Carly Rae Jepsen

thank you @madamoiselle ! It was such a relief to be able to make a choice. Congratulations on choosing Cornell, @Saltshaker ! It's a wonderful school. It's so nice to start seeing all the decisions! It was a long cycle but we made it

I've made my decision and am happy! Now to craft 4 emails telling programs I'm not attending

Hello! I attended 3 visit days, 1 was an 'interview/get-to-know top applicants before the decision' and the other 2 were post-acceptance visits. Do: -Get acquainted with the work of professors you see yourself working with. You can do this by just reading their bios on the website or you can go beyond and read excerpts of their work. You can bond with them and see if they'd be a good match for you. -Wear comfortable clothes and shoes, business casual is always nice. You will be walking a lot and you want to be comfortable. Look up the weather too--I went to snowy Indiana with just one jacket. A coat would've been nice! Pack toiletries and comfortable clothes for an after visit stroll. -Ask grad students anything you'd like to know! Every grad student I met at the 3 schools was kind and nice! They were on your shoes not too long ago and are therefore very happy to help. -Also ask faculty everything you want to know, don't be shy. Funding, research, teaching and other opportunities, how long do grads typically take to finish their degree, the structure of the program, recent placements, rigor, opportunities for interdisciplinary study or just take courses outside the department, the work of current students. -Attending grad seminars is a must if you can! -Familiarize yourself with resources such as the library system or grad housing should you choose to attend. -Be thankful and appreciative of people who made your visit possible. Don't: -Exploring the school and city is nice, but be careful, I got lost at a very large school at night and had to call their public safety number to take me back to my hotel. I was so embarrassed! -Get nervous explaining your work and interests. You were admitted, you got this. Most schools aren't expecting you to come with a dissertation idea or such. And something that I can't quite put into the dos or don'ts category is the fact that you might be asked about your other options. Try to be tactful about it, you can mention other schools but ultimately what they'll want to do is sell their school. Be receptive, listen, compare and contrast but don't be confrontational about it.

Friends I thought about my decision a lot this weekend and the whole package for me is WashU! I'm going to be sad about letting my other options know I'm not attending, but I'm pretty excited about starting this Ph.D. and moving to St. Louis. When I visited it just felt right and I felt very appreciated by the department there. The application process was such a ride, but I survived it.

Thank you guys!

hmm considering how bad her latest album is, I'd say they still made them a favor

One of my cats doesn't like to be petted for that much time but when he sees me with my laptop, he insists on being the center of attention. He'll walk over the keyboard in front of the screen. Once I close the laptop he doesn't want the attention anymore. It's adorable.

Everyone: would you attend a program you did not visit? Everybody in grad school tells me it is imperative to attend a grad school to see the environment for yourself and, while I agree, I do feel bad for rejecting a place mostly because I was unable to visit. In my defense I think funding is better at another program that I visited and fell in love with, but this program I couldn't visit seems fantastic on its own, too. Just wanted to hear an opinion (I know not everybody gets a chance to visit before attending a program), but honestly I am closer and closer to deciding.

Don't they adhere to the April 15 deadline? That's not nice of them. Wait, I see them listed there: http://cgsnet.org/ckfinder/userfiles/files/CGSResolution_RevisedMarch2018.pdf If they made an official funding offer to you, they are supposed to honor that until the 15th. I would contact someone about it.

I'm loving IU. The department is fantastic and top-notch and it was winter wonderland with all the snow when I arrived, lol. They offer a critical theory minor too which sounds amazing. Bloomington feels rather small, though. I think living a city where I could escape the academic bubble every other weekend would be ideal for me. But I still haven't made my decision.

I cannot add any more reactions today but congratulations!! I'm so happy for you, UC Berkeley is incredible and in a very nice area. Keep us updated on how everything goes!

Thank you. You're right: I'll make it a goal to do it tomorrow.

This sounds stupid (and it is) but I am having a panic attack at the idea of even sending an email telling a program I am not attending. I feel so bad. I'll have to say no to 4 schools and it feels awful to do it.

Congrats on your decision!!! I'm really jealous, I wish I could decide now. I am sure you'll thrive at Penn State! Indeed, I got the Pittsburgh offer and it was quite good--and also nearly identical to WashU's offer. I am sad about being unable to visit but will otherwise speak to faculty and current students, one of the professors there is an Algeria expert and that's one of my big interests. It may boil down between WashU and them, I would love to live in either of those cities. I also got the Rutgers offer and it was good, but NJ is more expensive than both St. Louis and Pittsburgh, so I'm a little worried about that. I only have the Indiana offer left but since I'm visiting I will talk about it then. Maybe my decision isn't as easy as I thought it was.

Thank you! I really consider myself lucky, it's been a good season.

Thank you, @madamoiselle ! I felt much better after reading your words. You're absolutely right about getting ready to be honest with programs. I think by now I feel ready to tell UNC I won't be attending, and am dreading to write the email but hope someone else gets my spot. I'm also excited to see where we all end up, this has been a journey!

Stanford just said no ? The visit was however great and it was cool to meet faculty, and I won't forget that gorgeous campus. I'm not sure it would've been a great fit for my interests even if I got in. My decision just became way easier now, I am leaning towards WashU. I am of course excited to visit IU and hear about Pitt and Rutgers' stipend offers, but the program at WUSTL felt very much like a fit (especially one faculty member I see myself working with) and the funding was fantastic for the area. Before officially deciding I will wait to have all these pieces of information. I feel as if a giant rock was lifted off my body with this last decision.

Congrats on your decision! I also think it's very important that French is spoken in class, otherwise it's easy to lose it (at least speaking-wise). LSU's program is fantastic too.

@Green.Mango thank you! Glad to know your visit to IU went well and you liked the department, it strikes me as a diverse department and I've heard Bloomington is a nice town. I'll be visiting next week and I'm excited.

Dr. Mecchia said they'd get back to me in a few days, no hurries though, take all the time you need to decide! I just realized we have exactly a month to decide tomorrow. Time flies, I recall when we were all waiting for acceptances lol

yep, same here. The wait makes me anxious.

Omg, we were probably on the same library tour! I was the guy with glasses haha. Have you heard anything yet?

Feeling OK lately The campus visits did wonders to my otherwise monotonous life. Soo cool to meet other young like-minded folks.

I was hoping to see a thread for him somewhere here, I looked in the physics section. Saddened to lose one of the greatest minds our generation had the chance to witness.

Thank you, this helps a lot! I'll send you a PM if I have other questions.