waddle

Guys, I'm screwed.

Guys, I'm screwed.

I'm just wondering how you managed to spend $6000 on applications, given that each application costs around $100-150, that would be 40-60 schools you applied to.

I am very empathetic -- it's tough when your SO doesn't give you what you want. I would suggest, however, that sometimes the issue is less gender-realted and more family-of-origin-norms-related. It may be helpful for the two of you to take turns talking about how your families of origin responded to your good news when you were kids, and what you would like from the other now. (Bear in mind that it is quite challenging to change behaviors, even when one wants to.) Perhaps your SO's behavior is more of a reflection of his experiences than of his feelings for you.

I'm going to give my own interpretation on the male species. They prefer not to think their actions out and typically end up in situations which could have been avoided. They prefer to be the successful one among their group/family. I would guess this is how a typical male acts? I think he finds it more as you bragging about your success and probably finds it a bit annoying. He probably was okay with it first, but it could have gone to the point where it seems like you're just telling him how much better you are than him. Just my personal view on things.

$1.0 x 106 (yay for significant figures and scientific notation!)

approximate breakdown:

$350: application fees for five programs (one was waived, though) $300: GRE General & Subject Test $15: something like six or seven transcripts (maybe it's because my transcripts are terrible quality, but they're only $4, less if you buy in bulk!) $1,000,000: difference in life earnings vs. if I'd gone to med school (assuming a 20-year career at a $70k/year difference, minus the costs of med school ~$300k, and the grad student stipend ~$100k for five years) edit: @ElectedSilence: I'm from a public system, too, but not the UC.

Want to get in touch?
dr.prajakta.adsul@gmail.com

University of Big Shots: Prof. Applicants R. Hilarious squints at waddle's transcript. "Teh Suck ... State University at ... Nowhere? Pshaw! He thinks that's a real school? Hawhawhawhawhaw! Teeheeheehee! Oh man, that's the best laugh I've had in days."

Leading Science Institution: Placing katerific's oh-so-awesome application in the 'admit' pile, Prof. Y-Do I. Bother picks up waddle's, expecting something just as amazing. Flips quickly through it, and thinks, "SON. I AM DISAPPOINT." This one goes on the pile marked 'document disposal'.

Nobel Factory University: After reading through waddle's statement, Prof. I. M. Amazing gets up to grab a beer to wash out the bad aftertaste. She feels just a modicum of pity for the hapless chap who had the audacity to actually submit such a non-amazing application.

University of Badass Research: Before sitting down, Prof. Reject N. Repeat decides to automatically reject every third application that comes his way, and only review the rest. This will save him time, allowing for him to pack a few extra rounds of foosball into his busy schedule (his defense has gotten a bit rusty over the holiday break). After disposing of 1/3 of the applications on his desk, he picks up the first remaining application. It's waddle's. Midway through reading it, Prof. Repeat starts screams, "WHATISTHISIDON'TEVEN!", tears the application into shreds, and out of anger, shreds all the other applications, too. Thereafter, he calmly gets up and walk towards the break room, planning to pwn some n00bs (grad students).

Lotsa Money University: Prof. Should B. Retired sits down and starts working through his inbox. "Oh hey, an applicant. I guess we'll accept her." Then goes on to accept every other applicant, thinking it'd be fun to see how many clueless new grad students he could pack into an office before they figured out what had happened. Heck, maybe he could strike up a collaboration with the psychology faculty and get the experiment published too. And apply for a grant. Of course, the money would go toward getting a sedan chair. With all that extra grad student labor, he wouldn't even need a car! (Oooh, this is an interesting train of thought!) Heheheheh ... zzzzzz.

I would put down more scenarios, but alas, I ran out of applications.

P.S. To the other applicants at UBR: Oops, sorry, guys.

Not at all. You touched upon the unique situation Ivy grads find themselves on the job market. Just because they went to a university with a more known name ("better", as you wrote, is the wrong word here) does not mean they will do better on the job market. From what I understand, the Ivy league does a good job preparing their graduate students for research careers (TT jobs at Research universities). The reality is that almost none of us will get a job at an R1, if we get TT jobs all.

When you apply for a job, the search committee is going to look at a few different things. Yes, they will look at the quality of your research, but teaching experience is also very very important, and you generally don't get the best training for a teaching career at an Ivy. At my public state university, I am getting a lot of direct teaching experience. My department allows advanced PhD students to design and teach their own courses over the summer, and even as an MA student I am given a lot of responsibility in the classroom. I've looked at Ivy funding packages, and they just don't have the support for teaching that a lot of other universities do.

