xolo

Based off of information I got from the grad secretary, I'm now enrolled in 3 courses for the fall semester -- endocrinology, biotech, and a stats course. My program doesn't have required core courses, so I may be able to ask for some reprieve in the form of alternative courses within the department if I can make the pitch that they will be more applicable and useful to me. 
 
I hope I survive!

16 credits in a semester? Yea, that seems like way too much at the graduate level. You need to figure out what can wait until later. My guess is that it's going to be the research methodology class.
 
I say this as someone that took 3 seminars and a stats class in one semester in grad school. It sucked. I survived it but, it also really, really sucked and I didn't get as much out of anything that semester as I could have. And for the record, I was not teaching a class then. If this is your first time teaching, you may be underestimating how much of your time teaching will take up.

To add some anecdotal "data": In my program, we are on the quarter system (3 10-week quarters of courses, the 4th quarter is the summer). We have 11 required quarter-length courses in our PhD. I chose to get courses out of the way faster and took 3 courses/quarter and 2 courses in my fall quarter of 2nd year, so I was finished all coursework fairly early. Other students have spread their courses over the first 2 years (i.e. approximately 2 courses per quarter). Some courses might be "easy" (i.e. you already took the material in undergrad but not enough to get a waiver, or it's a course you're not interested in and you just want it done with minimal effort) and I tried to balance it by taking one of these types of course per quarter (there was one quarter where all 3 courses were demanding and that was tough). 

I received a voicemail message from the person over graduate admissions, she stated "The committee is in their final stages of making their decision and you will receive an email next Monday to the email address that was provided on your application; from there you will log in to the portal to view your full admissions letter." I know it may sound crazy but that I'm asking this but I can't get in contact with her to make sure because their officers are closed. Is this an acceptance I just have to know? 

I agree with eyepod that this is a personal decision that depends on your priorities and goals. I think you need to know why you want to attend and what exactly you will gain. Know what you're getting into.  If you decide that it's worth it to you, all things considered, then go for it.  But if you aren't sure, I wouldn't take the risk.  Like bsharpe269 said, you can re-apply in the future if you aren't positive this is the right decision for you now.  I don't think there's a right or wrong answer to this type of question; it's your life, so you have to decide what you want to get out of it.  

I'm not sure how all these ideas can be separated into a neat list of "do nots" and "onlys" because those kinds of absolute terms are pretty hard to defend or even to make sense of. I don't even try to declare what others should do, that doesn't even make sense to me. I have a great love for the broad subject and am driven to write about it. According to the above my motivation is invalid, but they don't know me. I could cite many counter-examples of successful individuals that violate these rules.

I would add that there were a number of prolific posters, like Wyatt that kept things upbeat.

I would add that there were a number of prolific posters, like Wyatt that kept things upbeat.

Thanks ToldAgain for a rational response, although I do not consider myself an applicant, I am an accepted student into a top 30 PhD program with years of funding, which I think is a little different.  I didn't realize I was asking a forbidden question. If anyone would be interested in actually reading my question, they will see it was not disparaging, argumentative, or demeaning. It only reflected my perplexity. To be labelled a "troll" or "argumentative" is a bit uncalled for. I really had never heard about "Rhet/Comp" before. This reminds me a little bit of the "question" of whether it is "Spanish" or "Castellano" which, according to the DRAE, are interchangeable terms. But not to everyone!

So excuse my ignorance, but when did Comp Rhet become a mainstream academic path? Has it always been around? I always thought it was the English Department. The very terms seem so out of place in the 21st century of anthropology, psychology, and linguistics. Composition and Rhetoric seem so 19th century in the same way as Grammar and Dictionaries are.

Thanks! I already accepted elsewhere though (with a much better funding package)

It's funny, I just got accepted to one of the schools I applied to today. I guess some places just work in other ways...

I love this.
 
For my first acceptance, I had just sat down at work. I opened my email on my phone and saw that I had received a decision from my second-choice school (the one I am now attending). I opened the decision letter on my work laptop and just kind of sat and stared at it for a couple of minutes. I had only read "pleased to notify," which was in the first line. I didn't bother reading anything else. Then, I got up and walked into my boss's office and told her the good news. She is an alum of the same university, so she was really excited. Then I called both of my parents at work, texted my boyfriend, who called me on his lunch hour. I was on the phone a lot. Then I just kind of went back to work like nothing had happened.
 
