GirlattheHelm
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Posts posted by GirlattheHelm
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Speaking of feeling a kinship here with everyone over the uncertainty of our admissions future...
Does anyone find the parental unit completely awful at corresponding condolences? I get this phone call from my mother going, "Oh-god, kid-oh! You where rejected from those two schools?! I have to be honest, Adriana, I am just so SHOCKED!"
I replied, "First, Binghamton is the only formal rejection. Second, the other one is simply very probable; it's not official. Third, I love you, but stop acting like you understand this process. It's very-very difficult and, ma, seriously, it wasn't a shock this is a competition. You're just made me feel worse."
"Well, I know, honey. I know how you're'ah feeling 'n all. It's a shock. I'm so shocked! I thought those two were definite, ya know; I mean, I know you didn't want to go there and all but...gosh, Adriana, it's such a shame..." and on-and-on-and-on...
:cry:
I am so glad for this board and you people. My sanity would have left me completely by now without you all... stuck talking to that woman, I swear, I'm lucky to have a marginally stable mentality anyway. Yeesh.
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I was thinking about doing an endurance horse race for my favorite charity (Habitat for Humanity!) and my own personal ego boost. It'd take my family's very green gelding, Mack, because for as young as he is he just wants to please; gentlest thing I've ever seen or handled in my life. And the stamina of an Arabian packed in the heft of a good little Paint gelding. God, I want to race him so bad it hurts...
Granted, that has nothing to do with anything on my applications or resume for that matter; but I think it'd be awesome anyway... and I'm so tired of trying to please some jack in an office.
Plan B: Drive truck, tend bar, and endurance race horses! It almost makes me not want to go to graduate school; but just not quite enough... Besides - if I could only get into UVM I could take Mack to the damn stables there.
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You can always join me in the cross country trucking business I'm planning to start if this all fails. My call sign is Mother Trucker...or Dr. Trucker...you can be thinking on yours, and that'll at least make time go by. :wink:
Oh god! Don't kid me! I've been in love with big trucks since I was a little girl!!
My CB callsign is Lady Blue (though I don't run my CB in my car right now); I'm working on getting my Class A this summer - I have my Class B.
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I admit that I had no Plan B until that first rejection letter arrived. Three more rejection letters later I have Plans B, C, and D armed and ready in case things go south. Of course I don't want to enact any but my Plan A, but having a backup means that it's not life or death in every email, letter, and phone call. It's given me perspective, and I hope it provides some sort of comfort for you as well.
I have a "Plan B" since my boss made sure to growl at me that I'm not going anywhere until invited. Several backup plans were made after that scary pontification.
So, I've had a list of backup plans since I started this process and on some level it feeling that my pessimism was right is going to haunt me. Sure, I love the farm and whatnot but I am horrified at the thought of plateauing ... there. To go back would crush me after all I've done; and I pretty much resigned it would take awhile before I was willing to do this all over again (financially and mentally).
But I'll wait before resigning to that death toll; hopefully some institution will see light hanging over my application or some other divine sensation from Providence. You know... guiding them to accept me; minus horrible GRE scores. Or, well, yeah...
Plan B.
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Thanks you, folks. This board makes the sting a whole hell of a lot easier; I mean, at least we're not alone on the path towards Graduate school.
I never anticipated my reaction - I suppose that's what this is all about. I was crushed for some reason... and it's not a huge deal but, because of not having any acceptances anywhere this is a tight run.
Granted, one of my friends quickly came up to the plate and we went for drinks - hot chocolate to be specific, with an enormous amount of whipped cream. I'm saving the Bailey's for my celebration hot chocolate, though.
Here's hoping on remaining maybes :!:
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Well, I hate to say it but I got what I wanted. I was rejected from Binghamton University and had a feeling that was coming. I was griping about where I didn't really want to go and that was that. Denied!
Granted, I wasn't expecting to feel quite as bad since I didn't particularly 'feel' going there. My boss had an 'in' but how far 'in' that was wasn't close enough... Maybe it's just the estrogen but I felt this was a safety-net on some level. And it's broken. That, I suppose is upsetting.
I've given up on UMass Amherst as well; but I'll wait for my snail-mail coffin nail before I make it official.
Since I'm all out, any words of wisdom, folks?
:oops:
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Tough one...
