indalomena

hurrah, so not a sinister grad school nightmare at all!

Dear Yale, please do not give me a heart attack by writing me emails titled "Yale Graduate School Application Status" but in fact are just notifications of receipt. SO SCARY.

always had a good feeling about Yale. When I went to talk over my applications with one of my LOR writers, he immediately said that Yale was the one that sprung to mind for my interests, and since then I suppose it's always been in my mind as the one for me. *sigh* Obviously I'm highly unlikely to get in -- I know I have a strong application, but so does everyone. So I'm trying not to obsess. To be honest, as I applied to so few programs, I would be delighted and incredibly lucky to get into any of them!

me tooooooooo... I was really emotional last night Trying to distract myself but to no avail. Getting weird nightmares as well. I half woke up last night around 4am from a weird dream in which there was something hiding in my wardrobe and banging on the door, and all the while just had "Yale. Yale. Yale. Yale" going round and round in my head. What does it mean?!!

grievance: I WANT THIS SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!! And waiting is soooooooo painful!! I'm obsessing so much that I've gone onto google street view for everywhere I've applied and tried to imagine I'm there. Lame, I know.

BSG and Gilmore Girls (though that addiction will be over if I get rejected from Yale ) I feel really lost, though, and need to stop thinking about it. I keep checking my emails at work then remembering that I won't hear anything for maybe 2 months come on, you must understand why this is an anxious time. I'd love to have that attitude, but it's impossible to switch off the nerves. Actually, I think it was easier when it was still within my control, when I was still writing the applications!

this is a nice post, thanks I'm trying not to let this be everything I am at the moment. But it's so important to me! That makes it so hard. And I finally feel, after years of feeling like I underachieved and wasn't successful enough, that I'm the best I can be and I'm offering everything I've got to these committees. I know that to them I'm just another stack of papers they have to throw away or keep. But to me, I've worked so hard to be ready for this and to do everything I can and somehow, after all this time of being not good enough, it seems that this is the time in my life to get a first choice. Then I re-read what I just wrote and look back over this whole process and think, I'm so self-obsessed right now and this whole process has intensified that. So, I have to remember that there is a lot more to life than this, than my narrow little world of tests and statements and fees. And work out how I will deal with not getting a first choice.

BREATHE. This is going to be OK. It's nothing more than a technical hitch. It's absolutely NOT your fault -- you did what was required and they just got their files messed up. You've explained the problem. They'd be insane to hold this against you. I am absolutely sure this is all going to be just fine. Totally understand why you're terrified, but just sit tight and wait to hear from them to confirm (as I'm sure they will) that this won't cause problems. Again, breathe...!

Re: GRE (Not Received) problems -- I had a total freak out about this and resent my scores to Yale and Princeton. Then I saw this on the Yale grad FAQs: source: http://www.yale.edu/graduateschool/admissions/faqstq.html sit tight, they will probably match them up. Which means I just handed ETS another $46 unnecessarily, annoying! Great thread btw with some useful information everyone, thanks for your insights

*sob* one of my LOR writers couldn't upload his recommendation for Yale -- technical issue. It'll miss the deadline now, though I've already submitted my application. Yale is my top choice. Long shot anyway but with no letter ... my chances are even slimmer. maybe they'll be nice like Northwestern and forgive a late rec. Fingers crossed.

Exactly my position, I will not only be extremely upset but also deeply humiliated if I don't get in, because so many people know. It's just hard to evade direct questions about my applications. And I don't think anyone I've spoken to about it quite realises what sort of competition I'm facing. I've come through the British system with good enough grades to ensure PhD funding over here, but the US schools are a whole lot more competitive (than perhaps even some of my LOR-writers realise). Wish I could have afforded to apply to some "safety" schools, but I ran out of money after 5 applications

I felt in the end that it was just too dangerous to include names in the SOP, because there's no way of knowing who is doing the first cut/if your SOP will even get passed to the people in question. Any time I drafted one that had names in it, it came off too presumptuous. The negative of that, of course, is that I perhaps did not convince quite so much of fit -- my statements were all very similar to each other. The fact that there are so many divergent opinions on this suggests to me that it is not one of those things that will make or break your application. It's those things we've been working on and doing for years and years -- becoming good writers, getting good grades, developing ideas and ambitions and scholarly directions -- that will get us into grad school, not whether we ill-advisedly named a prof in our SOP who in fact has just disappeared on a lengthy sabbatical. But it's very easy to obsess over these things (I am currently obsessing over the WORST EVER TYPO in my Columbia SOP ... so awkward )

ah.. didn't even consider strategy here, I just listed them all! I don't think there's all that much variation in ranking of places I applied to though.

