sbr5496

Just a fun story. I'm in NYC after a campus visit, just hanging around town in a hostel, and a woman came into my room who told me she is a prostitute. She's incredibly nice, she talked to me about her business, and we hit it off. 20 minutes after meeting her, I've told her about graduate school and why I'm here, and she has weighed in on where she thinks I should go! 
This decision-making process has definitely been a fun one! 

I have been rejected from four of nine schools. All in a row. I was at a loss. I thought it was over.
Yesterday, I got an email saying a decision has been reached, and that a decision was posted. I logged in . . . "CONGRATULATIONS!" it said. I finally breathed air that felt fresh - for the first time in months, I felt relaxed.
I'm still waiting on four more schools, and my ideal situation is that I have to make a hard decision about where to go. But, at the very least, I'm in. Man, it feels good. I just had to share that with you all.

The best rejection comment yet. 

I think being waitlisted is an accomplishment in and of itself. Some of the spots are SO limited at programs. It can often means you are in the top five, ten, twenty, etc. of hundreds. It is a great accomplishment. I understand your disappointment, but try to keep that positive note in perspective.

Yep!

I noticed your post in the fall 2018 admission thread before I saw this one lol but yea we out here

One pet peeve of mine is the "safety school" BS. Like, I get it. We apply to a range of programs--some more attainable than others, some we want more than others. But you shouldn't look down on the "safety school." Don't apply if you have no intention of attending and will actively hate the option if you get in. And don't get so comfortable that you assume the safety school is just a given. Don't underestimate the difficulty of this process.

Also, application fees in general. What purpose do they serve? Why do I need to pay a many times outrageous fee for you to look at my application? Imagine all the brilliant people who are kept out of grad school because they can’t afford the fee. 

Can we talk about the GRE please? ETS makes so much money off of us. They know that most of us are applying to more than four schools (sometimes 10, 14, 17...). $27 to send scores electronically is absolute garbage. 

Received and accepted an offer last week. It was a tremendous relief.

PHD in UTHealth GSBS , LSU and Florida. MS in all others. 

I was sitting at work when I got an email saying that my admissions decision had been updated on their portal. I had no idea if that was good news or bad news, since it was so general. I sat around at work for an hour or two before I got the courage to open it (I didn't want to cry at work). Opened up the portal, opened up the attachment, and there it was. Accepted. I teared up at work anyway I was so excited and I stared at and reread the letter probably 100 times.

I had the interesting experience of getting two acceptances in two hours today.
For the first one I called my dad like immediately, and emailed my mentor,  and called/texted other people too.  I then went to my tutoring job and between sessions got another email but then got back to work.  After work, I surprised two of my rec letter writers in person with the news.  I spent the entire afternoon calling/emailing/texting the news to those I hadn't heard.   I opened my graduate school acceptance bottle of champagne and gave myself the afternoon off for homework.   I almost cried tears of joy like a million times today.  The first time it was because I knew I was going to graduate school,  the second time because I realized that it is more likely someone will get into an Ivy League university than someone to get a first round acceptance to the UT Austin stats program,  and again when I realized I cracked the top 20.  I have waited two months basically, and almost every day I feared that I would get no offers.  I literally had the what if I don't get in conversion YESTERDAY with multiple people.  Now everything else is gravy.  I have two funded offers now, am on the shortlist for another and have 6 more places to go.  I can now say with confidence that I will be attending graduate school.  And that is an amazing feeling.

hey! congrats !! I haven't heard from anywhere yet..... 

I noticed your post in the fall 2018 admission thread before I saw this one lol but yea we out here