Red Bull

Thank you for posting this!

I have a dog and two cats that I have had for a couple of years. Adopting any animal is a commitment that you make for the entirety of that animal's life. Cats are much easier because they don't really need you for anything except for food/water/vet/box. Dogs need to be taken out frequently during the day. This means that you have to run back and forth from the library if you have lots of work that needs to be done there. Crating works for many people, but you can't leave a dog in a crate for twelve hours without food and water. Also, if you get a puppy, they can only stay in a crate for short periods of time before the need to urinate/defecate. It's a tough schedule to get used to. That being said, because I have had my animals for so long I know exactly what they need and plan my schedule accordingly. The dog is a couch potato and the cats sleep most of the time so they don't require too much work to entertain or exercise. My ultimate advice would be to get yourself settled into graduate school first before introducing an animal. The first few weeks after adopting can be very stressful!

To me all this means is that I will have to buy more of those awful expensive kaplan and princeton review books when it comes time to enter my PhD program. Ugh.

Let me answer with a hypothetical. I am the world's smartest woman and I can determine with 100% accuracy from the information that you provided that the chance of getting into the program of your choice is 68%. Now, armed with that information how is your behavior going to change? If you are a rational person this information should not change your behavior. You would still try the hardest you could to write the essays, pay the fees, and do all of the work it takes to get into any graduate program. Now, let's flip the problem. Let's say that I tell you your chance of getting into the program of your choice is 32%. Would that change your behavior? Would you give up or would you try harder? You still have a 32% chance of getting in and if you are truly dedicated then you should be willing to take those chances. Now, this is a choice you could make if you had the information, but you don't. I'm not the world's smartest woman (2nd smartest, lol ) and I can't tell you. No one on this forum can tell you what your chances are, and nobody told us, either. You have to decide whether you want it bad enough, and if you do you can summon the strength and courage that it takes. You have the answer, not anybody on this forum. I hope this helps.

I don't think the person was trying to be rude but it is pretty obvious that your chances are pretty good and that you must have some idea. You have great GPA's, excellent test scores, and you have letters from "world leaders" in their respective fields. It is obvious at a glance you have great odds at getting into the schools of your choice if the information provided is correct. If you are smart enough to be so successful then you are smart enough to realize that you are ahead of the curve, so to speak. So, why are you asking other grad students? Well, you either want to brag about your success or you get a kick out of wasting other people's time. The poster above gravitated towards the first explanation and I would have to agree with her. There are a million posts asking about the "odds" of getting in, and there is really no one on this forum that is qualified to answer the question. Most grad students are surprised both by the schools that reject and accept them. If you are still with me then here is my advice: if you are truly worried about your chances getting into programs then make contact with the people running the departments. Schedule a school visit and talk to students and staff. Check out the library, talk to your current professors, and email those in each program. You will get a feel for which schools you are a better "fit" for. You can have the best scores and grades in the world and still not be a good fit for any particular department.

I majored in philosophy and am entering a religious studies master's program. That said, philosophy and religious studies are two fields that are very close to one another due to the historical relationship between theology and philosophy. Also I have been interested in my subfield (Islamic studies) for the last two years of my bachelor's degree and wrote papers and published in the field. So I am a special case where my major and my ultimate field were different but I am not playing catch up with others, in fact I feel like I have more preparation than most other students who are entering my master's program.

I have adopted a paperless (in theory) filing system. If I feel like I need to keep any photocopied or printed materials I will scan them into my computer and save them on my internal and external hard drives. This is especially helpful with heavily annotated journal articles that I want to keep. I then recycle the original. While I do prefer reading and writing notes on hard copies, if it is important enough (a rare occasion) I will reprint them so I have them on hand. I do however keep hard copies of items with sentimental value, for example, papers from undergraduate conferences or assignments that the professor wrote something special on. I keep these in hanging files in a couple of clear plastic "rubbermaid style" tubs. One of these days I will get around to mastering digital annotation and hopefully eliminate the need for using paper copies at all. *While rereading my post I felt it is important to mention one thing. Scanning material does take time that most grad students probably don't want to take on. I tend to scan during down time while watching a movie/television. It works for me and it may work for other grads on this board but not for everyone.

I would send a courtesy email explaining that you are thankful for his reaching out to you in such a way. Let him know that you enjoyed your time- it may benefit him to know that you thought it very helpful.

I had made my decision before my final acceptance came in the mail. I am just glad that waiting is over.

At this point in time there is no reason to be concerned about large amounts of radiation drifting from Japan to California. While there have been more alarmist articles in the print media, most experts agree that California is simply to far away from Japan to suffer significant exposure to radiation. When you are applying for a job several years from now and have the prestige of Stanford on your resume, it will probably seem silly that you thought of choosing another school based on this singular disaster in Japan.

