Post here to get your worries off your chest

[Nothingtown]

Excitement: I have prospectives' weekend coming up with Baylor! It's simultaneously exciting and anxiety inducing, but definitely a good thing. 

Worries: I keep seeing people post acceptances for programs I applied to. My inbox is empty--no word on waitlists, rejections....nothing. It's making me feel inadequate, kind of like when someone ghosts you. Any kind of update would be preferable. I suppose I could stop checking the results page, but I don't see the value in keeping myself in the dark either.  

[PNWFTW]

Worried: I sent an email to one of the POIs I am applying to and I haven't contacted anyone because I was just going to wait. But I have had radio silence no interviews no nothing and so I sent a short and professional email since I want to work with her even if I do not get in. I feel like that was a mistake.  I am worried that I wont get into a program and I wont be able to get a position in research post-graduation to gain more research experience because I gotta work.

 

Excitement: And I will have a great masters, rock'in back up plans, a PhD is far from the key to happiness, so nothing is the end of the world....

 

Worried: So why am I still stressed anyway?????

[LittleSarah]

On 2/9/2019 at 11:58 AM, prodmod said:

I also got out of finance and went back to finish my undergrad at 29. Just about to turn 31 and got into an MFA program and waiting on two more. Your 30s are the PERFECT time to go back to school, and tbh your age and world experience are a competitive advantage when it comes to grad programs. 

In my 30s here too! Very encouraging to hear from others doing the same! Thank you!

Worries:

Rejection, making no real progress in life, except possibly starting the whole process over again.

Excitement: 

The possibility of getting in and moving ahead in career/life, discovering the fully funded programs that are available, which is what encourages me to try in the first place, and learning that trying all of this in your 30s is actually a good thing by most accounts!! 

Positive vibes and thoughts to everyone!

[politkal]

Is there anyone else here applying for postgraduate programmes in philosophy based in the U.K?

I'm still awaiting a decision from the Ox and UCL, the wait is so long and it is tearing me up inside...

[goosejuice]

Worries: I have a a visit coming up early next week with my third-ranked choice out of seven. Last year, my only visit was a confidence disaster halfway through the trip. It was my only real possibility to get accepted somewhere, and it all crashed down on me when I met my competition. I was able to see how my prospective was interested in these students and became somewhat unsure as to why my he was interested enough in me to invite me in the first place. At that point, I already had a bunch of rejections and pretty much accepted my defeat. I am more confident in my academic fit with my prospective this time around, but it has been a while since I have been able to talk about any sort of academic work, so I hope I don't stall when it comes to talking about potential projects. I also hope there is mutual personability. The lingering feeling of last year's singular visit is haunting me. I am also hoping that I don't hear any major rejections during the trip.

Excitement: After all is said and done, even if I don't get in anywhere this time around, I will be looking forward to moving out of the state I grew up in and living somewhere new, for a change. I am more confident in my applications and choices this time around. I was naive last year and learned a lot about how I stack up to other applicants in my field. I know I am still competitive, just not top of the top, and that's fine with me.

Edited February 15, 2019 by goosejuice

[toxicmoss]

Worries: I've heard back from 3 schools, 5 of my other 6 have started sending acceptances so I'm taking that as an implied rejection meaning I didn't get into any University of California programs, which is what I was hoping for, and I'm not sure how that'll reflect on me in regards to 'placements' and whatever program I come from 

Excitement: Like I've heard elsewhere, you only really need the one acceptance, so no Round 3 for me

[vallaboop]

Worries: I'm incredibly anxious about my upcoming interview and I am worried that I will blow it. The obstacles I went through during my undergrad negatively affected my GPA and my transcript is all over the place. While I tried to make up for this by first getting my MS and working full time as a research assistant I am afraid I am still not good enough. I'm also afraid that my mind will go blank when I am asked questions and that I will stumble over my words and sound like an idiot. I'm also worried that I am getting too old (I turn 29 next week) and that with each failed round my soul dies a little bit.

Excitement: On the other hand I am excited for the opportunity and potential to work with an amazing women and earn my PhD from an amazing school. (not trying to get my hopes up or anything...)

[mntfr]

Honestly, rejections feel the worst, they are pretty much saying "Hey that thing that you worked 4 to 6 years of your life for? Well fat chance kid"

[Ternwild]

Worries: That's 7 of 15...not looking good this year; like the others.

Excitement: ...

