zigazowohnow

How inspiring, you've touched my heart. Also, I really don't want to see a lot of places in a short period of time, I originally wanted to travel for a year and go to all these destinations but now as I would only have the summer I am prioritizing. I am striving for a cultural immersion, I want to fall in love (again) with Spanish, dance, eat the food, etc. etc. No one else in my family understands why i want to do this, but I have this pull in my chest that is telling me to go, go, go!

I trust you all when you say I am underestimating my costs. I think I will have to cut things short and possibly just stick to Spain & Italy (with maybe a stop in Morocco since it's right of the coast of Spain, but then their Lisbon, Portugal that's right next to Spain aaaahhh! Too many places, I wish I had unlimited finances!) I have looked into the cheap hostels that have kitchens and they are averaging about $20/night. The Euro vs. USD situation sucks so I can only pray that it gets better. Also when it comes to furnishing my new place I wanted to set aside a good amount because this will be my first place of my own, and I've had a miserable three years with my last roommates + no space! So I was looking forward to getting a decent bed and a halfway decent couch and table. However my first stop will be to goodwill and the salvation army to see if I like the cheapest stuff first. I also figure when I move I can take the furniture with so this should be a one time expense. Overall, I just cant see myself giving up on the traveling completely this summer, I worry I'd always regret it, therefore I will minimize my trip and save up for others in the future. The only reason I wanted to do so much now is that the airfare from the US overseas is expensive so I would like to get as much out of one overseas ticket as possible. ***Have any of you guys heard of the round the world tickets, they're pretty decent from 2.5k=5k for all continents and many stops provided you travel in the same direction (i.e. east to west or vice-versa)

Okay i see, that was a good idea, I notice a lot of people having the debate of the prestigious adviser or the program/city they love.

Frankdux...that was a bit intense...there were better ways of stating what you were trying to convey. Underdog...It sucks to get rejections on top of rejections...sometimes we're so angry that we misplace our anger. I think with you it was directed at the actual letter. I totally agree with you about the effort we put into applications, we really get our hopes up, imagine going there, write a statement of purpose with x school in our heart. Mentally you're there...then they send us an impersonal rejection letter. It hurts!!! I just really hate the fact that we have to put so much energy (emotional, mental, etc.) into our apps. all to get a friggin rejection letter!

I think you're a bit intense...however this is a very stressful period of time for all of us. I think a lot of people apply who don't even know what PhD stands for and don't deserve a nice rejection letter, therefore if i see a university has gone out of there way to add in something nice, I couldn't dream of getting upset with them for it.

I am trying to spend the least amount of time back home with my parents and have a some money saved so I will be abroad in Spain, Italy, France, Greece and hopefully some parts of Africa (Kenya, provided the violence calms, and possibly Cape Town South Africa) I've been planning on traveling this summer for a while and am really looking forward to it...but I'm nervous I only have about 10k saved and I don't want to use all of it traveling. Flight costs will total around 2,500 plus room and board for two months=2k. Then first and last months rent (1k or more) plus however much it will cost to furnish and decorate my new place (anyone have a rough estimate?). I hate being so cheap but I almost considered not going over seas so as to not deplete my savings and keep a nest egg...what do you think?

I think the signature is really encouraging...especially if you're going to reject someone. I notice a lot of people are just sensitive when it's a rejections, some get pissed when they're only sent an email and not a letter in the mail, and some get pissed when they only get a letter in the mail and not an email. Either way I think it's nice of them to put such a thoughtful quote which implies you may not be getting accepted here but as long as you still have a fire inside of you then you will succeed!

You're hilarious! Quite a lot of professors in my field know and understand this. I think the numbers only matter when the school will be ranked at numbers factor into the ranking of that equation. In my field numbers don't factor in, if they did I probably wouldn't have been considered by a top 10. For everyone outside of the life sciences I really don't see why they even bother to have us take the GRE, they should just use our GPA and statement of purpose, instead of making us take up time and space to explain why our poor GRE scores should not factor negatively in an admissions decision...blah blah blah

The allure of this article is to freak out grad students about the job market and the weight their advisers may or may not carry. Most of what's in here is true I'm sure, but a person who has a recommendation from a well known adviser would of course have more of a chance of getting accepted, that's common sense for any field. It may not seem fair but is certainly a typical part of the human condition. For example: If you're hiring a babysitter for your child would you rather take someone who your mother highly recommended or someone who is highly recommended by some random person you met off of craigslist. So there's no point in allowing this publication to freak you out, if you're talented then no matter what YOU WILL succeed!

I would think it is worse than dating someone at your place of employment since you can always change jobs. However in academia there is a slim likelihood of you changing fields and someone in your department will always be your colleague of whom you will be inclined to run into at conferences. :oops:

Can you do that??? and if you do is it a really big/awkward secret?

Interesting...I've been struggling with my own personal belief on what I view as intelligence and trying to find a succinct definition. I am curious to know what you're definition of intelligence is?

[quote name="Louiselab

I love how off topic posts can become