Plan B: What to do when rejected EVERYWHERE?

[Cornell07]

The JET applications were due back in December FYI. I've had a couple of friends go through the program. Some loved it; others hated it. I think the big factor was the will not to be frustrated by the language barrier; at least in most of Europe and the Americas everything is written in Roman script, so, even if you cannot understand everything, you can pronounce mostly everything.

[crossedfingers]

Call it cold feet or simply an amateur undergrad floundering around the great world of science, knocking into every concrete pillar she has ever know,shaking the very foundations of why I wanted to ever go to graduate school: now, i'm not so sure! There I said it! Applications this past year have taught me so many things about the process that I wish I had known earlier. Grad school applications are in fact no different than a job application, if not more. Network and sell yourself-bah

I feel I applied to all the wrong schools, got accepted into the wrong programs (since when is Cornell the wrong program? Welcome to the messed up hatch!) I almost feel I should screw the process this year and apply again next year. Having gone through this torturous path once, it can't be that bad the second round right? Has anyone ever done that? Deferred admissions or applied again the second year?

Looks like that's gonna be my Plan A

[Cornell07]

Well, I just found a wonderful MA program that just started and will be extending its application deadline until April 1! So, I get to see if I've learned anything by going through the app process once and really hit it out of the park this time around.

[frankdux]

Philmajor said:

Frankdux - could you elaborate on your JET experience? I'm think some of us are contemplating teaching overseas if graduate school doesn't pan out as we would like.

the JET experience is a total crapshoot with regards to almost everything; placement, living conditions, working conditions, responsibilities, & expenses. the only constants are the salary, health insurance, paid plane tickets, and the length of stay.

with regards to the following:

placement: you could be placed anywhere, but most likely in the middle of nowhere. this is because the big cities have opted out of JET and have gone with private companies instead. you can list 'preferences' on your application, but this is typically meaningless. people who pick okinawa might end up in hokkaido - happens all the time. people who pick 'urban' might end up in a town of 2,000 people.

living conditions: this is set up for you before you arrive. accomodations range from dormitory style apartments with shared kitchens and bathrooms (kinda rare) all the way to 2 story houses just for one person. typically, the smaller the town the bigger the place you get.

working conditions & responsibilities: you could be placed in a primary school, jr high, or high school. you could be at a very prestigious school or a school in complete shambles. you could be assigned legitimate teaching duties in which you are the teacher with a full 20+ class load a week, or you could be given less than 10 classes a week where you do nothing but recite some lines out of a textbook when the teacher asks you to. you might be asked to form an english club or you might be asked to coach a speech team. you might even be asked to come in on weekends and help with sports. however the JET contract is pretty standard across the board, you are only obligated to be at school 35 hrs a week, any more is optional. also, be aware that teachers have varying attitudes towards you. some are glad you are there to help, others may treat you as if you are worthless and may actually resent your presence.

expenses: rent and bills vary. typically the smaller the town the cheaper your place will be. sometimes your school even pays part of your rent every month. basically rent ranges from FREE to up to $600 a month. usually the more rural, the cheaper the rent, and ironically the bigger the place. lots of people who live in incredibly small towns pay between 0-100 for a two story house. bills also vary. however, heat is more expensive in japan than america and houses and apartments arent insulated, unless you live in hokkaido, the northernmost prefecture. other bills are comparable to bills in america.

salary is 3,600,000 yen a year. depending on the exchange rate, thats roughly $32,000. and japan is not as expensive as people say it is - unless you eat kobe beef steaks every night. by the time the year is over i should probably have saved over $8,000.

i go to tokyo about one weekend a month. i live about 60 miles away so i can get there by bullet train in 40 minutes, or the regular cheaper JR line in about 90 minutes. tokyo is awesome - where i live really isnt. so i've been considering moving to tokyo next year and taking a less 'prestigious' english teaching gig (as well as a slight paycut) just so i can live in tokyo. its a lot more exciting and interesting and just a lot more fun.

if you wanna kill a year and you dont care where you live in japan and dont really care if you are given a lot of work to do (it sounds more awesome than it actually is) and you wanna save a few grand then JET might be for you. if you wanna live in tokyo, osaka, kyoto, kobe or any other specific major city and you dont care too much about saving a ton of money, then go with a private english teaching gig.

[labmouse]

Frankdux,

Thanks for the advice. I think I might go for one of the private schools if I don't get in anywhere.

[ronniepeng]

I myself have found a job as urban planner a month ago. but now I'm going to decline it....

I think it's always good to plan for the worst.

[PolythenePam]

I was thinking, the PeaceCorps?

Seriously. I had considered it before but been attached and had stronger ties that bound me. I resorted to doing AmeriCorps, which is kind of a domestic equivalent (and markedly only a one-year term, rather than 27 months). Loved it, but there's really no substituting for PeaceCorps, eh? Issues of social justice drive my research and academic goals; they're also a large part of what drives me, pure and simple.