Go to the interview and you might want to talk to them about scheduling. When you go be very interested in understanding how the job layout works and all that. You needn't divulge anything at this point.
Just trust me, they are NOT going to want to hear that the first few weeks you want to take off on X, Y, Z dates- that's pretty lame. However, if you can punch in whenever that's different. This will all depend on the job context as much as it does on going to see schools. And, by the way, you don't have to divulge your life history or story to them; they don't care. If it's a part-time gig they probably have a high turnover rate anyway.
The other factor is that you may have to go at a different time, by scheduling trips around your work life. This may be easier to achieve than fighting to take off work, obviously. Open houses and newly accepted student 'whatnots' are all nice and everything but this is graduate level stuff - professors know students have to work and will accommodate your schedule. Just remember to give them a range of possible dates that work for you so you can help work with their schedule (this is key to professional work).
And yeah, that's my advice.
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Thank you but do you think i'm showing my enthusiasm to their school. I told them long ago that I'll come that day and now I restate it.
And if they intend to reject me (I mean they already made a decision but have not notified me), my visit doesn't help now anyway. if they are still reviewing, they may notice my enthusiasm to join their school and that might be a plus. how do you guys think?
It's hard to say what you will show them; enthusiasm is one possible thing. Inconsideration of timing is another possible 'thing' you might show them.
Now, I work in a department and very rarely, if ever, have seen anybody show up once applications are in. Our department loves when people show up to inquire; of course, before they apply. My boss seethes when people do the process oddly; like the girl that was rejected and showed up to have a look-see. It made him miserable all day and then, quite angry.
Each department has its own little mindset and none are the same. Some will welcome you with open arms, while the pure professionals will scoff at you, and then others will be standoffish or too busy during this process to want to be bothered or bias. You need to find a way to politely ask if its appropriate for you to show up (which is somewhat inappropriate to have to ask anyway); knowing full well that the application process is occurring.
I, personally, wouldn't go. Sure, you can add to your application but you can also add insult to injury and the delicate balance of some admissions person might be tipped in some direction. But are you sure you know which way it will go?
If you are determined to go do it the best bet is to:
I'd email the department, mention that you're going to be in town anyway, and ask whether they would recommend that you visit.Good luck.
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To be honest, I wouldn't visit until you have the acceptance letter in hand. As nice as it is to visit it's in accordance with what they want to do with you; if you want to visit you should do that before you send in your application, in order to know where you want to apply, or after your acceptance.
I know this doesn't make things easy but it's also part and parcel to the process. Hurrying them won't help, asking in enthusiasm to go is nice but it's also rude because you can't know what their decision is going to be. And, despite cold rejections, nobody feels good about turning other people down (unless you're truly cold hearted). In no way is it easily said, "Can you tell me if I'm accepted now because I want to visit."
It just doesn't work that way.
PS: If you're going to just go to the school; fine. But don't go under false pretenses and I wouldn't go talk to the department folks. It's just... odd.
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Really? There hasn't been real news since 1960? For real?
Depends on what you call 'real news'. Sure, lots of stuff goes on but very little of it, as I see it, is newsworthy. And that which is newsworthy, in this day in age, goes uncovered, misunderstood or is misinterrpreted for the chase of something that sells. Having 24/7 coverage of everything means that, in the loud boom of it all, anything important cannot be heard or is difficult to even weed towards or through.
I saw Edward Murrow as the best form of educated broadcasting for the thinking person on important topics of the day. At the cut of his work, Murrow gave his warning (just watch Good Night/Good Luck and then research it, folks - unless you grew up with a neurotic and paranoid grandmother who forced you to watch that stuff other than cartoons) and we have failed to understand it or act upon it. As I see it, there are few 'real' fortune tellers - we are given the past and can time travel into the pages of history but the future is a harbinger of the unknown - so when a warning, like Murrow's, manifests on our doorstep it shouldn't be so easily ignored.
And yet we ignore it for what? We have 'info-tainment' to be proud of and to highlight the importance of tabloid information. I'm often outraged by what is on the front of the paper and how it is put there; journalism is no longer a forefront of information but a basis for opinion and political striation governed by editors and the political goons that puppet them. I often see newspapers these days as a utilitarian object for wrapping fish and news broadcasts as the reason to flip the channel (okay, I'm just being really jaded right now).
