Mal83

Congrats to those getting off that waitlist! That's exciting, it really is. I contacted my 1st choice program yesterday about their waitlist, they just started looking at on the 1st and will get back to us by the 21st which I already knew but just had to see if I could get any more info out of them...but nothing as of yet. The lady said that they don't have any news to report yet but will let me know as soon as possible. I guess if they didn't have any spots to fill she would have said as much...right? @Eschaton....that really bites, sorry to hear that. Hopefully you'll find work soon, in NYC at least the opportunities are abundant.

Thanks for reviving this, it's so great... International Relations programs don't want Chuck Norris because they're afraid he'll want to be President of the World and therefore eliminate the need for international relations. Chuck Norris is probably the only grad school intern who gets coffee served to him. Since Chuck Norris bought the government there's now a new repayment plan option on student loans: A roundhouse kick to your bill every month along with the instruction: put on Chuck Norris' tab. After receiving an acceptance from a school Chuck Norris adds it to his waitlist...and keeps them waiting...forever. Chuck Norris is in more phD programs than James Franco. After Chuck Norris roundhouse kicked the computer in the next cubicle, the one he was actually taking the GRE on flashed 1600, after clenching his fist, it flashed 1700.

I do believe in moving on but only after you've said your piece, it's only fair, if a user gets to post something ridiculous, I should be able to respond how I see fit in order to get my point across. When someone in an open forum casts unfair and unnecessarily harsh judgments at anyone and everyone who chooses to respond to the thread he himself started then he should be told to take it down a notch or 12. Just my take on internet forum etiquette.

Indeed..."The James Franco is Pissing Me Off" thread.. @Switch, not sure even why you posed the question in the first place considering your unwavering morality. You know the answer. Shouldn't you have already ratted out the "snarky" professor long ago? I mean with the first hint of snark you should have gone and told someone in order to completely clear yourself of responsibility and If you haven't, doesn't that mean you are enabling him? I should say so. When you do...if you do...that's when you get to stand tall on your soap box, not before.

You see this is more than reasonable because most people don't sit and watch for the mailman, they just go and retrieve their postal deliveries at their earliest convenience. But that's not the right way to do it. You have to watch them...carefully...painstakingly. When you allow them to simply to do their bidding without supervision they're rather like mischievous nymphs playing with your mail...some of it ends up in the mailbox, while some of it goes somewhere else...kind of like the sock that disappears in the drier. I only found this out because while I too was contemplating checking into Happy Acres mental hospital because the wait for "the letter" was turning into a burden far too great to bare, I came to a decision. I thought it just can't be taking this long, the mailman is up to no good. It made the most sense to me at the time. So I figured I'd sit, clandestinely, and wait for the mailman. In my neighborhood the mailboxes are all centrally located at the "clubhouse" so I got in the car, parked across the street, put on the biggest, roundest, darkest sunglasses I had and watched hunched down. The wait for my letter was driving me over the edge, so I had to put a stop to it, I had to get to the source of my misery, twas not the admissions committees, but the mailman. Yes. A few minutes, my wait is over, there it is, the white boxy truck with the red and blue stripes with the abstract eagle on it, which for me always conjured up mild feelings of patriotism and a sense of the kind of stability only America enjoys...like the people that drive these trucks make this country go 'round. But that day it was a different feeling all together. As I fixed my gaze, enhanced by binoculars, on the unsuspecting mailman I waited for him to get to my box. He was rather jolly, almost skipping, singing a happy tune if you will. My heart skipped as I saw him get close with a large white packet...it's here! I almost ran up to him to reward him with a kiss...but much to my dismay I caught him inspecting the packet, a creepy grin stretched across his face. What could he be doing? Why wasn't he looking at anyone else's mail like that? Instead of sliding the packet into my box, he began to take bites out of it. Horrified I jumped out of the car and marched across the street in an authoritative fashion. "What are you freakin' doing?" He was startled, but he still scampered off, skipping just as had before...in a nymph like manor, seemed almost delighted and certainly not phased by being caught in a most ungracious act. The remainder of his papery feast lay on the ground, in of course the only puddle for miles under the hot Arizona sun. And I'm almost certain he took just a moment to glance back in slight disappointment over his loss and whispered..."my precious." I gingerly picked it up...it was from one of my schools, I could still make out the logo despite the chunk missing, I tore the rest of it open and there it was...my dream come true. But you see, let this and the post above be a lesson to you all...the mailman is the culprit, not the admissions committees. If I didn't catch him, the mailman would have digested my acceptance letter, along with my hopes and dreams. I'd also by this point be rocking myself to sleep in a padded room, but tis not the case, now I'm happily, and more importantly, sanely preparing for grad school.

