quantitative

I woke up to 2 missed calls from a 212 number this morning. My heart started racing. I called back... Not Columbia. SO DISAPPOINTED.

Congrats felicidad!

I'm not moving from my seat until I get a phone call. If it's my dad and not Columbia, I'm going to be pissed.

"Where is the personality in this application!? ...She's probably a robot."

Let me preface this with I'm so bad with returning phone calls in general. Anyways, I checked my phone 2 nights ago to check if I missed any calls. I sometimes get these political calls from weird numbers, so I noticed I had this weird number. I called back like 1am and it had this weird message about how the phone number's person wasn't available. I wrote it off as a political recording. Then, I was downstairs this morning when I realized my friend was supposed to call me. I checked my phone and I see the person called again. I got really annoyed and I called back prepared to tell them to stop calling me.... Um, it was one of my top schools telling me I was accepted. oops. OP, I had an issue that the Applyyourself system would not work with my school's email, aka my profs not even getting emails (at random too!). So, I had to call the grad coordinator at each school to work out to ask how to fix it, figure out who to mail the letters to and figure out which adviser received which email. In the end, they opted to just send hard copies just to make it less confusing. I applied to 10 schools, so I'm really surprised I didn't have a complete meltdown. Then, one letter went missing at one school. I think I told my friend: FATE DOES NOT WANT ME TO GO TO GRADUATE SCHOOL.

Heard about my acceptance this week, but I haven't spoken a word until now about it! I can't wait to visit!

For those that are digital, I save all of my readings into folders broken down by the class/topic or date. Generally, I'll put a little text file in there with a brief refresher to remind myself what's about. Now that I have a Nook, I've been putting journal PDFs on it/organizing it into topics within the ereader. I love it since I hate printing out papers AND reading on my laptop screen.

My cat, my friends and traveling. Part of traveling is people-watching, which has always been a talent of mine. I'd like to say it's seeped into my research and enhanced my ability to be a sociologist.

As with any good gift, I tried to come up with cheap/thoughtful gifts that fit what they mention to you in passing. If they always are drinking tea/coffee, get them a nice tea/coffee bag (as I did for one professor). For my mentor, who would always tell students about how much he loved Christmas and decorating for it, I got him a Christmas ornament that fit this story he always told. I simply thanked them in person with a gift. Just think about what you know about what they do with their free time...and if you can come up with a nice gift based on that, they'll love it.

Sulking watching storage wars!? Impossible. (Congrats to all who got into UCLA!)

Rejection received. Oh well.

I'm just curious what others are doing with their lives in the meantime. I'm currently unemployed and attempting to find jobs I'm qualified for with my B.A.... (Hint: they don't exist.) I'm broke right now, so I need to save up a little $$$. My plan of action is to take the first job willing to hire me, present my research this month at a conference, do school visits next month and work until some point in the summer. At that point, I might take an actual vacation and then move to wherever for grad school in August. What are you doing now and what's your plan until grad school?

You should decline and possibly switch thesis advisors (if you think things will be uncomfortable) as mentioned above. This really cannot turn out well for your professional relationship/reputation. Even if you're a good researcher, it might come back to bite you by the university OR even in the future if it gets out that you dated him. Even if you know you have common interests/you're attracted to him, others might assume you're doing this for the wrong reasons--which might hurt your reputation when looking for jobs in your field. If you do find him attractive and find it difficult to tell him no, tell him that if he's truly interested in you, he should back off. If he truly cares about you, he'll consider how this could hurt you. There's always the option of telling him that once you have your Ph.D/landed a position, you're open to the possibility of dating. Best luck in this situation..

That's how I'm planning my visits. I think it's kind of ridiculous myself since I feel like I could just fly in the morning of day 2 to cut it to 2.5 (.5 is my travel time). However, I can't afford to travel right now, so school visits are the best thing I can do in lieu of real traveling. 3 nights almost-all-expenses-paid in a new city? yes please.

Penn State doesn't do interviews. socquant is set.

To prepare yourself for ripping off the bandaid SocialGroovements, CUNY doesn't give enough to really live off in New York. I know someone in the program and they can't even afford an shared apartment.

I can confidently say it's an acceptance. Congrats and I'll see you at the visit (if you go). CUNY is dropping the r bomb for sure. I just got an email. 3 rejections in a row... Needing some chocolate right about now.

I am in a similar situation in the OP. I decided to take a semester off before enrolling in graduate school. All my professors encouraged me to do this. I didn't want to take a year off (too long to me!), but I kind of wish I just decided to go straight through. It's nice having this break, but I'm not heading to graduate school until August... It's a while off. The issue is that the job market for college grads is TERRIBLE right now, so if you want to work in something besides retail, it's not happening. Instead, I'd suggest just trying to figure out some "me" time before you head to graduate school. (This is why my professors encouraged me to take time off--so I wouldn't burn out!) Whether it's traveling, hanging out on a beach or something else, I'd suggest just taking the summer at minimum (if not a semester) to really enjoy yourself before you head off to graduate school.

I think some of these cases might be legitimate although some people might be just rationalizing. For someone applying to say 15 programs, I feel like some of these might just be what-if-they-admit-me applications that aren't really grounded in fit/emphasis of the program on your specialty. I think some people just love the idea of being at a prestigious school, even if fit isn't there. I have no problem with it as it's their money being wasted on schools that don't work. I'm not really seeing this too much in Sociology although it seems pretty rampant in other programs. It might be due to the fact that the big publics (not the Ivies) seem to have a level playing field with the Ivies within Sociology programs.

<--- I think my choice is pretty clear.

I contacted one person of interest, closest to my ideal research, at each of the schools with a letter similar to ThisSlum's response. I would also include a brief description of my own research. In addition, I also would read one or two of their publications (after looking over their bio/cv) and suggest future research based on their papers that I'd love to pursue with them. I expended a lot of effort on this, but I got responses to all of my emails. I didn't ask out right "are you accepting students?" or "do you think this is a good fit". I'd just leave it at that I'm applying for their grad program and I'd love to discuss the implications of their research. As they had a brief description of my research right there in the email, I could tell off the responses whether they thought my interests alligned with their own interests. The ones not accepting students were pretty forthright about that, although that didn't stop them from replying to me. This might be helpful in the future as I already have gotten to know a few people doing interesting research in my subfield. One day, if I run into them at a conference, I'll already know about their research (well as of 2011/2012).

I looked into it. Most of the short-term temping gigs I've seen online at law firms require at least a year of experience working in a law firm. =/

Have your parents mail it to you... you don't need to pay for the mail OR the coat that way.

Head over to a thrift store and see if you can find a winter coat there. Maybe ask a friend if you can borrow their warm jacket for the weekend? If you think you're definitely going there, head over to a national (not regional!) department store like Macy's. Even in places like Florida, they still carry winter coats. Investing in a good winter coat in a cold place is definitely important. My advice: Wool coats/a well-made peacoat are fine for 20/30 degree weather--and you do not need a floor length down coat! Plus, it's more practical (and stylish) in fall/spring when it's not freezing yet.

I am reading Rules of Civility. I've missed reading fiction for pleasure!