[Renalee]

Worries: I've had three of my four interviews already and have only heard back from the first one (a rejection). I've seen two acceptances so far in the results section for the other two schools and I've just had radio silence. I wish I'd just hear something back! It's very disheartening since I felt like these past two interviews went quite well and I got nice replies from some of the thank you emails I'd sent after the interviews.

 

Excitement: I...still have my job if I don't get in anywhere? It's hard to be excited about anything at the moment.

[aliceinbinary]

Worries: Only applied to 5 CS grad programmes, all long shots. Got 1 rejection, no interviews so far

Excitement: My undergrad advisors/profs are so encouraging and are such gems (which leads to a cyclical worry... disappointing them ha!)

[yjkim192]

1 hour ago, aliceinbinary said:

Worries: Only applied to 5 CS grad programmes, all long shots. Got 1 rejection, no interviews so far

Excitement: My undergrad advisors/profs are so encouraging and are such gems (which leads to a cyclical worry... disappointing them ha!)

I know this felling. It's like why was I so confident when applying? I should of applied to more safe schools but it's too late to retreat  

[Ternwild]

14 minutes ago, yjkim192 said:

I know this felling. It's like why was I so confident when applying? I should of applied to more safe schools but it's too late to retreat  

This is my life.  They tell you you're rock star and then you have 15 schools disagree. xD  I need to be more cautious with what I apply to.  In the end, I think I will take just about any grad school that will take me, at this point.

[TheHoff]

2 minutes ago, Ternwild said:

This is my life.  They tell you you're rock star and then you have 15 schools disagree. xD  I need to be more cautious with what I apply to.  In the end, I think I will take just about any grad school that will take me, at this point.

That's exactly how I feel too! I have been told from a lot of people, including prospective POIs that I have a great profile and chances of admission are pretty high. Right now I'm on my third year applying and it is not looking good 

[Ternwild]

2 minutes ago, TheHoff said:

That's exactly how I feel too! I have been told from a lot of people, including prospective POIs that I have a great profile and chances of admission are pretty high. Right now I'm on my third year applying and it is not looking good 

You should apply to some clutch masters programs.  That's what I'm doing.  I'm panickingly applying to every university that has a deadline before April 15th xD.

[TheHoff]

1 minute ago, Ternwild said:

You should apply to some clutch masters programs.  That's what I'm doing.  I'm panickingly applying to every university that has a deadline before April 15th xD.

Problem is that I'm finishing my Masters next month! Even if I was not, I couldn't afford to pay for a Masters in the US.

Actually, the sole reason for me to apply to only 4 programs was money :(

[Ternwild]

Just now, TheHoff said:

Problem is that I'm finishing my Masters next month! Even if I was not, I couldn't afford to pay for a Masters in the US.

Actually, the sole reason for me to apply to only 4 programs was money

That's fair.  Whelp, wish you luck.  I, too, am hoping I get into Colorado State.  Currently, I am applying to a total of 16 programs.  4 of them, tonight...

[TheHoff]

4 minutes ago, Ternwild said:

That's fair.  Whelp, wish you luck.  I, too, am hoping I get into Colorado State.  Currently, I am applying to a total of 16 programs.  4 of them, tonight...

Good luck to you too! Let's hope we get into CSU even though is not my/our first choice! I don't know for physics but for CS there are only a couple results posted on the survey so I really have no idea when/what to expect from them.

What really gets my gears grinding was that when I studied abroad at UCSB, after finishing my summer internship, the professor said I did a great job and he encouraged me to pursue graduate studies, even wrote LoR on my behalf and I still didn't get in. Well, I did receive an offer on Apr/17 but it was without funding so it was not very helpful.

Let's hope for better luck this year, even though numerous people already posted acceptances from there...

[Ternwild]

On 2/15/2019 at 8:32 PM, TheHoff said:

Good luck to you too! Let's hope we get into CSU even though is not my/our first choice! I don't know for physics but for CS there are only a couple results posted on the survey so I really have no idea when/what to expect from them.

What really gets my gears grinding was that when I studied abroad at UCSB, after finishing my summer internship, the professor said I did a great job and he encouraged me to pursue graduate studies, even wrote LoR on my behalf and I still didn't get in. Well, I did receive an offer on Apr/17 but it was without funding so it was not very helpful.

Let's hope for better luck this year, even though numerous people already posted acceptances from there...

