spoonfeeding

you and me both, friend. There's a reason the best predictor of college success is whether your parents went to college, and it's not just money-related. I had to do boatloads of research to figure most of this stuff out, and there's still oceans I don't know about it. Undergrad advisors: not so helpful with grad school, ime.

I think fieldwork experience is huge, as is developing relationships with professors. My suggestions: apply for a Fulbright, consider getting an MA in a related field (specifically one which has a terminal MA, so you're eligible for funding), apply to short-term, no-cost programs like humanityinaction.org or a field school which gives out scholarships. For the PhD, read articles in your subfield obsessively, attend all lectures and conferences with professors whose work you like (if possible, asking intelligent questions, introducing yourself, and talking about your own research goals so they get to know you), stay in touch with your undergrad profs if you were close to any and offer to help assist them with research, try and volunteer for anything related to your field, and work on turning your undergrad thesis/papers into articles and submit to anthro journals. Or start dating the dep't head at your top school. (But I don't know how much stock I'd put in the advice of someone whose currently making a career out of rejection. Last year, I was golden with MAs and the Fulbright. This year, I can't even get arrested at a university. Grrr.)

ooh, good timewaster! In random order, I love: The Gender of the Gift by Marilyn Strathern, Women of Deh Koh by Erika Friedl, Gypsies: The HIdden Americans by Anne Sutherland, What Makes Women Sick? Maternity, Modesty, and Militarism in Israeli Society by Susan Sered, The Riddle of Amish Culture by Donald Kraybill, Carnal Knowledge and Imperial Power by Ann Stoler, Beyond the Veil, and Dreams of Trespass by Fatima Mernissi (first non-fiction, second memoir), The Ape and the Sushi Master by Frans De Waal, and Guests of the Sheik by Elizabeth Warnock Fernea.

thanks. it's not my first time applying, either- but it is my first time being rejected. Boo.

UCSC rejection email today, which I didn't expect. sigh. Last school is the least likely, so it looks like no skool for me this fall. Did not see that coming... Applied: 4 Rejected: 3 Waiting: 1

same here. I have to admit that rejection surprised me a bit. Not heartbreaking, since it would have been a toss-up if I'd gotten in, anyway, but still: ouch.

well, first official rejection- from Berkeley (not a shock- I had 1/1000000 chance as a Berkeley anthro undergrad). Not really even a disappointment, since I knew I didn't get in when the first admits were posted weeks ago. Cal woulda been nice, but oh well. I'm on pins and needles waiting to hear from my 1st choice, since the more I think about it, the less I want to go to my 3rd and 4th choice schools. I'm likely to just say screw it and start applying for 2010-2011 programs and funding (with considerably more breadth: will reapply to top 2, but probably focus on research MA program[me]s overseas).

WHAT ARE YOU IMPLYING?

It's obvious we are all in and they're just waiting to tell us so the surprise will be that much sweeter (those anthro scamps!). Anthcat and avei and I will be cohortmates and bffs and all get matching tattoos. We may as well just get the tattoos now, to save time. Why no, I'm not losing my mind? Why do you ask?

seriously. I'm not happy to see any of you suffering, but I am really glad to know I'm not the only one having a psychotic break right now. I did not realize quite how masochistic this process was.

yep- that's been driving me round the bend. 3 acceptances? Ok, I didn't get in, boohoo. No acceptances? Ok, they haven't notified anyone yet. But just one? It makes me think they've made their decisions and individual profs have just started contacting students. I've gone from amber-alert hypervigilance to red, thinking if I'm gonna get a call, it'll be within a couple of days or not at all. (I try and extract a tiny measure of comfort from the fact that the admit wasn't in my subfield, but it's not really very soothing.) ::bangs head on table::