Ok so I know it's not the best way to go about things, but what's done is done. The story is that I quickly accepted an offer from George Mason after being waitlisted by my dream school, George Washington way back in mid-March. The letter said that I'll know after May 1st but not later than May 21st. To me, at the time, it felt like a reject and I certainly wasn't going to decline an offer in hopes of getting off the waitlist after other deadlines go by. Well, pretty soon I'm going to know about GW, I've said all along that should I get in then that's where I'm going. But...now I'm getting nervous. What will it be like to extract myself from GM? What about the financial aid package I've already accepted? I'm dreading that initial contact with I guess the program coordinator because I don't know who else to get a hold of. Will they want to know specifics reasons for backing out? I was planning on saying something like "due to a very personal and major change of plans I will longer be able to attend..." something like that. I haven't made a deposit yet and the deadline for accepting/declining at GM is May 15th, but like I said, I accepted weeks ago... I haven't been accepted to GW and I do not feel good about reneging on GM because I know it's not exactly the right way to go about it, I do regret not waiting longer and asking GM for an extension, but again at the time I just wanted to be in somewhere, but should I get an offer from GW I have to do what I can to get there...Has anyone done this before and actually backed out in order to go to another school?

The no time line thing is what blows, I mean it's basically saying "you have been placed in limbo because we can't and won't give you any information whatsoever regarding your future...hey, hope that helps." Even if they don't know for sure when they'll get back to you, some indication is better than nothing. I mean are you supposed to wait until August for a decision or is it possible you'll know in a few weeks? Sorry, I'd would be happier knowing that I MIGHT know in a few weeks. At the very least they should tell you when the deadline is for accepting/declining offers because that's when they'll start working on the waitlist, probably not before. The more I read about these waitlist horrors the more grateful I become to my top choice for giving a "by May 21st" date for our decisions.

I like how this turned into me not ever reading or listening to the news. You're right I don't generally pay that much attention to what celebrities are doing unless I particularly respect them for some reason and I'm interested. But if I feel inundated with something that I don't care about or I find irritating then I switch channels, which I'm sure you know is an option at anytime. There's so much media out there other than NPR and NY Times, seriously not all of them are reporting extensively on Franco. For example maybe if you read The Economist instead you would have a more pleasant experience catching up on world affairs. But to each his own. I'm fine with him carrying on multiple degrees...basically all I'm saying is that whether or not he's performing up to the standards is not my claim to make..or anyone's for that matter...unless...you're his classmate, professor, or adviser. And I'm about 98% sure that no one who posts in this thread is one of those. As far as Columbia MAs being for sale to the highest bidder...wow, I didn't know Columbia was so easy, should have applied there, it could have been my back up just in case my top choice 3rd tier school didn't pan out, in fact every user in the forum who didn't get accepted to any schools they applied to should have considered Columbia as their last resort so at least they'd have somewhere to go this Fall, I guess Columbia's better than absolutely nothing. But in all seriousness I'd be a tad insulted by that statement if I were going there for my Master's...just sayin'. But anyway, I think that like you, I've had enough of this particular aspect of James Franco's life.

