johnallen

This post was the bomb dot com?. Finished my interview and it went well. While on the tour, I received an acceptance to a masters program, so that was a total surprise

I love this so much!!!!!!! Thank you for posting. You totally just made my day!!!! Sending you positive and encouraging thoughts your way ❤️

thank you I am cutting all my anxiety with hiking... I'm hiking the PCT this year and that I know i can do. Just got my permit.

After a day of total panic feelings, this was really good to hear. Thank you. 

Hello there, all. This is my first post! Just a warning, there are a few poor quality puns/analogies peppered about. Please take this opportunity to exercise forgiveness, as I come in peace.
I recently joined the cafe to satiate my impulse to do something other than refresh my application statuses every few hours, or minutes. I've read several posts expressing the anxiousness and uneasiness of the waiting process, and I completely empathize. My own experience of this process has been mostly good, but a roller coaster ride no less. 
There are just so many ******* feelings!! For goodness sake. Like most of you, I'm weathering the gamut. One moment I'm fantasizing about my dreams coming true, imagining the apartment I'll live in, or what new cafes I'll seek out for long studying/work sessions. About how freakin' awesome it would feel to see that "We are pleased to inform you...", or that fat envelope in the post. I feel the excitement and giddiness in my chest. It feels like a wave of energy pouring over and through me!--Then, a bit later, I'm feeling that bowling ball in my stomach. I'm meticulously fine-tooth combing my (already submitted) applications in my head, looking for areas of weakness, while brushing past areas of fortitude and grace. Even if I don't find anything to corroborate my dread, my insides are still an abyss.
Now, with that said, for most of us the aforementioned are not uncommon occurrences or feelings. Knowing a little bit about the cognitive-emotional functions and processes of the brain and body, it seems quite natural--and it is. However, I think there can come a point when we step into a territory where we can easily overwhelm ourselves, and even accidentally (or via acts of self-degradation) slip into a hyper or hypo state, and stress out/depress not only our thoughts, or nerves, but our entire self. Our psyches, our subconscious, our biorhythms. We can sometimes take it to a place of what can only be described as temporary psychosis, and I'd like to now get to my point of telling you why none of us deserve to do that to ourselves!
We are freaking out, sizing ourselves up to anything and anyone, building ourselves up and tearing ourselves down, diving down the rabbit holes of what ifs, and am I good enoughs, because we CARE! We care a whole lot. We care parking lots. We care stadiums and amphitheaters. If each "refresh" or "login" or worry, or pang in the gut were an individual, we'd have colonized Mars already. We are here, marinating in our own electric nerves, because we care tremendously about some pretty incredible things. We fear because we care, and not just about getting in to our dream (or any) graduate program/university. We care about learning, and discovery, knowledge, research, and exploration. We care about addressing some of the most pressing issues of our society/country/world/planet, for the better (hopefully). We care about making a difference, solving problems, inventing solutions--people, we are ******* awesome, and I believe that is the bright underbelly of the waiting-and-dreading process. I want to take this moment to simply remind not only all you cool people, but myself as well. I think we deserve to acknowledge just how tremendous we are. If you must succumb to the whirlpool of waiting, what ifs, and borderline mania, at least let the bold text come back to you in the form of a reprieve, or as the eye of the 'hurrycane'. 
I could go on for far longer than anyone would read, about the benefits of acknowledging what a badass you are for getting this far and for giving a **** about something, but I will leave that for another post, should any fancy some brain science talk, strange analogies and metaphors for life, or simply if you'd like me to continue to talk you up. Because I will.
In the meantime, may this serve as a gentle reminder to acknowledge all the greatness you've harvested within and for yourself. Take a second (or 10min every day) to breathe deeply. Breathe in the acknowledgement that you care and can hardly contain yourself, because you're a G. A badass, legit, on fleek... You're positively superb. By pursuing learning, knowledge, reflection, growth and manifestation, we are not only expanding our awareness of ourselves and the immediate world around us, but we are expanding the universe's awareness of itself, and that is ******* incredible, and we really deserve to give ourselves more credit for it. 
I wish the very best of luck and good fortune to you all during this process/these times. And, no matter where you think/feel you are in your own progress of self, please know that you as you are right now is enough and is valid, and has no more or less worth than the you who you perhaps are hoping to embody at some future point. If that seems hard to believe, remember, our perceptions are our filters for reality. Therefore, as within so without. 

Breath... breath, deeply. You can do it.

I like how you've gone with the 'treat yourself' method of waiting. You deserve it! This is so stressful we need to be nice to ourselves.

Just got home with a nice Pinot Noir and a loaf of french bread...gunna start rewatching Downton Abbey tonight and force myself to not panic.

Thanks! Sorry for the rejection. Best luck with our applications for Ohio State.

Thanks for the heads up for the mail, I'll keep an eye out for a letter.  Best of luck on the other seven applications!  It only takes one, right?  

First, I am sorry.  Best of luck on your interviews!  At least you have the chance (I've gotten one rejection and otherwise heard nothing).  How did you hear from Penn?  E-mail or postal?  I just checked the website so it isn't there.  Thanks for the info and best of luck!