I can see where you're coming from but I am not sure if people being taught "tolerance" is really to blame here. I'd kind of prefer if kids are taught tolerance. Hardwork too... but I see nothing wrong with tolerance.There is a lot wrong with the idea of 'tolerance', in my humble perspective, and its soft notion adds quite a bit to the flowering of the other aspects I mentioned. Tolerance avoids the very basic principles of living in a free world and instead of accepting our differences we are left to stew in our uneasiness with each other. The idea itself puts up a notion that we must endure others rather than accept that we are different. To accept that people live their own lives means we are offered the option of outrage, offense, and then turning our cheek to live our own way. It, on principle, avoids allowing us to attack each other. We don't have to 'investigate' what people are doing. We can shut the doors and be individuals. As a libertarian I want to shut out what my neighbor is doing, build a high fence, and go about my business without harassment or having to harass people.
But tolerance means my neighbor and I must kumbaya on a level. It's like we must 'try' to get along. It's like kid's saying they 'tried' - failing to recognize that you cannot go halfway on success and/or failure! The same goes for the term and notion of 'tolerance'. We're not 'trying' to get along if we must accept each other as different.
I don't want to tolerate my neighbor being gay; I don't want to tolerate my mother being a republican; I don't want people tolerating my right to own guns - no, I want to understand we must accept these things as facts of our (and other's) being and leave it at that. Tolerance, as I see it, is a maddening cop-out for a politically correct term that people could swallow. I see acceptance as the real key to learning to having respect for other human beings and their right to exist as they see fit - even if the hellfire against them still rages in our eyes.
I don't see a problem with the Times reporting on this. It's not like they ran it front cover. Grade inflation is a fact and they're reporting on one of the potential causes of it. They're not supporting it in the same way as they don't support murder when they report that someone got shoved in front of a subway car.Well, if it was not obvious enough, I see a problem with the Times itself and am uncompromisingly biased against it. As for this article in particular, my big gripe about it is that the idea of 'grade inflation' is a farce in and of itself. These are constructs like 'critical thinking' and are wishy-washy subject matter that falls through as rather arbitrary. And no, I am not harping that anyone's 4.0 doesn't mean anything; in our culture it very well does. But on the broad perspective, reporting on this only succeeds on a lot of navel gazing and doesn't perpetuate anything.
Look, we're not making widgets in a college setting so this constant eventfulness, trying to assess what a university is doing and how well the students are doing, is (in reality) a laughable task. Universities are not asking students to do mechanical work, redo plumbing systems or put the electrical wiring in a house; we're creating a quantitative matter out of something superbly qualitative and utterly bound to its context. Besides, universities challenge this notion at every faculty, chair, senate and administrative meeting without success. It's a built in flaw to the mission statement of any college, university or place of learning in general. Yes, we can give lots of reasons as to why grades plummet or rise; such as trying to keep students in school during the Vietnam draft. Trying to pin the blame on teachers, professors, faculty, students, or an upbringing is limiting at best.
Not that you might want my two cents on it but I see the real fact of the matter is that a four year degree, is now the equivalent of a high school diploma. We go to school for over 18 years because that's what we do; it has become the new rite of passage and hence, to put through all these people grade inflation must occur. The standards have to be dulled to manage the pressing weight of a change in the social culture and the economic expectancy for such 'qualifications' as the load is no longer only a culling of the 'exceptional'. It is almost everybody. It doesn't matter that you can't or don't know how to do anything, such as trade-work, once you leave college but that you paid for you rite of passage through and have, most probably, been mellowed - having time to sew your wild oats and are welcomed with open arms into a service society only then. It's a far fetched idea, I suppose, but standing next to the kid who drank his way through college, who still will get his BA, makes me wonder. And the trend may be ever upward - so what do we expect will happen when the masses all must go to graduate school?
:shock:
Hopefully I 'splained myself a little better.
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I broke up with the last rotten sake of crap I was with... I don't know how all you do it, really.
:|
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First off, the NYT needs to shove it and write a fucking article - this is lame... Sigh. News was killed when Murrow got the axe.
So, yeah, we've raised some bunch of snob nosed kids who are now disaffected college students. Raised on NYT's articles, no doubt. Now the populous is surprised and outraged?
