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A few things I've heard so far: Why do you need more school? What's <field name?> that's in medicine right? No, still sounds tough. You still won't be able to find a job. Are you sure this is what you want? When you were 3 you changed your mind a lot in what you wanted to be when you grew up too. Your grades suck, you can't talk to people and you're stupid; you'll never get in anywhere unless they make a mistake. Now you'll never get married. You don't know anyone at School X, you'll never be accepted there. It's like a job. Connections are everything. Are you sure that invite letter is real and not a scam email? Like the Craigslist murderer? Can't trust the computer. Why didn't they contact you through mail? I hope it isn't a scam! I bet the rejections are a scam! You never applied there in the first place; it was an information-collecting mill. Parent: I don't care, you're bringing me to that grad dinner or I'll be very hurt. I can be a guest. Anyway, I want to see that school. Please don't run away from me...

I've been invited to a grad school recutiment program and upon getting more info I realize the school doesn't pay up front but reimburses for everything after. Problem is, I don't have nearly that much money for a fancy hotel and dinner nor can I borrow it from anyone. I can barely travel over there even after being cheap and paying a relative for gas money. (I probably have like $67 total in my bank account). What would you do in my case? Any suggestions? Note I've only applied to 2 schools and this is school 2/2.

I know if I were to tell others about how to go around applying to grad school I'd mention how painful and exhausing waiting for responses is. They just glaze over the wait like time disappears or something, whereas grad school wait time actually grows to an abnormal rate where every day without a response feels like a week.

Not did one program's interview invite was in my spam folder it was using the email I applied with for undergrad. I hope it was just a little glitch, not a sign of what's waiting for me.

I've thus far applied to 2 schools, one has already been a rejection. For school 2/2 I think I'll be accepted but I will turn it down since: I really can't stand the area, a PoI I want to work with might go back to school 1 or I won't recieve enough funding to attend reasonably.

I got a straight up, simple and automated rejection email from UCSD. All that work and I get the feeling they never bothered looking at my materials. When I read the title of the email I had a sinking feeling despite it not mentioning rejection. At first, upon reading its contents, I didn't feel anything, moments later I felt seriously depressed, hours later angry/shamed. Now, a few days later I'm back to not feeling much except a bit depressed when someone mentions my application. Trying for UCSD in my situation was a bit of a stretch anyway, doesn't mean the rejection didn't hurt though.

Since so far I've been rejected by 1/2 schools I've applied to I probably won't have an acceptance prize (I'll have a rejection pick me up). If I do get accepted after this interview I'll buy Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain and maybe an expensive snack. If I don't get funding/enough funding I'll continue my plan B: get a related job or unpaid internship in the city holding the worst economy in the Western hemisphere. If I am rejected from school 2/2 I'll buy a gallon of cheap icecream and some mezcal and eat/drink myself into some pounds while I plan round 2 and plan B.

Even if none of my friends were applying to grad school I'd post my acceptance subtly (ex change my location to the school's and join any of their program X groups).

If I didn't go into biosciences I'd probably try engineering (I struggled to choose between the two). If I weren't doing that I'd probably be some sort of social worker (do quite a bit of volunteering at shelters and such already).

I'm actually acting on plan B. I don't expect to get into either of the two schools I applied to. I lack experience in a lab setting, so I've been looking for lowpaid jobs and unpaid internships (I only have about a year of experience). As when I was an undergrad, it's near impossible to find anything even when you'll work for free. I just hope I find something so I can actually have a better application and not just be a strong candidate, but a competitive one.

"GPA too low compared to other applicants." *Toss application (If the first school gets to my personal statement which was optional) "Do we really want an applicant who faced so many struggles? No. This looks like Lifetime." (First school again) "So... Why so vague on who you want to work with? We have at least 15 mentors you could do that with. List some names." "Not enough experience," *Toss application (Second school) "Don't care you had a catch-22 getting research experience as a transfer." (Second school) "One of your LoRs is written by a mere post doc! We don't care how shiny it is." "Two schools? Are you kidding? Two schools? That's one risk taking applicant. That's not cool." "What fool wants to app for a MS along with PhDs? That's the long route and not very bright." "Ha Ha! Ha! Oh... my sides hurt. I want to interview this one just to see the stupid that created this mess of an app." "What? Those PoIs got funding cuts at the last moment/died and are no longer at our school. Reject time."

One of the schools I'm applying to has a deadline early Jan. and I just realized I haven't contacted any POIs at this school. Should I send out emails now or avoid since they may be too busy?

One of the schools I'm applying to has a required SoP and personal history statement. I'm not sure how to go about starting this personal history statement. Any tips/things to avoid doing? Any general advice? I'm also worried about repeating 'I struggled due to X,Y,Z then I struggled from Y,Z,A' since I fear it won't add any new insights for the reader and will just look like a daytime drama.