The Pseudo grad student

Martizzle, I do really admire your strength through this really trying time. I'm so amazed that even after so many rejections that you still have hope! I really wish that I could do the same but I feel that because you still have that burning hope inside of you, you will definitely make it somewhere whether or not it's in grad school or in life!

Oh march had so much potential and now one more week left. 4 responses from schools last week but nothing this week When April comes I've decided not to wait any longer because it's killing me. Here's to the "April it is" thread for all of us who are still waiting on responses!

I've had a really difficult situation to deal with for this past application season. I decided that with my low GPA and low GRE scores, that I only deserve or should be accept at very low ranked programs (mostly because I never meet prestigious schools GPA standards). I'm still waiting on 3 other schools but at this point I don't know if I should even go off to graduate school. The two schools I got into are not known for my major, not even slightly. One of the school just started the program up for Fall 2010 so I don't think that's a good sign. I need advice for my next step other than obviously improving my GRE scores. If you could give me advice in this diffcult period, that would be much appreciated. As I see it, my options are: 1) Raise GRE scores, get a research assistant job at my undergraduate college, spiff up my SOP (although I though it was good already), and reapply. 2) Get into some non-matriculated program and prove to the adcomms of the following year that I am grad school material but kicking ass in those classes. 3) Get a job in industry and then after 2-3 years within the work force apply for graduate schools again. (I'm not sure if this is a good option for me because I afraid that if I did go into industry, I would be enticed by the money I am making and never go back to school.) 4) Suck it up, go off to the crappy graduate school programs, work my ass off, get perfect grades, and reapply. I really don't know what path to take at this point so a little help would be nice.

The first email I recieved today from a school told me right in the subject line that I was admitted so I had nothing to fear opening the email there. The second email came stating "Letter from school". I just went for it knowing the result. Except there was some delay because I was trying to open the document in my iPod and when it opened I could hardly read it but I knew just by the shortness of the letter that I was rejected. They could have been nicer about it but no, that's too hard fir them. It's so f*ing coincidental that the hour I felt bad about not applying to my dream school in the fear of being rejected, I was rejected by my top choice. I guess I know now that if I had applied for my dream school that I would be rejected also because this top school has a lower quality program than my dream school. I'm trying to hold back the tears and negativity in fear that another letter in the mail might tell me that I'm rejected from another school. LESSON: don't ever be negative or you'll end up getting a rejection sorry about my ranting, maybe it's not the best time for me to be on the gradcafe posting in my current condition. Just thanks for letting me vent.

... contibuting to society once again. For the last 4 months I was moping around and feeling useless. It's kinda hard to get rid of a feeling like that when you were at your dream school for a REU internship and then coming back to my old boring life Oh those wre the days...

March has been very good to me so far 2 out of 2 acceptances! I'm so overjoyed that I actually have choices and now get to spend time traveling to the universities! My plan to aim for very low tiered schools worked! I'm sending out my luck to you all! I'm actually convinced by what some posters wrote about being positive. The very beginning of March I decided to get back my old life and everything has gotten much better! I sort of forgot about all the waiting and obsessed less and it turned out for the better so far! Feburary was horrible for me although luckily I didn't hear back from anyone at that time. So try being a positive as you can since it might pay off!

So one of the adcomm members from the school that bothers me most out of all the others just left me a cryptic message stating that "I have a question about the actual department area you need to be placed in for MSE (my major)." So I'm both confused and very scared of this message she left me. I have been conversing with her back and forth mainly by email about my application and missing LORs but that was taken care of. She told me that the adcomm would be meeting on March 1st to look over my application and this is the first I've heard from them surprisingly even though I know that the school is on Spring Break. I know that the major is fairly new to the graduate school but I know that my major needs to be in the department of engineering as it is my major. Do any of you know what this means? I'm supposing that this was a critical message as she actually called me instead of emailing me this time. Could it mean that I was accepted and they're trying to place me in a specific department for a TA or is this another application issue involved? I'm mostly afraid of how I'm supposed to respond to this message so if you could give me any insight on what this is that would be great. Obviously I'll call them back tomorrow but it never hurts to be prepared. (Sorry for spamming the forum with inane questions, I'm just a virgin to the whole application process and maybe just a little but neurotic.)