Now, with an MA in Women's Studies and a BA in English... two unmarketable degress in many ways, sadly... I recognize there aren't many options.

I think, thus far with one rejection and otherwise silence on the subject of admission, having a Plan B (no matter how imaginative) has been therapeutic. Just knowing there *is* a tomorrow full of potential, despite a few admission commitees' harsh summation of your academic performance, can be terribly reassuring.

Good luck, everyone!

[nina gorman]

That's a good and difficult question (one I noticed on the poli sci forum as well). It's hard after putting so much time and effort into applications to switch gears and get grounded and rolling with other goals. I am researching other schools and will look at them more closely than I did this year , for one more go round next year (especially on the 25%, 75% stats for GREs, GPA's and other student outcomes for applicants (e.g % accepted/ denied) as listed on http://www.petersons.com.) Basically, will aim a little lower in rank for the schools and try to get with schools that have faculty and think tanks that match my research interests a little better (e.g. African civil wars, authoritarianism); Will try to get published for the first time and make some contact with academics that share my interests, maybe do a prison poetry workshop.

Am trying to keep my eyes on the overall aims in my life vocationally (e.g. writing books on obstacles to peace and democracy, working with non-profits, ideally establishing a scholars retreat), and see the PhD as only one possible means to these ends. Will try to avoid the tunnel vision of aiming primarily for a professorship in academia (my 20 years as an adjunct has not been bad, just restrictive professionally and a bit socially), a professorship ideal which is progressively becoming more out of reach for even some of the most published ivy league applicants with impeccable stats. There's a lot of work to be done in this troubled world and a PhD may or may not be the best avenue to making our best contributions (or even to making a buck). nina aka liz gurley flynn

[nina gorman]

Re: aspirant for the peace corps. I'd consider carefully all the pros and cons. They were known in the sixties through the eighites for their spying on civic sector and rebel organiztions in Third world countries (a speaker that left the peace corps for this reason spoke at my college on this) and most recently have gotten some bad press due to someone leaking the return of their surveillance role. There's plenty of NGOs to choose from (e.g.Oxfam, Friends,) that aren't tainted as representatives of U.S. government , a gov that is mistrusted of course in the Third world due to its history of supporting dictatorships and resource extraction. Good Luck.

[MissingVandyCandy]

My plan B: Culinary School @ Le Cordon Blue

Never sell out for the 9-5! Resist on all counts.

[Minnesotan]

U.S. government , a gov that is mistrusted of course in the Third world due to its history of supporting dictatorships and resource extraction

You forgot: providing humanitarian aid; storm, drought, and famine relief; and aid in times of foreign invasion, in some cases. But nobody cares about the good things people do, of course.

[rising_star]

You forgot: providing humanitarian aid; storm, drought, and famine relief; and aid in times of foreign invasion, in some cases. But nobody cares about the good things people do, of course.

Even so, it's definitely important to weigh the good and the bad. Not all PC volunteers are welcomed with truly open arms.

[historygirl]

I had two friends that did PC in Africa (one in Kenya, and one in Malawi). Rising_star's concerns were never an issue. FWIW, both friends were teachers.

[TMP]

I am sorely hoping that I don't have to deal with Plan B. I still have ONE more school to hear from for PhD. Then it's time to switch gears to work with it to see if I can be considered for MA. I've already done it with one of my other schools and they've giving me a second chance by allowing me to send in a new SOP and my senior thesis for new writing sample. I am SO giddy over this. Like Cornell07 said, we'll see how much all of the feedback really helped. To be honest, when I wrote my new SOP, I thought about my old one. Now I'm like AH SHIT!!! I didn't really tell the whole story of why I suddenly switched interests within my field- which was a concern for some of the professors. They saw a lot of experience in one of the interests and just didn't seem to understand why dump it. Now this should be more focused. Also it now really shows that I can be incredibly engaging in the right kind of envrionment and demonstrate why I *think* I'm different from others in my field.

But I guess my Plan B was always to go back to Israel, pick up more Hebrew, and take some grad courses at Hebrew University and re-apply. Uh oh, the deadline for that program is in 2 weeks... and i have yet to lift a finger on this. Sometimes it's what I don't like about my field- the fact that I have to use my own resources to improve my application because of all the language requirements and unless I want to say "Fuck PhD" I can't really do anything else like teach history in high school or English in South America in the meantime.