We've got college brats preaching tolerance, empathy, feelings, and coddling. Of course they expect easy grades - they've been spoon fed and kumbaya-ing from the get go!
What's that kindergarten theme song? As follows: You can be anything you want to be!
NO YOU CAN NOT.
Now, get over it. And the news needs to get a new freakin' hobby; just because a few people are hollering they are entitled doesn't mean we have to pay any attention. This gives them way more credit than they deserve - like we actually have to entertain the god damn notion.
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I was freaking out before. But now I have come to terms with it. I am keeping myself busy and the weird thoughts take care of themselves.
I'm at a similar stage too. Thank my lucky stars...
In my days I've had a few panic attacks. They are usually in private, when I am most vulnerable. About two years ago I was home alone; I got a call from the hospital from our family friend Corky, telling me her husband, Ray, was in a logging accident. Ray was like a second father to me and he was my father's best friend. I said, "Do you need me to come to the hospital? How is he?" and she very weirdly said, "No-no, honey, he's gone. It's okay. He's gone..." I told her I'd get my parents (who were way up in the woods themselves with no phone!) and once I hung up I hit the floor; not crying (yet), I just couldn't actually take a breathe.
The next kicker? He sent me a birthday card on Friday, died on that Saturday, I got the card on Monday. The whole scenario crushed me... I couldn't answer the phone or get the mail without a panic attack/breakdown for months thereafter. *Shudder*
I've since gotten control of the anxiety and revert that energy into whatever else I can. And I let off steam shooting big guns whenever I get the opportunity because that soothes me. When I'm working I try to keep too busy to be overwhelmed - if you're on the cusp of it, try to make yourself think, "There's no time for this!" It might send you into a catatonic state, kill you, or suppress the attack all together.
Actually, that's what got me off the floor when Ray died - I needed and knew I needed to find my parents. I was hysterical but I had to get to them in one piece. It cured me of ever having a problem during a dramatic situation - you simply can't have time to either get overly excited, freeze or hurt yourself. If an attack happens during even the application process it is important to find a coping mechanism. A more serious/life threatening event occurs, where you are needed to respond, that means that you NEED to have control of yourself. If a piece of paper is getting you in a tizzy try to find a way to make it stop -- seriously.
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I just wanted to add this for a little promotion for yourself (to personalize something) and a company that does a great job -
I ordered my custom cards from the Card Store.com. Holy crap are they cute! I'm doing all of my graduation party invites on there. And it is roughly the same as going to any basic card store in price. It's a shameless promotion for these people, but I think if you're looking for that personal touch it's a good option to have handy.
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Not being in your position and not being on any kind of admission committee, I'm hardly an expert but I would go ahead and contact the school, especially if you have other offers. Maybe something like "I've been offered a slot at school XYZ, but you're my first choice. I was wondering if the wait list is ranked and where I am on it while I try to make decisions about grad schools"
Of course, this could be a really bad idea too, but it is what I would try. Good luck!
I think contact is an appropriate thing. You have questions and that's fine. Diana put things well but I will note that it is highly unprofessional to divulge too much about where else you've been accepted. I've seen professor's do the same thing at job interviews, and while that's not grad applications, it still doesn't seem very appropriate in any setting unless you're trying to get something. That's bad juju right there since you know nothing about the wait listing system they have so you really can't barter for anything - you're not playing with the full deck of cards. Not yet. So inquire, but I would offer to say just, "I was recently notified I have been wait listed. This is my top choice school so I am curious to know the specifics of the waitlist; is ranked. is it... (etc-etc)."
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Both my parents have been godsends to put up with all of my antics. They've let me take over the house, they've tolerated and not skinned me for blowing crap up, growing stuff, breeding critters, or tinkering with my archery and love of guns.
My father is a man of few words, a hermit like mentality. He's chalked full of fantastic dry stories, loads of humor, a love for beer, and (in his spare time) is a mechanical genius. He is a high school graduate who went into the trade world and became a butcher - just as his father did before him and his father before that... While living with three insane women - my mother, sister and I - who have a love affair with Estrogen Insanity, he doesn't say a word. Instead, he is graceful in his defeat, accepts that he is outnumbered, pays the bills with graciousness and still, for some reason, doesn't plot our untimely deaths (or at least hasn't acted upon it). I love my passive-aggressive dad because he's the reason I get to do what I do; and I'm doing this so I can hopefully I can pay that all back one day.