Yikes...sorry just don't agree. I never said that I know for sure he's just as talented as a typical Yale student...I said he should at least be relatively up to par with Yale's standards. I also said it's unfair to assume he's not smart enough to handle it. We don't know him personally, but according to this article he maintained a GPA of above 3.5 while taking boat loads of credits....http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/higher-education/james-francos-unusual-educatio.html A 3.5 undergrad GPA and a Master's from Columbia kind of puts an end to the "he's just not smart thing" doesn't it? I would hope so. Just because some people got a hold of some creative writing project and didn't like it doesn't make him unworthy of a ph.D. Pretty sure not everything a Ph.D student does has to be brilliant and embraced by all in order to stay in the program. Why should he have to release his transcripts or GRE scores to the world? Does he owe that to you or anyone else for some reason? As long as he hands them over to the admissions committee like everyone else I feel that's quite enough...the demand for such a thing sounds a little Trumpesque to me. I get it, that creative writing is different from literature and not the same as English, but my point was, that it's not as if it's a total departure from his career and undergrad education, his BA is in English...also according to that article he concentrated in Creative Writing. So I don't see how anyone can claim that his undergrad education hasn't appropriately prepared him for and advanced degree in the field he's chosen, so his acting doesn't even really have to come into play, but I really don't think it's a stretch to say that it has granted him a few incredible experiences that look really good an SOP for an artistic program. It's not as if on whim a movie star thought that medical school would be fun and waltzed right in because he dropped off a slip of paper with his name on it to admissions and got in...that would be annoying. Franco is not attending Yale and Huston at the same time, he was accepted to Huston for Fall 2011, but requested a deferral for one year, which has been granted. If I have to look around NPR or The New Yorker for James Franco stories then I'm not sure that "extensive coverage" is accurate in this case. See I would use the word extensive to describe the coverage of Charlie Sheen's antics for example. And I'm not sure what hosting the Academy Awards has to do with his academics...he's an actor right?...what's next...he only got the job of Oscar host because he goes to Yale? If you want to equate me disagreeing with your unfair assertions and judgments with "enabling" then that's OK, but I still really don't get the use of the word in this situation.

Gosh...not waitlisted there at all, but what a devastating thought. It always hits a little harder when I hear of students dying, like it feels more real than anyone else in any other situation because basically that could have been me too. Morbid I know, but I guess I just feel more of a connection to "the student." It's very unnerving to hear that 80 employees are missing. Let's hope for the best for all 80. It's always sobering to think of a bit of America in despair, it brings out a sense of loss for all of us, all of us who stop to think about it anyway, regardless of whether or not we have any physical connection to anyone or anything there. But I have no doubt that the resilience of the American people and our sense of community will strengthen the ability of those devastated by this awfulness to rebuild and persevere. I feel like this is something that we are great at and makes us stronger in the end. Let's also hope for a swift return to normality for institutions such as University of Alabama.

