sansao

Again, the withdrawal is not from the school to which I was accepted, so there's really no "playing it safe" to speak of.

silent treatment

Every time an adcom waits an extra day, an angel gets its wings.

heavy water

Congratulations!

I'll be turning 36 right around the first day of grad school (assuming this whole thing doesn't fall apart, which it could if I can't locate an advisor and/or don't get in anywhere else). I didn't start my BS (har har har) until I was 27, though. I spent 7 years in accounting before I decided that I hated it more than anything on Earth and decided to do something meaningful with my life. I think generally it's expected that you'll either go to work or go to grad school here in the US. Some of those PhDs in arts and social sciences can take a really long time (I've heard of 10+ years). So by the time they're done with the program, they're probably extremely well read. I wish I had done all of this 18 years ago when I finshed high school.

Unfortunately, yes. It happened to me last year. I knew informally that I was on a waitlist, but no formal email or rejection letter ever showed up, and I continued to get emails about my financial aid status well into September. It was horrible.

tape echo

Kinda where I'm at with it too. I'm going to email the program chair, who I've worked with in the past, and see if they have any suggestions, and I have one more interview with a faculty member there. I'll go to that and see how it pans out. After that, if nothing's changed, I'll just have to hope for the best from the other six schools.

Well, the acceptance that I have is to another school, so withdrawing here would only mean someone better suited *might* be given an offer. If I don't find a new advisor, it's very unlikely that I'll be accepted. The problem is that there just isn't anyone left that does anything close to what I want to do. It wouldn't be a slight direction change, I'd be jumping from water chemistry to ecology or plant biology, and while I'm sure those are great fields, I'm not really trained in either of them, or all that interested in making either of them my life's work. Amusingly enough, the acceptance that I have at the other school is also contingent on my finding an advisor, because they don't do TAs. Life has a sense of humor, apparently.

Last year, Geoscience programs took forever (except UW). Several people I know didn't get their answers, positive or negative, until well into June. One POI told me they had >400 applications and were accustomed to ~50. It seems better this year, but just a heads up that strange things have been afoot at the Geoscience Circle K, lol.

Has anyone here done this? After a recent interview my original advisor and I both realized that we aren't going to be a good fit at all. I've been looking for another one, but the only people I would really want to work with are already booked and/or not looking for students. I'm thinking it might be better for my own sanity to just remove my application from consideration and stop worrying about it. Thoughts?

Definitely tell at least one person you trust, and as above, take advantage of your school's counseling services. There's no reason to let this wreck your semester.

stick shift

You should never have brought this up, LOL. My life is now consumed by the internets.

Alabama Shakes (on repeat for a week)

bird flu

squeeze play

business proposition

We can be in a nontraditional crowd, lol. 35 yr.

Plant Biology

Maybe Monday will be better for you, or maybe you'll get one of those unexpected weekend acceptances. I had the longest day of interviews of my life at visitation today. Almost 10 hours, non-stop, except for lunch, when I talked with the program director. So exhausted.

railroad crossing

Lol. Vegaquarium. Awesome.

Victoria's Reign