MundaneSoul

Yikes. I was already feeling kind of down about my only acceptances so far being fairly far down the list (47 and 60), but reading some of the comments here just completely ruined my day. Now I'm wondering if I should just pack it in until next year (or altogether).

I’m so excited to say that I officially accepted my offer at University of Oregon today! It felt so weird to submit the acceptance letter; I stared at the screen for like ten minutes before I finally clicked send. It’s such a good fit for me, though, and I think I’m going to absolutely love it there. The faculty and students that I got to chat with were all wonderful. I can’t believe this is finally happening!
Thanks to everyone here for all your advice and kindness!

I’m so excited to say that I officially accepted my offer at University of Oregon today! It felt so weird to submit the acceptance letter; I stared at the screen for like ten minutes before I finally clicked send. It’s such a good fit for me, though, and I think I’m going to absolutely love it there. The faculty and students that I got to chat with were all wonderful. I can’t believe this is finally happening!
Thanks to everyone here for all your advice and kindness!

I’m so excited to say that I officially accepted my offer at University of Oregon today! It felt so weird to submit the acceptance letter; I stared at the screen for like ten minutes before I finally clicked send. It’s such a good fit for me, though, and I think I’m going to absolutely love it there. The faculty and students that I got to chat with were all wonderful. I can’t believe this is finally happening!
Thanks to everyone here for all your advice and kindness!

I’m so excited to say that I officially accepted my offer at University of Oregon today! It felt so weird to submit the acceptance letter; I stared at the screen for like ten minutes before I finally clicked send. It’s such a good fit for me, though, and I think I’m going to absolutely love it there. The faculty and students that I got to chat with were all wonderful. I can’t believe this is finally happening!
Thanks to everyone here for all your advice and kindness!

I’m so excited to say that I officially accepted my offer at University of Oregon today! It felt so weird to submit the acceptance letter; I stared at the screen for like ten minutes before I finally clicked send. It’s such a good fit for me, though, and I think I’m going to absolutely love it there. The faculty and students that I got to chat with were all wonderful. I can’t believe this is finally happening!
Thanks to everyone here for all your advice and kindness!

I’m so excited to say that I officially accepted my offer at University of Oregon today! It felt so weird to submit the acceptance letter; I stared at the screen for like ten minutes before I finally clicked send. It’s such a good fit for me, though, and I think I’m going to absolutely love it there. The faculty and students that I got to chat with were all wonderful. I can’t believe this is finally happening!
Thanks to everyone here for all your advice and kindness!

I’m so excited to say that I officially accepted my offer at University of Oregon today! It felt so weird to submit the acceptance letter; I stared at the screen for like ten minutes before I finally clicked send. It’s such a good fit for me, though, and I think I’m going to absolutely love it there. The faculty and students that I got to chat with were all wonderful. I can’t believe this is finally happening!
Thanks to everyone here for all your advice and kindness!

I’m so excited to say that I officially accepted my offer at University of Oregon today! It felt so weird to submit the acceptance letter; I stared at the screen for like ten minutes before I finally clicked send. It’s such a good fit for me, though, and I think I’m going to absolutely love it there. The faculty and students that I got to chat with were all wonderful. I can’t believe this is finally happening!
Thanks to everyone here for all your advice and kindness!

I’m so excited to say that I officially accepted my offer at University of Oregon today! It felt so weird to submit the acceptance letter; I stared at the screen for like ten minutes before I finally clicked send. It’s such a good fit for me, though, and I think I’m going to absolutely love it there. The faculty and students that I got to chat with were all wonderful. I can’t believe this is finally happening!
Thanks to everyone here for all your advice and kindness!

I’m so excited to say that I officially accepted my offer at University of Oregon today! It felt so weird to submit the acceptance letter; I stared at the screen for like ten minutes before I finally clicked send. It’s such a good fit for me, though, and I think I’m going to absolutely love it there. The faculty and students that I got to chat with were all wonderful. I can’t believe this is finally happening!
Thanks to everyone here for all your advice and kindness!

These last stages of the decision-making process are excruciating, especially under the unusual conditions! Today I graced my favorite professors' inboxes with a thousand-word email about the pros and cons of my top two choices. Writing it all down really helped me clarify my own thoughts. I know which program I prefer, but I'm having trouble getting over the trepidation of moving nearly a thousand miles from my hometown, especially when my second choice program is much closer. 

I can't sleep thinking about my choices! I'd like to be on the same coast as my family, but I have to sacrifice some things I want to do that. If I went the other way, I'd get those things but I'd have to give up being closer to family and also my relationship. Shit's tough

So, I think I'm going to officially accept my PhD offer soon. At this point, best case scenario with BU is that I get accepted to their MA program, but if I'm not willing to go into further debt for BC, I'm sure as hell not going to for BU - especially after this aggressive silence. I'm officially over waiting for them. While I'd like to have the option of my WL accepting me, I'm not really sure I'd take them over this offer, even though it would mean I wouldn't have to move. The prospect of finally committing has me anxious af. Last year was such a disaster that I'm afraid something is going to go wrong again. However, moving 2 hours away as opposed to 47 hours away should be exceedingly less stressful. *knock on wood* *knock on so much wood* My cats are going to be super pissed. 

