winterstat

I GOT A DISTINCTION ON MY MASTERS and it's thanksgiving break finally. Today is a great day!

You guys over the past two days I've bought a mattress, a sofa, a chest of drawers, a TV, an iron, a vacuum, an entire kitchen accessories (plates, silverware, cooking utensils etc), bedding, and now a car. I don't think I've ever spent so much money at one time in my life! 
I love my car though I move into my apartment not this coming saturday but the following week so all my stuff is going to be lying around the basement of my airbnb. Oops! It's also my birthday the day after I move into my apartment so I have no idea how that celebration is going to go ahaha. 

I FINALLY HAVE MY DATA, this is not a drill So happy and so relieved! 

BEND AND SNAP
BEND AND SNAP

From what I understand, the US government means your entire stay in the US when they mention "trip" (very confusing, I know!). This is because some other Visa's are associated with much shorter stays, in which case the word "trip" is appropriate.
I listed my university's main address and in the "Relationship to you:" field I wrote: "University where I will do my graduate studies". I got my F1 Visa no problem, so that seems anecdotal evidence that at least they don't find it weird/suspect when you fill out the form like this. 
Good luck with your application!

Such a great topic to discuss! I'm one of those who will be going to grad school this fall after time off. I did my bachelor and master's degree in one go, and then decided to take a break. During the past three years, I've been a freelance consultant within my field and have stayed on part time at a university as a researcher (also within my field). Now, I'm getting ready to pursue a PhD on the west-coast (moving from the Netherlands).
Most of the other students in my cohort haven't taken time off, so with my extra years of master's education and my 3 "gap" years, I'm a bit older than them, but I felt like I could still connect with most of them. I'm a bit apprehensive of living with fellow students again -did it during undergrad- but I also have very fond memories of living with a group of girls, so I'm hoping this will be a fun time again.
 
I'm looking forward to spending all my time working on something I am passionate about. As a freelancer, I sometimes had projects that weren't really inspiring or challenging. I think the fact that I've kept my part time gig at the university will help in the transition since I've been a part of an active research group for three years now. I'm just hoping that I can deal with having coursework again 
 
 

Oh, I missed this the first time!
Nooooooooooooooooo.
Do you go around calling your friends a failure every time they get rejected from a job? (Most jobs are hard to get, and they still have higher acceptance rates than most graduate programs!) Personally, I'd pick a huge fight if one of my friends called another friend a "failure." And while I'd pick that fight whatever the reason for the comment, I'd especially do it if the reason was that our other friend had something ambitious. Even if it didn't work this time, you gotta admire the effort! Be as nice to yourself as you would be to your friends.
A clarification that it's not that I don't acknowledge when things go poorly...I took three years off myself, one of which could best be described as "a total and utter failure." When I was on my grad school visit days this time, I always made a point in summarizing my biography to say "I tried to do x, and I failed. Then I did y and now I am here." Anybody who was uncomfortable with that could step back; everyone's human! But I failed at that task in particular. I was not a failure. And neither are you.

I submitted to Modern Modelling Methods (M3) in Connecticut! Which probably no one has heard about! But it's super kewl, I promise!