can't focus

[soontobeslp2018]

Is anyone else having a hard time focusing on anything besides grad school stuff? The only options I have left are the two schools I'm waitlisted at and I won't hear back until the 15th. I usually don't have a hard time focusing on my class work but recently I've been procrastinating my work to look at my applications and researching my last two options. Any tips on how to ease the stress/ refocus on school?

[Jbslp95]

Hey! I would say that your best bet is to come up with a really good back up plan. When I was waiting to hear back I was absolutely terrified, having panic attacks etc until my mom and I sat down and figured out exactly what I was going to do for the next year if I didn’t get in anywhere. Once you have a worst case scenario plan it’s a little easier to deal with the uncertainty. Good luck and stay positive!!! 

[soontobeslp2018]

10 minutes ago, Jbslp95 said:

Hey! I would say that your best bet is to come up with a really good back up plan. When I was waiting to hear back I was absolutely terrified, having panic attacks etc until my mom and I sat down and figured out exactly what I was going to do for the next year if I didn’t get in anywhere. Once you have a worst case scenario plan it’s a little easier to deal with the uncertainty. Good luck and stay positive!!! 

Thankfully I already have my backup plan made, along with a to do list for reapplying. But the wait is SO difficult, thankfully the 15th is getting closer and closer

[Southwestspeechie]

2 hours ago, soontobeslp2018 said:

Is anyone else having a hard time focusing on anything besides grad school stuff? The only options I have left are the two schools I'm waitlisted at and I won't hear back until the 15th. I usually don't have a hard time focusing on my class work but recently I've been procrastinating my work to look at my applications and researching my last two options. Any tips on how to ease the stress/ refocus on school?

I was having a hard time, but in my case school has been a welcomed distraction! What helps me is to set a schedule to complete my work and really stick to it. Schedule in time to just focus on applications!

I am also a fan of playing classical music (or any other kind of focus music) to really help me put my attention on work. Grab a study snack or a favorite beverage to help pair your schoolwork with something positive, but not distracting. We are almost there, hang in! 

 

[MassSLP2be]

The only solution that really helped me was cutting myself off from applications as much as possible so I could focus on something else. I'd try and spend time away from my laptop (and even time away from my phone, although that was way harder than I'd like to admit, lol) and read, go for a drive or a walk outside, make myself something to eat that would take a while to make...Anything that involved me not being near the internet. I knew that if I had access to my laptop, even if I was just trying to watch Netflix, it would be so easy to open a new tab and check on my applications. I had to really discipline myself, but in the end it paid off.

Something to keep in mind: your application will update, or a decision email will be sent out, whenever it's going to be updated/sent out. And while you think it would be wonderful to have just randomly checked on your application status to find that you got admitted, in the grand scheme of things, would it make a difference whether you found out the second you checked your applications on your own free will vs. if you found out at a time when you weren't checking them? My mom mentioned this to me when I was checking constantly, and while my initial reaction was "but I want to hear back right now, so I need to check all the time!" The more I thought about it, I realized it wasn't going to make that much of a difference if I heard back whenever the department decided to let me know. I had to trust that I was going to find out somehow, and no amount of checking was going to guarantee that I heard back sooner.

I eventually had a routine: I allowed myself to check on my applications once in the morning when I woke up, and once in the evening around 5-6pm, and that was it. That way I could tell myself that if a decision had been made, I could find out either a.) when I woke up in the morning, or b.) when the day was done.