sputnik

I am a TA for an intro class, which accounts for about 20 hours of my week. I also work a part time job which accounts for 24 hours of my week. Then, when I'm done with all that stuff, I get to actually do my own school work. The good thing is, I enjoy doing my research, so it's like a reward! The point is, it can be done. I work a good 60-70 hours a week when you add it all up. But, I used to work a day job 40 hours/week, and I was miserable then. I am much happier now. It's not that my life is easier. Just a lot more rewarding.

I will be 31 when I start next year (assuming I get in somewhere).

I am curious to see if anyone else is applying.

I submitted to ICA and I am still waiting to hear back. Have any of you heard anything?

I guess the fact that she's laid off today doesn't change the relationship that you had when you worked with/for her. So, I don't think it's that big of a deal. They are going to be more interested in your performance in the role that you had than whether she still has her position. With all the layoffs these days, it's probably more common than you think.

LOL Thanks! I have a tendency to "go there" when I think people are using social norms to be rude. I tend to disregard the social norms and go right for the throat. He kinda had it coming though. It wasn't the first time he'd been down that road. I donno. I just feel that sometimes, some people, when they hear you're going for a Ph.D. take it as a challenge to prove that you're stupid or somehow less intelligent than they are. Am I crazy here, or have you guys had that experience, too? My job makes me interact with a lot of people, so that may be part of why I've had the experiences I've had. But, I donno. It's weird!

Another one of my favorite annoyances... "You're applying to Northwestern, huh? I hear Medill is fantastic! One of the best." "It is, but I'm not applying to Medill." "Wait...what?" "Medill doesn't offer a PhD. I'm applying to the Comm program." The next day... "Did you get in to Medill yet?!"

Alright, my last rant was good fun, so here goes another... Have you found that people say some really rude sh*t sometimes when it's brought up that you're going for a Ph.D.? Here are some of my favorites. I know a guy who, like 25 years ago, went to the Business school at one of the universities to which I'm applying. When he heard I was applying there (to a different program) he pulled me aside and said, "you want a recommendation letter? You let me know." Um. Yeah. No. This smug guy I know (has an ivy league undergrad degree and likes to flout it) was going on and on one night about how it's become so easy to get a Ph.D. these days that they're practically worthless. He was really working it. Finally, after awhile, I asked, "how long did it take to get yours?" he said, "my what?" I said, "your doctorate. Since you've been telling us all how easy they are to get I assumed you had one." And scene. You guys have to have some good ones too....please share!

I just searched for them by name. Once I'd find one, i'd see who they were following. Many schools' profs follow each other. Or, on their list of followers, to find other profs, the city listed gives you a clue. (if you don't know all the faculty this is helpful. Also it helps find students). Once I got rolling I had found about 30 profs and multiple students in their programs. Some of the universities have department pages represented on twitter. Naturally profs and grad students follow their own department's page. So that's a good way to find them as well. One other way I found was to search the conference hashtags. Since they all tag when they tweet about a conference, you can find them that way too. Plus most conferences make their hashtags well publicized. So it's easy to find those to begin with. A lot of the "big guns" seem to follow each other. So if you can get one to @reply you, some of the others will start following you as well. Now, I've got a decent network of people in my field feeding my twitter page so it's helpful for research. The obvious side benefit was as an application tool to make myself known to profs. Twitter seems stupid at first. It's only as good as the people you follow because that's the only content you see unless you go out looking for something. As a research tool, I find it indispensable.

Thanks strangefox. I actually came up with the idea because i had started following a few profs because I was truly interested in what they had to say. And some of them are very active on twitter. It occurred to me to use it as an application tool about halfway through this year. By that point I guess I'd already been doing it, but that's when I decided to engage more frequently and to find more people. It's amazing how many I did find. It's cool though because I do want to follow those people and I will continue to whether I get in or not because they post stuff relevant to my research. Hence the reason I applied to study under them! It's a happy example of a catch-22.

<br /><br /><br /> That made me laugh out loud! I love thinking about it like that! Pllleeeeeaaaaseee adopt me!!

Bhikari, judging from your comments about twitter it makes me think you don't use it. Is that the case?