Search committees at teaching colleges or less "prestigious" universities might also pass over an Ivy candidate because of the belief that the Ivy hire might jump ship to "move up" to a better department if given the opportunity.

You are approaching this from entirely the wrong direction. Before you even think about specific universities, you need to come up with a research interest. Once you have a research interest, you need to think about specific scholars whose research interests you and you would like to work with. You probably won't make it very far if you think you want or need to go to Harvard or Yale but don't have any reason to actually go there.

HI
I AM NEW ONE HERE
THANKS

My transcripts cost $15.25 apiece. Thanks, UC. I guess that's what happens when governors and legislatures collaborate to strip higher education of public funding. [side note for us Californians: Jerry Brown will sadly be no better].

She doesn't need a PhD. She needs medication.

University of Big Shots: Prof. Applicants R. Hilarious squints at waddle's transcript. "Teh Suck ... State University at ... Nowhere? Pshaw! He thinks that's a real school? Hawhawhawhawhaw! Teeheeheehee! Oh man, that's the best laugh I've had in days."

Leading Science Institution: Placing katerific's oh-so-awesome application in the 'admit' pile, Prof. Y-Do I. Bother picks up waddle's, expecting something just as amazing. Flips quickly through it, and thinks, "SON. I AM DISAPPOINT." This one goes on the pile marked 'document disposal'.

Nobel Factory University: After reading through waddle's statement, Prof. I. M. Amazing gets up to grab a beer to wash out the bad aftertaste. She feels just a modicum of pity for the hapless chap who had the audacity to actually submit such a non-amazing application.

University of Badass Research: Before sitting down, Prof. Reject N. Repeat decides to automatically reject every third application that comes his way, and only review the rest. This will save him time, allowing for him to pack a few extra rounds of foosball into his busy schedule (his defense has gotten a bit rusty over the holiday break). After disposing of 1/3 of the applications on his desk, he picks up the first remaining application. It's waddle's. Midway through reading it, Prof. Repeat starts screams, "WHATISTHISIDON'TEVEN!", tears the application into shreds, and out of anger, shreds all the other applications, too. Thereafter, he calmly gets up and walk towards the break room, planning to pwn some n00bs (grad students).

Lotsa Money University: Prof. Should B. Retired sits down and starts working through his inbox. "Oh hey, an applicant. I guess we'll accept her." Then goes on to accept every other applicant, thinking it'd be fun to see how many clueless new grad students he could pack into an office before they figured out what had happened. Heck, maybe he could strike up a collaboration with the psychology faculty and get the experiment published too. And apply for a grant. Of course, the money would go toward getting a sedan chair. With all that extra grad student labor, he wouldn't even need a car! (Oooh, this is an interesting train of thought!) Heheheheh ... zzzzzz.

I would put down more scenarios, but alas, I ran out of applications.

P.S. To the other applicants at UBR: Oops, sorry, guys.

Alright, my last rant was good fun, so here goes another...

Have you found that people say some really rude sh*t sometimes when it's brought up that you're going for a Ph.D.? Here are some of my favorites.

I know a guy who, like 25 years ago, went to the Business school at one of the universities to which I'm applying. When he heard I was applying there (to a different program) he pulled me aside and said, "you want a recommendation letter? You let me know." Um. Yeah. No.

This smug guy I know (has an ivy league undergrad degree and likes to flout it) was going on and on one night about how it's become so easy to get a Ph.D. these days that they're practically worthless. He was really working it. Finally, after awhile, I asked, "how long did it take to get yours?" he said, "my what?" I said, "your doctorate. Since you've been telling us all how easy they are to get I assumed you had one." And scene.

You guys have to have some good ones too....please share!

'lets piss on the pile of application files'

University of Big Shots: Prof. Applicants R. Hilarious squints at waddle's transcript. "Teh Suck ... State University at ... Nowhere? Pshaw! He thinks that's a real school? Hawhawhawhawhaw! Teeheeheehee! Oh man, that's the best laugh I've had in days."

Leading Science Institution: Placing katerific's oh-so-awesome application in the 'admit' pile, Prof. Y-Do I. Bother picks up waddle's, expecting something just as amazing. Flips quickly through it, and thinks, "SON. I AM DISAPPOINT." This one goes on the pile marked 'document disposal'.

Nobel Factory University: After reading through waddle's statement, Prof. I. M. Amazing gets up to grab a beer to wash out the bad aftertaste. She feels just a modicum of pity for the hapless chap who had the audacity to actually submit such a non-amazing application.

