crazygirl2012

The perpetual: "no news is good news."
Thanks, actually, no news is just no news.

This is my first year applying and I applied to 5 schools including my UG uni. I got rejected in 3, accepted into my top choice and my UG uni withdrew me since they knew I was taking my top (and only) offer. I got a MA offer, but meh, it really wasn't what I was looking for.

It seems as though this is a really competitive year. I applied as a UG and got in, but several of my grad friends also applied but haven't got in anywhere. And we've come to find out that many of the schools we applied to had record numbers of applications this year and last year, yet the number of acceptances were less.... Shrinking budgets but growing unemployment, that'll do it.

1) These are fantastic.

2) My rejection from my dream school is still stinging a bit. It has only been 2 days. I was all alone on a plane that was about to take off when I got my acceptance, so all I could do was smile for 2 hours! I should probably do something else when I'm over the rejection. When I got THAT one, I cried in a restaurant. I'm cool like that.

3) When I get back to school, there's a nearly full bottle of girly cake-flavored vodka with my name on it. (Hey, I'm still an undergrad for another 7 weeks! I'm allowed!) I guess it's a celebration/consolation thing? I won't be done with spring break for another week, so hopefully by then it will be more of a celebration.

4) After that, I want to get a new ear piercing. It's nothing too fancy, but it will commemorate my acceptance. I have a hard time rewarding myself for anything, so I'm taking it slow!

Ok well, I would suggest just going to her office hours or making an appointment with her. See how the reacts to you going to grad school, if she is supportive take the letter, if not don't. You can't base all this off of an off handed comment.

Dude I've never even heard of that university so why do you wanna go there anyway? Given that you studied at Hopkins why go there, I say HOAX

I've tried refreshing my email even though new emails pop up automatically. It makes me feel better, okay?!?

Someone over in the lit/rhet/comp forum pointed out that there is a bit of a let down phase after you accept (or decide which offer to accept) because one school, no matter how amazing it is, can never be as exciting as all of the possible schools at once. Hopefully it will pass and you will enter into a contented and mutually beneficial relationship soon

Thanks! And yes, I think yours counts as a good week.

In my opinion, there's nothing wrong with you wearing sunglasses indoors when you need to. I doubt anyone wants you to be in pain! There's a big difference between a fashion statement and a medical condition.

Yup. If it's out of your control, then there's no point in getting worked up about it. Just push on and keep focus on factors that you can still influence and make the most of that.

I'm going to put the issue of whether you should actively try to engage these students aside--you clearly want them to pay attention to what you're showing them on the projector and feel like it is worth some effort to encourage this.
Could you just ask them to turn off their monitors while you're speaking/demonstrating? It should be pretty easy for you to see who isn't complying, especially in a darkened room. I did this when I taught younger people in computer labs and it worked really well.

You're right-- it did turn out okay. Everything will fall into place for all of us eventually, right? Right.

Acceptance: Wine and chocolate.
Rejection: Tequila and a new car. On different days.

When my future children and grandchildren ask me, "Sweetnighter, what was life in March of 2012 like?", this is what I will recall.

I don't doubt this, but my sense is that these fora could use some levity (and maybe even compassion!) along with the wonderful and serious advice that I've only been able to find here. Most of us keep a very anonymous profile here. My sig info alone would probably identify me with some digging, but I'm not posting anything on here I wouldn't say in real life, including all of the "spark and inexperience" (snark?) that comes from being a burnt-out, neurotic pre-academic.

Generally they only send out rejections when everything is set in stone already. I know some of the schools I applied to sent out rejections if they didn't send you on to the interview phase. However if you got an interview and don't hear anything back and were rejected, you probably aren't going to hear anything back for a while, simply because they won't definitely let your application go until they have everything finalized. Unfortunately that takes a while. Sometimes candidates let offers go for weeks or even months or don't contact the program at all. The PI of the lab I work in now is also on the adcom for the graduate program here and he's told me that sometimes they will send out an offer and the applicant won't contact the program until the very last minute, and then its just to say they won't be attending because they chose another school. This is why they can't send out rejections until so late, because they never know when or who they might have to contact if that first applicant turns the offer down. The other thing is that by that point, most of the candidates on the waitlist have probably accepted an offer somewhere else. He's said they have had years where they meant to accept maybe 4 or 5 candidates, but only gotten maybe 3 accepted offers since candidates on the waitlist had made other plans. I don't think this happens very often, but it certainly gives you an idea of why they're waiting until the last minute to send out rejections.

MOO, you should grin and bear it, save your venting for your personal journal, and chalk this experience up to lessons learned.

The mistake you made was not to call back the following week--and the week after that--and the next week, until you received absolute confirmation that all your materials had been received and everything was up to date. To paraphrase President Reagan, trust but verify.

After all is said and done, a student bears ultimate accountability for making sure the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed.

I agree completely. Considering that we are paying them for this (and it's not exactly cheap), a notification should always be sent, and if it's not, they need to say so somewhere on the application/website. I mean, it's really not that hard to send an email.

I would expect that kind of behavior to happen from maybe one or two schools, but four?? Wow, that's just really inconsiderate and kind of unprofessional.

There should be a twelve step group: Graduate Applicants Anonymous.

God grant me the serenity to accept the rejections I cannot change, the courage to not compulsively check my email, and the wisdom to know the difference between being rejected and being waitlisted.

"Did you hear anything yet?"

No, I'll tell you when I do.

Five minutes later:

"Did you hear anything yet?"

No. Staring at my email inbox is not working.

I second what svh said. There's no need to feel pressured for an answer, but the worst thing you can do is simply not respond. Just indicate that you've received their offer of admission and really appreciate it, but haven't made a finalized decision yet.

If you eventually decide to go somewhere else, just be professional about it, thank them for the offer, and respectfully decline.

For me, very important. I've always had great mentors, so now I'm spoiled!