braindump

You applied to some top programs, and I found that those are more likely to interview. I've heard back from UT Austin, Utah, Boston U, and CU Boulder without interviews. Though Boulder is a chem & bio engineering program, so that might explain the lack of interview. I think there are a few other places, but those are the only ones I've heard from (w/o interviews, anyway).

Hmm yes, that's pretty much what I ended up doing. I do have the two-body problem but my SO is pretty flexible, which is also making it difficult to choose schools. Right now I'm only a half-time student, so I guess my schedule is a bit more open to visiting a number of schools, I'm just worried about it being stressful. Thanks for the advice!

I hope not.. I guess it depends on what programs you applied to. Only about half of the ones I applied to - maybe less - do interviews. Which means some of those that don't interview don't really need to rush to send out decisions in Jan. I know that it's easy to get discouraged but don't give up until you know for sure! We only just started February, so there's still two and a half months left. And if you haven't gotten rejections then it's very possible you're on a wait list. I've even heard of people getting acceptances after April 15 because they were on a wait list.

Honestly, it's just because I already have a number of visits lined up and I'm finding it difficult to choose which to go to and which to skip. One school unofficially told me I was accepted, but I declined the visit because I already know the school well from spending the summer there. So I was curious how they would take that, if they'd decide to reject me now since I haven't gotten an official acceptance. There was another school that I was considering but there's an expense cap, so I'd be paying ~$100 to visit, and I wasn't sure if this would just go to waste if there's still a chance I could get rejected. For this particular school, everyone on the results page is referring to the event as an "interview" but the email just called it a "recruitment visit."

I think it's the worst!! Not knowing is what makes this so stressful. I wish we we would get updates on every step, like "We've looked at your application! You're in the 'maybe' pile!" or "We've sent out invite requests but you haven't gotten one. Don't worry - there's still another round!" or "We don't like you enough to fund you, but you're in our 'you-can-come-here-if you-bring-your-own-money' pile! Or even, as much as it'd suck, I'd rather know that I'm rejected than not know anything at all.

Same My desire to do ANY work is just.. through the floor I've also heard of this happening before from a number of different people. I'm guessing this is why they keep some people in a limbo until April. Some people get rejections and then others get nothing, no rejection, no waitlist notification, no acceptance. Maybe they just have a list of people they'd accept if they came in funded. Who knows.

Was this at a university that typically interviews? Did they just see he got NSF and decide to accept him unconditionally?

At least I already have this goin' for me & That's very helpful, rising_star! Thanks! I guess I should start making a list.

I've gotten invitations to several "visit weekends" or "open houses" from universities that have not yet indicated my admittance to their program. None of them say anything about this being an interview (although there are, of course, meetings with faculty). Does this mean I am pretty much accepted or is there still a chance I'll fly out there only to get rejected later? It's all paid for. I'm mostly asking because there are a few that I think I will not be visiting. Is declining the invite the equivalent of declining an interview? As in, am I essentially pulling my application out of the program if I decide not to visit? I just find it confusing, because I know if a program does interviews and you decline, then you're pulling out of the program, since that's part of the application process. But I also feel like you can still decline to visit a school that's already accepted you without any consequences (meaning, you can still choose to go there without visiting.. right?). A pre-acceptance visit weekend seems like an odd limbo between the two. Anyone have any experience with this?

That's a great movie! I also just realized that I seem to have resorted to non-stop online shopping. I try to justify with "I'll be traveling a lot, I need a new suitcase!" or "I can't wear these boots to interview weekend!" but really.. I should stop.

I've been trying to use Google calendar too, but only for the big stuff (travel, meetings, exams, etc). I agree that trying to keep a consistent 9-5 is helpful. I'm trying to do that now, but some days I'm just so lazy, heh. Making a ton of to-do lists is helping a bit; it's always nice crossing stuff off and feeling at least a little bit accomplished. Thanks guys! I'll be sure to check out those books

Yikes. I guess that's still pretty high.. but I feel like, compared to a lot of applications, I don't have a lot to offer. So that worries me a bit. I'm honestly surprised I even got an interview, but I guess we'll just have to see! I have a visit weekend just a few days before the interview so maybe that'll get me prepped. Also I noticed your signature: congrats on all your interviews! Lookin' pretty good for you!

I don't feel all that comfortable posting all my info, but I'd like to join the thread! Also, I was wondering this too: I have an interview with Stanford.. was just wondering how much pressure there was. Anyone know the post-interview acceptance rate?

When you call the graduate director and leave them a nice long message explaining a situation and ask them to call you back. Hang up, all happy with yourself that you managed to not sound like an idiot (I hate leaving messages!!), and realize you called the wrong person in the department. Man, phones are just not working out well for me these days.

