 8:15 ... and then remembered the time difference. The app was due at NYU. I'm in California. December 1st was going to be over in forty-five minutes, not fours hours, and I was in the middle of the 105 heading into LAX. I started freaking out. "OH NO!! I missed the deadline! What if they don't accept it if I send it after midnight their time?? That's December 2!! They won't take it! What have I done?!? I've jeapordized EVERYTHING!!" That's when my friend suggested I just use my phone to send the URL to the admissions office. So, that was what I did. I pulled off the freeway, pulled out my phone, and -cursing the rudimentary email formatting on the piece of shit- sent a very short, simple letter to the email address, listing the URL. I said out loud, "I can't believe I'm sending my application to NYU while sitting in my car in a Stater Bros. parking lot." But hey, I got it in at 8:35 - technically still Dec. 1 in NY. That was, anyway, until I got home an hour later, rushed to look online, and realized I'd accidently sent the email to the personal email address of the admissions director, and not to the general office address listed on the application. And I hadn't included the list of plug-ins. Blerg! I hurredly sent a follow-up email with all the requirements (at about 10:30 my time, so well into Dec. 2) but stressed about it all night... But, very happily, woke up to an email from the admissions director - "Great! Thanks!" So, they accepted it, but of course I'm going to stress that my last-minute confusion over the email will affect their appraisal of my application ... oh well! nothing to do about that now! Thanks for letting me vent!

I just clicked my first "Submit" button about twenty minutes ago and Jesus, I didn't think it'd be that hard. I swooped through the entire application, looking for mistakes and things to change, a dozen fruitless times before allowing myself to click that damn button.