stereopticons

I got a kind of generic email from the school of public health admissions. I haven't heard anything about funding yet! I'm not sure when they make funding decisions, but hopefully soon!

First acceptance ..... I'M GOING TO GRADSCHOOL!
 
:')

I actually agree with you! I've heard some ridiculous stories about people getting turned down by rescues for reasons that have nothing to do with their ability to take care of a pet. Most of what is in our shelter here too is pits and chihuahuas, and because of breed restrictions, they usually get stuck there. Some breeders are reputable and fine, and there's nothing wrong with getting a dog there. I'm not sure what the solution is, though...

I agree that demanding all kinds of qualifications of people looking to adopt is ridiculous. Obviously there has to be some sort of vetting process to make sure that animals aren't going to abusive homes, but beyond that, making people jump through all kinds of hoops and denying anyone who can't check off every last box on an absurd list is stupid. It's especially ridiculous because I've heard stories of breed specific rescues adopting purebred dogs and cats from the SPCA where people could have adopted them much more easily, and then keeping them until they find their idea of the "perfect" person. Honestly, I think, except maybe in cases with breeds that are notoriously difficult to handle, it's better for the animal to find a permanent home with a well meaning but inexperienced person sooner rather than spending more time in a rescue, waiting for the exact, specific person the rescue chooses to bestow a pet on to come along.
And, honestly, if grooming the poodle's hair becomes too difficult for your friend to do herself, so what? A lot of pet stores offer affordable grooming services. There are definitely options for people who might have a hard time with a higher maintenance coat. I definitely agree that some "rescues" have lost sight of what should be their primary goal.
I also disagree with the notion that buying a dog is evil and unethical. Sure, it would be nice if everyone adopted and every dog in shelters found a home, but it isn't always feasible. First, there's the fact that some rescues make it nearly impossible to adopt a dog and not everyone has the time or patience to deal with that. And second, some breeds just don't fit in with certain peoples' lifestyles, due to allergies, activity levels, tolerance for children, etc. People shouldn't be barred fro owning a pet just because they might not be able to accommodate the dogs that are currently in the shelter. Anyway, I think you make a very valid point. Given the rampant holier than thou "adopt don't buy" attitude, rescues should consider making it easier to adopt, and frankly I think removing specific breeds from the SPCA and essentially holding them hostage in a breed specific rescue is by far more morally reprehensible than people choosing to purchase a purebred dog because they wouldn't be able to have a pet otherwise.

A friendly reminder to everyone to please post here (http://thegradcafe.com/survey/post.php)
whenever you receive any interview OR admissions offers! I'm sure a lot of us are holding out hope if we don't see any posts on there, so it'd be helpful to have as many people as possible posting this information in the same place.
Best of luck to everyone!
 

YES. Absolutely. Who needs grad school when you can get a PhD in kicking butt?

You linked to a blog. A blog is not an empirical source. Try https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch
We do, in fact, have evidence. And it's the subset of Trump supporters who now feel it's acceptable to commit hate crimes that we are afraid of. 
You keep insisting that hate crimes against Asians are commited only by black people but you've only provided anecdotal evidence. And tbh, is pretty racist in itself.  

Personal anecdotes =|= evidence. Just because you had this experience does not mean others fears, concerns, or experiences are invalid. 

I have a cold and I have to teach.  Ugh.
Also, can we talk about pet adoption for a second. Completely unrelated to academia, but hey, so are a lot of things.
 I am a conservationist and have three rescue pets and think it is important to take care of our environment and the animals we bring into the world.   However, I think the adoption scene has gotten ridiculous.  They have lost sight of the goal.  And the adopt don't shop rhetoric is great, until you think of the ramifications.  The end goal is not to get everyone to adopt pets.  The end goal is to not have a need to have an animal shelter because pets are being kept by responsible pet owners.  In which case, we will need responsible breeders who care about the health and well-being of their dogs to breed puppies.  But currently, it is seen as morally reprehensible to even consider buying a puppy from a breeder rather than a shelter, and breeders are looked down on as worse than Trump supporters.  And the only thing in our shelters is pit bulls and Chihuahuas because for whatever reason irresponsible people keep breeding these two breeds of dogs.  We can't even have pit bulls in an apartment so you can't adopt them.  So, what if you want a dog of a specific breed?  "Go to a breed specific rescue" people will say.  Well, my friend did just that.  She is looking for a mini poodle and the poodle rescue in our area actually had one that would be perfect for her.  She is a single woman with no kids or other pets and plenty of time to spend looking after a dog.  But, the rescue only adopts to people who have had prior experience with poodle hair.  So, how could she get experience without owning a dog like that beforehand?  She can't.  So, she has to buy a dog from a breeder in order to gain that experience so that she can adopt some day down the line.  Well, that is convoluted.  They should offer classes in poodle hair care or something, but just disallowing the adoption is crazy, imo.
That rant probably didn't make sense.  All I am saying is that I see problems down the line for pet ownership if we continue to go down the road we are going down, and while it is important to shut down puppy mills and the like who torture dogs for money, we need to focus more on responsible pet *ownership* rather than just where you get your pet from.
Also, since I am already pissing off everyone who owns pets... I like purebreds as much as the next person, and I think we should keep breeding purebreds because you can get an idea of temperament and stuff from a specific breed, but the people who are mixing the dogs to make "Chi-weenies" and "Shi-poos" are probably doing us a service, as most purebreds are inbred and have health problems. 
I don't mind if you argue with me.  I just see these problems and I don't see anyone even talking about them, and I want answers, haha.

rphilos, I really did not mean this to be about Trump or his supporters. Calling him a "living rape whistle" was meant to signal the obvious danger he poses both to particular women whom hes encountered and women in general. There is tons of evidence that he is a sexual predator, and without a doubt the Republican party is a danger to women. Going around questioning others' philosophical bona fides, which appears to be all you've done in this thread, is not helpful.
To everyone else, thanks for your input.