[deianeira]

I am sorely hoping that I don't have to deal with Plan B. I still have ONE more school to hear from for PhD. Then it's time to switch gears to work with it to see if I can be considered for MA. I've already done it with one of my other schools and they've giving me a second chance by allowing me to send in a new SOP and my senior thesis for new writing sample. I am SO giddy over this. Like Cornell07 said, we'll see how much all of the feedback really helped. To be honest, when I wrote my new SOP, I thought about my old one. Now I'm like AH SHIT!!! I didn't really tell the whole story of why I suddenly switched interests within my field- which was a concern for some of the professors. They saw a lot of experience in one of the interests and just didn't seem to understand why dump it. Now this should be more focused. Also it now really shows that I can be incredibly engaging in the right kind of envrionment and demonstrate why I *think* I'm different from others in my field.

How did you go about asking to be considered for an MA? Can you do it for all disciplines or is it specific to a department?

[TMP]

Well... it sort of went like this. I had been in touch with this prof before, way back in the fall. Then I really got into her work over the winter and decided that I had to work with her if i could. So while I waited for the decisions to be made in the PhD, I pursued the website for another department that she's also very, very involved in and discovered that they had a MA. Either my memory really failed me or I was just stupid not to think that I could also send in a MA application to this program at the same time i sent in my PhD apps. So once I got rejected, I e-mailed the professor and asked for her feedback on my PhD and "admitted" that I was SO wrong, I should've applied for MA to deepen and broaden my knowledge in that field before applying for PhD. She replied and said that it would be great to get a MA and supported my decision to move my application over. Also she hinted that she would like to see my senior thesis to really believe that i can think and write! (Now I think this is where the LORs played a role...)

But the actual technical process is far more complicated and is really best done by your programs- the department you were rejected from and the department you want to try MA for. There's a lot of paperwork involved for them so that you don't have to fill out a new app or pay another $60 fee. I suggest talking to the professor that you want to work with and see what s/he thinks, and then talk to the secretary/director of grad admissions in your department... I just basically had to say "Look, I really, really want to go to your school. I realize that I should get my MA so I can improve my chances for a PhD later. So is it possible to move the application over for MA consideration?" A little sincerity goes a long way. Like a friend said, they're probably already impressed that you even tried for the PhD.

[Louiselab]

aaaaah PolythenePam!

I'm sorry i just love any beatles reference...

I second the cordon bleu... I would love to be a pastry chef, personally. I currently suffer from francophobia, so i'd prefer a german/italian pastry style, but i've given this some thought... My top 10 plan Bs are the following:

1. Be Barbra Streisand.

2. Disney Character. preferably Goofy if I'm tall enough.

3. CIA Agent. I was watching 3 days of the condor this weekend, and Robert Redford's job as a reader for codes seemed like fun... til they killed everyone. but before that it looked good.

4. Person who stands in washington square park and tells everyone how much time they have til the next round of classes starts. it's filled now, but i figure the guy's got to go on vacation sometime. or even the guard who yells "make room for a friend"

5. NYPD traffic unit. you get a three wheeler, and the power to give tickets... sounds awesome to me.

6. Jessica Fletcher. I would be willing to live in a small new england town and solve murders. Ability to solve campus murders has to be a plus, right?

7. Mechanic so I could restore old cars. preferably 50s-early 60s cadillacs.

8. Record Store clerk. Employee discount + Rare Beatles Section= happiness.

9. someone on CSI or Law and Order. The people are generally better looking on CSI, so I would probably have to be on Law and Order.

and if 1-9 don't pan out...

9 and 1/2. the person on the kashi commercial who goes around looking for food that's healthy and tastes great for you. that looks like fun.

10. Apply for a MA program in history. Sure it's #10, but it's a possibility if being barbra streisand doesn't work out.

[4givn1]

Last year I only applied to two schools, only one of which was a good match. Not too great, but I didn't have time with finishing a Master's and all the other work I had to do with it. Got rejected to both. Spent the summer fighting discouragement and trying to get the strength to send more applications for jobs out. But I got a position teaching for a year at a private college in my field--a really good job where I can earn some money and get some good training and experience--the first resume I sent out. And I applied again.

If I don't get in, I'll probably consider doing the same. If I don't get in within another year or two, I'll think about going back to school and getting a degree in an area where a Ph.D. isn't needed and jobs are more common. I'm not letting it get to me. First of all, I'm too busy with my work to do so. I'm still embarrassed at my lack of faith and immaturity reacting to the rejections when the opportunity I got was better (for me, and overall) and I know miracles can happen. And, I know it is also most likely that a total list of rejections will happen because the economy is terrible, everyone is either going back to school or staying in school, and there is just not a lot of money.

[XtraTuf]

For the record, I've never been dead-set on grad school. Even now that I'm in grad school I'm not all that attached to it. However, a Master's degree has become a prerequesite for most permanent positions in my field, and since I'd like to be able to work without moving around all the time, I'm willing to jump through some hoops to get there.

