spacezeppelin

I thought I would respond to this one because it hits home hard. I something similar on a resume for a job application (soooooo awkward). I still got a interview, but when I walked in I saw it circled with a fat red pen mark on the person's desk. I'm fairly sure she left it there on purpose, because she never once picked it up to look at it. I still got the job, so you never know. I think they may have let it slide because the firm name was crazy long and very hard to spell (I wrote the letter and intended to confirm it after). They cant really blame you for what a recommender did anyway.

This is digital awkwardness, but I still thought it was super horrifiying. That horrible moment when your friend points out that you mispelled a tribe name in your SOP, despite writing a 50 page paper in which they were frequenetly mentioned...AFTER you sent it to multiple schools. Still got in (yay!), but the shame lingers...

Yeah...under no circumstances should you tell them your reasons for wanting to add a fourth. I'm pretty sure that every school asks students to waive their right to see the letters in the hopes that they actually will not see them. Even if that isnt a really big problem for the school, it seems like a very bad idea to say you want to add a fourth letter because the one you got wasnt good enough. Is there anyway you could just not submit the letter you got and replace it with a new one? If its actually isnt good enough then maybe you would be better off scraping it. I had most of my letters mailed to me (the envelope was sealed with a signature across the back) then I sent them directly to the school so I could make sure they actually got there on time. If they were already sent or submitted electronically that might not work though.

I applied to five programs and have heard back from three (acceptances, yay!). Two were super early (like over a month ago) and the third was last week. Just two more to go!

Hey, I just finished applying to MPP programs, so I totally feel you’re pain with stressing over all these things. However, I also think that saying "ouch" to a verbal score in the 91st percentile is a bit silly and panicky. This is a long hard process, so its probably best to at least begin with a bit of perspective. If that is the worst thing you have going for you right now then you are a VERY fortunate human being. If you think you can do better, by all means, go for it. My scores were quite similar to yours (a point lower in each category and a 5 on the AW), and I considered retaking the test. I ended up sticking with my scores and am very happy with how my application process has panned out thus far. I decided what was good enough for me, even though I’m sure others would have retaken them. Thats all you really can do. If those scores weren’t you’re best you should totally retake them. I don’t think your in dire straights or anything though. I’d maybe save my "ouch’s for maybe the 70th percentile, lol.

I'd like to point out that there is a HIGH probability that the other students that weren’t "wait list admits" were wait listed at other places or flat out rejected. Most people don't get into every school they apply to. Just because you are looking at attending a school they were admitted to doesnt mean that they are automatically more desirable in the objective sense. Any reasonable person would realize this and be slow to judge another applicant. Additionally, any decent human being wouldnt care in the first place. There will always be someone on the planet that looks better than you on paper. It doesnt to anyone any good to pretend life is a game you can win. That being said, I think it was very rude of your potential adviser to say anything. That would make me very uncomfortable as well. Maybe she didnt mean anything by it. It sounds difficult interacting with both admitted and waitlisted students at the same time. She might have been put in an uncomfortable situation as well. I'd give yourself some time to sit with it and see how you feel after its less fresh. I doubt anyone will really even remember anyway, but if its a lasting issue with you then maybe there is a better option. I know it would upset me, but sometimes I just need some time to cool off and let it go.

I kinda just went at it on my own. The online application isnt super complicated. I think it would be more helpful to have someone look over your statement of purpose if you had to pick one.

Hey, I got an acceptance letter today. It is also dated Feb. 16th, but was mailed on the 20th. No packet from the department though. I hope I get something from them, even if they dont make a funding offer. If people who receive funding decide to go elsewhere are those funds redistributed, or do they just evaporate? Also, is the Dean's scholarship the only chance at getting some kind of aid? I really like USC but i'm having a very hard time swallowing the super high tuition when I have other funding offers. Sorry for all the questions.

I have nothing useful to add, but this totally cracked me up at work...Then I had to tell my boss what was funny. So then it became less funny...

I think its totally alright to think about more than just the academics. Many (I would say most) people consider city / location when they are applying for schools, and family is an even more valid reason. I think the big question is how MUCH better of a fit is the far away school? If the answer is a LOT better, then you probably should go. Think about just the universities and take out your desire to be home. Can you see yourself doing well in both programs? Will you be satisfied with the worse-fit school? If you cant see yourself going to school there, then go to the other. However, if you would feel good about both then you have some thinking to do. Then I would think about if being away from home will affect your ability to be happy and thrive. The goal is to eventually finish and it would be a shame to eventually quit because you need to reallocate. I would just weigh how important each factor is and decide what will be best for your life over all. 5-8 years is a decent chunk of it, after all.