It seems like some people are getting acceptance to Ohio State...is anyone elses application still not have an answer on it for that school? When I go to the site it does not say accepted or rejected it just says pending

Had a very bad interview for PhD ahead of Spring 2016. I agreed with the professors to do a skype interview. had already set up everything on my computer and possible questions and answers.  was expecting everything to go smoothly. But the day of the interview, skype blanked out globally (sometime in October 2015) for a few hours.
When time for the interview came, I got so disoriented and worried about what to do. Interviewing committee members then asked me if I could use phone instead and I did. I lost my bearing in the first 15 minutes of the phone interview but caught up later on, by then was too late, blabbed a lot in the first few minutes.
If possible, I'll advise you to prepared for the worst before an interview. I'm having some other interviews coming up again in a weeks, I'll try my best to be there physically. I think that works better for me,

I remember how stressful those types of interviews were, particularly when they invite more people than they plan to admit. From my experience, I would advise to be familiar with the existing literature in your field that is related to the kind of research you want to pursue. Not that they will likely ask you directly what XXX said in his article XXX, but rather what you perceive to be the general trends in the literature and then how your proposed direction of research fits in relation to those trends. Not that you should have a super specific dissertation idea already in place, but rather that you have an idea of how the direction of your research can make an intervention, however small, into your field. I think they want to see that you have a generally solid understanding of what's going on in your field at large and that you realize the importance of (eventually) making an original contribution. 

At the beginning of an interview, one of the interviewers sat down and said, "Now this isn't an interview, it's just a conversation." I wanted to say, "um yeah that's a great line, except for the fact that you're judging whether I'm admitted or not based (partly) on this "conversation" we're about to have so um yeah....this is an interview." Ha. They can be nerve-wracking but it's important to be confident yet relaxed. Best of luck! 

Just received my first official rejection (UCLA). I guess since I knew it was coming, I hadn't been invited to interview, it didn't sting as much as I had expected. Still I'm a bit disappointed. 

The struggle is real, but I'd fly across the world for an interview it in a heartbeat (although RIP wallet indeed).

School: UMass Boston
Area/Degree: Counseling PhD
Rationalization: I'm not "mature" enough for a PhD until I've done a Master's, apparently. They said they wanted someone w/ an MA in a related field or "more post BA clinical experience" but honestly I think it just boils down to "you're 22 and we're scared you'll burn out and cost us grant money"... it seems like they put more emphasis on clinical work over research (because, hey, I was actually employed part time in a clinical setting for a year in addition to doing full time work for research). Their loss.   
Comment: Offered a spot in the MA program, idk if I'll take it. I'd rather not spend two years doing unpaid clinical work when I could just earn more money doing research/clinical stuff for pay. 
Coping tactics: Focusing on achieving my final form: a bird comprised totally of salt and hatred. Gonna email POIs to see if the lack of clinical experience is what killed it for them or what. 

School: UT Austin
Area/Degree: Counseling Psychology
Rationalization: Unfortunately, the POIs I was interested in were retiring (this was not indicated on the website and I only found out by emailing the POIs), and the other POIs listed just did not line up with my research interests. I was hoping there would be new faculty who might match, but the website was not up to date at all so I really went in blind.
Comment: (No official rejection yet, but it seems they've already sent interview invitations so I'm expecting rejection) I expected this result since I didn't match with current POIs listed on the website, but was hoping for a potential miracle. Oh well!
Coping tactics: Really pouring myself into the two interviews I have, which are really great fits for my interests and goals. I'm enthusiastic about these programs and professors, and I'm hoping I can nail the interview and get an offer! 

I wouldn't get too discouraged. I was just talking to a friend who's currently in her second year in a clinical program, and she said a lot of her interview invites didn't come until later in January and even into February. She said she had started to panic when she saw other people getting interviews but not her, but it worked out in the end. And she said her program hasn't even finished offering invitations to interview yet. I know it's anecdotal, but it really helped me put the brakes on my own anxiety and hopefully it's at least somewhat comforting for you as well.
But it also never hurts to be proactive if it will help take your mind off of things. I kind of went into the process with my plan B hashed out and it's made the process a lot less stressful for me personally. So you may find it helpful to start thinking of one as a "just in case". But don't let it be one extra stressor on your plate, you know? You've got this. Things don't always work out the way we want or expect, but the fact that you've made it this far in the process means you've got the skills to make it work out in the end.

And when in doubt.....

Ugh. I just got an informal acceptance into umich social psychology. Sobbing at work.
I graduated with an undergrad GPA between 2.9-3.2 and have been working  for five years to make up for it.

When I was asked what I want out of Michigan's program, I answered it in two parts: why I want to go to Michigan and why I want to work with my PI. In answering why I want to work with my PI, I mentioned a particular paper I read in undergrad that really set me on my research/life path and how when I read her work I was inspired in the same way. Her work is like a call to action, and I see my research as a form of advocacy, so it was perfect. She brought it up numerous times over the course of our call and even said she was teaching my 'catalyst' article the following week and hoped it had the same impact on her students. I had a lot of little things like that throughout my responses that I think really resonated with her and showed we were a good fit, so I hope that helps. I didn't really know what "fit" meant or how it was measured until I had two calls where I felt like I was saying the same sort of thing but the vibe was starkly different.
Also, I'll say I was really open about what I have and haven't accomplished. I am admittedly going into grad school with a really unusual research record, but it's still a bit outside my PI's preferred methodology. I was upfront about how her research made me look at my own differently, and made me regret that I didn't do things X way and that I am really excited to change the way I think about data. After the call I felt like we really hit it off but was worried I was too forward with gaps in my knowledge. However, I just found out I was accepted and she noted in her acceptance email that my curiosity and excitement for the research is what stood out. Honestly my main advice is to be yourself a bit and let your personality come through a bit because if you hide it you'll feel like you need to hide it for the next five or six years. 

These are helpful! 
Thank you and best of luck!

Same. I got an email notification on my phone and IT WAS TARGET. Needless to say, I wanted to scream..

I feel the same when I hear the new email sound alert from my phone, but it's been so often that I have become numb now.