GreenEyedTrombonist

@CoffeeFueledAnxietyYes! USC has sent me a few emails about their MSW. I applied there for a PhD program in a different department, so every time I get messages from them my heart leaps out of my chest. x]

Only spam email I've gotten in the last few days have been those random university emails. I can now add Mississippi State University (Anthropology PhD), Binghamton University (PhD in a list of social sciences), and Central European University (no specifics on program) to my list of random schools I didn't apply to that are sending me emails.

If I don't get in, I'd like to think I'd try again, but that may come down to if I land a good job that can support my cost of living. If not, my romantic brain wants to run away to a cabin in the woods for the summer and focus on my writing, then apply again in the fall. If I get a decent job, I guess part of the summer will be spent moving and setting up shop somewhere new, so not that different from moving for grad school. Honestly, I haven't heard back from any programs yet, so I'm trying not to think about it (it's not really working).

I'm currently out of chocolate and not allowed to drink booze. I'm making tea instead. Tea works, right?

No change yet @PaU^_^PaU

I cleared out my spam folder so now I'm not checking it, haha.

Today I did a march, went to lunch with my family, edited a paper for a conference proceedings, went to my bank, and played DnD on a Twitch stream. Tomorrow I'm turning in that paper, working on an article for journal submission, and writing rough drafts of my abstracts for a conference this spring. School also starts Thursday for me, so I'll probably start obsessing about that as well, haha.

My Plan B is to apply for career jobs related to my interests and apply for doctoral programs again next year after attending more conferences as a presenter and having submitted multiple articles to journals. Plan C involves locking myself away in a house in the mountains and writing until I can reapply (also doing the conferences and articles).

From an anthropology perspective, I and several members of my MA cohort have tattoos. Some even have neck and hand tattoos that they can't cover up with professional clothing, but it doesn't seem to make a difference as they are all well-respected for their work ethic and contributions to our program. I intend to get more tats in the future, but for a while I plan to focus on areas that I can cover up easily.

I would personally advise against doing that during the semester. If you're able to clear time during spring break or the summer you could possibly do it then, but as someone who had major issues in undergrad for not eating enough one semester, I definitely caution against doing anything that could cause issues. Instead, if you drive to campus, park further away. If you eat out a lot, be more mindful of portions and what you order. I also have problems with over-eating (though mine is a lifelong issue, not just from grad school) and I've been working on being better lately. I got a fitbit a while back and my parking pass has me park further away from campus than I used to so I'm walking more. I try to eat out with friends if I need to eat out because the friends I eat with are mindful of healthy eating so I know we'll go to a better place than fast food. If my school let me, I'd enroll in a PE for the semester so I'd be forced to exercise. Since they won't let me, I'm looking for non-academic fitness classes held at the school that work with my schedule. Basically, there are other ways than doing a juice cleanse to get healthy and I would definitely try those before doing something that could potentially harm you and your academic progress.

My way of coping does sometimes involve hugging my kitties. Often though, I cope with the anxiety over school and not getting into any programs by playing piano. I found a copy of Fur Elise and I've never tried anything classical so I've been giving memorizing it a go. I also play DnD online every other Saturday and am improving my streaming setup so I can relaunch my Twitch channel better than ever. Basically, I do things that are not that stressful and fun so I can be productive on the stressful work and try to relieve the stress of not knowing.

Admin positions could mean many things, but they probably meant working in the department's (or another department's) office. This would mean answering questions for students who come in, scheduling different things, sorting mail, etc. High-paying is ambiguous though, as that depends on comparing the income with other jobs in the area/of a similar level/for grad students and the area's cost of living.

@Charlsa My rule is I get to check it (and this site) after doing something, like write a paragraph for a detailed outline I have due tomorrow.

@RevTheory1126 What sort of podcasts do you enjoy?

They let me upload unofficial transcripts which could substitute for official ones until an offer of admission was sent, but I also opted to send official transcripts anyways. I did get an email from the Anthro department Graduate Dean saying they received my application.

@C is for Caps Locks I'm trying to figure out how I can send an email and not make it seem like I'm ignoring their request to not get emails about missing documents until Feb 1st.

I was just checking over the GATS website for Irvine and it says they are waiting for transcripts before they can process my application. It also says that the high volume of documents received could cause a delay of a few weeks in updating the website. My transcripts were sent November 21st. Is anyone else experiencing something similar? Is anyone who sent transcripts to Irvine after that date seeing their status as complete? I know there's not much I can do by way of contacting Irvine before February 1st (they say don't contact them before then about updates to the system), but I'd like to know if the transcripts potentially got lost in the mail and I'll need to send new ones. :/ Other potentially relevant info: I'm applying for a PhD in their Anthropology program. They started sending interview requests January 10th for this program, though I haven't heard anything about an interview.

That's awesome!

I'd much prefer an email from Hogwarts @DBear

Ok, I saved them because I think they're interesting. I have officially gotten those emails from: Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis (M.A. in Psychoanalysis or Mental Health Counseling) USC (I want to go there for Communication, but this is for an MSW) Harvard Extension School (no program listed) UCF (PhD in Texts and Technology or Graduate video-game development program) Columbia University (MA in Climate and Society) Brandeis University (PhD's in Anthropology, Archaeology, History, Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, and Politics) Yeshiva University (MSW) UC Merced (no program listed, mentions Interdisciplinary Humanities in another email) Notre Dame (MGA or PhDs for Peace Studies or Political Science) University of Michigan School of Information ( MS in Information, MHI, or PhD programs) I think that's all of them...

The one that sounds the most like a superhero academy is the Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis so I always pause when I get their emails.

It's really hard to gauge the community's size, but if you go on Facebook group members it's currently a group of almost 3k people. They were originally pretty active on one forum, but that site got a major overhaul which caused forum activity to die. They just launched their own forums on a separate site, but most communication is happening in the facebook group. Feel free to join! It's a private group so just request access and then a moderator should approve you. I did my research mainly with Team Hooman to understand how philanthropy can become a central group ideal (donating to charity isn't necessary for membership, but it is something hoomans praise and collectively tend to do) and how business practices help or hurt their associated community. I partnered with Team Hooman and two companies with Twitch channels and should be presenting my findings to everyone this spring.

I am a member of a few forums, only a couple I check regularly, and have been studying online community formation as part of my MA. The main online community I'm a member of is Team Hooman, which is basically a group of geeky people who try to focus on positive interaction online (number 1 rule is "don't be a dick"). The group interacts a lot on facebook, but also has its own forum, twitter, discord, and shows up in chat rooms for a few Twitch channels.

Yes! I've been getting those too! Only one has seemed interesting, but it isn't exactly related to my area of research interest.