oseirus

Silly thought of the day: "I wonder if any of the other applicants have taken to stalking thier POIs yet? If not, should I get a jump start on this and be a trend setter?" Then I remembered stalking is a felony conviction in most places and will never be socially acceptable even for a neurotic grad school applicant. Quel dommage! Thethoughtsandviewsexpressedinthispostarenotmeanttobetakenseriously.Theyarethethoughtsofamanwhoistryingtogetthrougharoughperiodsopleasecuthimsomeslack.

As far as my course of study is concermed you don't usually find out till @ the earliest, mid Feb & that's if the school really is excited about you. It seems this year, however, some of the top schools are announcing earlier than usual so who knows right? I have told myself 15 Mar 12, so my hope meter is heavily shackled down to keep it from rising. But come 10 Mar 12, it'll probably be Prometheus Unbound

I finally got a hold of my referee & they were really apologetic about this mix up. I even felt bad for them b/c you gotta imagine these professors have so may LORS to write this time of year Oh and invictus will def help you in those dark & gloomy hours like pledging a fraternity :-)

Very carefully? And I brought juice ... can't do coffee ... sowwee ... and I think we'll be @ 70 the end of the night!

It's gonna be a long feb isn't it?

BTW is there some sort of community award we can nominate StrangeLight for? I mean SL has been so freaking awesome w/all the knowledge they've been sharing with us. It is so great to have someone who has been through this offer their insight. Teach us more!

Another thing I didn't take into consideration ... I vaguely knew all the schools I applied to (as far as architecture is concerned) I never bothered to check out the individual department buildings ... and now as the weather gets miserable on the east, I remember how bitterly opposed to the cold my constitution is. Then again ars gratia artis & of course dulce et decorum est pro scientiae mori

We meet again Kelkel! Let the duel commence!

I'm offended you even brought up that PAINFUL topic again! This is NOT time for such things! We must comport ourselves on these here interwebs

Congrats tay!

How did the email interview go?

I am currently reading State and Society in Pre-colonial Asante

May I ask what the interest was?

Well today is here & schools should be getting to business by this time ... back in obsession mode!

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So I'm on the road, forgot my tablet, & now my laptop is not working ... well this should make for an interesting week :-)

Luckily for me I'm at that stage of life where almost all my friends who WANT to get a PhD either have it already (not one of them was overly enthusiastic in their endorsement for this) or getting one (even more negative bunch), so FB at least is a sanctuary. But in all seriousness this thing can make the most sane & even-keeled person seem off their rocker. I'm so glad I have memorized poems like "If", "Invictus", "psalm 23" and others, so I can recite to myself in those moments of potential despair

Well now that I am done trolling through everyone else's, let me just sum up here. GREt matter and they don't. I'm sure no school wants a person w/a writing level or a 2.5 but at the same token they're going to look at the overall package. They understand that it is a formulaic test and for example if you are a foreign student your scores might be a bit different from those of American students perhaps. You could have a perfect GRE score & still not get in because at the end of the day it is a subjective thing this whole application process. It is easy to say don't worry and relax but this is our lives in the balance so it is OK to get a lil nutso right around now. Vent vent vent vent vent away my friends! This is part of the raison d'etre of these message beards. We are going through the same things you all are going through. Who can better understand than us here? I'm not sure who has read the Aeneid here but there is a line that I love very much. As Aeneas is watching Troy burn down, he tells his men "forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit", which roughly translates 'and someday we will look back upon this fondness'. Right now it's tense but no matter the outcome, we will be better for having just gone through it. You all are accomplished people and that is something that can't be taken away from you. You are not a loser for trolling at 0400. It is a lonely time even for the most gregarious of us. We live in uncertainity that can't be matched by a lot of things. So I implore each and everyone of you, keep hope alive and believe in yourself just for today at least. Until you have that email or piece of paper, you are not out of this. Even still then, you will go on, because dammit, you are a strong individual! No ADCOM, DGS, POI, SOP, CSI, SVU, NCIS, TGIF or anybody else can take away from you! With that said, I will get off for the night. It's 0200 & I am danced out! Good night the grade cafe history brethren and sisteren!

I thought you were going to expound on this

I It's sunday .... and now the hand wringing gets more tense

I It's sunday .... and now the hand wringing gets more tense

The sad part is I was invited to a party tonight but here I am with you wonderful people going back and forth

Which is worse, no response or a one line response?

Yes there are people here on a saturday night. I have a valid excuse I'm on the West Coast so my night has yet begun. Oh and I sign in on my tablet so really it doesn't count when I check in b/c I'm mobile half the time.

I'm the exact same way. I need statistical proof or a rational argument to sway me in one direction so this process has been daunting. It def can be an ego killer or an ego booster if you really let it get to you. I've almost had to become sociopathic and create a dissassociative persona, whereby I can enter 'grad school app mode' and 'regular mode'. I limit myself to a max of 2hrs per day and I find it really works for me. Luckily I can don't count my grad cafe time otherwise I would probably have to go see a therapist