Shoot, in F18, I applied to WashU.  In F17 I got accepted to WashU and spoke to my POI there, but wasn't able to attend.  That POI petitioned to have me accepted to the PhD program in F18 AND I knew the Director of Admissions.  As luck would have it, he was out of town and not apart of the the admissions committee that year, but put in a good word.  I still got rejected in F18 and F19. xD  Nothing is ever sure, man.

[CanadianHopeful]

Another Friday gone, still radio silence, but at least all my applications are at the faculty level now.  I believe a lot of the universities I applied to have a reading week next week and this week and the next is traditionally when decisions come out from them, so we'll see. To make matters worse, my girlfriend has been fighting with me since she doesn't want me to be away for so long while she finishes her degree and basically told me to 'learn to code' instead. Yeah. That happened. She wants me to do another undergraduate in computer science because ?? I have no idea where she got the idea. Maybe because I use python and R to do data analysis? Either way, I'm worried I won't get in anywhere and even applying may have irredeemably damaged my relationship. 

[yjkim192]

3 hours ago, CanadianHopeful said:

Another Friday gone, still radio silence, but at least all my applications are at the faculty level now.  I believe a lot of the universities I applied to have a reading week next week and this week and the next is traditionally when decisions come out from them, so we'll see. To make matters worse, my girlfriend has been fighting with me since she doesn't want me to be away for so long while she finishes her degree and basically told me to 'learn to code' instead. Yeah. That happened. She wants me to do another undergraduate in computer science because ?? I have no idea where she got the idea. Maybe because I use python and R to do data analysis? Either way, I'm worried I won't get in anywhere and even applying may have irredeemably damaged my relationship. 

How do you know if your applications are at the faculty level?

[crackademik]

On 2/15/2019 at 8:36 PM, Ternwild said:

Shoot, in F18, I applied to WashU.  In F17 I got accepted to WashU and spoke to my POI there, but wasn't able to attend.  That POI petitioned to have me accepted to the PhD program in F18 AND I knew the Director of Admissions.  As luck would have it, he was out of town and not apart of the the admissions committee that year, but put in a good word.  I still got rejected in F18 and F19. xD  Nothing is ever sure, man.

So I applied to GW with one of my LOR coming from a prestigious alum from that program AND an email to the department chair from my division chief at work (who is also an alum from this school) and I'm pretty certain I got rejected. I actually emailed the professor who interviewed me today, and let's just say the response was...not positive. 

[GradAppl5]

Worried: Think I messed up my interviews. Started channeling a stiffly nodding, squeakily answering person in one. The other lasted a little over ten minutes, which is not a good sign. I also need help with not checking my emails so obsessively. 

Excited: Interviews were from my top choices! That's one step closer. Going back to school this fall feels less like a distant reality now. 

[Ternwild]

11 hours ago, CanadianHopeful said:

Another Friday gone, still radio silence, but at least all my applications are at the faculty level now.  I believe a lot of the universities I applied to have a reading week next week and this week and the next is traditionally when decisions come out from them, so we'll see. To make matters worse, my girlfriend has been fighting with me since she doesn't want me to be away for so long while she finishes her degree and basically told me to 'learn to code' instead. Yeah. That happened. She wants me to do another undergraduate in computer science because ?? I have no idea where she got the idea. Maybe because I use python and R to do data analysis? Either way, I'm worried I won't get in anywhere and even applying may have irredeemably damaged my relationship. 

I know the reason she doesn't want you to leave is because she doesn't think that your relationship can survive a long distance.  Which, for most of them, they don't.  Whether it will or not is hard to tell and largely depends on how long your relationship has gone on for and how strong it is, now.

With all that speculation, aside, the most important thing is this: if you're in a relationship with someone who doesn't want to support their dreams, but expects you to support theirs, you should reconsider your relationship situation. 

That said, I suggest asking people on /r/relationships. 

[literalturtle]

On 1/28/2019 at 5:16 PM, clehman13 said:

My GF told me not to worry because she said I sounded qualified, but I don't think she realizes how much more qualified everyone else is

THIS. My partner keeps telling me that there aren't people who have worked as hard as I have, and there aren't a lot of people applying for my degree program. It always gives me hope, but it's a total false hope. I'm seeing people with many publications, and all I have is a year and a half of being a research assistant with one poster and supposedly a publication but no update from PI. Not to mention average GRE scores and a slightly above average GPA...