mysteriousmartel

Thanks! I did actually hear back from them this morning, and it seems like the semester will be running on time with precautions towards attending class. Here's hoping I get to meet my new colleagues sooner than later, because it sucks enough I haven't seen another friend other than my partner in a month and a half!

I can totally resonate with you on these feelings. I'm 10 days away from completing my master's (hopefully), but the ramped up difficulty of concentrating online and rising pressure of finishing several projects has left me feeling overwhelmed and defeated. I constantly live in fear of not being able to graduate on time, as I am transitioning to a PhD in the fall. Though I don't have the experience of trying to present at a conference, I can understand how frustrated you must be with trying to get this opportunity and having it slip out of your control. The positive outlook here is that when (I say this because I believe in you :D) you get into a graduate program, you'll have even more chances to present at a conference. By that point, you may even attend more conferences than you even want to! I kid, but who knows really, as grad school life has so many invaluable opportunities that will be hard to juggle if you try to take them all. In any case, you can do this. The GRE and all of those application things will come, and you'll handle them. This conference will either come or not, and maybe betting for not will make it easier to focus on the long term. You do what's best for you now, because it will be best for you later down the line .

Honestly, I have no idea. I figured the slack channels they made for the open house would stay open, or something.

Hi hi, I'm joining the physics department in Physics Education

Hi! I accepted the offer on Monday for Physics Education Research. Nice to meet you :D.

I finalized my acceptance of an offer after weeks of being unable to choose between two schools, but I keep panicking that I made the wrong choice. I know there's no real thing as a 'wrong choice', but I keep on-off feeling anxious. Just wanted to let that out :P.

Thanks for your input! I'll take your advice and explain how it has been a tough decision and appreciate all of their time and help thus far. Ugh, I just get so nervous when I do these things, haha!

Hi! Time is quickly (in my mind) speeding towards April 15th, and I have made my decision, but I'm faced with the dilemma of telling programs and the faculty who have kept in contact with me directly that I will be declining their offers. It's very hard for me to say no to things, as I don't like causing disappointment or generating animosity, so I'm wondering if anyone here has some good ideas on how to tell faculty that I will be accepting an offer somewhere else. Moreover, if anyone has ever had multiple faculty members at a school extend offers to you, how did you go about gently nudging away from some because you want to work with others? I just want to leave everything on good terms with people .-. ...

@MarkySharky @LazarusRises thanks for your inputs! I really appreciate it, and I think now I'm going to talk to my mom and partner about what happened, and tell them I'm leaning towards school one. I'll also work out a plan for helping my mom with winter work when the time comes so she doesn't have to worry about that anymore :).

Hi! I don't post all that much, but I had this thing happen during my decision process that has left a bad feeling that I can't get rid of and I wondered if anyone had any good insight on how to move forward. I've currently been accepted to three schools, and I've been going back and forth between two specific ones. One has really cool research, but it's not in the best location I had hoped (trying to move closer to mom to take care of her on weekends, but the school is a 7 hour drive at least). The other is in my ideal location, but I don't know how I feel about the research, and after yesterday I don't know how I feel about one of the faculty. In order to be accepted to school number 2, you have to be accepted by faculty prior to starting at the school. They bring you in for an on campus interview to talk with interested faculty, then you receive direct offers from them. I initially had interest in one person in particular, but after meeting them I didn't have a good first impression. After meeting all the faculty, I felt like the others were all nice, even if the research was not really the most interesting thing for me. However, the first interviewer wanted me to follow up with a secondary interview, so I obliged. This interview consisted of me preparing a talk on a topic I have investigated before. I'm actually quite new to my field (long story, changed majors, but want to continue study to get better), so I've never given a talk before. I was nervous, and choked during the start of the interview. The interviewer spent this interview frequently pointing out my mistakes as I tried to pull the talk back together, which internally made it very hard for me to get through. I realized at the end that I wouldn't like to work with this faculty member, but the shock of how hard I felt they were being on me has been stuck on me and brought up past similar traumatic moments. I'm trying very hard to get over it, but I don't know if this is just normal and I need to deal or not. If it is, I really wouldn't like to stay in academic settings where I'm pounced on at every moment. Sorry, long story! If anyone has any ideas or advice, I'd really appreciate it! Thanks

Hi! I heard back from Purdue last week :). Hopefully they get back to you soon! Has anyone heard from UIUC though?

Posted here for the first time 2 (ish) years ago, but have just been accepted to the school of electrical and computer engineering :D. Looking forward to this new step, and wish any other applicants this year the best of luck!

Thanks for the advice! I think I've known deep down that it's going to be impossible to compete against others into getting into programs like Madison without in-person classes, but hearing it from the outside does settle it in for me. I still have my goal set onto LEAP, so I'm going to work hard towards that while under my contract. Thanks! I think what I'm most concerned about now is what is going to appeal best to BU when applying to their program. I'm going to keep taking online courses, but I wonder if there's a way I can sell what I've done up until now that'll really appeal to the selection committee. On a tangent, I love Pusheen :D. I couldn't pass the opportunity~.

Hi everyone, I have a bachelor's of arts in Japanese after graduating in 2015, but since then I've wanted to change career paths from the translation work I do now in order to become an engineer. I've already taken the GRE, and I'm currently enrolled in online calculus courses. The concern I have is that, based on my transcripts, I will never get accepted by any school unless I seek another bachelor's in math/science/engineering. I've looked into the LEAP program at Boston University, which seems like the easiest option to apply to, but I would also like to try to apply to other schools (UW Madison, UMass Amherst, etc.), as they have more renowned programs. Is there anyone out there that can give me advice on how I can go about this? I'm willing to take more online courses, but maybe there's someone out there who's gone through a similar situation and can give me some tips on what to do. I have from now until next fall (2018) while I complete my employment contract to put plans in motion. I was hoping to get in school by fall of next year, but if that seems implausible, I'll take any advice I can get. Thanks!

Thanks so much for responding to me! I'll be sure not to bite off more than I can chew, but it's really hard to plan or brace for anything when I can't apply for the next year at least. When I first saw the program, I became really interested in the photonics program. However, I'm still not sure which department I want to settle on. I'm visiting the campus in a couple of weeks, so hopefully I can make a more educated decision then.