t1racyjacks

well at my first and second choices the programs are good fits, but they are my first and second choices because of people whom I want to work with. So I say outright I want to work with them and show how their work fits in. Don't care. If I don't get in maybe I'll see what I can do, but at this point I've submitted *shrugs*

I hated the GREs so much. Took them in 2010 without studying at all -- I just can't 'practice' when it comes to these sorts of tests. I refuse to retake them but it probably has impacted me negatively already. But I just can't. I'd rather write 2 dissertations. Scaled I'm in the 93rd percentile for verbal and 35th percentile for maths (yes, that's what happens when you ignore maths for years and don't practice for the GRE), 5.0 for analytical writing and 70th percentile for lit GRE. I see that many people who got admitted into my first choice got higher, but I just can't bring myself to do the GREs again.

I see you're in social psychology. nope, can't be my paper

I found Trainspotting quite leisurely. Of course, I could be wrong. I usually like to read 's/f' books -- good ones! -- to relax. I like Philip K Dick, and then I recently read Olaf Stapleton's First and Last Men, which I thought was excellent.

I'm in exactly the same position. So I'm sleeping less, etc. I actually had a better time working on the apps, if only because I could sleep better! now the wait to feb is just agonizing

Berkeley asks too, for the international fellowship I didn't put zero, but the actual amount I put down is pathetic anyway and definitely wouldn't even last one academic year

thanks for the help anyone in the humanities, particularly english, willing to chip in? the estimate is the same?

I sent my paper to JLT (journal of literary theory) and got an email saying it was 'under review' (dated nov 6 2012). I don't know their time frame for reviewing works, but when do you think it's ok to ask them about the status of the paper?

before you go I hope you read this. You seem to need it.

point made by Wallace about irony, if you even care about literature at all. It's an important topic. And yes, I wasn't attempting to be funny.... you were. Say that I have no sense of irony, but I find that funny. And the fact that you thought/think you were successfully ironic.

well, we can't help it. we're boring, aren't we? and not very bright.

I do suggest you go somewhere else to waste your time, since we're so boring and stupid, and we reply in hostile ways to your completely benign posts! maybe Mensa would be a better place for you.

also way to go on calling me stupid. I assumed that 'why does everyone hate me' wasn't ironic and I was trying to give an honest answer although I realize now that my answers are and have been totally useless, and why people hate you is quite evident without my having to say anything. I thought before that you really weren't aware but looks like you are being 'ironic' all the time and that's an excuse for, as rems says, being a dick. cheers.

let's leave the discussion of irony aside shall we? I actually wrote on this. and I highly doubt that you were being ironic with that statement. if you weren't so insulting all the time I might be inclined to think more kindly of your intentions

I hate to be anal (but I am) but it's the tone -- how you put it across. It sounds sweeping -- I don't suppose many care for this but as I said I'm a sensitive little twat. I would've said something like 'perhaps being white, which means being the majority race, means that one's use of the word "exotic" is less critical' or something or the other. Of course I am beginning to realize that I'm picky even for an english major

I know you didn't mean to offend Well, the connatation is there for one to pick up. I'm just saying I would appreciate it if we all examined our use of language before we spoke. The same applies to myself. I try not to say words with connotations/denotations (as far as these can be separated) that I don't mean -- to be as precise as possible. Isn't that the beauty of literature? the beauty involved in conveying so many things in a relatively short space through careful use of language

I'm not a 'post-colonial' critic either. It's just that I'm sick of people saying that asian women are 'exotic' I like to eat pineapples but not so much mangoes -- however the latter make fine puddings. I think it's only responsible to examine the connotations of the words we use in everyday language: it's such things which make discrimination and prejudice the norm. Eg the use of 'boy' to refer to african-american male (adult) slaves. no one used to think of it as demeaning, simply because they didn't examine the connotations of calling a grown male a 'boy'. It's the same with sexism. I mean, each time I hear 'but women are....' 'but men are....' I cringe a bit. I don't go all out and scold but I do end up

think that probably looks better than mine. I did everything here in SG something adcomms don't usually see = unusual? I dunno, for me 'exotic' has that connotation you know.

When I think of 'exotic' my post-colonial defenses go red >_< It sucks, I think. I don't know if you did your basic degree(s) in Germany. My English is not noticably 'foreign' in typing, but I don't have an American or British accent when I speak

it's ok. I'm just terribly sensitive because I'm applying to American unis as an international student -- and I'm from Asia -- so of course I don't come from an ivy or a might-as-well-be-ivy. It wouldn't matter so much if admissions didn't naturally (I don't think they mean to, but the attitude probably exists) pay more attention to ivy/might as well be ivy applications That I've had to take the TOEFL is already a huge blow to my pride (excuse me, of course I am capable of speaking basic english). I don't have a 'background' since I was a science student before I went to university, and my writing skills are below par for an english student I did manage to get 2 degrees (BA/ MA) but my BA grades, particularly in the first few years, aren't stellar because I was 'adjusting' to being an English student and writing long essays. That, coupled with the fact that I really want to get into Berkeley (supervisory reasons) is terribly stressful and makes me more of a sensitive twat than I already am

it may or may not be *shrugs* like I said, I'm a sensitive bugger who has a fragile ego.

I used the word 'sometimes'! and I'm not sure how far that view works. only to a certain extent. if one boasts about one's self, that will hurt fragile egos (like mine). However if it is validation that involves directly putting people down..... that's why I used the word sometimes

I think that we are here simply because waiting is not pleasant. You know where you are with -- and your chances -- given your CV -- are probably better than lots of other people here. Sometimes validation comes at the cost of others. It's the price of narcissism, which is again, of course, an end result of being neurotic. I am neurotic and very sensitive, so I feel it more than most. But seriously, wrt chances. I don't think mine are very good, but it doesn't matter because we can't control our fates. I don't survive well outside of academia too. Fate is stark however, and if we don't get in, we try again, and if we continue not to get in... *shrugs* life is what it is. I have no doubt that staying in this job will eventually drive me to suicide or something, but I don't feel desperation because I know I have no control.