Totally in agreement with the "sadistic obstacle course" thing. I feel that first and foremost for most of us what makes the application process, from start to finish, so difficult is that we simply want to get in...obviously, but we really want it, we're achievers, we're driven and motivated to go farther than others. Getting an acceptance holds a great deal of significance for us not only because we want to advance our education and careers, but also because it's some sort of validation of what we've done so far...not getting in doesn't define your self worth, but let's face it, we all kind of feel that way during the height and frenzy of the process. It's the significance of the outcome that makes it so emotionally arduous. If it's one of those "eh, I'll just see what happens" kind of things then of course you're not going to be so stressed out by it. But for me, it's practically everything, I hate everything about my current situation and grad school is my ticket out so I can move on with my life how and where I want to. So each step was a royal pain in the ass. I knew what I wanted to do and the location I wanted to do it in, so that wasn't really an issue. It was the uncertainty of how I stack up against everyone else, the unbelievable competitiveness...after all of this am I really going to get in? If I don't I don't know what the hell I'm going to do. So those questions, along with fantasies of being a productive happy student at my dream school, seeping into every waking thought made for a miserable 7 or so months. I decided I wanted to pursue grad school back in July and I guess I really dove into the applications in September/October. I was excited and ready for it when I first started, but as I got into the months of studying for the GRE I started to get stressed out. I don't even want to rehash that nightmare other then it was AWFULNESS like I never even imagined...that sort of thing is just not my strong suit. I generally embraced it as just something else I had to do, but I couldn't wrap my mind around relearning 4 years of high school math in a matter of months just to add some other number to the already large application package required by grad schools. But anyway, when I was satisfied with my OK score the second time around I did have a sense of relief and it was a small victory. From there I figured everything else would be easy...haha. I sort of liked working on my SOP, however like for many others, garnering LORs was scary. I had 2 professors in mind from the get-go, plus I already had one from my supervisor from the Peace Corps. Well, I just sent out those little emails to my profs assuming that they'd both be happy and ready to do them only find that while one was, the other just said "it's good to hear from you, but I'm doing enough of those already, please ask someone else." That stopped me in my tracks, here it was, am I really not going to get anyone to do this, something beyond my control will throw this whole thing off? The "I'm not in control of this aspect of my application" thing is very unnerving. I had no idea who else to ask...I had graduated back in '07 and I only spent 2 years there because I did my first half at a community college. I emailed another professor but he never got back to me...other than that one I didn't even really remember anyone else, well I did, but I hated one of them. I had taken 3 major classes with the one who said no, she wrote me a letter for the Peace Corps even...I couldn't believe it, I was beside myself. So I thought and I thought, the only thing I could come up with was to get in touch with one of my community college profs, the one with whom I took 3 classes and was head of the department...and also a ph.D. That was so long ago that I was scared he would have no idea who I was or even still accessible. Plus I was unsure of how an LOR from a cc prof would be considered. I found he was still teaching there and with no other choice I emailed him...he said yes and it was nice getting back in touch with him as he was someone that influenced me in my course of study. So after finally securing all letters, it was again a sigh of relief and a small victory. But...the relief didn't last long as it got closer and closer to the deadlines and they weren't submitted. I was in panic mode when one of them didn't submit until I guess about 7 hours before the deadline...I was sending desperate emails to him because I wasn't getting anything from him...finally he let me know that he was struggling to get them all done but to rest assured that it would be in. It got done. So when all 3 were in I was satisfied. I guess that was generally the end of the application process for me as I submitted what I had to before hand. There was some sense of relief when it was done...but that didn't last long... The waiting began, I thought I'd happily go about my days at work just content to know that I was all done with the application process and be happily waiting for the acceptance letters to come in...WRONG. I was that way for a few days, then I was miserable and stressed out, anxious, and obsessively searching forums like this for information. I started to get sick and tired of everything, my job, living with my parents, and also waiting, waiting to start my life. It was really bringing me down. Of course the emotional frenzy kicked into high gear in March when I knew I'd hear from my dream school...March 11th...waitlisted..was totally crushed. But the crazy thing is that I got over much quicker than I thought I would, I started to experience relief, like some weight had been lifted, it wasn't the answer I wanted, but it was a result. At the time it was like a rejection because the letter said I wouldn't know anything more until mid-May...so I put it to rest like it was a reject. But then I started getting much more obsessive about my 2nd choice and seeing post after post here about acceptances was really freaking me out. Waiting for the mail every single day like my life depended on it. That mental battle to stay sane was really hard. I tend to try to prepare myself for the worst, that's tough when you're hopeful and want something so bad. Believe it or not, for about a week or so after getting my acceptance I felt a sense of loss...like "what do I do now?" I don't have much more to obsess about, I don't have to wait and hope for a packet in the mail or dread a small regular envelope. I don't have to troll around forums and sites for information. Well I moved on to obsessing about financial aid, if I didn't get those loans I wouldn't be going anywhere...I had borrowed close to the limit as an undergrad so I was nervous, plus I was confused about tuition costs and the Grad Plus Loan due to the lack of current information on the school's website...after many emails back and forth with the financial aid office I finally got it and finally got everything that I need to go....phew. It's only been a few days that I finally have been really at ease and just flat out happier, not stressed or anxious. I'm more than ready to get the hell out of my job, but even that's more tolerable now. I'm registered for classes and my financial aid is secure...it kind of makes me tear up when I allow myself to stew in that thought...it's nice. We should be proud of ourselves just for having the perseverance to complete the application process. Months and months of effort for something that might not even pan out says a lot about us.

