KreacherKeeper

I am so sorry about your dog. I went through this last year with my own, and I still miss him. Sending thoughts of warmth and peace your way!

You just made me laugh!

To join in on the speculation, I noticed it said March 11th as well, but also, when I do anything on GradCafe, the times are wonky, so I am not sure that you can conclude the day corresponds with the time in the time zone where the person is located (like now might say 4:30 am as I write this on my computer or something like and its 10 pm here on the East coast).. When I went on the Harvard visit, I was told that they would all be announced around the 15th of March, I did not get any indication that there would be waves of applications decisions sent out. But it is possible that all waitlisted people would know at say 8 am and all rejected people would know at 10 am and accepts would go out at noon, or something like that. That would make sense because it would perhaps eliminate the possibility that too many people would log on at once to find out their results. Of course, I am just guessing. I could write volumes and volumes on the things I 'think adcom's must do' and is decidedly wrong or simply soothing my nerves. Good luck all! May tomorrow be a good day whether everyone finds out, loses out, or simply realizes that no matter what, life goes on and for the good!

Mom's really don't have a clue when it comes to all of this. My mom thinks that I am smart therefore I will get into anything I want to do in life, and so she ignores me when I tell her its stressful. To make matters worse, she does not seem to get how long all of this stuff takes. For example, "What did you do today?" Answer: I worked on my SOP. Mom: Oh that's all you did, I see you need a break sometimes. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH! We have to love and honor them, but sometimes we also just have to realize Mom's don't have a clue!

I have been doing the same thing, but I have talked to them in person and let them know of 'no progress made'. So, I think I am going to send out on Monday even if I can't be happy about it!

Hee, hee! I have to admit that is worse! Thanks for sharing Red Bull!

So this morning I am reasoning is the earliest I may hear from a school that would let people know by the 15th (I am relying on highly speculative and spotty math here). So I get up, get my coffee and sit down to look. I have not looked at the web site for a few days, trying to break my 'habit.' I go to the website and see a huge "CONGRATULATIONS!" where it used to say nothing. I think "Yea! I must have gotten into the school of my dreams, happiness is just around the corner!" Then I look closer. It says, "Congratulations, KREACHER, your application is under review!" Oh the foul cruelty!

I am kind of depressed to, and in a weird way. I am mourning the loss of my huge book collection (since I am sure in my next apartment in my new life I will not have a bookshelf). I am thinking I will never, ever have a friend when I graduate from my MA program and move on (because there is no Facebook). I imagine that my dream school, which has not yet rejected me is in fact dancing on my application at this very minute and laughing at the thought that I would apply to THEIR program. I am also mad at myself for being excited that I MAY go to my dream school, even though I don't know yet. And I am utterly convinced that if I am rejected from my dream school, I will never, ever find a job and people will mock me in the street (perhaps I will be forced to wear a dunce hat so others can see my shame!) All these things are going through my head, and until December when I started the application process, I thought myself a sane person. I just keep reminding myself that this is a terrible job market and that the added money stresses are everyone's stresses. And that I need to give myself a break! No matter what happens with this cycle, I am graduating, getting a new apartment, new set of friends, and will have a drastically new life in a few months. I am just scared!

My neurosis hit an all time high today when I realized that I spent at least one hour (maybe more) trying to figure out my future based on some obscure change on applyyourself, or whatever the application site happens to be. I looked at my messages (none), I looked to see if I had a new event (nope), I tried to see if I could figure out if my financial aid information had been opened (I couldn't). Of course, since nothing was changed, I decided I must be rejected (obviously, I have proof afterall....) Oh and then at some point, I re-read one of my applications and decided to reject myself, just so I would have a result! So, what are your neurotic ways of seeing if you can 'predict' your results?

Wow, good luck with whatever happens tomorrow....

So until today I was waiting desperately to hear. Now, I really don't want to know anymore. I am probably just fearful of rejection, or perhaps worried that it will send my life into uncertain waters, but last night I went to bed excited, hopeful, planning, and anxious (not to mention worried about if I was rejected what I would do with my life). Perhaps I am going through some admission cycle facsimile of the stages of grief? (I just realized the last stage of grief is acceptance, which of course would be a good ending)... In any event, are there others out there?

I do not have advice but good luck. My best advice is realize that the person on the other end does not want to berate or dislike you, s/he wants to find a reason to say you a a great guy/gal and perfect for that program. So it is not an interogation, but an opportunity for you to help this adcomm realize you're great. Good luck once again!

Actually, I had a bit of self-anger about the whole thing. I am finishing a Masters and it is clear now, life would have been easier if I had approached the Masters with PhD admissions in mind, rather than thinking it was the degree that was going to get me in, rather than hard work and adequate languages, experiences and a chance to get ready for PhD work. It was only this year, when admissions drive really caught up with me and I realized I needed to be attending more conferences, postering (is that a word?) and entering things so that my name was out there. I did not take the GRE until October, and got ok, but not excellent scores (1270/4.5). Unfortunately, that means that my grad school applications went in December, and I have been accepted to present in the Spring (and it is NOT on my applications). I did have a moment when I thought, "Why is my grad department not telling me to be more proactive!" But really, I was the one who was not being proactive. There is a girl in our department that wears fancy clothes, talks only with the professors, and has to be the center of attention in both class and first in everything. She is constantly pushing her case with professors and I see that she does get to do great things, but I also see that she could get lousy rec's because the professors seem to be as annoyed with her as the other students. And she has no friends, because she uses people to 'be first'. I have decided if I get in this round, I need to be somewhere in the middle. I need to make the most of my opportunities but also 'work well with others'. The first step of this is seeing my professors as guiding senior members of my department, but also doing most of the legwork myself.

