meghan_sparkle

a Times Literary Supplement mug I stole from the office when I interned there ... sorry Rupert Murdoch!

am celebrating with ... a £1.50 microwave bacon muffin and a mug of tea. am i doing this right

Oh my god. Just got the email to check the portal—in at Columbia. I haven't been processing anything for the past 3 weeks. I'm in disbelief.

Am having the world's worst day otherwise but: Harvard!

tbh am getting the sense that forums would be better without me posting in them lol—signing off this account, it's been fun and wishing everyone the best of luck! x

hiya, apologies if my post was triggering; as someone who also struggles with debilitating mental health issues/depression that was 100% not my intention! i would never make, say, a joke about suicide, or a joke about harming another person—both of those are offensive and ableist, and to me quite different from a quite obviously facetious 'uggggh kill me'. but, not my place to say where others draw the line. (too late to edit the post or i would) that said, i think frustration at the slowness, randomness, and anxiety of this process weighs on everyone, and the forum is a place for all to celebrate, vent, offer advice and commiserate. i don't think i've ever once implied that any anxiety or frustration i feel at waiting for decisions is equal to the feelings of those who have yet to get an acceptance, are on waitlists, or are facing a shut-out. (in fact, i believe the exact opposite.) i'm not sure how i could be 'more mindful' of the stakes you mention, other than just not posting, but am happy to to contribute less if it grates on anyone's sensitivities—and i mean that sincerely! impostor syndrome and jealousy have been bedfellows for all five years of my adult life so far, and i have zero desire to be an asshole and add to anyone's burden in that department. i will just say i find it a little odd that while i'm not the only person on the forum accepted to multiple top programs, i am the only one who's been oddly singled out for slightly passive aggressive and at times intrusive comments. it's an anxiety-inducing and frustrating time, and everyone is running off of a combination of confusion, fatigue and adrenaline, so these reactions are understandable, but i don't think either of these reactions are very helpful, for anyone.

someone at harvard said to me i would hear back "very soon" but that was last week and i'm sure "very soon" for a university that was founded in 1636 could be like ... march or something

Hahahahahaha *continues laughing, goes down my apartment stairs, opens door, slams it, walks across the street to wine bar* hahahahahahhaa *downs a glass of malbec* kill me.

this is the purest thing i've ever heard

Ahh right I see. Still, so pushy!

Wait ... this is insane behavior! Are you supposed to tell schools, whether they've waitlisted or accepted you, about other offers you have?? Assumed it would be a breach of etiquette but sheesh if some are asking...

My 3 Columbia interviewers said we would hear around/on Friday the 21st!

A writer friend of mine does events every year at Kelly Writers House at Penn and what I'm doing to him rn to try to get him to ask someone when results are coming out could honestly fall under the umbrella of cyber bullying and yet Can't stop myself

If I don't hear from somewhere today I will riot.* *Cry in the shower quietly and respectfully.

they're not english!

Agree with this—when I was fretting in January someone currently at Harvard contacted me to say Harvard was their final and only acceptance, and it was just utter despair all through January/February. I wouldn't necessarily pin all my hopes on it or bank on it, but as an experience it's really far from uncommon.

@ Princeton ... Penn ... Harvard ... WHERE YOU AT ?

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It feels like it has been February for several years now.

Aha it came after I said I'd loved speaking to her and been very gracious and just sounded slightly awkward, probably nothing that rises to level of incident or needs apology—but I will be headdesking for a while!

For work , I had to call one of my POIs at an institution I still haven't heard from on Friday (not going to say which for obvious reasons but didn't have anything to do w/admissions obvs) and at the end of the call she said "I have a feeling we're going to be speaking again very soon" and sorta laughed. I was so flustered and confused I ended up saying "Oh, alright, um, bye" and hung up on her and then I screamed "OH NO...OH GOD....FUCK". Tact, grace, gratitude. Love that for me.

Tbh that could have just been the final department meeting; my understanding is most schools need to then to go GSAS and get everything approved/finalized. But yes ... quite a long gap between last Thursday and now! Especially if we don't hear til Monday, which I'm starting to think is the more likely possibility unless they pop up in the next hour or two!

Whyyyy has this week been so much quieter than expected? Where oh where is Princeton?

This really hurts my heart to read, and I know it's unlikely that advice from an internet stranger will affect your decision: but please, please don't forsake the incredible funded PhD options you have in the US because your partner got shut out/has a ND waitlist. It's none of my business at all so please ignore me if this out of turn, but it's hard to forget what you said in an earlier post about you making sure you applied to multiple schools in the vicinity of places your partner was applying, but it seems this wasn't something they did for you. Your career is just as important as your relationship, and there's no guarantee you'd have the same offers next year if you reapplied. (I say this as someone who stayed in Oxford in large part for a long-term relationship! I don't regret it because it worked out for me, even though the relationship ultimately didn't, but it's scary to look back and realized how much I would have turned down for that person. Regardless of what the opportunity turned out to be.) Is it not an option for your partner to move with you and reapply next cycle? Why is it you that would have to turn down your offers and reapply? Again--sorry to ask tough questions and be impertinent; you are under no obligation to answer them or pay attention at all to me, and I don't want to add weight to your dilemma. I just couldn't not speak up, because you seem like a lovely person who has gotten into programs you only get accepted to when you're terrifyingly smart and formidable.

.