University of Badass Research: Before sitting down, Prof. Reject N. Repeat decides to automatically reject every third application that comes his way, and only review the rest. This will save him time, allowing for him to pack a few extra rounds of foosball into his busy schedule (his defense has gotten a bit rusty over the holiday break). After disposing of 1/3 of the applications on his desk, he picks up the first remaining application. It's waddle's. Midway through reading it, Prof. Repeat starts screams, "WHATISTHISIDON'TEVEN!", tears the application into shreds, and out of anger, shreds all the other applications, too. Thereafter, he calmly gets up and walk towards the break room, planning to pwn some n00bs (grad students).

Lotsa Money University: Prof. Should B. Retired sits down and starts working through his inbox. "Oh hey, an applicant. I guess we'll accept her." Then goes on to accept every other applicant, thinking it'd be fun to see how many clueless new grad students he could pack into an office before they figured out what had happened. Heck, maybe he could strike up a collaboration with the psychology faculty and get the experiment published too. And apply for a grant. Of course, the money would go toward getting a sedan chair. With all that extra grad student labor, he wouldn't even need a car! (Oooh, this is an interesting train of thought!) Heheheheh ... zzzzzz.

I would put down more scenarios, but alas, I ran out of applications.

P.S. To the other applicants at UBR: Oops, sorry, guys.

Penguins. They waddle.

Make sure to differentiate between 'hot' areas and those that are merely 'warm'! Huge difference in comfort level during summer.

Penguins. They waddle.

Penguins. They waddle.

I'm determined not to cave and give them 12 dollars. I think the whole thing is absurd. They have the scores. They sent them out to my schools over a week ago. The ONLY reason not to send them to me/put them online is to play on my neuroses and grab more money. I may be neurotic, but I'm also stubborn as hell. ETS doesn't get a cent more of my money than I absolutely HAVE to give them. I am tempted to call one of my schools and ask them if they can peek in my file and let me know, though

After seeing all of these stats, I'm expecting this to be a "fun"/stressful application season. As per the question of safety schools, I'm actually planning on taking a year and applying to medical school if I don't get accepted to the programs I applied to.

I thought it'd be interesting to pull some stats out of last years data, just for curiosities' sake.
Take all of this with a large shovel of salt since none of this is scientific. And it is all based on voluntary (probably inaccurate) reporting. But anyway ...

"Top" 10 schools based on "Average Accepted GPA"

Stanford University 3.84 Princeton University 3.83 University Of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) 3.80 University Of Washington, Seattle 3.79 University Of California, Berkeley (UCB) 3.78 Cornell University 3.78 New York University (NYU) 3.78 Massachusetts Institute Of Technology (MIT) 3.76 University Of Chicago 3.75 Harvard University 3.74 "Toughest" 10 schools based on "Average Rejected GPA"

University Of Michigan, Ann Arbor 3.78 Harvard University 3.78 Princeton University 3.78 Brown University 3.78 California Institute Of Technology (Caltech) 3.77 Stanford University 3.77 Yale University 3.75 Massachusetts Institute Of Technology (MIT) 3.74 University Of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (UNC) 3.73 Cornell University 3.733 "Most popular" 10 programmes in Fall 2010 based on number of acceptances and rejections

Economics 4198 Computer Science 2994 Philosophy 2159 English 2082 Physics 1841 Political Science 1744 Mathematics 1294 Sociology 1056 History 813 Statistics 659 Obviously all of this is heavily dependent on the number of users to the site and their particular interest. Seems like economists have nothing better to do than apply and post their data ;-).

Chillax, db2290. The OP's just trying to get some advice regarding his application. I understand your vigilance for trolls, but I don't see any indication that the OP is anything troll-like. Hey, at least the post is (mostly) grammatically-correct, and we really shouldn't sound like we're driving first-time users away from the forum. (I know you try to be helpful, but your tone comes across as slightly bitter--could be an artifact of the Internets, but nonetheless ...)

Georgetownhopeful, I have no advice I can give (sorry!), as I'm not in your field. I'm sure others here will have much better advice, especially if you could give a few more details as to how this "verbal confirmation" was worded.

waddle

P.S. For the record, db2290, I canceled out your -1 rating.

Chillax, db2290. The OP's just trying to get some advice regarding his application. I understand your vigilance for trolls, but I don't see any indication that the OP is anything troll-like. Hey, at least the post is (mostly) grammatically-correct, and we really shouldn't sound like we're driving first-time users away from the forum. (I know you try to be helpful, but your tone comes across as slightly bitter--could be an artifact of the Internets, but nonetheless ...)

Georgetownhopeful, I have no advice I can give (sorry!), as I'm not in your field. I'm sure others here will have much better advice, especially if you could give a few more details as to how this "verbal confirmation" was worded.

waddle

P.S. For the record, db2290, I canceled out your -1 rating.