coffeeplease

First day of classes is September 4. Here's the academic calendar for 2012-2013.

I've already moved twice with my rabbits (well, only once with one) and I feel terrible at the thought of doing that to them again. But the alternative would be leaving them here and probably never seeing them again...

I am not sure whether to go "awww" out of pity for her or "awww" because I find the thought of a drooling cat adorable. A lot of airlines allow cats and small dogs in the cabin for a surcharge, though. Unfortunately, nearly all airlines have banned bunnies from the cabin, so my boys either have to be shipped or go under the plane. Luckily, they can go in one carrier, so they can at least be together...

S/he can't come on the plane with you?

I keep telling myself I should start learning how to deal with unstructured time now (my current work schedule is pretty light and the work is undemanding) so that I have good habits when I get to grad school. But it's really hard to change my mindset after months of anxiously waiting, checking email, trying to make decisions -- it left me kind of dazed when all of that just ended. Not that I want to experience that again! It's just a weird transition period, I guess... /rambling nonsense

YAAAAAY! Congratulations -- to echo bdon, we've been rooting for you! Now you've got some major celebrating and/or relaxing to do!

This week my school posted fall classes. I did this: I am so freaking excited.

Me! I've got 3 months left at my current job, and they feel ENDLESS. I just wanna go now! It's too far away to start making concrete plans (apartments and so on) but close enough to still be really exciting.

Now all I can think of is discussing critical theory by a campfire while roasting marshmallows. Wait, that's summer CAMP.... Definitely some misreading on my part.

Yeah, I won't be flying across an ocean AGAIN, so my visits are over. Honestly, I'm wondering if it's time to throw in the towel on this wait list situation, because it's just turning into torture.

I've got a similar situation. I have major reservations about accepting a school I won't have a chance to visit, so I'd like information. However, I don't want to seem like a nag, and I also have no idea if I'm going to get as accurate an impression from emailing as I would from actually meeting people....

This. I just sent out a bunch of emails to POIs at one school, and I basically want to hide from my computer/phone now. I know it's ultimately no big deal to them, but I'm just not good at saying no.

Mmmm, cookies. I got a ... let's say sympathetic look from the checkout girl today when she she noticed that my purchase included, um, more than one kind of chocolate.

He's Just Not That Into You: Graduate School Edition Seriously though, I know what you mean. If/when you get off the list, though, don't sell yourself short because you were waitlisted (or your peers, obviously). That's all I meant.

Don't compare kinds of acceptances! An acceptance is an acceptance; it's an accomplishment whether you got it right off the bat or had to wait a little while longer for it.

I think that's a really common reason...it was a big part of why I did it, too. On apps there is usually an optional section called "Additional Information" or something similar, so if you choose, you can upload a paragraph or so about why you accelerated and what you did with your time instead, but I wouldn't worry too much about it. As I said, I don't think it makes a difference one way or another. Good luck!

I graduated a semester early and had many of the same worries. I don't think it made a difference either way (not one school brought it up, and I think my results would have been exactly the same had I stayed the extra semester) -- LORs, experience, grades, etc all factor in much more heavily. Is there any particular reason you want to accelerate?

Two thoughts: 1) K.Ash has already touched on this but it is worth thinking hard about: If you gave up the Ph.D for your partner, and it didn't work out, could you still look back on that decision with no regrets? 2) Something more practical to consider: A family friend of mine adjuncts at a state school in the area (she only has an MA). She enjoys it, it worked out just fine for her, until she started having serious health problems. I'm not sure what kind of benefits the school provided, but whatever they were, they were insufficient, and she couldn't afford the kind of insurance that would cover treatments and medications. More permanent, stable positions in academia are obviously hard to come by, but consider the implications of not being qualified to even apply for them.

Gah, tell me about it. Most of the places I'm waitlisted outright said that I wouldn't hear until the 2nd week of April, if I'll be accepted at all. There's only one I would consider over my acceptances, but at this point, I'm starting to think about giving up on waiting since I wouldn't have an opportunity to visit or anything like that anyway...

And all this time I was imagining that the kitty in your profile picture just had a really rockin' name.

So, this thread has gotten way overheated and far too snide, but ANDS! and the rest of the posters are right about the threat of trying to get the program's accreditation pulled. Additionally, even if you were able to succeed in doing that, think about how negatively that would affect the other students in the program, and the program's grads. You would effectively be invalidating their hard work over a few people's bad behavior. A suggestion is to go to your university's ombudsperson and arrange some kind of mediation, since you are unsatisfied with the way this has been handled internally, but obviously it is possible that this will have repercussions too (as you say, academia is small). Is transferring an option or are you too far into the program?

New York to Boston is an easy bus ride (and cheap if you take the Chinatown bus - $15 the last time I did that, which was a couple of years ago). If you're committed to making it work, you can definitely do it!

I want to say something about the "cruelest month," but the last few months have been pretty brutal, so I don't want to tempt fate/overuse Eliot.

Thanks, that makes a lot of sense and I'll keep it in mind! Very grateful for the perspective.

Tybalt, I was wondering if you would mind elaborating on this. I've been trying to deal with one school regarding funding and their answers have been curt or evasive. One email was time sensitive, and I received my response after a deadline (also, from a different person). I've been trying not to read too much into it, but it's hard not to feel like they'll only communicate with me begrudgingly... Is this the kind of thing that is really indicative of the atmosphere in a program?