For the second acceptance, I was waiting to hear back from schools toward early March, and had not received any other emails since the aforementioned. So I logged on to the application portal of one school, which had said that a decision was reached on Feb. 19, even though I had received no email about it being posted! I opened it and thought first, "Oh okay, rejection - I can handle it." I skipped the first paragraphs and skimmed the words "intent to enroll," and my heart skipped a beat, or five, and I read the rest of the letter. It was definitely a surprise. 
 
Kind of mellow, now that I look back on it. I wish I had done some kind of neat happy dance.

So excited I can finally post on this thread after reading everyone's responses and thinking I'd not be able to do this until next year!

Due to a special circumstance I was allowed to apply to a university late, because of this I had been in contact with the grad admin throughout the entire application process.

Today I received an email from the grad admin saying the faculty are reviewing your application at this time (which I thought must have really meant right then) and you will hear shortly. Needless to say this made me very anxious. I decided to take a shower since I had just came back from Tae Kwon Do and it would prevent me from refreshing my phone every couple minutes. When I got out I checked my email again and there was an email from the admin with the subject line Acceptance Letter!

I wish I would have had some happy dance or something but I am about to meet with my current PI and I'm really looking forward to telling her!

Now I can say I got into grad school on Star Wars Day! May the 4th be with you!

I seriously hope when a company, I don't know lets use a crazy research group like Skunk Works, looks at applicants they don't go "well this guy is really strong in relevant research, smart, etc etc but we didn't meet him at a conference and trade business cards! So we have to go with the person of less qualifications because he networked harder."
 
I would be glad to not land that job if that is a major consideration in hiring.

So excuse my ignorance, but when did Comp Rhet become a mainstream academic path? Has it always been around? I always thought it was the English Department. The very terms seem so out of place in the 21st century of anthropology, psychology, and linguistics. Composition and Rhetoric seem so 19th century in the same way as Grammar and Dictionaries are.

So excuse my ignorance, but when did Comp Rhet become a mainstream academic path? Has it always been around? I always thought it was the English Department. The very terms seem so out of place in the 21st century of anthropology, psychology, and linguistics. Composition and Rhetoric seem so 19th century in the same way as Grammar and Dictionaries are.

So excuse my ignorance, but when did Comp Rhet become a mainstream academic path? Has it always been around? I always thought it was the English Department. The very terms seem so out of place in the 21st century of anthropology, psychology, and linguistics. Composition and Rhetoric seem so 19th century in the same way as Grammar and Dictionaries are.

So excuse my ignorance, but when did Comp Rhet become a mainstream academic path? Has it always been around? I always thought it was the English Department. The very terms seem so out of place in the 21st century of anthropology, psychology, and linguistics. Composition and Rhetoric seem so 19th century in the same way as Grammar and Dictionaries are.

So excuse my ignorance, but when did Comp Rhet become a mainstream academic path? Has it always been around? I always thought it was the English Department. The very terms seem so out of place in the 21st century of anthropology, psychology, and linguistics. Composition and Rhetoric seem so 19th century in the same way as Grammar and Dictionaries are.

So excuse my ignorance, but when did Comp Rhet become a mainstream academic path? Has it always been around? I always thought it was the English Department. The very terms seem so out of place in the 21st century of anthropology, psychology, and linguistics. Composition and Rhetoric seem so 19th century in the same way as Grammar and Dictionaries are.

So excuse my ignorance, but when did Comp Rhet become a mainstream academic path? Has it always been around? I always thought it was the English Department. The very terms seem so out of place in the 21st century of anthropology, psychology, and linguistics. Composition and Rhetoric seem so 19th century in the same way as Grammar and Dictionaries are.

So excuse my ignorance, but when did Comp Rhet become a mainstream academic path? Has it always been around? I always thought it was the English Department. The very terms seem so out of place in the 21st century of anthropology, psychology, and linguistics. Composition and Rhetoric seem so 19th century in the same way as Grammar and Dictionaries are.

So excuse my ignorance, but when did Comp Rhet become a mainstream academic path? Has it always been around? I always thought it was the English Department. The very terms seem so out of place in the 21st century of anthropology, psychology, and linguistics. Composition and Rhetoric seem so 19th century in the same way as Grammar and Dictionaries are.

not expecting anyone to consider my opinion... just saying that there's a lot of selfabsorption in the room. how quickly we forget what it's like to be on the torturous waiting end! these are the kinds of attitudes that carry forward into academia and shows how profs can completely guiltlessly put applicants thru hell during app season.
 
apply your very powerful brain for a day or two, consult everyone you need to consult, and make a decision. because of this dawdling and "WEEEEE I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DOOOOO HEE HEE!" some people will have to make the tough choice of turning down offers to gamble for a wait list offer that may come after april 15. 
 
it's awful.