nka93

I'm glad some of you are still floating around this forum. I'm going into my second week of my master's program and I have been seriously procrastinating on joining a research lab. I know it is only the second week but I have this feeling of dread that I wont find anything (which is silly because the entire program is 20 students). I finally worked up the nerve to email the professor that shares the most interests with me and now I am sick to my stomach. I stared at that stupid send button for ten minutes. I haven't been this nervous about sending an email in a long time. I was too chicken to ask him to his face. Anyway, I thought I would spill my guts to a bunch of strangers who probably know where I'm coming from.

Random and off topic but I'm pretty proud of the Mother's Day gift I picked out this year. I got her a subscription to Birchbox. She is addicted to makeup and skin care so I thought it would be a fun thing she'd never think to get herself. I teased her about it and now she is trying to get me to tell her. I love giving gifts!

As a general rule, when the class is full I usually shoot the professor or the department an email to see if there is anything they can do to help me. It never hurts to ask. I've been added in ahead of the wait list before because they were giving seniors priority. I've also showed up to a class on the first day and asked the professor to add me. Being persistent hasn't failed me yet.

Update on registration woes: An amazing lady in the department added me to the class with no seats left. She apparently tried to get the class moved to a bigger room and when she couldn't, she just added me in anyway. I love my school already. My class schedule is a dream. Tuesday and Thursday 9:30-1:45 all in the same classroom.

What I did is chose classes from a list of coursework for my program. You just have to check and make sure the times don't conflict. I think some programs are built in a way that everyone in your year takes the same classes so you should probably check up on that. The actual process itself is really easy. Just find the number associated with the class, type it into a box, and hit a button. I've never met someone who had the same registration issues as me, so don't let that worry you too much. I've also never contacted a person at the school who wasn't willing to help me as much as they could. While I always have problems, I've actually never not been able to attend the class that I've wanted. If you're not sure what to do, there should be an email address for the registration office at your school and they will be able to help you. It's not really that bad. I'm just cursed.

I have a curse. Wherever I go, registration errors follow. I'm haunted at night by messages that I don't have the proper prerequisites. Every single semester since my junior year, I have received errors for at least one class. Even when I contact each professor before registration, something still goes wrong. Last night I registered for classes for my new program. I felt nervous before I hit the add button because I knew something would go awry. Sure enough, two of my three classes said I didn't have the prerequisites. I contacted the department and got into one, but the other is already full. The lady who answered me is trying to get me added to the class anyway, if the professor okays it. I hate registration.

I'm feeling really grateful for finding a masters program that will fund me at all. I'm going to get some debt but not anything drastic. It sucks that attending a graduate program is so risky financially but the fact that I still want to do it is a good way of confirming to myself that it is what I really want. I just have to have faith that it will work out one way or another!

It is kind of scary to think about the funding situation being so precarious. I recently found out that my undergrad school had to turn down all of the applicants for their Clinical Psych program because the funding didn't come through. They refunded all of the application fees and told everyone they were restructuring the program. I have quite a few friends from undergrad who were impacted by this. Some of them were counting on going to this school for Clinical Psych because it is basically the only program in the area. I have no idea if current students lost their funding though.

I had a mini panic attack when I realized a lot of you had funding guaranteed for more than just the first year. So I emailed the program coordinator to ask if I would be eligible for funding in the second year and he said yes, I will likely get the same amount as long as I'm doing well in the program. Crisis averted. I never would have thought to ask if it weren't for this forum.

So, I've officially made my decision. I've committed to a school and said no to my other offer. Also, following some very good advice from @ChrisTOEFert a few days ago, I've asked the school I was on a waiting list for to withdraw me from consideration for my own mental health. I feel so at peace with everything after sending three emails. It is ridiculous what the application process puts us through. I will only have to travel three hours by car to get to my new school. We are going on Wednesday to look at an apartment and potentially sign a lease for the fall. Thanks to all of you for giving me a place to vent my frustrations and get some advice. I'm still going to lurk around here and possibly comment. I've become creepily interested in your lives.

Thanks @MarineBluePsy and @sjoh197 for your input! I'm feeling better about making this decision.

Yes they do. They are waiving out-of-state tuition and paying me a stipend. The stipend is enough to live off to with probably a little extra each month. So I will be taking out loans but not an unacceptable amount in my opinion. Not a dream deal financially, but way cheaper than the other school that I was accepted to which wont have funding info until late in the summer.

I'm fairly certain I'm on an unofficial waitlist at my last school. The program director told me that they've extended the first round of acceptances and are waiting to hear back. The first round has a deadline of April 15th, which is predictably the same as the deadline for the other programs I've been accepted to. My dilemma is that I found THE PERFECT place to live if I go to a school that I've been accepted to. They are doing a promotional deal until the end of the week which would make the rent incredibly affordable for me. I want to go to this school, and I want to live at this apartment. I'm ready to commit to the school now. Would it be stupid to just accept the offer and go sign the lease for this apartment? If I actually get into the other school it might be with great funding, but I feel like I can't put my life on hold for a maybe anymore. I know what I want to do, but I feel like it is being hasty and irrational. What do you guys think?

I applied to the Master's I/O program at Clemson. I just emailed the program director because I haven't heard anything. He told me that the first round of acceptances has gone out and they are waiting to hear back from them (they have a deadline of April 15th). I'm assuming that makes me unofficially waitlisted. I don't know if the same applies for the phD program but I thought I would share the information anyway just in case someone finds it useful. For what it is worth, the program director was very nice and didn't seem bothered by my email.

So, I'm feeling a little nuts right now. I have two acceptances and waiting on one more school. As it stands, I've pretty much ruled one school out. So it is between a school I got accepted to and one I'm waiting on (that is competitive). I just found myself thinking that it would be easier if that school rejected me. If they accept me it will probably be with great funding which means that I would be compelled to move across the country which is scary and difficult to think about. But how could I willingly go into debt for a program when I had another option that would be free? Now I feel crazy for half hoping they reject me and make my decision easy. I realized I'm very lucky to have a decision to make but it is torture waiting for all the information to come in. I'd love to know what I am doing after so much uncertainty.