My mother is the psychotic backbone of the family structure, with a love for socializing, a tongue like a razor, and a melodramatic drama queen attitude. She's obsessed with Fox News and gossip. She has her BA in Social work and has never let me forget how much she regrets never getting her Masters. After her stint working as a social worker in the local hospital she now works for my father, managing her time between our 200+ acre farm, our lives, finances, and futures. She also tends to her hobbies of horse breeding, antagonizing the dog, sewing, quilting and other handy crafts while praying that one day my sister and I will get married to men that afford us or at least achieve jobs that can do that.
These two amazing people are why I'm even in college. I fought tooth and nail. I came to a college with a man I was going to elope with and when that came crashing down, they still sent me back. One more year they said...
...and when I became a Deans List student with an outrageous GPA, a research assistant, a worker, and traveled 12,000 miles to do work that I loved, they were pleased. They keep signing the checks, they keep telling me to go for it. I couldn't do it without them...
Though I have my suspicion that it's all just a ploy to keep me out of the house.
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Mailing my applications was like birthing a child. I was so weak in the legs that the Demon Postal Lady was concerned when she took my application packages from me. She was so super sweet - and really she's an evil-evil creature who has always been slightly stand offish until I came in there like a wounded animal. I must have looked too rough and tumble to even eat...
I had a moment of absolute panic in the car assuming said demonic postal lady ate the envelopes. I then proceeded to chain smoked until I thought I was going to crumble into ashes (I smoked a whole pack in the parking lot) and decided to go get cocked with one of my professors (who, to be honest, is a depressing lump of human skin but the best dude to take to the bar when one needs to feel that their own life is not as bad/depressing/in-need-of-a-blues-theme-song as his).
In the end, it is true:
Booze soothes.
8)
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Well, no one said we had to be nice and since no one is ever nice to us I'd not gripe about it. Don't allow an emotional response to it. I keep the cigars lit and a solid "Don't talk to me unless you like to be bitten" look across my face - squinty eyed, with reading glasses and all... I am lowly - and I will bring everyone down with me!
Anyway, no, there really is a hierarchy to the job and a secretarial person should NOT be giving out informal anything. Whenever they do something on behalf of the department, it comes from the department and any representative ought to know that professionalism is of utmost importance. What probably happened was a student worker (even lower than the lowly secretary) was forced to write the rejections. I've seen crap like that done - a student does a mail out of something and it goes haywire after they're told to write something up, unfamiliar with printing on stationary and no one around to babysit.
As head office administrative assistants everywhere know, student workers are simply a pain in the ass.*
:wink:
*Note: It's a joke, guys. I'm a student secretary. But, all said and done, I've seen how awful most of my counterparts are - namely freshmen and sophomore "helpers" who are on staff. I have asked several times for people to go home early because I don't need an extra obstacle while working (quite literally). The head secretary has worked with me for two years - I know how this place rolls. Other people are a pain in the ass. Case in point: A young lady trying to help writes up a memo for all majors in the department. She was asked to have me proofread it before we started packaging but she was all in a hurry to leave early so she went ahead and packaged all the envelopes, did the labels, etc-etc... She screwed up the ENTIRE letter. Well, when I arrived I found a litter of typos, grammatical errors, no heading and it was written very nonchalant. I had to re-do all 85 envelopes after retyping the f*cking letter~!
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I spent about 4 months writing up my 'Master List' of places to apply. In the midst I wrote my letter of intent/statement of purpose. Then I slowly weeded out places I didn't like from my 'List' by a weighing of whether or not I would rather sell my kidney than go to said school, depending on how well I felt the department fit. And, well, there was the other issues such as: Location, location, location... I then planned everything out like I was trying to take over the world - from administering tables and graphs and lists and charts; then adding explicitly detailed and informed pamphlets to all my LOR writers; and neatly doing everything with perfectionism that could possibly be intense enough to call Obsessive Compulsive.
As it went, I got all of my January 15th applications the week before. However, I had to overnight my Cornell application because that was due on January 10th. Slightly tricky affair, that.
