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Things To Do While "Waiting It Out."


AMC

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I am shocked at how much more anxiety I have waiting for applications than I ever expected. I applied to the only school I was interested in last year and was offered full funding. I decided to defer for a year, and in this year I somehow got the idea that I might apply to some foreign schools, just so that the option was open. The schooled I had planned to attend is the top domestic school (and likely still will), so basically I only applied to schools I thought might lure me away. Somehow I've gotten myself worked up into such a frenzy now that I check my email about a million times a day and check this website and others looking for the fatal news that my applications have all been launched mercilessly into the wastebin... and this is all thinking that I will probably still go to the school that offered me admissions last year. Now I'm thinking, jesus, why didn't I apply to way more schools! I must have been mad to omit Princeton, UIUC or Carnegie-Mellon. Perhaps some of those schools would have had results back already! The long and the short of it... this waiting is really a damn nightmare isn't it?!

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I'm up at this ridiculous hour writing a lab report - the sort of mundane, soul-eating project that second-semester seniors aren't supposed to have to deal with anymore.

Pretty much the only thing that could make this night better would be to get an acceptance email before I finally get to pass out for an hour or two. Or...maybe one will be waiting for me when I have to drag myself out of bed and go to class - it could happen, right?

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I've noticed that I've been listening to a lot more Nirvana since finishing my applications. For those of you who are looking for something to do while "waiting it out," I don't recommend listening to Nirvana. It might be hard to believe, but Kurt Cobain isn't that good at lifting a person's spirits.

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You're just now checking the weather? I apply to schools based on weather. I hate lots of winter weather and snow so I ruled out Wisconsin, Syracuse, etc based solely on weather.

Well, there were only half a dozen schools that had a program I'm interested in - so not much choice there!

And it's official, I've already lost it waiting to hear something. It is only the first week in February - not a good sign!

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I've noticed that I've been listening to a lot more Nirvana since finishing my applications. For those of you who are looking for something to do while "waiting it out," I don't recommend listening to Nirvana. It might be hard to believe, but Kurt Cobain isn't that good at lifting a person's spirits.

Nirvana is good for getting rid of the angst!

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I've noticed that I've been listening to a lot more Nirvana since finishing my applications. For those of you who are looking for something to do while "waiting it out," I don't recommend listening to Nirvana. It might be hard to believe, but Kurt Cobain isn't that good at lifting a person's spirits.

Nick Drake and Jeff Buckly are also bad listening activites. For feel good/cheer me up music try Float On by Modest Mouse (favorite quote: "Good news will work its way into all those plans"), You Get What You Give by New Radicals and anything by Mika- he's so silly its delicious!

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Considering that seemingly everyone on every Internet forum discussing this, not to mention everyone I know in real life going through this process, has had multiple rejections and acceptances come through by now, the fact that I have still heard absolutely nothing from any of my schools regarding my admission should be driving me crazy. And, indeed, I was feeling increasingly insane until about a week ago. Once February came, and I still had not heard anything, I decided that I was either going to hear back from every school I applied to on the same day, or just never hear anything from any of them, and that clearly worrying was getting me nowhere. Now, I am totally cool again!

...

Until the first one comes in. Then, I suspect all rationality will break back down again.

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Nick Drake and Jeff Buckly are also bad listening activites. For feel good/cheer me up music try Float On by Modest Mouse (favorite quote: "Good news will work its way into all those plans"), You Get What You Give by New Radicals and anything by Mika- he's so silly its delicious!

Good recommendations, they'll definently find their way into my rotation. I'm very embarrassed to admit this, but today I listened to Stereophonics and found them to be a lot more soothing than Nirvana. So I think from now on I'll be giving myself a heavy dose of them and the Beatles (only McCartney songs, and maybe Here Comes the Sun). Lennon and Harrison tend to depress me, which I usually actually enjoy, but at the moment I think I should stay away from self actualization.

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try mark knofler (dire straits). guy knows how to work the guitar and lift your spirits.

or you could try becoming a LOST fan. Their superb preview was what sucked me in and i've been watching episodes from season 1. Makes me feel like I chose the wrong grad program: i suddenly have this desire to become an English/Theatre major and write scripts?!!!! so much for BME.. :(

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It's awful. I have a job in the corporate world for the time being, but, due to the slow economy, I have a ton of free time to fret about admissions. *check Gmail* *wait 5 minutes* *check Gmail again* Damn. Nothing!

