Owlie

B, I'll look into that, thanks! Anyone around in sciences who did a master's then PhD? I'd be interested in hearing your experiences. I'm trying to tell myself that those rejection letters aren't the end of the world, and the MS is an opportunity (if I get in) to boost that GPA and get some more relevant research experience. (My undergrad research experiences were primarily synthetic chemistry, which was fine when that's what I thought I wanted to do...) I need to stop viewing it as a stumbling block on my way to a PhD. Yes, I'll be 30 by the time I get out. Nothing I can do about that now. I'm also not terribly keen on going into debt, but it's a program at a state school, and it's two years--and more importantly, I escaped undergrad debt-free. And they may have some money for me. Who knows?

Looks like a round of universal rejections for me this year, at least for PhDs (still holding out on the MS). Now I have to think about doing this again. I've got a few questions, and I'm looking for some advice. 1) I'm planning on asking for feedback. Who should I ask, and how should I phrase it? 2) Reapplying: a) Recommendation letters: I graduated in 2010. If I don't get into that MS program...it's going to get harder and harder for me to get recommendation letters. Any advice? b ) Should I bother reapplying to my top choice, which I felt was the best fit? The school seems to favor its own undergrads (cheaper for them, I guess), since I'm pretty sure this was a factor in my rejection. 3) Is it even worth re-applying for a PhD? (I'm a little...uh, depressed at the moment, to be sure.) The funding situation is only going to get worse, combined with the competition from more pools of applicants (next year's grads, last year's grads, people who didn't get in...). Thanks.

Congratulations! I'm happy for you.

I got that dreaded e-mail from my top choice two hours ago. I cried. A lot (for me, anyway). In the space of two hours, I've been going back and forth between relief, feelings of utter worthlessness, and wondering what I'm going to do now that I've been rejected from two of three PhD programs, and it's not looking good for the third. I was going to cook dinner, but now I'm going up the street to buy a milkshake. That's dinner.

personal problems

status update

I hope it's good news! Fingers crossed!

pain killer

Of my friends applying to grad schools, two have been universally rejected--and one of those because ETS screwed up and never send his GRE scores! While we've mentioned it, we don't really talk about it in-depth. We're in different fields, so it removes a certain element of awkwardness.

Now I'm hungry! Indian peacock

Awesome! Congratulations! I'm still waiting. I should probably bite the bullet and ask. My top choice is three hours behind, so they should still be there... This wait is getting to me. The other night I had a dream that my sister (a history major!) got acceptance letters from the programs I applied to.

nuclear fusion

clogged drain

Yay, Mal83! It can't be too long, as it seems like results have come in from a bunch of other pharmacology programs...Hopefully some acceptances to those means good news for me.

after dark

story book

model train

long underwear

If I weren't a worrier, and I had something else to be doing, I'd actually prefer snail mail. That way, I could only freak out around 4pm when the mail comes, and then be disappointed, frustrated and relieved at the same time when all that's in the box is a gas bill. Since I am a worrier, and have nothing else to be doing, I'd check the mail, be frustrated, disappointed and relieved to find only a gas bill, then spend the next 24 hours worrying. I suppose stalking the mailman is less damaging to my computer than aggressively jabbing at the F5 key, though... (And in case you haven't guessed, I still haven't heard anything. Come on! Tell me something!)

While I know two of the programs have actually looked at my application materials (interviews!), I'm not so sure about the one that rejected me. Part of the application was a SurveyMonkey questionnaire, which asked for POIs, GPA, GRE and essentially duplicated a lot of the information that would have been in other parts of the application. I'm pretty sure they looked only at that for most of their applicants.

Still waiting on both remaining schools. My guess is "waitlist" for both, but I haven't seen anything pop up on the results section. To be fair, that doesn't mean anything, but I still have hope, right?

bad dog

Ah yes, physics. My worst enemy. And p-chem. My gut instinct would be to report the one that the institution gives, on the grounds that they'll probably see it anyway, and any discrepancy would make an adcomm go "Hmmm...". You can always explain elsewhere that while you did poorly in physics, you did well in the classes that are directly applicable. (For what it's worth, my undergrad institution didn't put major GPAs on the transcripts. I calculated them based on all the coursework necessary--the only difficulty was that I took a bunch of electives in both majors.)

Congratulations! Still waiting here.