My poor Montana deadline was on February 15th and I sent that one overnight that - praying the terms "Sent out by" meant, "We'll accept a postmark!" It took two days to get there but all I can do is hope the postmark holds.
Who knows, though. It was a little last minute since my mother was on the other end of the phone going, "APPLYTOMONTANA!!! Don'tyouknowyourfatherandIreallywanttolivethere!!! HISS! [Expletive -expletive-expletive]!!" I had to remind her that she was not going with me and she calmly responded, "Well... you never know." :shock:
Anyway, I pacified her and my final application was to UVM - which I can't even utter without deep pessimism. UVM is the program I want to get into with all my heart and soul, even though everyone else keeps calling it just another master's program, and yet I've a sneaking suspicion I probably won't get in.
Anyway, I sent that overnight two weeks ago and the due date is March 1st. I never looked more pathetic when, on wobbly knees, I handing over that package - my final application to the semi-demonic postal lady. And, despite said postal lady's fangs and dagger like eyes peering over those reading glasses, she finds me sad and pathetic enough to smile at me and go, "Well I see you're'ah still applyin' to these schools. Well, I wish you dah best of luck... would yah like to buy ah booklet of stamps wit this purchase...?" She has this weird thick accent I can't really describe. Sort of a Cajun-Brooklyn thing going on. Definitely pure evil.
Anyway, I'd say at least about a week in advance all mine went out, give or take some drama...
8)
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Amen!
[[???? Insert the Hallelujah chorus here!! ????]]
I haven't gotten any news on any front as of yet. Nothing. Not even a bird dropping hurled at me from afar after my audacious attempt to even apply to these places. But, as the long and short of it is, I am excited to think of getting even a rejection. I know, I know - it will hurt like hell - but to know that I will NOT be going somewhere gives me an idea of what the future holds and begins to reveal whatever grand or abysmal happenings which are to be...
On the other hand, any acceptance means the adventure is grander and even more unknown than before. It will be delightful and interesting to see what is revealed from there on out.
And, in the end, I had a great undergraduate run that I can now relax and reflect upon in this time of waiting. I have to do nothing but wait...
Glorious is a life of leisure.
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One thrust it upon me, the other offered, and the other looked at me and was like, "Just look it up on the computer; I won't give a shit."
I only read the 'thrust upon me' one. Namely because she was giddy and made me read it outloud - she is insane but we love her. I trust the others... unless the 4 years I have terrorized them was really just an act on their part. I highly doubt it, though.
When you work for 12-16 hours a day with these people, I'm pretty sure they wrote me glorious letters. I have put my heart and soul into working for them and they know it. They pulled me out of a to-be-awful-eloping-marriage deal and found room for me. I had nobody and these professors didn't mind a strange sad girl. And, when I opened up, it became perhaps an enviable experience.
I owe everything to the grit of a piss poor situation and these people who kept a foot in the door for me to scuttle through. They know it, I know it, and I don't know if I could match this undergraduate experience if I were to do it all over again.
The letters were great, I have no doubt, but the ego boost I needed came four years ago.
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I got three custom cards done and bought them a little something - but I'm also really close with all of them. I not only work with them, we all hang out. We're great friends, good family and fantastic coworkers as I see it.
And, really, they put up with me... and haven't called the cops or chased me out. And it has been a few years...
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Fantasize About People: My boss straining to either reach something or bending over in that pair of Levi's I dub my favorite... Delicious! Or my ex-boyfriend burning on a pyre... Burn... burn...
Or, just focusing on thoughts of my boss not his Levi's...
Hey, a girl can look, right? 8)
Singing: ABBA, Ace of Base and Roxette alone in my apartment. Or humming things like HappyHappyJoyJoy or the Puff the Magic Dragon song in the shower. Note: No, I am not and never will be a stoner but I did grow up on the Puff video.
Sewing: I have this quilt class. It's going to end in me losing a finger but it's still fun.
Knitting: Mittens, scarves and dish towels.
Watching Old Movies: The Big Sleep, Gilda... black and white, baby!
Drawing Vintage Pin-Ups: Vargas Girls!
Painting: Models (WWII stuff), and currently painting my boss's office supplies with white out while he's pontificating about something and doesn't seem to notice...
Writing Gratuitous Erotica: I think that explains it...
Writing Thank Yous
or
Posting on the Grad Cafe!
