DBear

Fanny pack (Brat wurst acknowledged lol)

Spoiled brat

@PhDorBUST tried the whole exhaustion method, no joy. For some reason, my brain has decided to rewind to June and replay my unsuccessful Fulbright interview over and over again. It's torture thinking of all the things I shoulda woulda coulda said... Hoping that will be the only rejection I get during this process hahaha.... Ha..a..ha...

Rotten tomatoes

@clarwyn keep us posted!! This sounds like the storyline on an 80s family sitcom, like Full House, grad school edition! Anytime you get overwhelmed by all the people waiting on your results, just imagine you're in a sitcom

@TakeruK mentioned the school's overall ranking in the decision-making process. I just wanted to add on to this because, all else being (somewhat) equal, the overall quality of the school may impact your quality of education and the experience you have more than you think, especially if you plan to do anything interdisciplinary and/or are required/encouraged to have faculty from another department on your dissertation committee. If the program you're applying to is excellent in that field, but only that field, then that could limit the resources available to you in terms of research etc.

Bad egg

Good news! It'll be Jan in less than a week!! I thought Dec would drag on but luckily have been busy and Dec flew by... Hoping Jan will do the same. I actually remember seeing a few faculty explicitly dealing with fandoms during my research, one professor even mentioned Buffy! What fandom were you active in @Nika Teneo, if you don't mind my asking? The great thing about Communication that I've found so far is that there's so much more flexibility in choosing topics and methodologies. I was talking with a current student at U of Iowa today and he was saying how interdisciplinary it was etc. So even if there is no one that deals specifically with fandoms, or in @ejpril88's case, LGBT representation, these issues all fall under the umbrella of communication, so I think we should be good! At least I really hope so because the specifics of my topic are also not that common... :/

Easter bunny I somehow had a feeling we'd end up at playboy bunny at some point

That's too cute!! It's like role reversal, his revenge for all the times that you (presumably) asked as a kid "are we there yet?!" I now have an image of your whole family waiting by the door, bags packed and ready to go! I hope you end up somewhere the whole family will be happy!

Haunted house

word up!

It's great that your professors worked with you on the list - I'm coming from an MA in English Lit so none of my professors really knew anything about Comm programs. I ended up starting from a list of nearly 100 schools and narrowing it down from there. I ended up with 7 based on what I could gather about the faculty. I didn't really worry about whether I had a shot or not because there seems to be way too many factors that impact this. So as long as there were at least 2 professors I really wanted to work with, I applied. How did you assess whether you "have a shot"? I'm actually really curious about this as a new comer. Is it based on GPA/ GRE? your subject matter? Gah.. I feel like a fish out of water..

My focus is on identity construction in a globalized world and issues of citizenship. How do people who live globalized lives (expats, migrant workers etc) define themselves and how are they defined by their home and host countries? Thus, I've applied for programs that have faculty who research globalization, subjectivity, identity etc. Mostly rhetoric and culture... @phdthoughts I noticed that I've applied for 3 out of 4 of the schools on your list! I have U Iowa, Ohio U, U Mass-Amherst (and U Penn, U Wis-Mad, Bowling Green, and Temple) At this point, I'm not even sure I belong in Communication studies, gah.. @Nika Teneo I wanted to do fandoms for a while, too! I was writing a paper on Buffy the Vampire Slayer last semester and the fandom is absolutely fascinating! @kirbs005 argh.. sorry to hear that.. I can't believe that you already heard back, though. Was the deadline super early? I was set on not hearing anything til Jan and then saw your post and am honestly freaking out... hopefully the rest will be acceptances for you!!! Good luck everyone!!! It's already less than a week till the Jan 1&2 deadlines.. there's an end in sight!

I know what you mean - in my current program (MA Eng lit) there are a couple of students who really stand out - like they have SCHOLAR etched on their foreheads and everything they say just sounds soooo intelligent and intellectual. One of these girls is in my cohort but in every conversation we've had about grad school, she was really undecided, saying things like "I don't know if I'm cut out for a phd" Likewise, there are many smart people around me but most of them are just working in the corporate world. Some couldn't afford to do grad school. However, the most of the people I know who aren't in grad school don't actually like studying. Having gotten good grades and being logical etc. does not necessarily mean that one likes the occupation of being an academic. Kind of like being good at math naturally, but not really enjoying it. Academia is a profession - even though you're a grad student, the process of getting a phd in itself is a career choice and just because some people have abilities suited for the job description, doesn't mean they want that job. I think the fact that you want to pursue a phd is something that qualifies you more than people who are just smart. The fact that you were able to identify areas that you needed to improve upon, and actually made progress is a key qualification for an academic. In my first job, people kept telling me to go into the sales department. They thought I'd be great at it because the main skill set required of those in the sales department (being able to talk to people and not piss them off, having positive energy etc) seemed to come naturally to them. Yeah, I can talk to people, but do I want to?? NO. There are people I know that seem more soft-spoken and less of a 'people-person' than I am but I know they are more qualified to be in sales because they possess other skills that I do not have and they actually LIKE the job. So yeah, I know how you feel - like when I talk to that friend who oozes smartness and academic acumen, I feel totally like I'm out of my league. However, I know that I have the will to push through a phd (mostly because I'm too old now to change paths again, but whatever.. hahaha) and get published, teach, make presentations, etc.

I had no idea that interviews were common since the field doesn't do interviews. Then I started seeing people talk about interviews here and freaked out. Luckily, upon further research, it seems that the field I'm applying to doesn't do interviews.. Your dad heehe.. I actually encountered the opposite with my mom. I told her I'd submitted all my applications and was telling her about the process and she snapped at me saying I was stressing her out and to not tell her anything until I had gotten accepted. lol.

Beer goggles

Swissarmy knife Lemme jump on board the exception ship!

Bottle brush

Doctor Dre

Evil gnome

Fire sale

Baseball bat

Dog tricks