alison

I got Ph.D. acceptances and felt like I'd conquered the world. I was so excited! I visited my top-choice program and thought I loved it. The closer I get to the deadline, the more I realize that the excitement just isn't there anymore. The love I felt wasn't focused on that school or program, but just on the whole process that is now over. Instead, I feel disinterested and can't help thinking that I'm passing up "the one" somehow. The research is interesting, and the funding is there. My ex factored significantly into my application decisions, and I just feel like I'm not ready to move 3000 miles away alone (we didn't apply anywhere near my city that I now can't imagine leaving). I'm starting to think about throwing all caution into the wind and waiting it out one more year, to apply to closer programs and keep all of the ties I have to my community (important as a community psychologist). Of course, try explaining to someone you're turning down a 5-year funded Ph.D. offer - it's like you said you're giving up a six-figure salary to mine sulfur. It's your decision though, and you have to do what's right for *you* for 5+ years. The hard part is figuring out what that is on a time schedule. I have 4 days to think, right :roll: ?

Wow, this quote weighs heavy with me right now. I transferred majors for my BA wanting to get my MA or MSW. I started looking at those programs. I also wanted to get a Ph.D. later, and told people that. Next thing I know, I've got my SO, advisers, and parents pushing me for the Ph.D., with SO cheerleading and helping me pick programs on the other side of the country. Three days after my first acceptance, my SO dumped me. Following me was just the wrong decision for him (and I love him for knowing this about himself). At first, I was so wrapped up and genuinely excited- I'd conquered the world and couldn't be any happier to rule it alone!!! I visited and got even more stoked. Then the glow started to fade. I hear this is normal, but I'm having serious cold feet :oops: . I'm starting to think I let him and my advisers tell me what I wanted, and now that I'm single for the first time in years and out of school for a semester, I don't want to do this right now. Now I have a stellar offer at a school 3000 miles away from my home city. I have unofficially, but not officially, accepted (still waiting for funding offer on paper). All I can think about is the really nice masters' program in my home city, a city I'm 150% in love with and would have never wanted to leave without SO's urging. It's not the Ph.D. with funding offer. Heck, I didn't even apply because he told me it was a bad idea and I knew he hated living here. Whenever I try to talk to anyone about this (even a therapist), all they say is "You already got in, you're insane!" Everyone I tell this to tells me I'm being immature and crazy, that I'm grasping for straws to get out of commitment. Maybe I am, but I'm in my early 20's so there's plenty of time for me. I can't stop thinking about how I'd be letting everyone down, but I also can't stop daydreaming about what could-have-been if I'd done what I wanted (and I can't sleep because of the horrible anxiety dreams about everything else!). How crazy am I :oops: ?

University of New Hampshire, Social Ph.D. :mrgreen: !

I'm selling all of my furniture to move from the Pacific Northwest to New England. I've never done a big move like this, but have good friends who are seasoned long-distance movers. Their advice has always been to take as little as possible. Be totally ruthless and honest about if you actually love/need something, or if it's just an object that can be replaced when you get there. Being sentimental means increasing your stress level. My rule is that if I don't love something enough to pay full shipping fees or find a place for it in my Hyundai, I'm selling or donating it. Another big factor for me? I'm completely obsessed with furniture shopping, especially thrifting and my annual I-just-signed-a-new-lease IKEA run. Nothing makes me feel at home like strewing a blank-canvas apartment with several sets of birch-foiled blocks and allen wrenches. Even the smell of the particleboard makes me happy. It's how I get myself excited about moving. Yep, I'm bizarre :mrgreen:.

UW students definitely get a free bus pass - my brother did undergrad there and confirmed it :wink: . Parking is very expensive, hard to find, and just plain icky. Seattle bus systems are excellent and can get you from just about anywhere in the city to UW campus. I had a car but never used it when lived in the city (Central District - far from campus, but even it had a UW-bound bus route if you so desire). Greenwood is a great neighborhood. You could also try Ravenna, Fremont, Wallingford, or (my brother says) "anything north of the Ship Canal Bridge that isn't Ballard." Ballard is kind-of a bus island, so it's really hard to get to campus. All the neighborhoods in north Seattle are nice and safe, IMO, so you can't go wrong if you find a good deal.

I've made up my mind and 'unofficially' accepted, but I'm still waiting for funding - I've been told what my offer would be based on last year's incoming class, but nothing official on paper with all of the dollar signs and stuff. With the whole graduate school staff being out for spring break last week, it's taking a while. The second that offer is in my hands, I'm sending out the official notice

I am, because I had a very personal visit. There was no admitted students weekend, so my POI arranged meetings for me and then took me on a driving tour of the nearby towns. Her husband cooked us a seafood dinner, and I ate around the dinner table with her family . I don't think it ever hurts to send thank-yous, either. I'm not sure if it's procedure, but I tend to err on the side of formality.

Thanks for your advice, everyone! I slept on it and decided to wait until I get funding info to accept formally, but will tell my prospective adviser that I'm even more excited about their offer and ask when I can expect the final funding information. I know her other grad student has accepted, and I feel reasonably safe that I'll get the offer, but it's so hard to sign on the dotted line with a big question mark. I feel safer now that others also think it's reasonable to wait it out. Not knowing my money situation for sure also cuts into my obsessive apartment-hunting and move planning, which is where I'm channeling all of the waiting anxiety now that it's done. Going from the Pacific NW to New England is going to be rather daunting. ItsBrainScience, I interviewed with the Social dept. at University of New Hampshire. It's a smaller department, but the research matches are perfect and it's got all of the little pieces that I know work for me.

So, I've made up my mind. I visited a program last weekend, loved the area, loved the program, felt welcomed, really liked my potential adviser and her research, and spoke to current and former grad students who pretty much sold me on everything. It just feels like the right fit, and I'm so happy and 99% ready to accept the offer. The only thing that's holding me back is that I do not have my funding in detail yet. However, I do know that all students in this department get a stipend, tuition waiver, and health insurance for 5 years. It says this on the website, my prospective adviser told me that's how they roll, and the current students all mentioned it (they pay fees, but that's it). In my acceptance letter from the grad school, funding is not mentioned anywhere. In the letter from the department, it says how much the stipend was for last years' first-year students w/insurance, that the amount of the assistantship would increase as I progressed, and that I'd be working with 2-3 faculty members in my assistantship. I feel like I can infer that I'm going to get a similar funding offer, since they only admit as many students as they can fund fully like that. I'd be totally happy with what last years' students got $$$wise, and it's the best offer I've gotten. I'm writing the thank-you notes for my visit and would love to put that I've accepted the offer. Does it seem premature to want to accept right away? I'm just a bit nervous that I don't have it on paper, clearly spelled out with dollar signs and everything. Would it be wiser to wait? I've been doing so well mentally through the applications process and it seems like now that I'm almost done, I can't think straight !

Congrats! I was told by my POI that I'd be funded for 5 years with a TA, including health insurance. Every student in the department (Psych Ph.D.) gets a tuition waiver and stipend through the department for 5 years. My acceptance letter had the stipend amount for first year students from last year, but I have yet to get anything on paper for what exactly I'd be offered or when to expect it. Hopefully the money info will be arriving for us soon!

I applied to UNH as well. I got the same emails as you, and I also had a phone interview, but this may vary by department. My account switched to "Awaiting final grad review" about a week after I'd been told by my POI that I was going to be accepted. Since I'd already spoken to the department, I knew that my final review was the rubber-stamp from the graduate school. Within 2 days, it became "Decision Made - Admitted to program." If it ends up being good news, congratulations!