Is anyone else just way too anxious?

[HaoJu]

Sounds just like what I've been doing...Super anxious these these days. Especially, according to gradcafe, McGill MISt usually give out their offer at the end of Jan... 29 Jan to 6 Feb or so.

Somehow I guess I'm getting rejected. My research proposal, which was based on a paper I published a whole year ago, is more about firmware prototyping... whereas I guess the information school wants someone more software related. I wanted to write to my POI asking for updates, as my RA contract is ending this early April and I need to tell my supervisor if I'm renewing or not, but am still too afraid of being told she's got a better match. 

[Ternwild]

18 hours ago, TheHoff said:

This is my third year applying, 1st time got an acceptance without funding from UCSC, 2nd time I got the same from UCSC and got accepted also without funding at UCSB, which is my top choice as I studied there as an exchange student, worked there in the summer and got my first publication. I love that place so much!

On the past week some people posted about being accepted at the ECE program there and since then my hope started going downwards since from my last 2 experiences if you don't make it on the first wave, you're pretty much done.

To see if I can get some information to calm down a bit or get my rejection already, I just wrote to the graduate adviser, which I met during a visit in July and she seemed like a great person, so I imagine if she can disclose any helpful information, she will. Now the wait begins for yet another email...

I know that pain, man.  I really do.

[Teaching Faculty Wannabe]

12 hours ago, StHoly said:

Congrats for your BU acceptances! I"m waiting for mine now... And thank you!  I expected the MIT. Even meeting the prof there didn't give me any chance which means I have no chance to begin with lol! 

  Can't wait to hear back! Do you think they send out invitations in waves or set time? Should I give up? It could be a little different between MSE and BME in BU though. 

Thanks! I honestly thought about applying to MIT, but knew I wasn’t going to get in, so never tried. At least you took that chance and tried!

Definitely don’t give up. I am sure BME and MSE do different things, so don’t give up on BU just yet. I feel like schools sometimes do send out invited in waves. I hope the best for you! 

[brighteyes]

What's making me more anxious is the fact that I haven't even gotten rejected from anywhere yet. I'm just sitting over here in silence. I talked with all of my POIs prior to applying to the programs, had 2 Skype calls with my top choice back in October, and an interview with my 2nd choice last week. I wish I could get anything-- even a rejection would be better than the waiting in silence.

[StHoly]

2 hours ago, Moods said:

Thanks! I honestly thought about applying to MIT, but knew I wasn’t going to get in, so never tried. At least you took that chance and tried!

Definitely don’t give up. I am sure BME and MSE do different things, so don’t give up on BU just yet. I feel like schools sometimes do send out invited in waves. I hope the best for you! 

Just got rejections from BU but thanks!! 

[nexttosomewhatnormal]

Wow, do I relate to all of this. My anxiety, which is normally already pretty high, has been ridiculous lately. The rejections are such a hard blow and really difficult to stop thinking about... especially because I got rejected from two schools where I thought I had a pretty good chance, seeing as I did research at one of them just last summer. So... that's been really fun. I had one interview and have two more lined up but tbh I'm sort of so disheartened and frustrated by this entire process that I don't even know if I'm excited for grad school anymore, which is really sad. I know at least two people from the first interview have been accepted (and within just a few days) and I have heard absolutely nothing, even though I thought the interview went really well. "Pending" is currently my least favorite word in existence. I generally try to be a pretty positive person, but I think I underestimated just how upsetting this all could be. 

[historygeek]

One of the programs I really have my eye on has sent out their MA admits, which they send out first! I hope that means I'll get good news soon (I applied for their PhD program). I'm just trying to tell myself that they'll probably let me know sometime next week... hopefully. 

[zeugini]

On 1/25/2019 at 4:14 PM, scthorne said:

A few days ago, I looked though the results and found that two of the schools I've applied to sent out some acceptances on the equivalent of today last year (Jan 26 2018). The result of this realization? I've been able to focus on literally nothing else today and am constantly refreshing the results page, the application pages of those schools, and my email in the hopes that something will appear. Like, I've been doing this literally ever 2 minutes.

 

Anyone else experiencing something similar?

This was me for the last two weeks on top of finding another job (the lab I was working at closed over a month ago and still no job offers). I've looked at the trends of acceptances for the program where I interviewed. I figured I'd hear back a week ago. Now I'm kind of letting go of that hope and only checking every couple of hours. It's getting clearer that I'm not a first round pick for them. I feel like those guys at the NFL Draft that are there in person for the first round and watch all the teams go on without picking them?

[Teaching Faculty Wannabe]

2 hours ago, StHoly said:

Just got rejections from BU but thanks!! 

Oh no, I am so sorry :(.

[Ternwild]

6 hours ago, zeugini said:

I feel like those guys at the NFL Draft that are there in person for the first round and watch all the teams go on without picking them?

This reference is lost on me. 

[havemybloodchild]

1 hour ago, Ternwild said:

This reference is lost on me. 

Hahahaha, same.

#sportsball

[Kiyoshi]

Me literally.

I applied for only one CS PhD program last year, which is from my Master university: my thesis advisor had a talk with me and promised he would accept me. I did not apply for any other program at all. But in the end he failed to keep the promise and I never received the offer, after which I knew from a lab chat that he promised to accept 4 students while he can only take one...

So I am now taking a gap year and being very vey cautious this year. I applied for 15 programs. Only heard from one of them for an interview later this week. And when I see my first choice program is sending out many offers this week I felt hopeless. On the other hand, I am worried I will not be good enough in the interview and get a rejection...

