Gelpfrat the Bold

By the time you're all there, most people won't be so obsessed with competing in grad school admissions. Once you've decided where you'll be going, it's easy to forget most of the stress, anxiety and self-doubt brought on by the application process, and instead to be excited about your new program. People will be more focused on making friends and getting to know you and about your research interests. In my own personal experience, the annoying competitive people never bothered asking me about my own achievements or failures, so I never had to answer potentially embarrassing questions. They just naturally assumed (or wanted desperately to believe) that they were smarter or more qualified than me and others, so launched into spiels about how great and smart they were without bothering to ask about anyone else. People who do that are just acting on their own insecurities, so there's no need to worry about what they might think about your problems. Just be patient with them and change the subject. Chances are everyone else in the cohort will find their competitive attitude annoying as well, and no one will think any less of you for overhearing that you didn't get in to X University.

For those of you who have worked or are currently working outside academia between degrees (between BA and MA, between MA and PhD, whatever), what jobs did you seek out? What do you do for a living? Have you managed to save up any money? Do you recommend the field? I'd love to teach in a secondary school or something but have no teaching experience, absolutely none. I fully intend to pursue a PhD in a couple years though, so it wouldn't be a wise move for me to invest in further education like getting a teaching qualification.

Surely it is the opposite, considering the earlier focus on specialization at UK universities? I would venture to say that a UK "BA" involves work closer to the postgraduate level than does a US one. In any case, it is my understanding that US institutions will not require students with a UK Masters to earn another MA. Sorry if I misunderstood what you wrote.

I wouldn't be too afraid to approach someone in your department about this. Professors know what it's like to wish for more free time and the opportunity to do something else with the mind for a little while. Feeling creatively trapped is a sign of intelligence and potential, and discussing it is a sign of sincerity and of self-worth. Of course, something more specific than "I want to be an artist" would be better - something that perhaps feeds into your academic interests.

In my MA program, those who talked the most about how well they were doing were those who ultimately wound up with mediocre (but still decent) grades. There were also the few who were obviously struggling to satisfy the program requirements. Those who rarely, if ever, talked about their marks generally seemed to be the ones with the best paper topics hidden up their sleeves, possibly because they were taking the challenge very seriously and working very hard and fearfully instead of assuming everything would be fine. I vainly like to include myself in that group. I got the impression that talking about how well one was doing was simply a cry for attention, and a sign that the person was looking for fellow students to confirm his or her sense of self-worth and intelligence. It became increasingly apparent to me how sensitive grad students are and how much competition, even unstated, can affect people. For this reason I found it best not to share grades with people except for my closest friends.