I wound up applying during my senior year of college to two schools. School A rejected me (along with 90% of the other applicatns) but by the time that rejection rolled around I decided I didn't really want to go there anyway. I was done with major city living. The other school had rolling admissions and when I hadn't heard back by April, I started making other plans. I think that was for the better since I was a bit burned out with school. I applied for some summer jobs and landed one in my field. I made a promise to my significant other that I'd go where he was working in the fall and withdrew my application only to find out I would have been admitted. (I reapplied the next year and got in no problem).

I'm a grad student but I've still got a plan B (and C and D...). I'm willing to try new things. If something happens to screw me over in my program (i.e. if experiment fails and I can't complete my thesis) I'm not afraid to leave. I know I can learnand that there are many jobs which would make me happy. If grad school doesn't work out, or if I don't like my first couple jobs, who knows? I'd try being a baker. I'd try being a tutor. I'd be willing to volunteer overseas.

Life is about so much more than work and school. I'd regret it if I became so work-o-holic that I lost my relationship. I'd regret if I missed out on raising kids in a few years. I'd regret it if I didn't have chances to travel. However, I don't think I'd regret not spending enough time invested in my career.

[rafnow]

[quote name="Louiselab

[YolkiZelyoni]

I can speak towards the Peace Corps thing - I am a current volunteer. I applied following undergrad. I did not apply for any MA programs - I majored in International Studies and wanted some real world experience before trying for a Masters (plus I was ready for a break from school for a bit). I certainly think PC service looks good - I went to a well regarded undergrad and did not really exert myself, which shows. I took the GRE in October, did well enough, and am now applying for my MA. I feel that at least one program that has already accepted me would probably not have done so with out the 2+ years of experience I can put down to my service.

[Paradoxex22]

If you're doing it out of school, and not as the 5th thing you've done to keep you out of the real world, it doesn't look just good, depending on the field it looks phenomenal.

International programs and MPPs love that sort of experience. It adds an experience unique to 95% of the applicants who will be applying for top tier programs. I know one of the MPP programs I've been admitted to has around 10-15 PC alums in its admitted class. If you have good stats (or average, really) but a compelling story to tell and a PC experience to back it up, I think it elevates your reach in terms of the caliber of programs you can consider...a lot. Remember, these are seminal experiences that should inform your SOP, etc. Actually drink the kool-aid and get a lot from the experience, and that will show through....and you'll actually be what top programs, at least in relevant fields, are looking for.

[hopingforfunding]

What about Teach for America? I am not applying but my boyfriend is and have heard it is like the Peace Corps "for my generation." It is not as prestigious as the PC but do you think it will still be good for graduate school after the two years of teaching are over? He is not sure if he wants to do Medicine or Graduate School and so wanted to get some real world experience and help build his service resume before he decides. Any thoughts?

[amanda1655]

There is very little benefit for graduate school unless it directly relates to your interests. I can see someone making a convincing case for a Masters of Public Health degree based on their experiences working with underprivileged kids who have little access to health care and realizing the effect that it has had their education. I can also see TFA helping someone who is interested in African American literature or immigrant experiences in the United States. Education people are obviously very interested. At one of our last meetings, an admissions rep from Harvard came to speak to our corps about applying to their education program.

Law school is a completely different story. There are several law schools that have established special fellowships, fee-waivers, and other incentives to lure in corps members. I think that they are heavily courted because they have already been vetted once for academic ability and leadership, and they have shown an interest in public service. It seems to have less of a benefit for medicine. Most of the partnerships with medical schools offer two-year deferrals. A few offer academic credit but that's it.

There are excellent opportunities after your corps experience. After I finished my commitment, I received recruiting information from companies like Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan. I have absolutely no business background or I might have been interested.

On a side note, no one should apply to Teach for America unless they have a sincere interest in teaching underprivileged kids. Teach for America was one of the most difficult times of my life. TFA's promotional literature shows cute students who are motivated to learn. Your boyfriend will have a few of those... but more common will be students who are angry and occasionally violent. I taught fourth grade, and I had more than a few students who were suspended for beating other children, throwing chairs, etc. One of my friends' students hit another kid on the head with crowbar on the way to school. Were there times when it was incredibly rewarding? Of course. Did I help some of my students increase their academic achievement and set them on the path to success? Yes, though, not nearly as many as I would have liked. Would I do it again? I don't know.

[hopingforfunding]

amanda1655, thank you for your input. My boyfriend does have an interest in teaching underprivileged children and he is hoping to make a difference in at least of few of their lives and encourage them to continue to further education. I also agree that it will be one of the hardest things he will ever do in his life, but also hope that it will be rewarding for him and his students in the end. He has his interview coming up in a few weeks. Do you mind me asking what you are doing now after you have finished TFA? Also, what made you decide to do TFA instead of graduate school? Thank you!