DONE!!!!!!! At least, with the US ones. Still a couple of UK ones to get done. It's strange to feel like it's all out of my control now.

So it does, so it does. I suppose that must be the case for the English department as well, then, although it doesn't say anything specific on the website. Thanks!

Hello, fellow Princeton applicants I was wondering if anyone has found anything on the website more specific about the length of SOP? And if not, what are you taking to mean "concise"? My statement for them is about 2 pages in length. I wonder if that's too much. Good luck all!

Agree with maeisenb: get used to minimal contact hours and highly independent study skills! You'll get what you need in a UK university but you absolutely have to be prepared to go and find it for yourself and not have it handed to you. LSE is a great school though. I'm from London so let me know if you have any questions! It's a great city -- best to see it as a lot of distinct towns rolled into one, because there's so much variation. It's insanely expensive, that's the only problem. But it is exciting, beautiful, unbelievably atmospheric in some places, very dingy and grim in others -- in short, one of the world's great cities. But yes, save up plenty of money before you go.

Totally understand, I have the same problem with energy. Of course, there are obvious things that help: regular gym session, yoga/swimming, seriously cutting back on sugar and caffeine, and staying really well hydrated -- always have a bottle of water with you. Otherwise, make sure you're getting a change of scene every now and then. Try taking up an activity that gets you out of the house and thinking in a different way (highly recommend horses, though it's difficult to find them in urban areas ) good luck

Frankly, I'd rather not attend a university that's willing to cut me out because of my AW score (I'm also a member of the 4.5 club! Go us ... ) I don't understand how it happened, as the essays I wrote were high quality, well-structured -- I've heard you get penalised if your work is too short, so maybe that's it. I was gutted at first and now I find the whole thing hilarious. I have no idea how much it's weighted, and I applied to some insanely competitive programs. In the grand scheme of things, I'm glad that a 4.5 is the weakest thing in my application (as opposed to a sloppy WS/SOP/set of LORs...) Hopefully the professors reviewing our applications will realise that a WS is a MUCH better indicator of writing ability than a mini-essay written in a claustrophobic little computer booth with high school geometry rushing around our poor little humanities brains.

firstly, sorry to hear that you didn't get what you needed on the subject test. It is a brutal and humiliating experience, but you can definitely improve upon your score (and I don't think the score itself matters too much, anyway). I'm not very good at tests like this and really had no idea how to study, and ended up not really studying. I lucked out and scored high and I really think that the reason is that I specialise in early modern. I know seventeenth-century poets back to front and was able to answer all those questions very quickly. And there were many such questions. So I would advise you to brush up on your early modern writers as it was my only advantage on an otherwise very confusing test! Good luck and don't let it get you down or ruin your confidence.

today = very nervous day. Partly because I somehow forgot my morning coffee and have had this awful withdrawal headache all day. The worst! I'm feeling worried about my academic profile (I applied to some insanely competitive programs). I have a pretty inconsistent undergraduate degree -- I came out with the highest classification you can get (in UK) but it's very patchy, I scraped it to be honest. I did an MA after that and got extremely high grades. But digging out those old transcripts and seeing EMBARRASSING first/second year marks (didn't count towards finals) has set me into a panic. lolopixie, that's just the saddest thing ever Sorry last year didn't work out for you -- I can definitely see that happening to me this year. Hope you have better success this time round.

almost, almost, almost done. Dropped two schools off my list because I can't afford the application fees So, only two more to do. Lots of big names due at the end of Dec/beginning of Jan. Good luck all.

AARGH. I feel your pain. I was in this exact situation a week ago -- a professor had missed four of my deadlines and was being very elusive! Then suddenly he uploaded them all. Christmas miracle! I don't know if this is going to be a problem with my application, but the day after the Northwestern deadline I got an email from the (extremely helpful and very friendly) graduate administrator explaining that they were missing a LOR but would assess my application regardless and add the letter to my file when it arrived. Heard nothing from the others but assumed it would be OK based on Northwestern -- it wasn't like there was anything I could do at that point anyway! Really hope it all works out for you. If Northwestern is anything to go by, a slightly late letter shouldn't matter (and Princeton, it seems, actually gives an extra two weeks on top of their deadline for that part of the application.) Totally feel your pain, I have absolutely been there, but I'm sure it happens to a lot of applications and doesn't hurt them. Fingers crossed.

YES. The reason we are working so hard for this is that it will be absolutely worth it when we succeed (whatever we define success to be... )

So... wait ... how do you all know that the subject test scores weren't sent? Does it say on your applications with particular schools or on your My GRE profile? I can't see anything to indicate that mine weren't received, but I did request reports before my score was available. ETS sucks, &c. Let's take them down once we get through all this. Fingers crossed for everyone