Yellow#5

They're both "top" schools, so prestige concerns, like job placement after graduation, would probably be exactly the same to the extent two applicants can ever be the same (same area of specialization, personality, etc). Both schools would probably be sought after by the same huge number of applicants, both would be highly selective during the application process and both would probably have the same high standards for awarding PhDs.

I guess it's like that beatles song says, "All you need is one."

I work consistently, but my focus changes. I tend to read much more broadly and on random things at the begining of the semester. I might spend a whole day on a very short essay or paragraph giving it a very close read. Even if I write up my research, I don't think in terms of the final paper until the deadline is close. Once I focus on getting a paper done, I don't broaden my research or split hairs and close read anymore. Either way, I like to put in a solid 8 hour work day at least, fooling with something, even if I don't ultimately use in a paper what I worked on that day.

I turned in applications around mid december. I reread my statement a few times and checked my submitted apps (and noticed that I submitted one of my writing samples twice on the same application ---LAME!) Like others have said, I started to convince myself that my statement was the worst thing ever written since language was invented. Instead of dwelling on how bad it is, when I get antsy, I draft a paragraph or two of the statement I WISH I had written. I figure, if I really do get 8 rejections, I'll have a head start on applying again next year. After the deadline has past, I probably write truer to my goals anyway, (thinking less about what I imagine an applicant SHOULD say, which I'm probably wrong about) and it gives me the sense that I am taking control in some little way, instead of just waiting, waiting, waiting at the mercy of the universe. I figure it's more productive than checking admission results on this forum 10 times an hour, which, by the way, I also do.

I have one rejection and no admits. I expect in the next two weeks, I'll hear from all my programs either way. Having that early rejection makes the waiting hard, but I just try and think about ways to improve my application next year and I'm already resolved that my course of action, in the worst case scenario is to apply again. Annoying, but that was my plan going in when I only chose very competitive school. Next year, I'll be ready to compromise, but this year my thinking was an all or nothing mentality. I am still hoping to hit the lottery, but not really expecting to.

I don't know anything about it really, but it seems like rolling admissions might mean sporadic notifications of both rejections and acceptances.

No, I already posted on the results page and the forums my sad, early rejection from Brandeis...possibly the earliest rejection in the history of Brandeis.

You think people are randomly posting fake acceptances?

Good luck! It's a tough year this year. They wouldn't be bothering to call you at all, if they didn't think you were a good candidate!

Ugh, MDLee, You're in Vegas! I lived there many years. It's a wonderful city to leave.

I agree with this too, so whatever the conversation, I agree the most important thing is to show enthusiasm.

I think this poster is probably in, so he/she should be appreciative and really genuinely happy, but that doesn't mean telegraph your intentions. Grad school negotiating is NOTHING like wall street. On wall street, once you have the right pedigree, you can screw up, do nothing, get your car service and all your meals paid for by the firm all year and take home hundreds of thousands of dollars to boot. Often they raise your salary out of the blue, even without a negotiation, just because some other similar firm raised theirs. Grad school is the opposite. Getting an advisor motivated to go to bat for you is the difference between maybe 16k a year and 18k a year. That 2k makes a big difference if you're locking yourself in to poverty for 5-7 years. On wall street, if you get 160k or 260k, what's the real difference to your life? You eat the same 100 dollar sushi lunch on friday either way.

I'm not suggesting they're trying to "lock you in" in the legal sense, but they are trying to get a sense of what you want. If you reveal that you are just desperate to be accepted by anyone, they won't be at all motivated to woo you. (It's not like Wall Street, more like dating. We're all desperate to be accepted, just trying not to show it).

Not to be cynical, but it sounds like they want to figure out how small a funding package they can offer you/what else you have on the table. The good news is, it sounds like they want you. I would stall IN THE MOST POSITIVE WAY if he tries to lock you in to a figure or an unequivocal sign that you really want to go there. Keep saying they are "one" of your top choices and say you really look forward to meeting the excellent, wonderful faculty and seeing their beautiful campus -- before you decide. Also, don't give him too much info about other offers. Just say it's early and you haven't heard. If he suggests a low number of funding, thank him most appreciatively and "say, that's a good place to start, I hope if I get a higher offer from somewhere down the road, your school will match it, because I'd hate to think I couldn't attend your amazing school because of financial considerations." But good luck, because it sounds like you're in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will walk through the lobby of my office building with the satisfying knowledge that, next year, it will not be my office building lobby anymore. Thank God.

I think the proper way to answer any question on ethics is to simultaneously ask: What would Mother Theresa do? and What would Charles Manson do? The answer that seems to fit both questions is the right course of action every time.

There were two profs in my last faculty who were both total cuzhounds. At the begining of the year, lots of female students were drawn to their swagger, I guess, and had a big crush on each of them. It was pretty hilarious that, by the end of the year, most had ALREADY outgrown them. Of course, these two guys stay the same, year after year after year.

Ivy, You're feisty. I hope you wind up at my school! (If I even have one)

Be careful though. Some schools have a separate financial aide submission that you fill out only after you've been admitted. Don't get your acceptance and hold it, thinking you don't have to do anything else to ensure your funding. Definitely check the financial aide information for every school that accepts you and, even if you're not 100% sure you'll accept, make sure you submit the necessary info to secure your funding as well as your acceptance.

I don't want to get mine badly, I want to do it well.

Don't over think it, mentalyoga. My application was probably much more sucky than yours, so I've been rewarded by being allowed to learn my fate earlier than you.

Wasn't he the main character in Kafka's Metamorphosis?

I'd be overjoyed to get into my "last choice." I wouldn't have wasted the 100 bucks applying otherwise. Furthermore, I feel like all the programs I applied to had something I like and it's different for each school, so I can't really compare first and last choice anyway.

It's always the same story with "culture" or "theory." No one can really say what it's good for, but every one is sad about that library at Alexandria that burnt down.

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