hippyscientist

Can't quite believe we're almost at 100 pages of whining and waiting. Good effort you guys, I'm having a (sports direct) mug full of tea to celebrate

Kinda defeated the point of using them as on the go breakfast though. Oh well, still very tasty.

Sorry to hear you're not feeling well. To try and get some time away from the laptop I baked blueberry muffins, except I forgot to put the flipping blueberries in them. So I made muffins, with a side of blueberry sauce. Other procrastination methods today have involved deep cleaning my house, researching schools to apply to next application season, looking at apartments at all the schools I have yet to hear back from, taking a massively long shower and fake tanning (because it's the middle of winter and I feel so much more human when I'm tanned), planning an imaginary trip to Thailand with my best friend and netflix. I think I am worn out from procrastination now.

Hi, your reply above was really helpful! I have applied to UF and am waiting to hear back about a fellowship application so not too sure if I'm going to be accepted or not yet. I visited over Labor Day and I have to say I was a bit surprised at Gainesville. I don't know whether it was just humidity + huge football game but the town was dead, the campus was dead and the area around where I was staying felt a little sketchy. I guess I was just wondering whether it was the combination of it being a holiday and where I was staying that lead to the impression that Gainesville wasn't particularly friendly or safe? I really liked the department there and I do like the warmth (I used to live in Greece and Thailand so am used to heat and humidity) but the atmosphere just seemed a bit "off". Anyone willing to happily correct me??

This is the thing. I've been told to not bother applying for a couple of awesome programmes because I won't have the degree certificate for my masters in time. I will have finished all requirements, including writing up my research in July, but don't get the piece of paper until December. These schools won't look at me until I have that piece of paper. It's so frustrating because due to admin processing, it means that I potentially am forced to take a gap year between finishing my masters and starting a PhD, despite the fact all course work will be completed. The 4 schools I applied to this application season acknowledged that stupidity and said to apply anyway, and if accepted, provide the certification when I have it. I'm bummed out because I got rejected from a school because I had no proof of graduate level work - my masters GPA is 4.0 but they didn't want to know about it because I didn't get any grades til January. AGHHHhhh international mis-timings!!! Okay rant over.

Oh yeah, there's 2 programmes that I would have loved to applied to this time round but unfortunately I was not eligible (I enquired). If I don't make it this time round, one of them is basically my top choice (needed my MSc in the bag before applying) and the other has an awesome reputation.

His face is far too accurate...

A lot of the schools I applied to are on the results board, but the only one with anything even in the broad college has already let me know "thanks but no thanks". It's a real guessing game right now because I have no idea when they'll start sending stuff out. Apparently graduate assistantships are decided "early in the spring semester" but it says nothing regarding notifications of decisions. No fair haha. Wine helps, and agreeing with @rosali so does pizza! Mmmmm pizza (I had some last night - it was delicious)

@Cat_Robutt thank you!! Time will tell...

Oh I am so down for that. I actually just got back from yoga!!! And just posted some asanas on my instagram. Can you read my mind?? Now I want it even more so I can have a grad cafe real-life friend hahaha

@Cat_Robutt CONGRATULATIONS ON PENN STATE!!! I'm so excited for you! I'm still waiting to hear from them...they're my #1 choice (fingers crossed!).

Congratulations!!!! Enjoy the elation

You guys! It's friday!! This means wine time to accompany the whining and waiting Still waiting on 3 schools...one reach (but great fit and ties to my current MSc school), one that I know I'll hear about fellowships on the 2nd March and one that I've heard literally nothing from. Bring on the wine!!

I'm so sorry to hear people actually behave like this. I moved out of home at 17, and have lived abroad on my own on and off for years. My family aren't batting an eyelid at the prospects of me moving from Europe to the US for 5+ years and I'm so grateful for that response. I'm not sure how well I'd cope with the kind of situation you describe renea, that's very unfair of your family! Friends who have reacted that way have been cut out of my life (normally because they've said and done other hurtful stuff too) but family is different. That's why we have grad cafe and friends who are supportive. At some point you have to be a little selfish in following your dreams - plus moving out of state isn't like you're leaving the country. Internal flights aren't going to break the bank and you can still call and stuff. It's only a maximum of a 3 hour time difference which is easy enough! Okay I realise I might be slightly biased in that area (me & the boy are back to 8 hours time difference now, it sucks). Anyway, my point being, I'm sorry your family doesn't get the supportive thing with grad school. Congratulations on getting into Washington State though

@FoxAndChicken congratulations! I've been taking a mini break from the grad cafe since I got my first result - a rejection from a school I thought I was a really good fit for. Turns out the only reason I got rejected was because I have no record of graduate level work - I emailed and asked whether they wanted my masters grades from fall semester (4.0 GPA) and they said no!!!!! WTH??? Anyway, since I've heard from them, my anxiety levels have plummeted. Right now, it's more if I get in this year I do, if I have to apply next year I'll be an even stronger candidate with a larger pool of schools to pick from. It just means finding worthwhile and financially viable employment for a year in the meant-time, and adding another year to the LDR. There are worse situations to be in.