Ideally, I'll be starting graduate school in the fall. I realized that, while being a chronic procrastinator has worked out for me just fine in undergrad, it probably won't get me very far in graduate school. At the very least, I don't want to be taking a decade to graduate. So, while I still have a semester of undergrad to build good habits, does anyone have any suggestions? What helped keep you organized? Or sane? Anything that kept you from dragging out your degree for too long? To start, I'll share 2 that someone recommended to me: 1. Start writing your thesis from day one. Every step of every experiment, every result, every thought pertaining to those results, all get typed up and documented immediately. Wish I'd thought to do this before I started my undergrad thesis. 2. Keep an annotated bibliography on every paper you read. Even if you think you don't need it now, you might in the future. Having all your references together and a summary of each seems immensely useful for future use. Also wish I'd thought to do this before I started my thesis. Anyone have any other suggestions?

Nice!! Congrats I have an interview with Stanford but I don't know if that means they're done sending them out. UCSD also sent out a few invites I think, but not many, so maybe they're not done either. I wish I could answer your question about JHU. I was actually just wondering the same thing about Stanford.

I feel like I can safely assume UCSD, UCSF/UCB, and JHU are all no-gos, considering my lack of invitation. Hmph. Yeah, this worked for me the first 2 weeks of Jan. It was awesome just getting a pleasantly surprising email. Not expecting it, not worrying in the time period between someone's update on the results page and my own email. I'm not sure what happened between then and now, but that bliss is definitely gone, lmao.

I don't think Doctor Who is intentionally bad.. I think it's just supposed to be lighthearted, and more invested in the story than in the special effects and such. Doctor Who is successful because it's been around for decades. It's just a new revival of something that was already popular 40 years ago. Firefly is fairly new and, although much less well-known, it's still pretty popular among most of my friends; I think it's more popular than you think. Firefly was canceled because it didn't have a cult following until after it was canceled. Somehow.

Yeah, I don't know what to think about UCSD.. the results show 1 interview invite and 3 rejections. I have neither, which is very confusing Do you know if WashU interviews?

oh my goodness these are both hilarious. I feel like I should just start putting my phone on airplane mode when I go out

Hmm I think you guys are right, I want to open up my options as much as possible. Hopefully it will make the final decision much easier. It would also be silly to deny a visit hoping for a better offer that may never come. Thanks for the advice, all

Hm. I'm not sure how much specific foods/vitamins help me, I think it's just important to eat well overall. Right before starting undergrad I started eating much healthier and I noticed a difference in how I felt, both physically and mentally. I almost completely cut out fast food and greasy, unhealthy food (once in a while I'll have pizza or something, and I don't count Chipotle.. but I eat that rarely too). I eat a lot of salad (one almost every day, usually with something like spinach) and fruit throughout the day. I think most of the Omega-3 I get comes from eggs (I eat 1-2 most mornings), fish (sometimes I eat fish more frequently than I do any other meat), and olive oil (which I use for almost everything, I rarely use butter or any other type of oil, even for frying). Sometimes I take a B complex vitamin, but I prefer to get my vitamins from food. I don't know how much these specific foods are helping, but I know that I feel much better now than I did when I ate garbage. Oh, and I drink a ton of water daily, rarely anything else except coffee and OJ in the a.m. Though, I also eat a lot of ice cream and drink a lot of wine/nice beer, so maybe those are the secrets to my success. Sorry, I don't know if I actually answered your question but I hope I helped a little!

Firefly!! And then watch Serenity! I guess I'm biased because I've never watched Battlestar Galactica. But Firefly is great (and short - just one season, unfortunately). I wasn't too keen at first but it soon became a favorite. I want to try Star Trek next. And to answer the question: playing video games (I wouldn't dare admit which ones ) with my boyfriend helps pass the time. I get so sucked in for hours, even if I have something more productive to be doing. Like sleep.

I still have a bunch of schools left to hear from, but only 3-4 top schools that would make me reconsider my current offers, one of which I'm pretty sure is a rejection, and the others are very highly ranked so I don't see much of a possibility there either. I guess I'm just overwhelmed because I expected maybe 1-2 offers, so I thought the decision would be mostly made for me (not that I've gotten that many, I just wasn't expecting this). Heh

Everyone is anxious; the waiting game is pretty nerve-wracking, because you're just sitting around waiting for emails that tell you your future. Some people can wait it out blissfully, others (like me) survive by having at least some indication of what's going on. It helps to know what to expect, I think. If a school already made some decisions, you can typically know what to expect based on that, and it helps to plan. Knowing if a school interviews can help you prepare so you don't get caught off guard with just a week to prepare. It also helps if you're trying to plan visits or something: if I know a school already sent out interview offers, I'm not going to worry about taking them into account when planning a visit with another school, because my lack of invitation probably means I'm rejected. The bottom line: most people prefer not to be in limbo where everything is unknown. If you have no issues with this, then I envy your resolve!