I am. I am not sure if it is self destructive, or if it just something we CAN control and do while we play the waiting game. I have even planned out a brand new IKEA furnished apartment for when I am there. I recently figured out it is OK to be excited about a potential life change, and have decided not to ruin these last few weeks of happy anticipation by playing the doom and gloom game. It makes me happy to dream and think I will be both accepted and have a dream apartment, so I am letting myself. I am sure the blow will be bigger when rejection hits, but oh well. Rejection was never going to feel good in the first place!

I would try Drew University. There is someone writing her dissertation on Mormonism that I know of there and one of the history professors is interested in newer religions. There is a mix between conservative and traditional there.

Thanks. Fancy internship is my unofficial Plan B, but right now I have nothing 'in the bag' or definite so I feel like if Plan A does not work out, I will have to simply sit in my cone of shame for a year until admission cycle comes back around! I decided that my goal for this week was to create a non-cone of shame Plan B plan this week! Good luck GI1, I feel your pain! Good to know I am not alone!

Ok, so is there anyone else like me who is worried because they don't have a Plan B? I graduate in May, and I still don't know if I am accepted anywhere I applied. So worst case scenario, it turns out to be March 15th and I don't get in AND I don't have any real job prospects. Anyone else totally freaked out?

I can totally relate. I am applying to post MA work and I have 4 classes left to take. 2 of them I like a lot and the other 2, well, not so much. So I find myself working hard for the classes I like and literally doing as much as possible for the others. I have a 4.0 going into this semester and right now, I don't expect it to last (but hopefully I will be admitted to a program by then, maybe?) In any event, it is after midnight and I have about 3 hours of work to do before going to bed. Instead, I am going to bed and will cram it in sometime early morning. It is normal, and as you can tell by the number of posts, you are not alone at all...

I really only applied to one school. I have a rather lame back-up plan which involves school somewhere (vaguely realized at this point), but I am sort of in the all for nothing boat as well. Part of it was finances, the other part of it was the fact that at the time I thought I had a good chance. After reading all the posts and some of the fellow applicants stats to similar programs, I am panicking a bit. My solution is to keep checking the application web page over and over and over again. And I occasionally think they are tracking how many times I log on and will reject me if I seem neurotic!

I had this happen to me to, and I did get admitted. Turns out, in the program I was applying to the financial aid office and the admissions office did not really communicate all that well (and perhaps on purpose). So, since my financial aid packaage was announced with my acceptance, basically, they were both doing their thing (admissions deciding if I get in, and financial aid deciding what money I might be eligible to grab. Then it was all put together in the final package. I also found out the scholarship that they told me that I was eligible to apply for was an automatic thing with grades (a 3.5 or above). So, it may have been that that the finaid person inputted your name as a high GPA person and it binged you out an e-mail. It would make the most sense, of course, if they all announced things in a logical order, admission first, and scholarships next. But it does not always happen that way, and I am not sure if it means 100% that you are admitted. But, if you are the kind of person they want to give money to have come, then it can't be a bad sign. Take it as a good thing, and take it with a grain of salt. It is not a Yes, but at the very least someone looked at your application and it has reached financial aid. Both of those are good things!

I am so right with you, down to the 'what if they push me over on the first day and steal my supercool eco-friendly lunchbox' or worse, what if I am eating a packed lunch in my supercool lunch box that my Mom made me on the sofa of my childhood home because I can neither get a job or get into a grad program!

So, last night at 4:32 in the morning according to my alarm clock I woke up completely convinced that I had applied to school and SPELLED MY OWN NAME WRONG. Now, unfortunately, this is not completely without precedent. When I was in 9th grade, writing the PSAT I had to fill out those bubble things (I am old) carefully tracking down the alphabet to fill in the bubble letters representing my name. When I got it back, my family got a huge laugh at the girl who scored well, but couldn't get her name right! So, like I said, 4:32 this morning I wake up convinced, I will never, ever, get into my first choice program, because I spelled my name wrong. So, I get out of bed, look up all my printed copies and spend the next hour and half looking for typos (and I found one or two questionable commas and an awkward sentence I would have changed now. Is anyone else having panic moments during the wait game?

I am actually applying for a second Masters after my M.Div. because I found out during my M.Div work I really loved the academic study of religion and not so much the practical theology part of it, which would have made me a great religious professional. I do not have stellar stats, either (bad GRE), but when I spoke with my advisor, her advice to me was to try a MA level study to see if I really wanted a PhD program. If I hate it, it is a year or so of my life (and I get to study something I love). If I decide I really, absolutely must have the PhD, then I can go forward. I am applying now and I am really excited about the idea of a year or two of masters level, academic centered work. Really, coming out of an M.Div. I did not feel I had the research experience to go directly into a PhD program, although some of my friends are and have done that (and are getting accepted with stats much like your (and mine). My program was definitely rigorous, but because of the many requirements, I did not have a chance to specialize. So, I am happy with that choice. Oh and by the way, ThM are often not funded. Harvard's for example, is not. While a Masters may take longer, it may actually be better for you in the long run. But that is just my 2 cents!