Mr. Impatiently Waiting

Pass go

Lately everyone and their mom has been asking me if I have heard back from any of my schools. I mean family members have been texting me, friends have been messaging me on Facebook, students in the department have been emailing me to ask. I absolutely love that they are being supportive and that they are excited to hear the news, but I have yet to hear back from any of my schools and every message I get from them makes me more and more anxious about the pending decisions. I mean crap, what if none of the departments accept me? Not only will I feel like I let me self down, but I will inevitably feel like I let them down. I'm sure that when I hear back there won't be a person within 10 miles of me that can't hear me screaming from excitement. I just feel like they will definitely know when I know. Anyone else going through this?

White satin

I started a list when I began attending my undergrad university. Most of the people I have met are athletes, but a few of them are actors or musicians. Here are the highlights from the list in no particular order Athletes: Floyd Mayweather, Jerry West, Kareem Abdul Jabaar, Reggie Miller, Bill Walton, Blake Griffin, Kevin Love, Ricky Rubio, Phil Jackson, Gary Payton, and Chris Paul Actors: Jaleel White (Steve Urkel), Cedric the Entertainer, Andy Dick, Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson, Demitri Martin, Freddy Prinze Jr., Mark Wahlberg, John Lithgow, Taylor Lautner, Mayim Bialik, Andy Garcia, Tommy Chong, Angie Harmon, and James Franco.

Freight train

Service dog

I seem to find myself in that situation a lot too. Hopefully they are nice enough to at least thank you for holding it for them. I hate it when people make a conscious effort to completely avoiding holding a door for someone else by just sliding in behind the person in front of them. I mean seriously what kind of person can't even be bothered to just give the door a little extra push so that it stays open long enough to allow the other person to grab the door. I always want to rush ahead of them and drop the next door on them.

Congratulations! That must have been a nice surprise! Are you still waiting to hear back from any other programs? I finally received an email from a school today, but it was only to inform that my file was submitted to the committee for review today. I'm sure the news will only encourage me to increase the number of times I check per day. It feels like an itch that I just can't scratch enough times.

Bad attitude

Man date

Soul music

Honestly, I feel like all but one of my schools is a reach. Keeping my fingers crossed though.

I performed much better on the real GRE than on any of my practice exams. That isn't to say that I got great scores on the real GRE, but they were certainly better than my practice scores.

"If you don't get in it is their loss." "No news is good news." "It has only been two months since you applied. I'm sure you will hear back soon." "I felt the same way when I was applying to undergrad."

Golden Gate

Graveyard shift

I pretty much echo everything said in this response. How do you approach the professors for a strong recommendation letter? Go to office hours or schedule a meeting with them to discuss your future academic/professional goals. Tell them which programs you are considering and ask them if they would feel comfortable writing a strong letter of rec for you. How do you know if they like you or not? Unless you have been a difficult student I would say that your professors are either indifferent about you or they like you. If the professor doesn't know you all that well they will be honest with you and tell you that they probably can't write you a strong LOR. Who should you ask for recommendation letters? If you have spent a lot of time in office hours with a particular professor, they would be a good candidate to ask. If you have done any independent research with a professor you could ask them. If you have neither of those, spend your last quarter/semester in office hours with as many professors as possible and try to create a positive relationship with them. I would also suggest trying to do some independent research with a professor if you still have the opportunity. How long do you have to know your professor? That really depends on what you have done with that particular professor. For example, I asked a professor I had only known for about 5 months, but I was his research assistant and he was also the advisor of my independent research project. One of the other professors I asked I had known for about a year, but I took a graduate level course with him and worked for him. If you are up a against a wall with regard to time left in school, just do your best to form a good relationship and be open about what you are trying to pursue after you complete your undergraduate career. In my experience, most professors are generally understanding when it comes to issuing a LOR. How long before applications? As soon as possible. The earlier the better. If you want a good letter, you really shouldn't put them up against a harsh deadline. I would say about 3-6 months before applications are due. If you go with the 6 month range you might need to remind them a few times in order to insure that you will get the letter on time. With regard to feeling stressed about LORs, I was super stressed about it. I felt like I was asking them out on a date or something haha But in reality it was actually a pretty smooth process. In my experience, professors generally know that students build relationships because they hope to benefit in the end. I think that the best approach is to be open, honest, and straightforward with them. Professors know that you need letters of recommendation to get into grad school so a lot of them expect to be asked. Personally, I stressed out way more about the GRE and writing my Statement of Purpose. I found the SOP process to be extremely painful and demoralizing. I would recommend starting it as soon as you possibly can and have as many grad students or professors read it as you can. Hope I was of some help! Best of luck!

Stick figure

Winning spirit

Hot Tamales

Slack off

Time travel

Ragged coastline

Mindless drone

Somewhere around $500-$600, but that is because there is a family to feed.