Silent_G

Yes! I also have to add Brokeback Mountain. Great book and great movie, in my opinion. I also love the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice (guilty pleasure Austen-lover, I must admit). Also, The Princess Bride, although the book and movie are completely different, I still love them both.

Yes, I would recommend canceling if you don't feel like you did well (although, I must say, it was very difficult to gauge how I had done after I took it). I've heard rumors--so take this with a grain of salt--that some schools will look at all your scores and average them out, and then use that average number as your score in evaluating your application. Even if it's not true, you don't want to be in a position where you're tempted to use valuable SOP space to explain why you have one horrible GRE score. Good luck! And I hope you feel better soon!

Yes. I have a 17-pound dog I plan to bring on the plane with me, and they have a weight limit of 20 pounds including the carrier. I have to find a very lightweight carrier and make sure he doesn't gain any weight beforehand. He's also never been on a plane, and I'm pretty worried about how he'll handle it.

I definitely hope to go, especially since I'll be living in Boston. I checked out the website, and it looks like everyone has to register to attend, and registration opens in September. I'm not a member yet, as I'm waiting until I'm officially registered as a grad student so that I can get the student membership. Then I plan to register for the conference. Other than that, I'm not sure how it works.

Enjoy it while you can. We have a lot of work ahead of us!

Yay!! So happy for you!!

Thank you!

I won't be living alone. I'm getting married in August, and my fiance is a student at Brandeis, while I'll be starting at BU this fall. We need a place somewhere in the middle, that's convenient for each of us on MBTA--we won't have a car--but still relatively affordable. Somerville seems like the best option.

Both. Definitely both. Especially after I read your post that BU students say the workload is impossible to manage! Aaahhh! I'm scared

I'm crossing my fingers and toes for you. I hope you get Rutgers!!!

I think it really just comes down to taking deep breaths and thinking happy thoughts. I've been unbelievably stressed through this whole process too (try planning a wedding on top of it!), and I've definitely had some huge stress freakouts about moving 3,000 miles away, but I try to focus on the fact that I'm getting that much closer to my goal. I know what I want in life and I'm actually going for it. For me, that's huge. Even if I don't end up being a professor some day, I will know that I've seriously tried. I know too many people who've spent their entire lives working jobs they either hated or just felt completely unfulfilled by, never pursued their dreams, and basically stagnated. Some of them were fortunate to find happiness outside of work, but many seem to be surrounded by a general cloud of boredom. Just pure boredom. Try to remember you're doing what you want to do. You've worked hard, I imagine, to get where you are now. Be proud of that. Focus on the excitement of moving to a new place, instead of the stress. And, you're going to be a doctor!!! How wonderful is that?! Enjoy it now, before the real stress sets in.

banana pudding

I also used the Princeton Review book and it helped me immensely, as did both of those sites. I also studied the Norton Anthologies religiously. I read all the short stories and poems recommended by the PR book and as many novels as I had time for. My test was at 8:30 in the morning, and the center was about 45 minutes away from me, so every Saturday for two months before my test I woke up early as if I was going to take it, just to get my body accustomed to the situation. I didn't make any flashcards for the subject test, though I did when studying for the general test (I made A LOT of flashcards for the general test). I was not an English major. I studied Anthropology and Philosphy as an undergrad, so I was extremely worried about how I would fare on the subject test. I ended up scoring in the 69th percentile, and I'm pretty happy with that as a non-major. Truthfully, I feel like I spent far too much time and energy on studying for the GRE's, and I think it ultimately ended up hurting my SOP and writing sample, which is probably one of the reasons why I wasn't accepted into any PhD programs. I did get into an MA program, though, and although I wish I had focused more on my writing, I'm glad I scored high enough on both tests that I won't have to retake them for my next round of applications.

Exactly! I get these waves of excitement where I just want to jump up and down, but then I remember that I still have a long wait ahead of me. First there was the nervous/anxious waiting during the application process, and now the excited/anxious waiting for school to start. The gym has been my friend these past few months, helping me let out all this nervous energy.

That's what I've been hearing, so I'm especially excited. Good luck getting off the waitlist! And I will definitely PM you if I have any questions about Boston. Thanks!

Unfortunately, no, I couldn't make it. How was it?

I was just talking to my fiance about this today! We both bought some tickets, and we both decided we'd still go to grad school. We'd just have a nicer place to live and not have to worry about funding.

time out

Of course not! Everyone is welcome! Especially Caravaggio fans

I wanted to start a thread where those of us who are lucky enough (yes, lucky, because let's face it--even though we worked our butts off a lot of this has to do with luck) to be starting programs this Fall could just kind of gush about our excitement/nerves/fears. This is separate from the Post-Acceptance thread, because I wanted to edge away from the focus on the stress of picking between schools and sorting out funding and such, and instead share our thoughts about the academic year to come. I just received the last of my admissions decisions yesterday, and though I was rejected from all of the PhD programs to which I applied, I was invited to enroll in the MA program at BU. For a while, this felt like more of a consolation prize, but now I'm starting to see it more as a win. I'm so excited to start being a full-time student again! And to begin what I know will be a long, difficult journey towards fulfilling my dream of becoming a professor. I'm also scared senseless, but in a good, hopefully motivating way. Right now I'm wishing I didn't have to wait another 5-6 months to get started. Is anyone else at this stage? I know there will come a time where I'm dying for a break, so for now I guess I should revel in this feeling of happy impatience.

The decision was made for me, as I only had one acceptance, but I've updated the spreadsheet anyway. Getting so very excited to be a grad student!!!

I haven't decided that yet either. I'm not as worried about not having MA grades to show as I am about having a decent writing sample ready. I suppose I will check with my professors once I'm in the program, but I'm guessing it wouldn't be such a great idea to resubmit the same writing sample, even if I do edit it significantly between now and then. Now that I have all my admissions decisions, I will email my LOR's and I will probably ask their opinions as well. Part of me feels like it can't hurt to reapply this year, but then part of me wonders if maybe it would. Will it hurt my application for Fall 2014 if I receive another set of rejections in reapplying for Fall 2013? It's certainly a dilemma that's weighing pretty heavily on my mind at the moment. Good luck on your decisions!

Just got my rejection. Email to check the website, and then when I logged on there was a link at the very bottom stating my decision was available. This was my last hope for a PhD admit this year, but oh well. I'll be in an MA and hopefully strengthening my application for next season. Good luck to all those waiting to hear!

Well, it wouldn't make any sense for them to notify waitlists before acceptances, so I suppose I can expect my rejection notice soon. Hopefully they don't wait a month like Harvard.

snowy white