I guess it depends on how you use twitter. Some profs are using it to discuss ideas. When you chime in and then they follow you back, I think that's a very good sign. Some profs use it in a less serious way. But all the ones I came across, to some extent, use twitter to discuss ideas relevant to their research areas. So, through it, I was able to show my interest in their work by retweeting their posts (used sparingly) and by directly replying to them about it. In a lot of cases, I got instant replies back. I see a lot of people here say they email a prof only to hear back months later, if at all, and in terse terms, often. I never had that experience on Twitter. I was positioned as someone interested in participating in an ongoing discussion, not begging to be noticed. After all, they didn't know yet that I was a future applicant. Nut now, when they see my application, it won't be the first time they see my name. I think the idea is that by following them on twitter over the last year and engaging in their discussions I think (hope) I showed my interest rather than just expressed it, as many do in emails. I guess only time will tell. Just wondering if anyone else has tried this approach.

So I felt awkward about emailing profs at programs to which I'd be applying, and decided to go a different route. Over the last year, as I've picked out my schools, I started following professors and grad students from those programs (that I could find) on Twitter. I've been @-replying and re-tweeting when applicable. And at my top choice school, I was even able to help out a prof who was looking for a file. I had it so I sent it over. I am hoping that will help me stick out a bit more than the typical "Hi I want to study with you" emails. I just wanted to share that on here. I found I was able to see the personalities of some of the profs, and get a feel for the other students. It became a very valuable tool for me in the application process. I will let you know how it works out! (Sorry for the double post)

Just realized I thought I was in "Applications" and not "Waiting it out"....my bad!

So I felt awkward about emailing profs at programs to which I'd be applying, and decided to go a different route. Over the last year, as I've picked out my schools, I started following professors and grad students from those programs (that I could find) on Twitter. I've been @-replying when applicable. And at my top choice school, I was even able to help out a prof who was looking for a file. I had it so I sent it over. I am hoping that will help me stick out a bit more than the typical "Hi I want to study with you" emails. I just wanted to share that on here. I will let you know how it works out!

I am applying to: Indiana Iowa Minnesota Missouri Northwestern Oregon Wisconsin UIC

I am trying to keep busy by working on my thesis and an unfinished project. I've submitted papers to 2 conferences and some journals, but that just made me realize that now I'm waiting for even more things. Everything is waiting right now! LOL I am hoping to take the energy from all these nerves and get a lot of work accomplished over break. I'll let you know how that goes! Strangefox, what languages are you studying?

LOL Wow! I am happy I made that post! It's kinda nice to know others are feeling the way I do. adaptations, I think you nailed it when you said you respond in a way, "to make them feel like they know what's happening." I think that's what most people who care about us want. I am going to take that approach. It is lonely. They know me as someone who has always been successful. What they don't get is EVERYONE I'm applying with has (for the most part) always been successful. And I know that I am most certainly not the most qualified candidate. And it scares me. Plus, I'm notoriously bad at waiting. I basically just want to finish sending in my apps and just forget about all of it until I find out, one way or the other. I think that's why it's getting on my nerves that people I have told 3 and 4 times already that I won't know until March.And Zouzax, you make a great point that it's not when, it's IF. And we all know how respectively big our IF's are, but our families (or mine anyway) don't seem to get it.I guess it is nice to be a superstar in someone's mind! LOL I think if my mom had it her way, she'd have written an LOR. LOL Thanks everyone for sharing!

So I know it's because they love me that they ask, but can I just say I dont know how much longer I can take having to repeat,"I don't find out until March," to people. I want to just make a t-shirt or something. Waiting alone is making me crazy enough. It seems like every day someone is asking me. And, God less them, they say, "Oh I don't know why you're worried! You'll get in." I wish it were that simple. Hope I don't sound like too much of an ungrateful jerk. It's just the nerves.

Yeah Northwesterns system seems weird. It lists the three schools I'm having send transcripts, but it says they've received 4, 3 coming from one institution, which doesn't even make sense. I keep wondering how long I should wait until I send an email or something.

Mine are thinking: These letters of rec are way better than this kid's records deserve. Must have paid them off.

If you're like me, you probably have already submitted some applications and have a few yet to go out. Just wanted to wish everyone well and find out how you plan to kill the time between applying and finding out. I'm sure its going to make me crazy!

This is less a mistake than a piece of advice. I have a period in my academic career that includes a couple of F's. I talked to my advisor about how to handle the situation and he told me that since I have such limited space in my SOP to not even touch it. He said letter writers have unlimited space, and that he would address the issue there. Granted, I am putting a lot of faith in my advisor, but the SOP I have now seems much stronger in that it focuses on my research and what I plan to do, instead of wasting valuable characters on the past. Just thought I'd throw that out there since a lot of people seem to ask about how to handle past poor performance.