Does Yale really need to advertise? Doubtful. And what publicity is coming out of him being there except for a few internet articles? Is it in the news? I had no idea until I read this thread. I'm sure Yale or any other school gets something out of a movie star attending their programs, but I don't think it's fair to assume that he's a total dolt and has been admitted purely because he's been in a few movies. He has to be relatively up to par with their standards. And it's also not as if he has taken up something that is a total departure from his work experience, wouldn't that be a hell of thing to put in your SOP for some kind of artistically oriented program.."I was in a major motion picture with Sean Penn....and was good." The movie Milk is the only one I've seen. We're always talking about how our work experience is just as important if not more so than an undergrad GPA or a GRE score. This is his thing. If he got into medical school because he was in a movie then yeah I might be bitter about it for a minute...you know along the lines of "it's all just so easy for those damn rich celebrities." I think the idea that he's cheapening the process or adding to a perceived sorry state of university affairs is kind of bogus, in fact, I find what he's doing somewhat refreshing. So many celebrities are consumed with only their image, demanding more money per episode of whatever stupid sitcom their on, and living as extravagantly as possible. Here's one, who's young and current getting advanced degrees when he's not acting...his fans just might look up to him for it. I'd rather see Franco and his academic escapades covered positively in the news once and a awhile instead of just one more second of the train wreck that is Charlie Sheen and his disgraceful meltdown of epic proportions. If we found out for sure that Franco has taken a more qualified applicant's placed based only on the fact that he is a movie star then there would be cause for complaint and outrage...but without that I too just don't see it as a negative.

There are way too many free resources out there to spend even more money on such a service.

If you don't mind me asking, how did this come about? Is it something you found on your own or do you have a connection somewhere? 16 an hour seems like a rarity.

Many of us just don't have any other options, it's easy to say the debt isn't worth it when you've been offered all kinds of funding. I won't have 140K in loans, but my debt will be substantial, at this point it's what I have to do in order to move on to the next stage of my life. I'm not going to wait another year in hopes of getting funding, my undergrad GPA will not get me funding. I either go with loans in order to go to school or I stagnate in a situation that I've been struggling to get out of. I'm happily going with the loans.

Previous Schools (Name, type, or tier): Community college, The College of New Jersey Previous Degrees and GPA's: International Studies from CC: 3.95, BA in International Studies: 3.35 ( a C in one of my major courses really sucked, hated the professor), not sure what combined GPA is...or even if it mattered GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing): 1st round: disaster, 2nd round: V570, Q550, W4.5 Previous Work Experience (Years, Type): 2 with the Peace Corps in Ukraine Math/Econ Background: Intro to Macro, pre-calculus Foreign Language Background: Russian 3.5 years in college, including semester in Moscow, then tested at Advanced High level at the end of PC service Intended Field of Study in Grad School: Global Affairs or ID, planning to concentrate in global governance Long Term Professional Goals: Anything that resembles international development Schools Applied to & Results: George Mason University (Global Affairs, MA) Accepted, George Washington University (ID) waitlisted, American (ID): rejected Ultimate Decision & Why: At this point of course it's George Mason, very happy about it, but holding out a sliver of hope for my dream school GW...should know within the next 3 weeks Feel free to add any more info that you feel would paint a better picture of your applicant profile.

Oh no..just hold out, you've put in this much time and effort so far...they will get back to you, they have to, I've never heard of a school not sending every applicant their decision. I know the waiting blows, and if I still didn't know who knows what state I'd be in, but hang in there. Re-thinking your plans is a good idea and having a realistic back up will make the wait easier, but I wouldn't withdraw my applications...just let them do their jobs and review your application and get you a decision...you paid for them to do that. By the way, Scotland is my dream come true...I'd go back in a heartbeat.

@bgreenster...gee the way you arrived at your decision sounds a lot like my own path...I just started doing things that I wanted to do that led me to be a good candidate for the PC, I studied Russian in college because I wanted to, studied abroad in Moscow because I wanted to, which led me to my desire for something internationally oriented. I got my BA in International Studies, then joined the PC because it was everything that I wanted to do, ended up in Ukraine so all of that Russian experience that seemed to be only for my own satisfaction at the time really culminated into a body of experience that said "I'm qualified to do something in this part of the world." PC prepared me directly for what I want to do with the rest of my life despite not being so certain or specifically seeking this out while I was doing it...International Development is perfect for me. your story is so good for the OP...you have to just start doing things because you're interested in them, no need for some carefully plotted path or to figure out the rest of your life in a single decision...it usually doesn't work out anyway.