I am glad others are having nightmares as well. The strangest thing is that my nightmares have nothing to do with anything that is stressing me in my real life! I just have gruesome, bloody, and ghost-filled dreams that have nothing to do with grad school, a new city, or anything. Hopefully I will feel better as things settle down.

Although I was relieved to get my final decision notice and have made my choice, I have been having nightmares every night for about the last week. I was wondering if anyone else is having this problem. I looked up what medical professionals have to say and that is that stress and major life changes can trigger nightmares. Would anyone like to share any similar experiences? It would give me much relief to know that I am not the only one. Thanks!

I got rejected from my top choice today. Patton Oswalt is a guaranteed cure for the blues:

Do not contact your school because you are antsy. As you can see above, there are many legitimate reasons to contact your school. My point was (and still is) that you should not contact your school just because you are feeling anxious about decisions. Plus, I put my point across knowing that there would be those who would ignore/disagree with me and not take the advice. This is just "my two cents".

I just had a moment when I almost waffled on my previous statement. While browsing the religious studies board I saw that my top choice had indeed been sending out results since about March 1st. It seems like it may be for those students who are just applying for a PhD (I'm applying MA/PhD). I stared at my screen looking at the phone number/ email for the grad advisor. I chose to wait. I am not a superstitious person, but I cannot bring myself to call and perhaps wreck my chances, even though that is very unlikely. I will choose to wait in frustration.

I sympathize with you there. Yesterday I invited a bunch of students from a class that I T.A. for to email me regarding a study group. Later I palm-faced thinking about all the extra emails I would be getting that would make me think that I might have an admissions reply.

While I was being ironic in my original post thanks for the clarification for others. I have 3 cats and a dog (all rescues) and they are a lot of work! Sometimes I wish I didn't have animals because I could stay at the library until all hours and travel much more conveniently. But then again, coming home to an empty apartment with nothing to greet me but the television set would be very depressing.

I was commiserating with one of my professors about the application process when this sort of thing came up in the conversation. He told me that a colleague of his was waiting to hear if he had passed one of the requirements for his PhD, when a letter came several weeks later that started with Dear X, I am sorry that you had to.... wait this long to hear the good news. Heart attack!

Youtube has become the hero of the waiting game for me. Whenever I am feeling out of sorts I browse funny videos and laugh the day away! Post a funny/interesting/cute video that you have watched recently.

Sounds to me like DB University is of the sort that you wouldn't want handling your doctoral candidacy. Just a thought.

Call me trite, but Queen's We are the Champions will be the song I play if I get into my top choice:

There are so many students on here trying to decide whether or not they should contact their program seeking additional admissions information. I am of the opinion that you should not bother the admin staff of the program you are interested in. Your decision will come via phone/email/snail mail. Just wait! Nothing good will come of you calling the department. Just sit tight and wait like everyone else. Part of the process of becoming a graduate student is learning patience and perseverance. Every single one of the pre-graduate students on this board are going crazy waiting for the admissions decisions to come in. Take a walk, watch a movie, get a puppy- whatever you need to calm yourself down. Also, put yourself in the place of the admin professionals who have to answer the phones at the department you are interested in- they don't know enough to satisfy you, and they certainly don't know whether you will get in the program. KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON!

Even if you do email the school they will probably not have the information. DO NOT EMAIL THE SCHOOL. Sit tight and have patience. When you receive notification (along with everyone else, mind you) it will be the earliest possible. Don't bug the people in the department. Have you ever heard of someone calling and receiving an admissions decision earlier than anyone else? NO, because it doesn't happen. Take a xanax and wait for it. It will come!

I agree that there seems to be little logic to the notification process. This should be a boon to those who have a feeling that they will not be accepted this year. When I first applied to college (over 6 years ago) mail notification was the standard. Every day I would stare out of the blinds waiting for that familiar white truck to come; I would then sprint for the mailbox and rifle through bills and junk to find (most likely) nothing of interest. Fast forward to this year, when 4/5 notifications of mine are to be sent by email. It is maddening! At any moment of the day or night I could get a rejection or acceptance. Couple this with my possession of a smart phone, which means that I have the means to constantly check. OCD to the max! I almost wish I was back in the day when the snail would bring paper notifications. It certainly seems like it would be more relaxing to my psyche. For one, I wouldn't have to worry on Sundays! Gah!

Here's an oldie (but goodie) that I rock out to. Of course it's ironic for those seeking advanced degrees, but I <3 this song.