Grunty DaGnome

Grunty DaGnome,

Yes, I did!

Right. You probably did very well on the GRE word problems.

PREACH, no one understands if they're not going through it!

I think that's an unusually exceptional case, if it's correct. Never came across another one like this.

I also find it curious that one should decline straightaway acceptance offers from MIT, Columbia, Berkeley and Cornell (and a wait-listed-turned-acceptance from Princeton) and wait for a wait-listed status to turn into an acceptance status at Stanford, while 3 Ivy Leagues and 2 great schools such as MIT and Berkeley wait to get a decision from the candidate.

What would be great is if people would post their area of specialization in the notes...just to give the rest of us more info to obsessively pour over

It's weird how time can move so slowly where decisions are concerned, yet so quickly in all other respects. For instance, I'm already into my second week of my final semester and I'm woefully behind. I feel like this month flew by at work while tasks piled up and I got nothing done

What would be great is if people would post their area of specialization in the notes...just to give the rest of us more info to obsessively pour over

That's pretty awesome, especially since I love the Raven. Have you heard of the new movie coming out? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PGDV1SWRkQ

I wonder if I should give up gradcafe for the next two months, I have a feeling this could get ridiculously painful


UNLESS I GET IN

I wish death upon all telemarketers who call me in the following 4 weeks. Damn your unrecognized numbers!

I was thinking of getting a tattoo of a QR Code. When scanned, you go to a web site where I can change the message/image.

Don't forget the American Literature Association is having their conference at the end of May this year. The deadline for submission is fast approaching...

I've probably gone a complete 180 and now I'm FEARING that I get accepted. I think I need a year off

Had my first panic attack of the year yesterday, one week before my first school reports. Time for the ole’ application valium I pull out of the back of the medicine cabinet. Do not mix with alcohol? Easy for you to say pill bottle, your life isn’t on the line here. We are all amazing and we will all get in!

I'm in this boat. I have an undergraduate degree in German Lit, AND I've been out of school for 10 years. While in some ways I think a recent B.A. student might say, throw around the lingo better than I do, [i KNOW they proof read better], there is just no way to compare our applications. It only makes sense that a department would want a few younger applicants, who have yet to discover their interests and unique point of view and some older students with more school, all different faculty perspectives, work/life experience and very poor spelling abilities. That's my hope, anyway.

They weren't expensive, but after I got admitted, I got myself a necklace and earrings (not quite a set, but they can be worn together). I just wanted a small reminder that I had done something significant and to feel good about it, even when day-to-day things might seem overwhelming or discouraging. It actually helps to wear the necklace &/or earrings when I need a morale boost. I'll have to plan for something more extravagant when I actually graduate!

A bacon burger at Five Guys Burgers and Fries for every acceptance letter I received.....and....probably have to buy new clothes in the process....

never reread. i found one that said "my commitment to HIGH education"...sheesh. hope that gave the adcoms a giggle.

I have a couple:

As an older student, I'd only go to grad school if I get into a "top" school (whatever that means) but you can tell by the list of places I've applied... So, if I do not get into any of the schools I'm applying I'll be looking at the MFAs offered long distance: that way I don't have to move, change my life completely for two years to go on an adventure that could end up being awesome but it could also be just ok...


I won't be applying again (as I did this time), I'd be just focusing on the schools that are building up their distance programs and hopefully by the time I'll be applying again I'll have even more choices...


Also, I've always been employed (even during the last 3 years while working on my undergrad degree in painting)...

I am probably going to train to be a pro boxer and maybe open a women's boxing gym in Seattle. Right? Right.

In all seriousness, I'm in the same position, after a miserable application cycle in 2010, except now I have a mortgage. Heh.

If you're a political science junkie, you should consider DC, if only to get some real-life experience that can build your resume and influence your later academic work. Although, that's about what I tried to do over the last 2 years, so I'll let you know how that works out

Outrageously!

man, don't criticize someone for making passive-aggressive comments and then say "cool story, bro."

dokkeynot is wrong on all fronts. I've had numerous exchanges with a professor there who has given me information completely different from the information that dokkeynot gives.

I'm loving this off-topic topic thread.

So, I just got invited to submit a paper for a conference at one of the schools I've applied to (the invitation is totally unrelated to my application). The only problem is, the conference is the same day as another conference I've submitted a paper to. Now, this one would be a better experience in terms of institutional "prestige" and because of the nature of the conference itself. I haven't heard back about the other conference, even though I was supposed to by early Jan. So, how long should I wait before I submit to the second conference? The deadline is coming up in the next few weeks, so I have a little time. I just don't know what I should do...blah.

What do you want to know? I'm not going to sit here wasting my time writing what you could figure out if you just looked at the department website (and maybe it's because I'm biased towards it but http://www.english.upenn.edu/ is one of the most helpful straightforward department sites there is).

So if you want to know something specific, say so.