Let's take your airplane example and break it down. Here's the difference, in my opinion:

What I'd consider a reasonable response when one disagrees with a stranger:
Person A: I don't like flying on airplanes because I fear for my safety, so I prefer to travel by car whenever possible.
Person B: Here, look at this statistic that shows there are less fatalities per passenger-mile in a plane than in a car. What do you think? (or Person B can say something like "This is why I feel safer on an airplane" etc.)

What I'd consider an unreasonable/inappropriate response when one disagrees with a stranger:
Person A: I don't like flying on airplanes because I fear for my safety, so I prefer to travel by car whenever possible.
Person B: Here, look at this statistic that shows there are less fatalities per passenger-mile in a plane than in a car. Therefore, you have nothing to worry about when traveling on an airplane.
What if Person A feels claustrophobic on an airplane due to tight spaces? What if they have a fear of that feeling you get during take-off and landing? Or maybe they had a really bad previous experience on a plane (extreme case: they survived a plane crash). There are a lot of things that Person B doesn't know about Person A's experience, so why would Person B feel they have the authority to deem that Person A does not need to worry. Person A can decide for themselves whether or not they need to worry about their safety.

I'm out of upvotes, @GreenEyedTrombonist, but if I could upvote your last paragraph a hundred times, I would. 

I'm with you. I felt better when I had applications to submit. At least something was in my control. Yesterday, I spent an hour checking all my application status pages to make sure everything was received even though I've already done that and knew it was. Today, I'm worrying that my SOP wasn't good enough. At least you're not alone?

again, and hopefully for the last time.. carbs is energy for your body (and brain). if you're not on carbs, you're running on fat and/or protein, which is is bad, because fat makes you fat... again, not all carbs are the same. you can get it from candy, fruits, bread, even vegetables. just because you're not eating bread doesn't mean you're not eating carbs. just because potato chips make you fat doesn't mean carbs is bad for you. if you can't eat bread or pasta, try rice, or something that doesn't upset the stomach..
your body get its energy on carbs. to say that carbs is bad for you only means that you're not eating the right carbs. substituting protein for carbs (as previously suggested) is wrong and stupid.. I don't know any simpler way of saying this.. 

Seriously! Can't they spread them out just a little?

I think if you stopped at the first two main bullet points, @stereopticons and @GreenEyedTrombonist probably wouldn't have made those comments. For some people (even if they're exercising) carbs can be an issue - and since none of us have conducted a physical for @Asperfemme, we shouldn't go into details. 
For the most part, @Asperfemme the thing that worked most for me was to make time to walk half an hour a day - which seems like a lot during grad school sometimes, but out of 24 hours, that's really not that much. Also, personally, I didn't fast or cut down on food intake significantly since based on my personality, I'd go CRAZY while I starve then probably over-eat to compensate. Instead, I made minor changes - baby carrots instead of chips etc. and I tried to eat slightly less. But yeah, grad school is stupid stressful and adding the stress of going on a Spartan diet regime (even for a short time) probably would have been counter productive for me - obviously this will depend on your personality, schedule, metabolism and more. For the 30+ minutes of walking a day, I tried to force myself to go somewhere to eat and then walk at least 10 minutes after I ate which helped keep food coma to a minimal as well. 
Good luck!

Seriously! Can't they spread them out just a little?

My pleasure. Info sharing is my way of putting good karma out there. ?? Am rooting for everyone on here!

I know others have asked, but does anyone have information about Harvard's interview timeline? There is one post about someone's rejection from a POI on the board but otherwise silence. Any info would be helpful, thanks! 

Thanks for sharing! I hope they have an alternate day...

I've been told that the entire Rutgers clinical faculty is convening this week to discuss their shortlist, with PIs advocating for certain students to be invited to Interview Day on February 10th. I.e., they have not sent formal interview day invites out yet but should within the next week. Some (but perhaps not all) applicants on that shortlist have already had Skype or phone pre-interviews with their POIs. Hope this helps.  

Freaking darnit USC MSW program sending me emails. Just got another one. -__- Waiting for my heart to calm down...

Turns out schools aren't sending emails about interviews at 10:15pm (or 1:15am for some that I applied to).  Not that I'm checking...

Agreed, time for some banhammers to be swung (or at least some prunning). Hard to see results when everyone is asking what they see on the housing portal.

Can I vent about how the UTA computer science folks are having a full on conversation on the results page? Like, that's what the forum is for. Can you guys please stop clogging up the results page and move it over here?