@shaydlip: I totally agree with you now. I just found out that one of my friends who actually is applying to biochem for grad school got the same exact letter from the school. So I'm not as special as I thought. @fadeindreams: Well at least it's good to know that all the money we spent on the GREs and gave to ETS to "send" scores were put to good use, sort of. Hooray, spam mail/emails from schools we don't know existed and/or don't care about. The letter and insert they gave me was fairly appealing and but not enough to actually get me to apply to their school. Besides, I forgot to mention that it took 3 weeks for this letter to get to me and it was hilarious to read the first line of the letter that stated "Congratulations on your impending graduation and your decision to pursue graduate studies in chemistry or biochemistry!" when I had graduated over 3 months ago and that I had no interest in both of those majors of study. Anyone else wanna share their spam mail from random grad schools?

Thanks for all the positive feedback guys! Now I know I can be excited about it without hesitation! I really hope you all get the same news!

@socnerd: I know what you mean, I just got my (unofficial) first acceptance yesterday too! Surprisingly I'm not that excited about it because my standards for the schools I applied to we're much below average due to my below average GPA and GRE but it's nice to know that someone likes me out there! I feel like that too, like I'm the only one applying for Masters (MS) here but I'm hoping to improve my candidacy as a potential PhD grad student. Hurray for March! Let's see what the rest of the month brings!

To the OP: I'm just wondering why you even started this thread with the question "What does this mean" if you just take every suggestion given and reject it? What was the point if you had already made up your mind about what it means?

In my usual obsessive manner of checking, I check each and every school's website to see my status at midnight. To my surprise I see on one of websites that the box for application status is gone and instead there are two buttons at the bottom that say "Accept Offer of Admission" and "Decline Offer of Admission" but in keeping myself objective, another box labeled "Decision" still says N/A. I'm not sure whether or not this means I got in or really I'm not sure what this means. I'm taking the "Decision" box as either they have yet to make a decision or they are waiting on my decision to attend the school. I mean I could always wait for their email but it'd be nice to know immediately . Thoughts? ( I hope it's good news! I've been waiting soooo long...). Thanks ahead of time to all those who can help me out with this!

Thanks for the insight. It was just something I was just wondering about but it's definitely good to know to not get a big head

Recently I recieved a letter from the University of Oklahoma about applying to there grad school of chemistry/biochemistry (even though it's not even remotely close to my major). In the past I recieved other emails from schools based on my GRE score so what I'm wondering is whether or not these schools who take their time to contact you (even though you never knew they existed) means a guarnteed in. It's probably is wishful thinking on my part but because I feel that they seem to pursue you, that must indicate that they really want you as a graduate student meaning admission. Thoughts?

I'm glad to hear that you are still very optimistic after being rejected. It's quite an example for all of us to follow!! I hope that the rest of the year will bring you good news and by your optimism, I think it definitely will! Keep us posted on

In response to the OP's rant, it's really just something that prevails everywhere. I mean you are making the conscience decision of "dressing up" for academics and because you know how everyone else dresses, then you should know that you'd be noticed and judged among the many other students in the sciences. I took a textile class last quarter (what drove me to do so was beyond me, it was killing me in the inside) and we explored this such issue and really it's everywhere, not just the sciences. I remember attending that class among all the haughty textile majors who looked and judged me based on my clothing. I'm an engineer and yes I do follow the stereotypes of just throwing on whatever the hell is there and is clean and don't pay much attention to dress because for me it's not practical as a student who just wants to be comfortable all the time. It's the whole college mentality actually, I mean more than half of the girls i see dress in Victoria Secret sweatpants and the other half with the jeans and t-shirt combo. And because I followed this stereotype every single one of those girls in my class looked down on me because I didn't dress "fashionable" as if I cared or even tired to. Yes, other factors are involved such as I ride a bike to school everyday restrict what I can wear but my whole point is is that everyone judges everyone, especially if they don't know you, based on how you dress. It's just how life is and people have different ways of dealing with it. They can play along or take the risk and step outside the mundane box much like the OP does. It's really your choice and I really do admire that you do take the time to be properly dressed compared to all of us. But it's all a preference, I honestly like casualness because I'll be comfortable all day and if I'm going to be in the lab all day that is my number 1 priority. Another example I found was professors and the way they dress to class. Being an engineering student, I became used to professors who came dressed casual and found it extremely strange and rather uptight when I saw a professor of mine wearing a suit everytime to class. Most students view that if the professor themselves can't keep their "apperances" up whether it be in dress or cleaniness, many would automatically think that they must be a bad professor. Dress and the judgements and the standards are just apart of being a student, it's just another part of life we all have to go through but surely keep up your style not matter what anyone says, even if they make a judgment, hit them back with your brillance and then they'll see why you do it. Sorry if I totally missed the point here. I guess I just wanted to get that out there, whether or not anyone's reading this...

