miratrix

There's sense in that. One of my roommates hasn't followed any of these boards or websites, and he basically just didn't think much about acceptances until one arrived in his inbox one day. I think this increases our anxiety. (It's fun though.)

I think it's not abnormal - I've heard from one of seven schools so far, and that one was early (i.e. I know they have not finished sending out acceptances). Nor is it a sausage, I guess March will be the month! The results search doesn't seem like a good sample for everyone, as only two of the seven schools I applied to have ever shown up on it. It's interesting to look at, but pretty easy to tell whether it's going to be useful for you or not.

Yikes, is that the rule for all Texas grad schools? One of my top choices is there....

Someone posted that a program I applied to should be notifying this week (as they have in past years), so now I'm on edge. I don't even expect to get into that program, so I'm getting all anxious for an anticipated rejection...? I wish I knew nothing! NOTHING!

Oh dear. Don't they have to give you some kind of severance, at least? I'm sorry to hear this, hope the admissions decisions give you a really good option for next year at least....

I understand that people who make decent salaries aren't used to living really frugally, but you know, it can be done. I'm making significantly less than a lot of grad students working right now, and I live in the second most expensive city in the US, so hearing people talk about larger amounts of money being insufficient to live on makes me defensive. If you have no dependents, no huge loan payments, and don't live in New York, you may be technically under the poverty line with some stipends, but you'll probably have health insurance, you'll have job security, and you're not going to starve or go without shelter and clothing or actually SUFFER IN ANY WAY as a result. Of course more money would be nice, but supporting yourself on it is not going to be an issue.

I think it does matter how well a school handles bureaucracy; my undergrad was very small and unusually hassle-free, and it actually did give me a smoother experience than a lot of my friends at larger schools had, both in college and during the grad application process. Admissions may not be the best representation of bureaucracy at a school, but the grad school office will matter anywhere you enroll because there WILL be times when it'll determine whether getting something done is efficient or full of roadblocks. It's worth asking current students about to get a sense of how representative your admissions experience is. I do agree that department interactions are more important, though. Of course I'm going to consider a school more highly if individuals at the school are more welcoming and interested in working with me than if I feel like a number.

Discoapple didn't say "get an A," though, it was "get a decent grade." A B- is a decent grade. It's passing, but shows that you're not doing above-average work, and isn't that what it's supposed to say? If you couldn't pass despite lots of effort, that would show that something's wrong, and you shouldn't be in the course for some reason. I think grade inflation and entitlement isn't just a matter of college being "the new high school" and standards dropping, though. Grade inflation is just as bad at selective private schools as at mid-range state schools, maybe more so...I've heard the argument that students who get into Ivy by definition have a higher average level of work than students who get into Hometown U, so it isn't fair to "penalize" students in the middle of the pack at Ivy by giving them a B for work that would theoretically earn an A at Hometown U because their lower GPA would put them at a disadvantage after graduation. That argument seems like BS to me because you can't compare the work of students you actually have to the work of hypothetical students elsewhere, and because Ivy admission isn't supposed to give you a 4.0 GPA for all of college because you are soooo vastly superior to the rest of the world. Also, when an A- or B is the average grade, a single professor or TA who wants to buck the system actually DOES have to consider the effects on students. If you're the only grader in the school who gives out Cs and Ds to more than a few seriously struggling students, then the average students who are working hard and getting Cs really will have a harder time getting scholarships, maintaining their averages to stay in sports, or applying to study abroad and grad school than students who take the same class with a different professor. Is THAT really fair? Changing the system has to be school-wide, so it effects all students equally (some schools have tried to control grade inflation institutionally, like BU, and become known for its lower overall GPAs).

Drunk history made my night! Hahaha. My favorite youtube amusement is watching ridiculous metal videos. One from my favorite Faroese band, Tyr, involves a staged Viking battle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5zNK--DUDg

I'm not going to say you're being greedy, if you can get more money great...but if you live anywhere that's NOT New York City, you will not go bankrupt on 19K a year. You will be fine.

I've never been to either but have friends in both. All the Minneapolis people love and rave about it. West Lafayette, if you come from somewhere more urban and coastal, seems to take some time to get used to. (This is more cultural and social commentary, either way you're going to have to deal with cold winters!)