Thanks for the responses, everyone. They made me feel better until I called to confirm that the transcript arrived this time. As of yesterday it hasn't yet! It was mailed out last thursday but I guess with mail and processesing it can take a while. I'm sort of freaking out about it. I'm not really sure what else I can do at this point, though. I was on the verge of driving two hours to my undergrad university, picking up a transcript, and driving another two to the school and dropping it off. And then driving another four hours back... I would have to take off work though, and to be honest it seems totally crazy. I guess I should just hope it arrives...

I usually go with "best" as well. I think it can fit almost any situation and does sound cold, grovely, too formal, or too personal. I have to say, I really dislike quotes in signatures. The vast majority of the time they are just really cliched. The rest of the time they can just get really strange. This one lady at work would always say "time spent with animals is never time wasted." Seriously, what does that have to do with anything...I love animals more than most people and I STILL thought it was super lame. As bad as it sounds, I had a really hard time taking her seriously after that. It just seemed like such a strange way to sign every single email correspondence. Even if the quote is good, it still isn't necessary and wont really accomplish much. I dont think its worth the risk of someone thinking its unprofessional.

Have you considered taking it online from a local community college (or I guess evevn a not so local college)? Thats what I did and it was a LOT cheaper than 500 dollars. I think it was like 250 or something. I took two courses while I was applying for schools and all the programs seemed to be totally cool with it. I personally think the course quality will be at least as good as only online programs. I have a weird bias agaisnt any fully online programs though, so perhaps I just like to imagine actual professors teaching in acutal classrooms. UCB will almost certinaly be better, but to be honest its just a lower division economics class. I think you will get the information either way.

There reason does sound really unfair, but I think there must be a reason for it. Universities generally don't just make stuff like that up. They would just reject you if they were trying to dodge an acceptance. If I were you I would do some research into the issue and perhaps try to understand where it came from. That is something you could have asked the university. Your response seems a bit hasty, in my opinion. The academic world is a small one, and nothing good can come from burning bridges. Your response isnt going to make the university regret its decision (in fact, it will probably make them relieved that they made it. Sorry, I dont mean to be unkind, but its probably true). If it made you feel better thats what really matters here, but still.

I think the funniest thing about all this for me is how I THOUGHT I would handle it. I have a twin who applied to graduate school last year. She actually handled it really well, but there is still an unavoidable level of drama that just goes with the territory. I was determined to at least match her good behavior. I talked about how zen I would be about the whole thing, and how I wouldn’t be disappointed if I didn’t get into my reach schools. Yeah...didn't happen. I have been anything but zen. I have a few really good options and i'm STILL freaking out. Its really quite pathetic. I can't imagine handling anything well at this point. I should work on that...

This may be super obvious to everyone but me, but I almost forgot to fill out a FAFSA. I'm honestly not totally clear on what it does and who its for, but you might want to look into that. (Again, that may be a super dumb suggestion. For the sake of honestly my parents paid for my undergrad and i'm a bit clueless when it comes to paying for my own school). I'm also filling out something called "California dream". Other than those meager suggestions, I got nothing. I'm very interested in this as well, because I haven't heard anything about funding yet. Do you guys think all those awards have been given out already or will there be more? I'm not sure if they were just given to the people who heard back first. Just for my own peace of mind...everyone who was able to log on the Camel WAS accepted right? I'm still convinced i've really been rejected and they are just messing with me. How soon after being able to log on did you all receive your decisions?

This comes up a lot as another reason why "universities are greedy". I honestly think it’s a bit short sighted. Good people are attracted to institutions by money. That’s just a fact. People are paid based on their scarcity of skills and their desirability. I think its safe to assume that the president of a university should be a very accomplished, desirable, individual. Honestly, being the president of a learning institution seems like it absolutely demands incredibly talented candidates. If that is taken as a fact, why do we expect these incredibly desirable people to essentially take a job out of charity. Yes, i'm sure most do it because they love the job and are passionate about education, but lets be real...money factors in. If university presidents were paid significantly less we would lose all the good people to the private sector. 600k is a lot, but considering the credential of some of these people, they could probably make more elsewhere or at least get that number matched. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As as for the two year thing, I don’t think they need a second year just to force an internship. I think they do it because they want another year of classes to educate their students. Universities are putting their name on all these potential employees, so they should be competent. If one year programs are in existence and what you want, then I would think you could apply for them and pass on the longer ones.