Oh yuck...that is pretty hard to take, that if they just had the money you would have been in. Not that it makes you feel any better but I think it's like that at most schools and for most applicants, they're not unqualified but there's so many applicants for so few spots, lots of them will just not get in at all. I mean how do you choose, say for simplicity's sake,10 best candidates from hundreds of really great ones? Especially when there are so many components to the applications, each one with different strengths and weaknesses. When it comes down to it, the less money they have the fewer the spots, regardless of how many great applicants they might want. At my top choice they had over 2,100 applicants but 350 spots, I consider myself lucky to have been waitlisted, but how many other candidates just as good as me got cut right out? Probably a lot. These past few years have been even harder for both applicants and schools, less money, same amount or fewer spots then previous years and record numbers of applicants. It just sucks all around for most of us, it's a such a tough and emotionally arduous process and when someone says you're were considered accepted but we just couldn't afford you then you're right...so close yet so far. It's kind of like getting a 99 on a test, it's upsetting because there was just one little thing and it would have been perfect, but really in the grand scheme of things there's nothing much you could have done to improve. Are you still waiting on any schools? Maybe you can contact them for your status...

What's the difference what his GRE scores are? Not everyone needs good GRE scores to go to grad school, if you have exceptional experiences then I would say that offsets any bad score on a standardized test. Those with great work experience or super high GRE scores can offset low undergrad GPAs for example, and that is true for anyone. We don't know what his test scores are like or what his application looked like as a whole, but just judging by the advanced education that he has I'd say it's probably pretty good. Plus I don't understand the use of the word "enabling" here, you enable someone to continue taking drugs or drinking alcohol excessively. You can enable someone to continue engaging in bad behavior. How does a school enable someone to get an education? You're assuming that he's taking advantage of something or that he's not fulfilling the requirements of his classes or majors and that these very high profile schools are just allowing it because he's James Franco...what evidence is there of this? You're saying that you get bullied in graduate school for being passionate about your major? Why would anyone do that to you or Franco? Why would anyone at an institution of higher learning get bullied for learning?

Did you specifically seek out internships? Are these connected to your school somehow? I just want an actual job in order to supplement my loans.

I'll be at George Mason (northern VA) for Global Affairs this Fall...or if by some chance I get off the waitlist for ID at The Elliott school then that's where I'll be going for sure... I haven't looked too much at internships yet, I have a feeling that a lot of them are not paid, but I'm sure some of them are. Your school should be able to at least direct you in that regard. However, I plan on getting a regular job, of course hopefully related to the field, but regardless I can't take something that won't bring in any income. Have you looked at the website called Idealist.org? There are pages and pages of job openings of all levels for NGOs, non-profits, and the like, for full-time and part-time. I believe there are internships openings on there too, but you'll have to check to see if they're paid or not.

I think I'm going to send one of those "I'm still really interested in the program" emails this week or maybe right now, I have absolutely nothing to update them on otherwise. The deadline for confirming your spot on the list was the 20th, so at least at this point no one else is getting on it. But the deadline to accept/decline offers is May 1st...so not for another few days, but I figure it's best to get in the email before they dive into the list. I have no idea what my chances are or how many are the list, but they should have a really good idea by now of how many spots they'll have...if any. @Foreign Guy...do you know when the deadline to accept and decline offers from the first round is? Not every school is April 15. That should give you some indication at least of when they'll have to start looking at the list. My program said a while back that they won't know anything until May 1st because that's the deadline, although they did say that I would know by May 21st. But maybe in a week or two you can send another email specifically asking when they expect to get decisions out...that's what I would do just to make myself feel better.

It might not be as long as you think, one of my schools had a March 15th deadline, which I thought was a little on the late side, but I got my acceptance letter like 2 weeks later, granted there was no funding or financial aid information, just a real short but sweet letter.

Well the deadline for confirming your spot on The Elliott School's waitlist has come and gone. I wonder if they will start looking at the applicants now or not even start until the May 1st accept/decline deadline, it's only a week away, but I find it satisfying to think that they're starting the process now, surely they have a good idea at least if they will have to turn to the list or not. I also wonder if they will let everyone know at the same time like they did the first round or what. Is anyone going to send update emails, like expressing your continued interest in the school or whatever? I don't have anything of any real substance to update them with, but I figured one of those "I'm still ready to jump for joy at an offer" emails couldn't hurt, I mean I'm sure they want to be certain that whoever they do make those final offers to are really serious about attending. Lots of people who accepted waitlist positions a while back could have moved on already to other things....eh, a girl can dream.