Daycare can be pretty horribly expensive in this country. $1100 a month is high but not unbelievable, and when that's basically the monthly take-home pay for a full time job on minimum wage, that's messed up. I don't like how we think of it as just a problem for individual families to deal with and therefore not part of the larger social contract involving, you know, integrating women into the work force the way other western countries do. Good luck talking to the school about this issue.

Mine seem like apples and oranges, I can't even number them arbitrarily. We'll see where I get in and how the funding is, and then I'll visit any likelies that I haven't been to yet, and that should put things in order. (Also, speaking of the results page, I hate updates that are like "the department says they may let us know next week." WTF! If you don't know anything, don't tantalize us!) I'm itchy waiting to hear back from the two long-distance ones that I'd like to visit if accepted because I would have to ask for time off work and make travel plans, and I want to get on that as soon as possible. Of course if I were rejected at both, it wouldn't be an issue, but it's a problem I'd LIKE to have.

A lot of listserve emails. In order of frequency: my church, groups from college I'm no longer involved with, and work. Ooh, and facebook alerts. Aside from a few social-life-planning emails, that's about it.

A friend of mine recently suggested that the reason you hear that conservatives are uncompassionate and liberals are unprincipled is that they disagree about how to achieve a just society, not what justice is or what a fair society would look like in the end. Conservatives tend to start with just principles, say "these principles are morally right, so if we follow them we will have a good society. Since we have problems in our society, it must mean we're screwing up and need to be more careful about following our principles." Liberals tend to start with desired outcomes, say "our current society doesn't match up with our idea of a just society in these ways," and try to figure out the most effective ways to achieve the desired outcomes. I thought that was an interesting and somewhat perceptive comment. (Hey Dan, if you read this, sorry for stealing your idea! It's a good one!)

I think whether it's worth it depends how far it is and how much money it would cost you. If it is paid for, or won't bottom out your savings, I think it's worthwhile.

I don't know, I feel like the grad school process is more in my control. You're born with certain looks, personality, and intelligence, but there are things you can do to prepare a good application, from college grades to work experience to GRE studying, and there's not as much you can do about your looks and personality.

There's nothing glaringly wrong with my application, so I think the reason would have to be along the lines of "not a great fit," "not taking people in your subfield this year," "well...your application wasn't bad, it just wasn't among the best," or "we really, really liked some other people and didn't like you that much." Hearing that the response to my application was a general lack of interest would not be terribly helpful. There are just a lot of applicants for not very many spots, there may not be clear and helpful reasons that are memorable to the committees for every rejection.

I could be seeing you in class AND serving you coffee There's a pretty good chance, given past years, that I'll be hearing from one of my programs in the next week or so...I'm impatient!

If I get in everywhere (ha!), I'd like to visit the 3 that are far away, and only drop by the local ones on a day off if I need to talk to somebody about questions. Currently only in to one far away place and working on scheduling the visit, though.

I think "referred" means the department let the grad school know they want you and the grad school now has to officially process and send out the acceptance.

Wait it out. Having a good meeting with a professor might help your application, but I don't think it's nearly enough to make assumptions about getting in. (I had a couple myself, and I was under the impression it's fairly common.)

It was more along the lines of "oh, yes, a backup" than "OH NO DON'T GO THERE!" which would be such a red flag! It is an MA program, and I am not definitively planning on being an academic, so I'm not worried about tenure...but I'd probably end up reapplying to most of the exact same PhD programs I'm applying to now if I went there, so in that sense I guess it literally would be a backup for most people with my list of schools.

If they include a stipend, or the $$ amount they quote is actually the value of tuition reimbursement/insurance! This is something worth clarifying, even if it *seems* obvious.

Yeah, congrats! I am not nervous about measuring up in grad school itself yet, but I am nervous about asking questions and visiting programs I'm admitted to (one so far, hopefully more!). I need to ask things like, "do your assistantships include any stipend, or is it only tuition reimbursement? and how do students pay for costs of living?" and "do you have funding for summer research?" and "what have your students done after graduating in the last few years?"...but I'm afraid I'll offend someone and they'll think, "What an INGRATE! Is she saying we're not GOOD ENOUGH?" I know they probably get these questions a lot, but it's my deeply trained instinct not to trouble anybody that's giving me this feeling, not my rational mind.