oy, mine are 1, 2, 8, 20- and I only applied to 4 schools (I won't tell you how I scored on the math part of the GRE). Historically, my top two programs have notified everyone who got in well by last week. Except for a single admit posted a couple of days, though, not a peep. That single admit has been making me INSANE, though. Any minute they'll call me, annnny minute, like- Now! ....ok, Now! ok, not yet, but... Now! ARGH! WHY DON'T YOU LOVE ME? (This is pretty much redundant after the above, but I'm going bugfuck crazy with the uncertainty.) "And if that phone don't ring one more time, I'm gonna lose what's left of my mind..." -The Old 97s

oh, I totally believe there's an auto-cut round of apps that get rejected right away, many of which don't make it to the review committee- it's just that I doubt they notify those people earlier. (I had guessed that for the big schools, it was more of a "BCC: LOSERS" mass rejection email, since, historically, people applying to my programs all seemed to get notified the same day.)

The "first round" of rejection letters thing sounds like a nice idea, but doesn't bear up. 3 of the programs I applied to are insanely popular, and only one person has posted a rejection anywhere? The same school has 3 admits posted from a couple weeks back, but there hasn't been a peep from anyone about the other schools either way. Everyone *could* just be curling into a little ball of sorrow and not posting about their rejections, but that just seems unlikely, considering the size of the schools. And I agree about it not getting easier- I went through this last year for an MA program (got in! hated it! got out!), and the waiting period this year is much, much worse.

I checked both soc and applied, since I'm equally interested in both.

(wanted to add http://fafblog.blogspot.com/ to #15.) 21. Teach yourself to sew and make gifts for everyone you forgot existed during grad app season- er, I mean, the holiday season. 22. If it's not pouring rain (like here), go for a hike or walk. The exercise and lack of ability to check email 30 times a second will do you good. (Yes, the birds will mock you the whole time, but that can't be helped.) 23. Catch up on all old TiVo'd shows, watch them online, or rent the entire series of Arrested Development or Firefly and watch straight through. 24. Study for the upcoming year, work on learning a language, and writing articles for submission (ahahaahaahhahaha- sorry this one's a joke). 25. Decide there's no reason you can't make a pony out of straw, and let http://www.instructables.com/ take over your life.

Me, too! That was clearly a stupid, stupid call on my part. They obviously secretly hate me. Aww, you're already in the fifth stage of grief: Acceptance. I envy you. I'm only in the third and a half stage: Losing my Shit .

I've been torturing myself by looking over the grad student profiles of my top school, and deciding I can't even sit at the same table with them. My high GPA, awards, and fieldwork are nothing compared to their 2 MAs each, in related fields, from Yale, Cambridge, or Harvard, their 500 published books, and their 10 years of experience as a human rights advocate in Burma or volunteering to hug lepers in Uganda. 11 admits last year, 8 the previous year- There's no way I'm getting in. I have never even hugged a single leper! I've also become convinced none of my other schools will give me the time of day. I'm making plans to apply for MA programs and funding in one of the countries I want to study for next year, because I'm certain I won't be in a PhD program here. Which is an eensy bit insane, since only one of my schools has contacted anyone (3 admits, according to this site), and none have contacted me. My schools all seem like such a reach now. I can't believe I didn't just apply for DeVry's dental assisting program. They probably wouldn't have taken me, either. p.s. can someone shoot me up with horse tranquilizer or something until the results are all in? I'm allergic to alcohol, and starting an opiate habit seems like a bad call in the long-term, but it just seems more humane to put me in a medically-induced coma for now.

Sorry for the CA shorthand! Dubya is correct on both counts: Cal = UC Berkeley, and it's the only UC referred to simply as "Cal," because it was the first. Speaking of Cal, someone just posted that they got a rejection email from there yesterday. I haven't gotten any notification. Stop toying with my mind, Berkeley!

Argh, this is no time for a three day weekend!!! Two of the schools I applied to have historically notified admits on February 14th and 15th. The school I pretty much knew I didn't have a chance at (departmental policy against taking their own undergrads) already notified people who got in the first week of Feb. Waiting for the other 3 is making me INSANE, and I'm becoming more and more convinced I didn't get accepted anywhere. DeVry can smell my fear, and is heavily spamming me with emails that are not exactly reassuring...