antecedent

That's it. Officially best cohort ever. [edit]: Congrats Marlowe! I'm so pleased to see you at such a good place!

Oh man, you guys win at the two body problem. TFA and grad school in the same city - that's got to be some kind of record! I think it will be a success for me if I manage getting accepted on the same continent as my SO, let alone the same coast, country, state, or school! I hadn't tried my hand at the sunglasses meme, so it was about time

Seriously, you guys are going to have the raddest cohort. So many lovely grad cafe folks!

Sunglasses to hide bad-assitude at getting into the best school ever! Hey, does this mean you're going to the same school as your SO? You were one of the brave ladies (gender assumption game!) navigating the two body problem, right? I really hope that works out for you too! Thanks guys! I love gradcafe - I never thought I'd bee so happy that two people I've never met got into grad school!

Yayayay! Aww best day for news ever at Grad cafe! I'm so happy for you both! Just a warning though, I will definitely be hitting you both up for SOP advice in a year

Oh my goodness!! Thunderpaws this is the best news ever!!! I'm so happy for you! Happy dance! I hope you jumped up and down and screamed a lot I'm so happy to hear that! And relieved. Your cohort is going to be so fucking cool! So many GF-ers going to UT-Austin next year.

I'm just gonna keep bumping this thread to the top! Anyone else made their decision?

Hooray! I'm so happy for you!

Congrats Aeplo! So stoked for you

Totally good vibes! This thread makes me excited for my Masters AND excited to reapply for a PhD in a few years. Woo positivity! Also, I just got back from a consultation for my next tattoo! Soo glad I waited until after I made my decision to go through with it - makes it way more exciting and meaningful. Also, Hazelbite, you are just too cute!

Aaaaaah Thunderpaws!!!!! That's great to hear! I so hope you get it - I'd feel vindicated in some way YOU'RE SO CLOSE! Aaaah! *crosses all possibly crossable appendages* Sending you all my luck! I sure don't need it this weekend

I'm in pretty much the same situation, I'm just older because I was slow and directionless during my undergrad. I found direction and motivation in my last (5th) year, but it puts me at 24 at the time I'll be starting my masters and 26 at the start of my PhD if I get in after my second round of apps. My CV won't speak to any relevant academic experience in the past year, unless I can put stuff like independent editing/tutoring on it. I'm feeling comforted by the comments so far, to be honest, working part time and brushing up my French and German sounds kind of nice if I can afford it! I just seem to remember folks like Timshel or TripWillis (or maybe someone else?) commenting on the importance of staying active in the academic community even when not in school. I suppose that could just be to, as Bfat said, keep your scholarship fresh and relevant. This is just the kind of stuff it's hard to learn about cause it isn't written anywhere! It's all feedback from profs, POIs, adcoms, and successful applicants.

My reason for taking a year off is purely logistical. I went into my first round of apps kind of lacking direction and pumped out five fairly weak applications. I got some MA admits, and I'm taking one in the UK. I plan to use it to refine my interests, craft a better writing sample, make connections in the field I plan to do my PhD in (kind of different from my undergrad, kind of?) and generally get in gear for the PhD. UK programs are 12 months long though, so in order to go straight from a Masters to a PhD would have me reapplying this fall, when I'm supposed to be pouring my heart into this program. So I will complete my thesis in August 2013, and then really focus on my applications in the fall. @hiphopanonymous - haha fair enough!

Yeah, I'd love to take language classes. Maybe if I move back in with a parent for a year, or if I receive some of the scholarships I applied for, I will be able to afford to do it while working part time or something. Who knows! I wish I could just tell them "I wasn't doing anything exciting because I was applying to 10 grad programs!" but I doubt adcoms would be sympathetic to that I guess I should emphasize that it would be one year minimum between my Masters and my PhD, since this community is ample proof that you can be an excellent candidate and still not get in.

Like many people here, I had to take time off between my undergrad and my Masters. I'm not particularly concerned about explaining that away, but I am worried about the additional year that I will have to take off between my Masters and my PhD. Many people have said that working as an adjunct is a good idea, but I won't have post-secondary teaching experience as my degree is a one year program in the UK. I am planning on looking for internships, but I don't know if there are any other good options for using that "down" time well. Is taking classes that aren't towards your degree (language classes, for example) considered a productive use of that time? If you had a year or years off between degrees, how did you productively make use of that time? Were you able to combine school and work still or was it more like my year this year, ie working full time and fitting anything school-related in time off? Finally, am I worrying about nothing or do programs really care about unaccounted-for time?

Don't quote me on this, but there are probably girls at MIT too. As far as I'm concerned, and certainly in my field, Berkeley is equal to MIT in all ways if not slightly better. I would chose Berkeley for that, and because of it's location (Berkeley is beautiful, SF is right there, and I grew up in the state).

That's amazing!

Duly noted

Hooray LinguisticMystic! I'm so glad to hear you're off to a good program that is happy to have you.

The challenge is, how do we convince them we have what it takes? It's not the work necessary for graduate studies that scares me - it's convincing adcoms that I'm good enough for their program that really ties me in knots.

What I don't understand is why people are upset about Two Espresso's comment. I hear that kind of attitude about the American South all the time. It's a bit silly, perhaps, but it's no reason to talk to TE like he said grad school is easy or English degrees are useless.

I took this year off between my undergrad and my masters to work on the depression and anxiety that I've dealt with all my life, sometimes to a crippling extent in my undergrad. I've started working out five days a week, eating way healthier (and working out dietary issues with the help of a naturopath), and going to therapy. In some ways it's been amazing - I have a much better understanding of my body and it's limits, my mind and it's limits, and how to work myself through depressive episodes and anxiety attacks. I also (finally) started losing weight and actually feeling healthy - something that is totally new to me. I've had to work a miserable non-academic job that I hate in order to have the health insurance to cover this undertaking, but it's unquestionably been worth it. I worry that I won't be able to keep this balance up while I'm doing my masters. I'm moving far away from my family and my therapist, and while I know I can do well and thrive in the program I've been accepted to, I still worry about depressive episodes and how I will handle them in grad school. I've never taken any medication for these issues, but I'm considering exploring alternative medicine to help me take the edge of the low lows, just enough so I can get back up again. I think I'll be able to build exercize in to my schedule no problem, but I just don't know what to expect of my mind. I imagine I will be skyping with my parents and my boyfriend a lot. MonkeyPants (I have admired your user name before) are you also in a one year program (I see you got into the UC MAPH with funding - congratulations!)? My Masters will be 1 year (12 months) and I'm sure it will be crazy intense.

Wahoo! See you there! ...I don't even know what the chocolate tree is but it sounds amazing. Do you know what you're going to do for housing? I just applied last week for uni housing - I hope I end up somewhere nice!

I'm so ready for it to be September! Gah.

Yup! Methinks some SOP revision parties may be in order if you end up doing another round. Hell, even if you don't I may nudge you to give me a read over Regardless, it's going to be a gradcafe party at UT Austin for the next few years! Keep in mind, Austin isn't like the rest of Texas. In fact, Austin is more like Berkeley, Madison, or Athens, or Santa Cruz and much less like the Texas we love to hate. If you can visit in the next year, I would recommend it - it will blow your mind that a liberal enclave of bike-happy vegetarians can exist so comfortably in such an other wise conservative state.