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The problem is that schools need a lot of information from many different sources. They have a flood of mail to sort that all has to come together for each person in particular. It's a nightmare that admissions has to deal with - I've seen it; it's AWFUL. At a large university the sorting is done at admissions for every department. Then its forwarded once complete to the department for review... If you have even just 100 applications per their hypothetical 10 programs, that's 1000 folders full of transcripts, at least 2 or 3 recommendations, statements, writing samples, cover letters, and whatnot! And, in some cases, it can't all go in one neat envelope. Chasing mail, sucks. My friends who work in admissions drink a lot during this season.
Then, depending on the set up, the admissions committee of each department must schedule a time to either meet or set aside time to look over each admissions that didn't get cut off. For small universities it's usually only the director or chairperson. Sometimes it's a selected tenured faculty member. Other people go through several people... It can vary so much and has to do with each university's set up. They're trying to go through the pile still! Some of them are probably only still hefting through the weeding process... it's slightly psychotic and I've seen people wither under the paperwork of admissions students. And, to note, every school has a different dynamic - which makes thinking of the overall process and its variations is daunting (like reading this).
Really, 'education' isn't a real business and these people are the poorest paper pushers I've ever seen. Most of them wouldn't know what a deadline is if it hit them square in the genitals. They do a lot of navel gazing which can take up our time but, well, it's 'education' at its finest.
Sure, we could try and regulate the piss out of it. Yet the fact of the matter is that it wouldn't mean anything in academia - and probably shouldn't. These are people with real professional lives (well, in some cases). Admissions just has to happen by the end of March in most cases and they're busy teaching, running departments, interacting with students, doing research, and a slew of stuff - before even thinking about admissions! And, if they're as bad as their students (which they are) they're probably still wrestling to get peoples schedules coordinated to meet, let alone even looking at the god damn piles, in some departments (coughanthrocough)!
The decisions will come but we are not allowed to have our cake and eat it too in this case. We've done our part of the application process - we're done. They get to do the selection process, folks, and I wouldn't hurry them if I had the chance. Let the 'waiting' be part of the story - after all, we signed on to tolerate all of it - and, in some sense, this is OUR relief time.
So, wash your hands of it!
We can appreciate this time as down time. Rejection hurts, so don't hurry it. And, yes, acceptance would be glorious but it opens another can of worms to deal with... Right now, Limbo means we don't have to do crap...
Consider the moment the envelope was snatched by the post office lady or gent that at that moment you got that big 'To Be Continued...' marker, take a deep breath, and give it another two weeks before you tune in. You can now successfully do everything and anything you want until you have the pressure of the future on your doorstep. Paintball your house! Paint the cat red. Bathe the kids or the cat in the sink. Get drunk and have sex in the car. Set campus art on fire. Take up quilting... whatever.
I consider this time a mental health session before May when I lose my cool, get cocked and vomit at graduation, and have to start a "real" job that I hate - verses playing gopher/office bitch/lab rat (which I sincerely enjoy)... I've taken up sewing, knitting, painting models; and painting most of my boss's office supplies with white out. I curl my hair every morning. I daydream about birds. I fantasize about my boss - wait, no... Anyway, I check the mail for crap I bought online. I write thank you cards. I'm planning my graduation party. Hell, I even ignore the dishes in the sink and I consider that once the world crumbles in March and I get the first letter I'll be a basket case.
Until then, save all that intensity for one grand ole rupture! Make it the scream heard round the world, rather than the constant broken record... And really, who wants to antagonize all ready confused/disoriented/busy faculty? Jesus, the last thing you want to do is hurry them!
:mrgreen:
Good luck and go get a drink... 8)
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in Waiting it Out
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Yeah, my mother thinks that graduate departments "just accept people 'cause they need them." Now I feel, when I talk to them, that I'm like, "At one point in my life you two were smart, in my eyes. Now that I have surpassed you on the scholarly field of play, just write the checks..."
And - why'd you bring up the big 30's? I'm all ready chasing one wrinkle - like a crack on a windshield - that is racing across my forehead and a patch of grays. I'll be a white-hair before I'm 35... and with inklings of idiocy boot? Christ...
I am going to go get a new set of tits after all this is over; at least if I'm dumb I can still feel hot, god damn it!