ProAtOverthinking

Haha, I wasn't aware that I was capable of initiating such awesome topics too. JK.  
Beach walks.. I miss them already, cause I haven't been able to go to the beach since the pandemic took a swing. 
I am glad you could relate on how your priorities might have changed after entering grad school. It can get really tough, and it would be rather interesting to know more on your perspective of balancing work/personal life- something which most of us are speculating about a lot. 
My plan for now is: I am going through courses I would like to take, reading about it as much as I can, attending webinars organized by the university, virtual seminars, but also cherishing "me time", lol.  

I love this question! (Where were you to ask it when I was getting ready to start my program???  ) 
I don't at this point have too much to add, I spent a lot of time reading books for fun. Being outside and looking at what I would have to prioritize to keep in my life and what I would drop. It's funny to look back and say that I learned to finally meal prep only after I started my doctorate, but for the first time I knew I had to do that to have any time with friends. It's something I keep doing now to be able to go for a run (friends are hard with the pandemic), and have any thing really selfish in my life. Seeing as how I don't have summers off anymore because of school if there was one thing I realize I miss it's going to the beach (sometimes to just read for fun), I did a lot of it the summer before but not with intention. I'm working on figuring out how to do it now with the little bits of time I still have available to me. 
Awesome question! thank you for asking!
(I hope more people answer, I'm looking forward to reading and being inspired)

Congratulations to those who got admits already, and good luck for them who are still waiting for results. 
It just came to me to have some suggestions about how to spend the summer for prepping oneself for graduate school, in terms of brainstorming and self-studying for coursework, or just looking for housing accommodations, etc?  Please feel free to pitch in any thoughts/ideas/suggestions for the same, irrespective of which program you have applied to-you can mention it tho. ? 
Take care, everyone. ? 

I don't know if you feel the same way, but I love organizing/reorganizing. It's an oddly satisfying activity for me.
Sounds like you're doing lots of good productive things before school starts! ☺️
I tried to look into courses at the university I'm most likely going to, but there was nothing I could find. I only know one required seminar I have to take in the fall.
Lots of well wishes for moving countries! I've only ever moved abroad for short living experiences, nothing as long as grad school. I know it's always a long, tough, stressful process with visas, finding housing, etc. Depending where you move in the US, the housing process can be easy. It's the big cities that are often a bit more complicated with application fees, etc. Smaller cities you can find places with ease. I'm sure current students in your program can help you figure out which neighborhoods are best to live in.

That's really a well-organized routine. Thank you for sharing it in a detailed way ! 
Yeah, I agree, morning hours are ideal for working out for me as well.. It somehow just shakes out the morning blues! haha. 
I have been working as an intern for an online education platform, and learning/practicing French on DuoLingo. I just completed two certification courses too.  I need to start brainstorming on research papers, like you mentioned. It would be really an ideal way of starting.  I have this guilt addiction to stationery, I spend good amount of time on arranging/rearranging my notebooks/pens/etc.. for no particular reason. LOL. 
Also, I think most of the universities/individual programs, have their courses listed out already, isn't that so? It might be different in your case. But good luck with that. 
Oh, okay. Thank you for the advice on housing accommodation. I will be moving countries.. so it's a leap and I am skeptical about everything. 
 

This is a great post; thanks ProAtOverthinking!
My current rough plan is:
Reading as much as I can in my field - research (articles/books/etc.) as well as Italian lit.  Trying to write in Italian everyday to get back into thinking in it. I need to learn a 3rd language so I've been studying French now to alleviate the burden later. Once I know what courses I'll be taking in the fall, I plan to reach out to those professors for the syllabus and start reading things ahead of time. During the pandemic, I figured out what type of routine best fits me now - I like to workout in the morning, start working soon after, work until dinner, and then my evenings can be spent however I need. I think big meal preps on the weekend have been helpful to keep my weekdays productive - not losing time to cooking. If people haven't figured out their ideal routine/lifestyle, the summer would be a good opportunity to experiment. I plan to move 1 month prior to starting school. TBD still. I've been digitally tidying - cleaning up my computer and getting it organized. Creating good systems of organization for school. I start drafting a CV - not much on it, but hey, it'll be easy to add to in the future now. I took the Coursera course "Learning How to Learn" so I might revisit that. I also plan to look into Coursera courses on writing and hope to take something to help improve my writing. That's all I can think of for now. 
You mentioned looking for housing, and my general plan for that is:
Figure out what neighborhoods I want to be in. (Talk to current students/professors to assess this.) Check out Craigslist. Check out the Facebook page for students searching housing at my uni. Find out the realty groups and check out their listings.