UCSD is in an awesome location for climbing! My boyfriend lives in San Diego and we boulder around there. So much fun!!! If you like mentally-challenging bouldering, trying to get from Blacks beach up to the glider port is pretty entertaining. @rhombusbombus stress-relieving hobbies: yoga, yoga, yoga, baking and cooking all sorts of elaborate meals, weightlifting, kickboxing, muay thai, Assassin's Creed, Netflix and adventuring. Adventuring is something I've tried to do this year. I pick a day a week and go on an adventure, with the caveat that no money can be spent. Normally this involves a lot of wandering around looking lost and ending up in dodgy neighbourhoods but it's always an adventure! I'd go hiking/backpacking/camping more if I could a) reach locations easily (I have no car), b ) it decided to stop raining or stop being so freaking cold yet not cold enough for snow. So for now it's most of the above. I used to knit but have carpal tunnel so I can't any more

@rosali sometimes swear words in different languages just have so much more "oomph" behind them than the bog standard English ones. If someone is peeving me, I tend to whisper "putant" under my breath, or if I'm pretty stressed, "jodido" has a great ring to it. If I'm feeling incredibly passionate about something, italian is always excellent! One of the many benefits of international living

That sucks, but thank you for teaching me the word fotut!!! It's a great one and I will be using it around some of my peers quite frequently I think. best of luck with sorting that out.

@gingin6789 okay so travelling that much is super tiring! Make sure you stay well hydrated on the plane, in the airport, everywhere!! Seconding the rolling your clothes advice, it really saves a lot of space. I buy shampoo/conditioner where I end up but that's because I have super thick hair and hotel sized hair products barely wash 1/10th of my hair. You'll be amazed at how versatile clothes can be, but make sure you travel in comfy clothes and shoes you don't mind walking a long way in. In airports I always have my headphones on and tend to just settle down and find a place to read my book as it keeps me calm. Packing wise, you'll need undies, PJs (if you wear them), smart clothes, travel clothes, make up if you wear it, smaller versions of your toiletries and one or two very comfy pairs of shoes. When I was travelling I took 2 pairs of shoes (trainers and flip flops), 3 t-shirts, 2 pairs of shorts, 2 dresses, 1 pair of jeans, about 10 bikinis (I have a problem), one hoody and one pair of summer PJs and one pair of winter PJs. That was for 18 months (yeah I pack light). For school visits, I'd throw in a booklet/notepad/ipad type thing where you can jot down your thoughts of people and places at the end of the day. This is really helpful a bit later on! Also water (you can never go wrong with too much water), snacks (I have food issues so always bring my own food, on planes too), tissues and lip balm are all pretty much immediately to hand. If you want any specific tips let me know! I am a master traveller

Alright so I got rejected by one of my top choices this morning. Always love a rejection on valentines!! It's now making me nervous as it was the closest research fit and they'd been really enthusiastic about me. Oh well. I guess having a masters in progress and only a uGPA of 3.3 isn't good enough for them. Onwards and upwards. Didn't like the school colours anyway Oh and the boy forgot it was valentines day! (this is okay though.) Chocolate and tea and sleep and we start again tomorrow.

I did a little too much wine-ing and whineing last night and feeling the repercussions this morning. I log into my laptop to go online to check emails and no internet. Turns out it won't be fixed until Monday. ? So no Netflix, and the only work I can do is paper writing and even that is limited to whichever articles I have saved on the laptop. At least there's smartphones meaning I can still come commiserate on the waiting front with you all here.

ahhh thank you for letting me know it's a holiday weekend. I'm at home and so less likely to check applications so this is a relief!!!

Yay a bunch full of whiskey people!!! It is the drink that is single handedly getting me through my masters! Also, to those who have been rejected/still waiting - keep your head up, your back up plans in mind and know that it's not over until it's over. I've recently been so ridiculously busy (I'm typing this on my phone as I head to the gym) that I haven't had a chance to check statuses or the results page here and it's minimised my stress 10-fold. Day 3 (or 4 I'm not too sure) of not checking applications. I did have a weird admissions dream though.

@123hardasABC definitely 100% the pokedex I now want one for my terribly boring phone!! @sjoh197 as many others have said, those cards are beautiful! You could definitely set up an etsy with them if you so wanted. @Pink Fuzzy Bunny CONGRATULATIONS! Tell us your secret....? So I haven't checked my application statuses in 2 days, I feel like I'm in AA telling you all that! I've been so rushed off my feet I have barely had time to breathe. Realised yesterday that it had got to 6.30pm and I hadn't eaten in 11 hours. That's bad!! I also lost my belly bar so had to put an order in and I know that I need to spend ~$100 on a pair of specialised shoes for my sport that I just don't have right now. Daaaaaadddd??? And that's all I got time for today on this thread so I look forward to catching up and reading about your happy news, commiserate about any sad news and 100% join the club with the whining!

@gingin6789 I'm so sorry someone close to you said that, that sucks. I kinda have the opposite - my boyfriend is in the US so ALL the comments I get are "oh so you're only applying to US PhD programmes so you can be with him". The implication is not that I've done my research, looked really closely at programs, realised the US is a much better fit academically and personally for my career goals than staying here. No all I'm worth is my relationship. Sure, it would be naive to say he is not a factor (one of the reason I applied to predominantly coastal schools) but he is not the main reason. People can be mean! People can be really not understanding. But people can always surprise you. Take happiness in those who love and support you, and take happiness in the love and support you give yourself (now I'm living up to my username).