Tonights

Well, I don't necessarily feel like I deserve one, but I sure would like one. Not that I'm so desperate to hear my own failings, but hearing "there's no funding" or "there's no professor match" would be way better than my imagination telling me that the committee roundly mocked me and read my statement out loud to laugh at! :shock: Plus, I'd like to hear what the problems were so I'd know if it was worth it for me to try again, or if it was something I'd never be able to change about myself.

I respect your opinions (despite what it might seem because of what I fully admit is my really terrible temper). But the fact remains that first of all: 1) the particular folks I used as an example are not in America, despite the fact that the American government has terribly damaged their lives, and have very little chance of pulling themselves up by their nonexistent bootstraps in the countries in which they DO live, and 2) I believe in helping people. In fact it's my strongest belief. I just don't see why I should let people struggle when it's within my power to assist them, and it makes me feel good to do so, so I shall continue to do so.

I think there was a movie about this, called "Accepted?" I believe the plot was that some kids who were rejected from college admission founded their own university. I'm all for that! I'll get the accreditation paperwork!

1984, I tried a couple of times to write a good response, but I have to admit failure. Unfortunately, we're too varied of opinion on the left for me to be able to speak for anyone else. I believe the axiom is "like herding cats?" :wink: Anthcat, though, has written a really wonderful response that I would like to echo. I don't even believe in the Democrats to be able to solve society's ills, but I vote Democrat because their social positions are the closest to my own among the available options. I see myself as "love thy neighbor," while I think people on the far right tend to sorta see society as "every man for himself." I believe we have an obligation to help our fellow humans, especially when untrammeled capitalism has been the cause of many of their ills.

I know better than to argue with people like you. I'm sure you feel like a big man to wave away the abject poverty of thousands of people you've never met who were put into their current situations because the American government made it impossible for them to continue being able to practice subsistence farming. Good job!

Not to put too fine a point on it, the people I work with are in poverty as a direct response to free trade agreements pushed by the corporation-loving government. The government caused their hardships and therefore has a responsibility to attempt to mitigate them. Then again, I'm a syndicalist at heart and have no abiding love for government, I just think people should clean up the messes they've created. Sometimes there are no other ways of dealing with the issues.

Medianerd, what I really hope it means is that they are holding on to your application and waiting for funding to materialize. Don't lose heart - you haven't been rejected!

Void, I think you're reading it wrong. What was said was "reasonable cross section," as in, "a microcosm which reasonably represents actual politics statistics in the population at large." I don't believe a slight was implied.

*giggles* Well, I can't say the reason for hard scientists, but as a social scientist I think you're right on the money there, Rutabaga. I've done a great deal of work with impoverished folks who have no agency of their own. It does tend to make one move towards the side of the political spectrum that's got a better chance of protecting and enfranchising them. Then again, since I've been so left for so long, you might say my politics subconsciously influenced my decision to become an anthropologist rather than the reverse. We have to take that into account, too.

Exactly! That's why it's worse. Your attractiveness is subjective. Your intelligence is not. :|

Oh no! Don't ask me my political leanings, you might damage my delicate sensibilities! *clutches pearls* Puh-leeze. If you don't like it, there's no need for you to participate. This really is a neat poll, it's crazy interesting to see the ideological split between the humanities and the "hard" sciences. I've been involved in radical left movements since I was 12, so I think I belong squarely in the "far left" tickybox!

I answered "Two" for our two permanent cats, Bonny and Waldorf, but we more frequently have between five and seven, because we take in groups of foster kittens from the humane society and then raise them, socialize them and adopt them out. This is both amazingly rewarding and tear-out-my-hair frustrating. Currently we have just one left from our last foster batch, Molly, who I'm pretty sure might be a demon disguised as a tiny grey kitty for her own fell purposes. Waldorf is obese and is on a diet heavy on the pureed lean meats and low on the kibble, to control his carb intake. He's only 8 months old but is gigantic and round. He's always been really big and was quite a robust kitten, but he's recently had a growth spurt and most of it was sideways. >_>;

Thanks, you guys. I feel quite a bit less likely to explode now.

Well... I decided not to apply to a program I was going to apply to on the basis of some comments from a professor I interviewed with (at a different school). It would have been a good fit for me, but I was kind of on the fence about it anyway and when she asked me what other schools I was looking at and I mentioned it, she was basically appalled and like "Oh, dear me, no." Now, normally I don't give a crap what other people think, but that just made me so nervous about job placement once I eventually graduated that I decided not to spend the application fee. But if your person just thought your school was a backup as opposed to this professor, who thought the school in question was apparently some sort of pit of despair, I think you're pretty much okay. But I also think it's good for us to evaluate options based partially on our eventual likelihood of being on tenure track! I don't know, I'm rambling. This process is so confusing and the more you ponder it, the more confusing it becomes. :?:

It was a thin envelope too, so I was a bit nervous! The good thing about this program is it's in my city, so I might be able to keep my job part-time if I go there. So this was definitely a little piece of sanity.

Whoa, that's a pretty harsh assumption for them to make.

I'm accepted to one of my two emergency MA programs! I don't really have a burning desire to go to this one, but how nice to have something good in the mailbox when I got home from work. This is my first communication from any school. *whew*

Amen. I'm nice, but not that nice.

Oh my god. My jaw literally dropped when I read that. THIS IS COLLEGE. YOU DO NOT GET AN "A FOR EFFORT" IN COLLEGE. It's not kindergarten, it's not Snugglenet University. I mean really. It's not the professors' job to cuddle these folks and help them coast. Then again, as an undergrad I worked as a writing coach and I truly could not believe how some of the folks I helped even managed to be admitted - or why they wanted to be admitted in the first place! People who put in no effort, don't try, don't even want to try.... *head explodes *

I'm there as well. I haven't heard a word from anyone, not even the department that's historically notified at the beginning of this very week. I've convinced myself that they've all thrown away my applications and I'm going to have an inbox full of emails with the subject line "HAHA LOSER!!!" on April 14th.

You're so lucky that that's an option for you. Personally, and to paraphrase Weird Al, I'd rather jump naked into a swimming pool filled with double-edged razor blades than stay in retail any longer.

I applied to two masters programs and one ph.d that I'd consider a "backup" - as in, I wouldn't go there by choice. One of the MA programs is really great and I'd be happy to attend, so that wouldn't be the end of the whole world. If I get rejected across the board, I'm thinking culinary school. It's the only other thing I love.

Me either. Some of these stories have really made my blood run cold.

It sounds to me like your family may be experiencing some jealousy or fear issues about your level of schooling. Are you the first in your family to pursue higher education?

"Too much insanity for six words." :wink: Or maybe "Misanthrope, although lover of culture & society."