It's been obvious to everyone I've spoken to that I know what I want to do/where I want to go. But there's something about the finality of committing to a program and closing the door on another that is very scary for some reason. "What if" is a very annoying question that my brain obsesses over.

My heart. I'm sending you all the good vibes I possibly can that it borders on being creepy. Take time to heal. I will say this from my own experience: At 22 I had to drop out of undergrad. Cut to me at 29, sitting on my living room floor sobbing, holding a rejection letter from a local state school I tried to get into to restart my education. In that moment I thought I was completely f'ed and would never achieve my dream. After my sob-fest, I reevaluated and called the school asking how to improve my application - started cc 3 months later - graduated at a better state school 3 years after that. Last year, I got into a bomb PhD program, but the move didn't work out. I thought I was completely f'ed again because I had to walk away from my one chance. But, I reevaluated again, redid my personal statement and applied to even more schools. I've been lucky again to get into one PhD program, and one that suits my personality/lifestyle better than the one from last year. 
What I mean to say in all this rambling, is that if this is truly the path you want, don't give up. If it's not going to be financially/mentally/spiritually harmful to you to do this again next year then go for it. Reevaluate your materials and see if something needs improving. You can only control what you have in front of you. And I'm sure you've learned many lessons this time around that next year might be more manageable (also, you'll know not to apply to BU, so there's that!). I wish you the very best and hope you know that it'll work out how it's supposed to in the end, even if the journey takes longer than you originally hoped. You're not alone!

Fully agree. There is a stereotypical academic environment that I've had my heart set on since I graduated high school 16 years ago, and the closer I get the more that ideal picture disintegrates. There are very little tenure jobs, many profs adjunct and don't have an office, many teach online, etc. While I understand how privileged I am to be at this point, I'm bummed at the thought of there being an asterisk attached to this next chapter. I hate to pout and throw a first-world tantrum, but I'm over the road being so difficult when it was such a pain in the ass to even get to this point. I am/was really looking forward to being in the classroom and enjoying this for a little while before the reality of the job market hit. 
I know it's fine and I'll enjoy the experience, it's just annoying. 

Totally get this. Had two conferences planned, one of which would have for the first time brought me directly into contact with the artists creating the most significant contemporary works in one my main fields (queer game studies). And campus visits, of course. And I’ll be the first in my immediate family with a grad degree, so I was also excited about commencement. It really sucks, but now I’m just doing my best to look ahead to doctoral studies and how excited I am for that.

The biggest hurt for me is the possibility of not having commencement. I come from a marginalized community and made it into a top-tier program at a school that many dream of. Since day one I daydreamed of my parents coming to see me cross the finish line at this prestigious dream school. I just wanted them to see me do that. I know its dumb, but I work hard in large part to make them feel proud of me because I love them and want to succeed beyond what is normal in our community. I have been agonizing about this being cancelled. I hope this whole thing just gets under control soon. 
Thank you for this thread, I am glad I'm not the only one. 

Signing all of my Johns Hopkins paperwork today; after the visit cancellation, they did an exceptional job of setting up meetings with faculty and students, so I feel very informed, despite never having set foot in Baltimore. I have some feels about how my cycle went, but they've really convinced me I ended up in the exact right department for me. I'm grateful! 
Good luck to everyone still agonizing. I know it's got to be doubly stressful with everything else that's going on.

Committed just now to Cornell's Medieval Studies PhD program, good luck to everyone else!

I feel like this is important though and good to know when being on here just ain't it for you and when it is. Someone in another chat said that it was important to know when being on here was helpful for you and when it just made you feel worse and I cannot agree more. February is a super stressful month and I think that even for people who have really solid cycles you can still get the nagging feeling of "why was what they're delivering better than my best effort" and there usually isn't a clear cut answer for that. Some things that were helpful for me to keep in mind was that: 
1. If they aren't in your subject area it's not as if them doing well affects you in any way whatsoever.
2. Even if they are in your subject area, chances are they aren't just "a better version of you" they're just out here doing their own thing and the admissions committee thought that they fit better with their program.
3. Plenty of current professors with tenure or on track to get it had to apply multiple times before getting in somewhere. 
4. This process is hard on everyone and the amount of people who just destroy their application season are pretty low and even for the people that do have an amazing season, they can only pick one place, and all the other slots will be up for grabs to those on the waitlist.

The number one thing I learned was that comparing myself to others, specifically on this website, was terrible for my mental health. I logged out after the first week of February when I realized I was feeling absolutely horrible over the success of anonymous strangers.  You are your own candidate. Do the work and feel good about it and f*ck the rest. I’m sure this will be taken down...but really wish I had seen someone saying this when I checked here for the first time back in September.

I really fear the whole "accelerating the move toward online education" scenario. I think a few online classes here and there are fine, but largely, online education sucks. (I will also note that I've definitely made online classes for a paycheck before, lol.)

My university (not an Ivy and in state that so far has fewer than 10 cases, none of them connected to the university) informed us all a few hours ago that we are to stay away for the two weeks after spring break (which starts Monday) - we'll be doing everything online until April 5. Frankly, I'm angry - I think this is a massive overreaction that is far from guaranteeing to stop people from getting the virus anyway (they're just sending everyone home and telling them to come back in three weeks; some people will be going home to harder-hit places than my area and the odds are someone will just bring it back with them!) and that will inevitably take a major toll on academic performance across the university.