Well sadly enough it's not some much my profession as it is my major: Material Science and Engineering. I say that whole entire line and what everyone EVERYONE gets from it is materials management. From there I have to explain that it is in no way related to that profession and next I have to explain what material science and engineering is which is so expansive in itself. Sometimes I hate my major just because I have to explain it everyone every time but then I like the fact that I can just lie about anything with it so it's a trade off. So, often conversation moves from disgust to confusion, it's getting to be frustrating. Maybe when I'm grad student I can finally define my major in a focus but for now I'm stuck to explaining it away...

Really you're not impressed by what he's done? I know it's cliche to think about him first but really?? Well honestly, although I can't speak for people on this forum... I'm sure we all behave like this on the forum, being neurotic about receiving word from anyone, but it's just something we do to "fit in" on this forum. I mean don't you think the forum breeds this kind of behavior anyways? (To me, it's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's just a part of waiting.) I may act like this on the forum but yes, but I do have a life outside and being out of school for 3 months now shows that I can survive outside of academia.

Oh wait, but you forgot... Bill Gates, Microsoft founder, dropped out of Harvard. There are many others but this is the first example I think of. It's funny because my boyfriend the other day was giving me this speech as well. I'm not quite sure it helped terribly much but I guess it's the thought that counts.

Glad to hear your optimism has come back Hermes! I agree, good luck to everyone in t-minus 1 hour depending on where your located!! Just a thought to this who will be waiting past March to say April: What if a school sends out an acceptance or rejection on April 1st (April fools day) and then rescinds the decision the next day saying that it was all a joke... isn't that just a horrible thought? Has that ever happened? I'm dreading that day in April but March, March it is!

Congrats on getting into Davis! My background: I attended Davis as an undergrad and am currently living there so you know I can be reliable. The stipend you have is sufficient enough to live in Davis but I would not go out and eat downtown everyday on that type of pay because it can get very expensive. Understandably, apartments/houses closer to school and downtown Davis are considerably higher than surrounding areas and the range is closer to 600-800$. If you are looking for a 1 bedroom it will be considerably more. I've done some shopping around so I know the prices right now. If you wanna take a look at the pricing, go to the Davis Community Housing Listing(legitimate) or craigslist. As for transportation, I pretty sure the reason why your professor mentioned that getting a car was "essential" was probably due to the fact that he/she lives in Sacramento. In that case you might want to invest in a car but since you plan on living downtown I don't see why you'll need it. And because you are choosing/wanting to live downtown you will most likely need a parking permit (Not to mention the parking permit for parking in the school). The parking permit will be pretty expensive per month so you are doing a favor by not buying a car. Honestly it does get pretty boring here sometimes and it's nice to have a car to go to Sacramento/SF but there are alternative ways to get there. The Amtrak station is downtown as well so it's easy to get to anywhere you need. If you want to get to SF, the school offers a Fleet service for $7 or $9, I forgot the exact price one way to get Berkeley and subsequently to SF. If you need to get to the airport, the Yolo Bus takes you to the airport for free about once an hour so it's pretty easy to travel to anywhere you want conveniently. Other than that, if you want to find out more about the city go to www.daviswiki.org and you'll find everything you need. If you have any other questions, please feel free to PM me if need be.

I do really care about who gets rejected because it's something that I don't want anyone going through. I'm one of those highly sensitive people who don't like seeing others in pain and instead wish I could take it from them. I especially think about "what if that happens to me" type of thing and believe that karmic retribution might be paid one way or another. I'm actually glad to hear that so many people in this forum are actually empathetic to what others are going through. It truly makes it a comforting community.

Awww.. Cheer up Hermes . I know 2 rejections must hurt but you've got 3 more schools to go! Besides I believe that things tend to work themselves out so keep hope alive! Things seem bad for now but I think in time you'll understand why. I really do wish you all the luck on your applications! As for the OP's question: I think I'll move to SF and devout my time to modeling. Oy I feel my brain getting slower by the minute...

I truly wish that were true. Being a women in engineering is still rare these days so I was hoping that would give me an added advantage towards the usual guys. Also on word of mouth from professors from Georgia Tech, UIUC, and Beijing University, every single one of them reassured me that it is definitely a selling point to the adcomm. But maybe this is just for engineering or they were trying to make me feel better. I also heard that if you somehow find your own funding, that schools would be more willing to accept you (obviously) but it was a good point at the time when I didn't know much about grad schools and the whole arduous process.

Regardless of the fact that MA or MS degrees are sent out much later??? To me that makes no sense, how do you make a decision when the deadline has passed? Maybe we'll have to check with each individual school on this issue...