Well, my father served as his department's admissions chair a couple of times and he says not to worry and that many schools are just starting to make their decisions. Bah.

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got another one: Chinese astrology! yup. if any of you belong to the YEAR OF THE RAT: you will know exactly what I am talking about! Apparently it is our year. The chinese calender begins from Feb 7 and it starts off by stating that since 2008 is the year of the rat, people who are rats (!!) will succeed academically. I am not making this up! It seriously says: the hard work and devotion that you put in last year will reap its fruits this year. You will live your passion!!! ( ha.. serioulsy???)

if you wanna know more, apparently you have to pay. BUt if the rest of the forecasting follows the same tone, boasting of the rat's success, it might be worth a shot!!!

whatever floats ure boat~~~

i'm just a broke college kid.

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got another one: Chinese astrology! yup. if any of you belong to the YEAR OF THE RAT: you will know exactly what I am talking about! Apparently it is our year. The chinese calender begins from Feb 7 and it starts off by stating that since 2008 is the year of the rat, people who are rats (!!) will succeed academically. I am not making this up! It seriously says: the hard work and devotion that you put in last year will reap its fruits this year. You will live your passion!!! ( ha.. serioulsy???)

NO It's True!!

The Rat in "Lunar" mythology (since countries other than China celebrate it) is known for cleverness, academic success and cunning in successfully fulfilling its goals.

I went to Koreatown today (it borders Chinatown and they are having a dual "Year of the Rat Festival") and paid eight bucks for this guy to feed rice to a rat and pop some firecrackers in order to facilitate my grad school wishes. Supposedly the well-fed "cunning rat" will find a way to get me accepted.

Laugh and call me neurotic if you will, but at least this is a better option than in Japan where you can pay a "seagull keeper" to feed your bird green food for wealth, yellow for fertility and red for luck and prosperity. After a day or two they release the bird and you run under it desperately trying to get it to sh*t on you. The idea being that if the bird successfully releases its bowels on you, your wish will be granted in the foreseeable future.

Hey, I want to get into grad school as much as the next guy but there is NO WAY I'm going to willingly let a bird do his business on my person!! Of course, it's still February. If I hear no word by mid-March I may start looking at pigeons in a WHOLE new way......

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If a school called me right now and said you're accepted so long as you let a bird shit on your head, I wouldn't even think twice about it. Hell, I'd even open my mouth if that's what they want. It's 1:30 am, I'm reading posts I've read 800 times and thinking about all of the mistakes I've made in my life that have put me in this terrible situation where I have no idea if I'll be accepted anywhere at all. I'll probably be online for another 3 or 4 hours deconstructing every part of my application and convincing myself that there is no way anybody will give me a chance. What's a little bird shit on the head compared to that?

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Well...

I can say I have finally freaked out... After reading all the posts at least 12 times, I have signed up.

I applied to 9 universities in CS PhD and I haven't heard anything back. It also looks like nobody has, at least from these universities, so I should be relatively calmed... well, I'm not.

By the way, why don't we have a nice thread with all the details about our application like the guys from http://www.physicsgre.com/forum/thread975.html ?...

I'll let one of those lucky guys with an admission start it... while I just go to my corner and focus to see if I can make time go a little faster....

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AMC said:

If I hear no word by mid-March I may start looking at pigeons in a WHOLE new way......

LOL!! do we have a contender?!!!! Its strange. Now that you mention pigeon poop, I remember my grandma telling me the same thing. She told me, that pigeon poop falling on you was a sign of good luck. I do not live close to either Korea or China, but the myth holds true in our side of the world as well. She also told me that a crow slightly touching the top of your head was a sign of good luck. I dont know how much of good luck that is, cuz the crow never meant to slightly touch, infact he right out kicked me on my head!

but I would have liked to see the feeding the bread thing in Koreantown.

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Hmm.. waiting it out... I have:

Got a third job. Yes, third. High paying, but not in my academic field. All to save for graduate school.

Started to work out. Yay!

I have been forcing myself to leave my house and go out! I can't just sit and panic about getting accepted all day. January was horrible! All I did was have mood swings and talk constantly about grad school!

Started reading fashion editorials.

Started tutoring undergraduates in writing!

I have finally been able to start reading non-academic literature.

I am going to start visiting museums, galleries, and the beach on a very regular basis.

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