That is the same as asking why undergrad is ususally four years instead of two. To be honest, the question doesnt even really make sense. Two years is not a very long time considering you are getting another degree. I don't think people would have much respect for a program that was only a year long. You would only take a few classes... Why is high school four years? Why does it take 18 years to be considered an adult? See, the question doesnt really make any sense. It kind of just is...

So i'm about 90 percent sure I got into one of my "sort of reach" schools. I'm waiting to hear officially before I get too excited. The notifications come by mail, so i've been bouncing around talking about "how I want my letter." Then I realized that this situation sounds familiar...I'm basically like the 11 year old Hogwarts students who want their owls. PLEASE LET ME INTO HOGWARTS!! p.s: I realize that some of you may be a bit older than the Harry Potter generation...don't judge me. I still think magic is cool.

I think we can safely assume that the poster meant lower ranking state schools...not Berkeley and UCLA. Maybe it would have been more accurate to just say lower ranking and leave the public school thing out of it. The point still stands though. Besides, at least in california ive found the term "state school" means a CSU not a UC.

I cannot stop you because im currently using mine right now. I had a first gen ipad which was great. I got a case with a keyboard and took all my undergrad notes on it. Then I got a mini and love it was more. It has all the great features of the newest ipad and is a great size. It has a better use of space because it has less of a rim. It was also much cheaper. ATT has a deal going where you can get 100 dollars off, so thats nice. I dont know how great the smaller keyboard will be for taking notes in class, but you can always just get a case that is made for the mini, but has a larger keyboard. It sort of mitigates the point of the smaller size though. I do okay on the smaller keyboard.

People who are still waiting: i was finally able to log on to the camel link. This leads me to believe that there might be multiple rounds of admissions or they are approving them as they go. So not being able to log on yet doesnt really mean much. Thats assuming being able to log on means im actually accpeted. Hopefully I didnt jinx it.

Lol...I'd buy your book because i'm sure its fabulous. I'll feel very lucky that you were WILLING to sell it to me. In all seriousness, this website has been absurdly helpful and comforting. There are definitely times when I want to smack everyone who cant decided between Fully Funded Ivy League #1 or Fully Funded Ivy League #2, but 90 percent of the time it answers my questions or lessens my anxiety. Applying to graduate school can be an isolating process because not many people do it, and many people can't understand it. So many people see it as "unnecessary" and therefore not something to stress over. OR, alternatively, they see us as so smart and capable that there shouldn’t be anything to worry about. The reality is clearly so different. Even my sister, who went through this whole process last year, seems to have already forgotten how crazy it makes you. It made HER crazy too, but when its not happening to you its way too easy to say someone is "overreacting". Everyone here gets it, because its happening to them. 　 On a lighter note, to ease the pain of my assumed rejection, I got good news! The director of a program I was accepted to called to say they are trying to figure out some funding for me and will pay for a visit. I’m applying to masters programs, and my understanding is that funding is never assumed and is fairly rare. Unexpected money, YAY!

This story sounds so much like my sister’s story that I thought you WERE my sister for a second (she is in a different program, so I dont think you are...). ANYWAY, she got reminded, so many times, that she had been rejected. There was no message about an error though, they just kept sending her rejection emails for over a month... It was the STRANGEST thing I have ever heard of. She finally had to call and ask them to stop...They apologized profusely and said it was probably a computer glitch and it would be fixed. After that it happened two more times and FINALLY stopped. On a completely unrelated note: I talked to my program director today and he dropped a hint about possible funding. He said that the school system was under real financial strain (thats kind of an understatement honestly), but he wants to try to get some funding for me. I'm totally losing my mind waiting for official word. Its for a masters program and I really didnt think I would get funding for a non phd from a public school. He wouldn’t have brought it up unless it was a real possibility right?!?! I want to know SO BADLY. GAHHHHH.

Hello, I recently was told that one of my top choice schools didn’t have my undergraduate transcripts. I sent them, and confirmed that they had been sent, but I guess somewhere along the line they were misplaced, lost, or burned (kidding, lol). I checked online and it said that my “application was complete” so I took that to mean it was fine...but then I got an email from the director saying that she didnt have them, and that I should confirm that they had been sent. I had my university rush resend them. The application deadline was the 1st. However, the school has a “file completion” deadline of March 1st. I don’t really know exactly what that means. Do you think the late transcripts will affect my chances of admission? I’m concerned late materials is kind of like showing up late for a job interview...