I've been accepted to three awesome schools, and I couldn't be happier. Grad admissions are officially over for me, and I've learned a whole lot about myself. I wish you the best of luck as well!

I understand. I wish for you strength and hope to get through, everything's going to turn out in best possible way. ❤️❤️ 

That's probably the best things I've come across in a really long time. Much needed, as well.  I wish you luck in pursuing your passion. 
I take rejections to my heart, and acceptance as accidental luck. I know, I'm being hard on myself, and I'm sill underway working through this feeling. 

I didn't really apply to many places in the US, just LA, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. What about you?

I have a feeling that checking gradcafe wouldn't exactly alleviate those feelings! And yet here we are.
I wrote to one of the programs and I received a reply stating that we would get to know the results by April. Are you kidding me?!! That's 1/3 of a year of waiting. The whole process is designed to drive us insane, although I do understand why it takes that long.

Yeah, same feels, if you were referring to admission decision and stuff. 
I have been waiting for the Admission decisions' , and sometimes it just goes to a dead end point! 
 

Yeah, same feels, if you were referring to admission decision and stuff. 
I have been waiting for the Admission decisions' , and sometimes it just goes to a dead end point! 
 

I just want to know where I'll be in 6 months. I. Just. Want. To. Know.

1. I have the same professor for two of my classes, and she seems to be in the habit of seriously last minute updates to our workload, e.g., dumping 146 pages on us of (dry and redundant) background reading we're expected to be familiar enough with to discuss at length... less than 24 hours after she made the readings available to us. This week, she added 46 "surprise!" pages of stuff to read yesterday morning... for this morning. :| How in the heck do you write a syllabus without having all the readings ready to go & available for students to read?!
 
2. At the start of December, I applied to join 2 committees that are supposed to act as a sort of "task force" for issues within the professional group my interests are most related to; I wanted to be more active in something beyond coursework, meet new people, learn useful life skills, etc. My applications were in by 12/5 or so, and we were supposed to hear back "by the end of January." At the end of January, I inquired about an update (since I wanted to know what to write on my self assessment's accomplishments & service sections for within-department funding), and was told that only 30% of the committees had submitted decisions. It's making me second guess the efficacy and efficiency of the groups, and at this point, I just want a dang answer... kind of lost the enthusiasm that made me apply in the first place.
 
:|
people
y u no function

I have the pleasure of dealing with a mysteriously stinky fridge at home (I live in a rental, the fridge is at least 30 years old). 3 boxes of baking soda helps. I am sorry that this is the only input I have.

I'm crotchety today.  I need to vent.  You don't even have to reply to these things or read them.  But I just... gotta... 
 
1. I have been getting phone calls to my desk phone from some fax machine at a nearby hospital. Like... 10 in a row.  Multiple times a day.  My voicemail box keeps getting full. I called IT here and they can't do anything.  I called the delinquent hospital FOUR times and talked to their IT but it keeps happening. About to change my number. 
 
2. My lab mates mumble quietly when they try to have a conversation with you but PHONE conversations are LOUD and last FOREVER.  I'm trying to write a manuscript and somebody is walking around the lab on the phone. But seriously, even the mumbling thing gets old.  ENUNCIATE!!
 
3. I submitted a grant about 6 months ago, and should have heard by now, but then the government shut down.  And good LORD I GOTSTA KNOW!
 
4. The fridge in my lab (for human food) stinks. And my desk is right next to it.  And every time somebody opens it I want to gag.  And I can't clean it anymore because I SWEAR THERE IS NOTHING IN THERE.
 
5. I spent $160 this morning to have somebody fix my water heater and he doesn't think he successfully fixed it. 
 
 
... I feel better.  Seriously, I like grad school, but it's just one of those days.  
 
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