Tonights

Around here Peapod is affiliated with Giant. I used them a few times before we bought our car. I thought I would be okay in the city with no car. I didn't have one for the first three years I've been living here. Terrible mistake. I'm never not having a car again. I mean sure, we commute to and from work via Metro every single day, and the metro is really great if you want to go out and have a few drinks without having to have a designated driver, but not having a car made the simplest tasks much more difficult. We could not buy a bookshelf or go hiking without first making prior arrangements on transport. Grocery shopping was a particularly hellish experience (and I do not like Peapod. I like being in a grocery store and feeling up every single roast to make sure I get a "good one.") And woe betide you if you really have to be on time, because that will be the day there is sinister, unspecified "Track Work" that will make you late for everything. One time I nearly got arrested for absently eating a Thin Mint in the metro at 11:30 PM after a 3.5 hour night class. Now, I'm not dissing Metro. I love Metro and use it every day. But in my opinion it's best to have a car for when you need it, and I wind up needing it at least a couple of times a week.

T_ruth, I'm at home ruminating and agonizing too. Chest cold. So you're not alone. This is such a stressful process. As for the inaugural festivities... I live in Washington, DC. Because, you know, I'm not stressed enough.

I just emailed the dude-in-charge to ask if he thinks my research is in line with the program. I wasn't intending to apply to MA programs, but this one is RIGHT up my alley and the fact that it has rolling admissions is more or less awesome, since I just found out about it today. Plus, twiddling my SOP and filling out the application will give me something to do in between... you know, checking my email every nine seconds.

See, I have permission to read them if I'd like to. I wasn't really asking an ethical question - I should have been clearer. I was just asking if you would want to know what's been written about you, ethics totally aside. :wink:

Realistically, I still have a bare minimum of six weeks, but it's not stopping me from checking my email every nine seconds. And, a brand new program was just announced at BU that I want to apply to. It's an MA program, but rolling admissions - good lord, I SO don't want to have to ask for more copies of my LsOR, but it's a great looking program. Bah, I thought I was done with this.

Okay, laughing my butt off at the chem professor one. Oh, Craig Ferguson, you are awesome.

A postmodern anthropologist and his informant are talking. Finally, the informant says "Okay, enough about you, now let's talk about me." ... *crickets * Sorry. :oops:

On the weekends I am exactly as wriggly and impatient, I'm afraid.

Cricket, that's hilarious.

I'm going to repost the little anecdote I remembered in the other thread, because .. uh, it's all I've got. XD "My friend, applying to economics ph.ds, told me a story that made me feel a little bit better. He attended an informational dinner at a VERY competitive program. One of the other attendees did not know the difference between microeconomics and macroeconomics. She asked what the difference was right in the middle of a roomful of dumbfounded eggheads. Realizing that I'll be pitted against at least *some* folks like that makes me feel at least a wee bit better about my chances." Another bright spot for me was the road trip my best friend and I took to visit schools. She's hoping for a history spot. In November we got in the car and visited schools all up and down the eastern seaboard for three days, talking to whoever we could collar in our departments. We drove around 1500 miles and saw about a dozen campuses. It was spectacular.

One of my online apps wouldn't let me submit a 3 character GPA. It had to be "X.X" not "X.XX" before the thing would submit completely. I wigged because I didn't know whether to round up or down - toot my own horn or be self-deprecating? Sigh.

That's the real reason I'm not going to read them. I really know my writers wouldn't care if I looked or not (we've had this discussion), but personally I just couldn't stand to read my qualitative evaluations by these folks. If they were bad, I'd be devastated, and if they were good, I would be dreadfully embarrassed.

See, if I get an acceptance from even one of my seven non-safety schools, I'm going to stop worrying entirely. I only need to get into one, is how I look at it.

If it makes you feel better, I'm sure it's fine. I sent paper resumes and writing samples only because I disliked the forced online formatting. Since I did it intentionally, I am sure they won't mind/notice that you did it accidentally.

If they didn't prompt you to enter one, the programs may not have required it. Check your department's webpages to see if they did.

Hooray, solefolia! I bet you feel so much better. I'm jealous, I can't expect even my earliest ones for another six weeks. Dang lax hippies in the social sciences. :wink:

Well, to folks like us who love academia enough to want to throw ourselves upon its mercy, rejection can be a really hard blow. I feel like I'm having a love affair with the admissions committees. But we all just need to remember that there really is nothing to be ashamed of and no reason to lie. Especially in a year like this, where everything is overcompetitive and underfunded - I already know one of my schools wants me, but they told me baldly that the money isn't there. My friend, applying to economics ph.ds, told me a story that made me feel a little bit better. At an informational dinner at a VERY competitive program, one of the attendees did not know the difference between microeconomics and macroeconomics. She asked what the difference was right in the middle of a roomful of dumbfounded eggheads. Realizing that I'll be pitted against at least *some* folks like that makes me feel at least a wee bit better about my chances.

I wish I could take everyone here out for a drink. Or a Xanax.

Tinyboss, that is extremely weird. My "double-safety school" (great term!) is also in my home state! It's only an hour away from my and my partner's families, so if I have to go there, we'll have all kinds of shiny silver linings. I know safety schools are far from being a guarantee when you're playing this hellish game we call doctoral admissions, but it sure does make me feel better - especially since I have my days when I feel that the other six schools are totally and completely out of my reach. (That's on the days when I don't feel all eight are out of my reach, of course. Heh.)

What defines mine as such is "I have a significantly higher chance of getting into these than the other six on my list." I'll explain. One is my alma mater - small department, I'm known there, my supervisor/recommendation writer in the department is familiar with the quality of my work, it's a good school and a good fit - I'd be happy there and I feel good about my chances. I did a lot of excellent work in that department, including serving on the academic search committee. The other is a third-tier institution with requirements far below my qualifications, but which still has a very good department with some very good folks and it's in a place that I enjoy, so I would not be sad there either. I do not especially DESIRE to go there, but I would definitely not be sad there. So. Those are my safeties. They may not pan out as such, but I still feel like I'm far more likely to be admitted to these when compared to my chances at the Ivy and the Top Ten on my list. How bout everybody else?

Online status checks are the devil. End of story. I mean, here we are and it's only January 15th, and I bet I'm not the only one obsessively refreshing (although not at Cornell).

I don't want to strike out either, CAPoliSciPhD. That's my worst fear - only ten people besides me are invested in my admission (three of them being those who prepared my recommendations) and the thought of being rejected everywhere haunts me. It would suck for me, personally, being grad school is my dream. But it would be even worse because I would feel so ashamed and kind of like I let them down, even though I know perfectly well that this feeling is BS. I would be so proud to go to any of the programs I applied to, I wouldn't have to lie about being denied admission to my first choice - I will be so proud if somebody wants me!

True. My main reason for possibly looking at them was "then I will know if someone is giving me a lukewarm rec, and if I get rejected from everywhere this year, I'll know not to ask them again." But truthfully I am too self-conscious to read them, I think. I'd be embarrassed.

I'm just wondering how many of you guys have read your letters of recommendation. I have a set of extras from a school I wound up not applying to, and I can't decide whether to read 'em or set them on fire unopened.

I handled this situation by not having a top choice. No, really. I would be equally thrilled to attend my top three schools. Now, if none of *them * admit me we'll have a problem. :wink: I would have loved to keep my application process a secret. As it is, my mom, partner, best friend, and everyone at my job know. I wouldn't have told my coworkers, but I completed my applications mostly at work and I couldn't hide why I was sweaty, panicky, and shuffling papers everywhere!