th3redrabbit

Luckily, I do not need to retake the GRE, but, for a number of reasons, I will not be able to have a wedding this year. It does seem like the obvious answer, but just not feasible. Originally, if I had gotten in to grad school this time around, I was planning to wait until I was done with my second year in grad school so that the madness of courses would be over, but now that isn't really applicable. I do want a long engagement, but, even if I got in next round, that means I would be engaged for at least 4 years (if I waited until the second year of school), which was a little longer than I really wanted. I'm less worried about planning the wedding than actually being able to get away from grad school for a weekend to a week to actually have our wedding. If I don't have the wedding until Nov. 2018, then I could easily plan everything before I actually started grad school that year. I would just be worried that I wouldn't be able to have the time away.

Well, putting things off for a year isn't much of a choice (at least as far as starting a Ph.D.), but I understand what you are saying. The wedding wouldn't be the only reason that I would consider postponing reapplying until F19, so I don't know that I would feel regret necessarily, but I do worry about putting it off for too long. I am 24 now and will be 25 this year. A lot of the applicants I met from this cycle are 21 and 22, so I don't know how it would feel to be doing this again when I'm even older. But, at the same time, if this is the career I want, it is better late than never. Thank you for the insight

Hi fellow applicants, I am sad to say I have been rejected from all 11 programs I have applied to this cycle. However, life must goes on! I do plan to reapply, but I've got a few different options to choose from. Reapply to Ph.D. programs this year for F18 -- this is what I am leaning towards Post-pone reapplying and complete a M.A. in a related field where I currently work and do research, then reapply with my masters Accept a partially funded M.A. at one of the schools I applied, but it would be extremely expensive and I would have to relocate Although I appreciate any thoughts on the options above, what I am really wondering is, when should I plan my wedding? I got engaged in Dec. of last year and I have not done any planning because of interviews and waiting to hear the admissions decisions. All of the places I had applied would have required a move across the country as well, which further complicated things. The wedding will likely be in north Florida/southern Georgia and we would like to have it in the "winter" to avoid some of the heat. We had our hearts set on early November, but if I reapply this year for F18 and get accepted, what would we do about the wedding if it was Nov. 2018? Would institutions be understanding about me flying back home for my wedding? Alternatively, we could get married next Spring, but then there is the possibility that I would have interviews, which could get really messy. If I post-pone reapplying, I could definitely just plan my wedding and work on some other projects I have been putting off, but I am hesitant to wait nearly 2 years to go to grad school at that point, especially with no guarantee the second time of applying would be the charm! What would you do? Does anyone that is in grad school have any insights or opinions? As a person that likes to plan, this is giving me a headache D: P.S. I am happy to clarify any of the above information if it helps!

Interestingly, I think the issue I am having with my applications is that I wasn't focused enough in my research interests. I have been getting the feeling that I was looked over for many schools because there were probably students that were super specifically interested in the projects being done, whereas I claimed I was more open. I think it is probably hard to strike a balance, and I haven't decided my tactic for next time (if I continue to be unlucky this year). It may also differ by field. I am coming a (primarily) neurobiology background and applied to psychology neuroscience programs. Perhaps next time I will need to tailor my SOP even more to the specific school than I did this time and spend more time talking to the labs I want to be in. Although I did do some of this, the schools that I thought I had the best shots at and had made the most connections didn't even bother to contact me.

This is my first time around and have had two interviews, so I feel lucky for that, but I have already been rejected from one and am still waiting on the other. I can see some definite chinks in my interview armor from the second school and I am afraid of the answer I will get back. I have not heard from most of my programs at all, but it looks like all but two have already had an interview weekend. 0a | 0w | 3r out of 11 applications