Medievalmaniac

secret society

glory days

Hilarious. But, Katerific - yours is even MORE hilarious, and awesome. Bask in your awesomeness, you deserve it!

Don't forget that MLA was in January this year, as well, as opposed to being in December as has historically been the case. And, of course, the weather has caused delays and cancellations interrupting schools' regular schedules, so I'm sure admissions committee meetings were affected there, as well. I imagine the floodgates will begin opening mid next week and continue from there - hang tight!

I'm coming to the table late on this one, but there are two things I would recommend that you do immediately, because it is the quickest way to get back to center. First, make an appointment with the health center to be evaluated for anxiety and/or depression and get yourself on a low dose of something like Paxil or Budeprion. You can get fairly inexpensive prescriptions if you go generic, and they really DO help. Second, go to the professor you are TAing for and speak with him or her about your job. Tell him or her you really want to succeed and you don't want to let him or her down, and that you would really appreciate any feedback s/he can give you about how s/he perceives you in your capacity as a TA, especially anything you can concretely be working on improving. I would then make an appointment to speak with the director of graduate studies and TALK to him or her about what you have said here. You would not be the first and will not be the last graduate student ever to feel the way you are feeling, and the DGS for your program will know what you mean and will likely be able to help you see things more objectively and give you pointers for handling it. They WANT you to succeed. They PICKED you. They have invested in you. Give them a shot to help you through this. Don't suck it up in some misbegotten belief that you are solely responsible for your success and if you were any good you would be doing fine. All you're doing is setting yourself up as a martyred failure if you go on that way. Go to those responsible for graduate studies and let them know where you are and where you want to be. That IS part of their job. Too few graduate students are comfortable approaching people when they have problems - but that's exactly when you need to approach people to help you! Hang in there!! It will get better. Just take the initiative to swallow your fear and go to them.

healthcare provider

police squad

I loved that professor. Never once minced words on anything, and you cannot imagine how much better I felt at such indignation on my behalf.

The two I hate the most from anyone, anytime are : "Don't worry, you'll get in somewhere" and "I know how you feel". In fact, I recommend we strike "I know how you feel" from ANY conversation, ever, about anything. What a dumb thing to say, when there is no way you can possibly know how another person feels. Something like, "I know how that feels" or "I can imagine that feels..." followed by a pertinent life-experience in similar vein MIGHT fly, but then again - if I'm wallowing, it's my turn to wallow, I am soooo not interested in your pity party at that point. The most helpful and/or appreciated comments I have received in this situation are "I'm so sorry. Is there anything I can do to help you out?" and my very favorite, ever: "Those a**holes. How dare they reject you! Who the hell are they accepting, then? F**k them." I actually laughed...and that came from a tenured prof who wrote a rec for me in a prior application cycle, lolol.

warrant officer

dish tv

They could be reviewing in batches, the accept could be nominated for a university-wide fellowship, they could be spacing out the admit calls, the call could be up to your person of interest or advisor to make and s/he didn't get to it today, you could be on a waitlist - hang in there, don't give up hope yet. There are myriad reasons not to have heard back yet. Last year several programs sent out one or two acceptances and then nothing until a week or two later, then a flurry of new acceptances. Hang in there - don't give up yet!!

Congratulations on your admit! Even if it is not your top choice - you know you're going to a program next year. How relieving is that?

Or post awesome music in the awesome music thread. Or read the blogs and realize we are all totally freaking out right now. Hang in there!!

status check

This is my current favorite.

I would not email at this point. If they want to contact you, they will. Otherwise, hold tight. The only time at this point I feel it would be acceptable to send out an email to the schools you have applied to is in the instance that your contact information has changed, in case of an emergency that would cause you not to be able to view results in a timely fashion (i.e. a death in the family causing you to have to go overseas for several weeks/months) or in the case that you have realized there is a missing component to your application. Other than that, I would not email or call until April 15 at this point.

I think it is acceptable to message them back and check it out. I would word it something like, "I am always happy to receive new friend requests! However, it seems odd that I receive one from the admissions office of a university to which I have applied. While I certainly have nothing to hide and will gladly provide you with access to my Facebook account, I would like to verify first that this request was made by an officer or employee in your graduate office and not by a robot or spammer. Thank you, XXXX" Then, the ball is in their court. But I think as long as you make it clear you are just verifying this is "for real" and not trying to hide anything from them, you're good. Also, depending upon your privacy settings, their requesting you as a friend is all it takes to get your profile information and friends list made available to them.

Advisor is the way we spell it at the school at which I teach, and I have never seen it spelled otherwise in an academic meaning.

It's almost as exciting as when the Dow hit 10,000.... lol

Weekly Update

I think the general consensus (at least among the professors with whom I have discussed this) is that the Ivy stamp on a diploma can certainly get you an interview at almost any university with a position open in your field, but that you have to deliver the goods in the interview or in the pre-interview call. If the contenders are then close, the position usually goes to the Ivy candidate. If your department head and / or the Dean of Faculty wants the Ivy candidate, that's who you are probably getting, democracy be darned. But if the field is truly open, a number of folks interview, and of those a no-name brand university graduate with a good publication record, excellent teaching, and projects in the pipeline that are very well aligned with a department's pet methodology or the work other department members are doing wows the committee, s/he can certainly expect a fair shake when the decision is made. There are also some universities that won't consider an Ivy candidate because, frankly, the Ivy candidate wouldn't consider them, or wouldn't stay if s/he were hired. But in the end, yes, Ivy grads tend to get a lot of prospects, statistically speaking.

Just be outgoing, charming, and gregarious, so you look amazing in comparison to everyone else, totally collegial and comfortable - and best of luck to you!!

I'm the mother of a 6 year old and a 3 year old, waiting to hear back from PhD programs. We already have a large student loan debt, are repaying my mother for paying off our credit cards, and have a mortgage, plus other expenses - so money is super-tight going in, and I can't really afford more debt. I only applied to programs within driving distance of where we are now, because my husband is in a career that is seeing major declining numbers and needs to stay put in his current position. I also have a very good paying job, and I have no intention of leaving it. I MAY, dependent upon how things play out, drop down to part time while I am completing coursework, but I will certainly plan to work full time once I am ABD. I asked specifically about this when I was checking into programs, and my finding is that a LOT of people hold down an outside job while completing the PhD, even those with TAships and fellowships. There are programs that make a big deal out of this, but I don't seem to have chosen those - the programs I applied to were completely nonplussed and even seemed to expect that I would be planning on working through the degree with a family. I expect to be exhausted, but happy, if I end up getting an admit.