[elx]

On 1/26/2019 at 11:13 PM, CanadianHopeful said:

I think mine will start coming in two weeks or so but still checking email and all my application portals constantly even though I know its the weekend and theres no chance to hear anything right now. Applied to 5, wish I applied to 10 just  in case.

Big mood. I started applying way too late so missed out on all the Dec 1st deadline programmes, and some of them would've been better fits than the ones I did end up applying to.

Also, every morning I wake up and think, ah! this is a nice day! im not gonna ruin it by going on gradcafe! and yet, as if by no action of my own, it's the first thing I look at. Then I convince myself that there's no point to check again until the evening at least. But by the evening, I'll have refreshed it enough times I memorise all the results for 'history' - including unis I didn't even apply to/look at. lol.

[Ternwild]

6 hours ago, elx said:

Big mood. I started applying way too late so missed out on all the Dec 1st deadline programmes, and some of them would've been better fits than the ones I did end up applying to.

Also, every morning I wake up and think, ah! this is a nice day! im not gonna ruin it by going on gradcafe! and yet, as if by no action of my own, it's the first thing I look at. Then I convince myself that there's no point to check again until the evening at least. But by the evening, I'll have refreshed it enough times I memorise all the results for 'history' - including unis I didn't even apply to/look at. lol.

So, I've learned over the years that watching acceptances go through does literally nothing but upset you.  There's nothing you can do, anymore. You can't call and beg--believe me, if that was a thing, I'd be calling every day.  You just have to let the week go by and just hope you get an email that week.  If you don't, check the websites over the weekend.  In the mean while, share your misery with those who are struggling and try to ignore the people who got acceptances as their excitement bleeds out onto the forums.  Literally nothing more you can do.

[crackademik]

12 minutes ago, Ternwild said:

So, I've learned over the years that watching acceptances go through does literally nothing but upset you.  There's nothing you can do, anymore. You can't call and beg--believe me, if that was a thing, I'd be calling every day.  You just have to let the week go by and just hope you get an email that week.  If you don't, check the websites over the weekend.  In the mean while, share your misery with those who are struggling and try to ignore the people who got acceptances as their excitement bleeds out onto the forums.  Literally nothing more you can do.

I actually did try to call and beg once. Can confirm it does not work. 

[elx]

17 minutes ago, Ternwild said:

So, I've learned over the years that watching acceptances go through does literally nothing but upset you.  There's nothing you can do, anymore. You can't call and beg--believe me, if that was a thing, I'd be calling every day.  You just have to let the week go by and just hope you get an email that week.  If you don't, check the websites over the weekend.  In the mean while, share your misery with those who are struggling and try to ignore the people who got acceptances as their excitement bleeds out onto the forums.  Literally nothing more you can do.

All the days in January have been the longest, it's insane!

[clehman13]

Oh yea, definitely. Waiting has not been kind to my mental state. Looking at how qualified everyone else is that's getting accepted, I'm worried that I'll be denied to all my schools. I really wish that they would come out and tell me that I'm under-qualified right now. Yea, that would suck, but I wouldn't be stuck not knowing. Getting rejected now means that I can look for jobs and get over the negative emotions of being rejected sooner. It's even more frustrating when you bring this up with other people and they tell you not to worry about it and that's it's out of your control. It's like, well yea, that's why it's so frustrating. Or even worse is that they tell you that "surely the programs aren't as competitive as you say they are" without actually having ever applied to graduate school. I get that they're trying to be helpful, but that doesn't ever really help with the anxiety. 

[brighteyes]

I asked my undergrad mentor when I should start freaking out that I hadn't heard from my top program (who I had a Skype conversation with in October, and another with her grad student the following week). She just told me "not yet". Haha. Easier said than done!  

[Ternwild]

FYI, from the last 30 schools I applied to over the last two years, i have noticed that nearly all of the rejections come in around Feb 14th.  The Jan 15 applications, it is usually around Mar 3rd.  So...here's hoping the next 2 weeks is good for you all.  It clearly won't be for me xD

[historygeek]

NYU has sent out a history acceptance.... I feel like Michael Scott with the fire drill. oh my god it's happening everyone stay calm

[TheHoff]

4 hours ago, elx said:

All the days in January have been the longest, it's insane!

Yeah, today it feels like January 78th of 2019 lol.

I emailed the graduate advisor at my first choice, she told me that my app is on the queue and results can go out until May 1st! To someone that was expecting to hear something until April 15th, that didn't help much.

[Ternwild]

1 hour ago, TheHoff said:

Yeah, today it feels like January 78th of 2019 lol.

I emailed the graduate advisor at my first choice, she told me that my app is on the queue and results can go out until May 1st! To someone that was expecting to hear something until April 15th, that didn't help much.

They literally only say that so you stop messaging them.  I've had professors say "Well, if you haven't received a rejection that means you're still in it!"  Turns out, they just haven't sent out their mass rejections, yet.  They use all sorts of excuses to stop being spammed by scared/worried grad prospects.

[TheHoff]

16 minutes ago, Ternwild said:

They literally only say that so you stop messaging them.  I've had professors say "Well, if you haven't received a rejection that means you're still in it!"  Turns out, they just haven't sent out their mass rejections, yet.  They use all sorts of excuses to stop being spammed by scared/worried grad prospects.

Yeah, I imagine that is the case, they probably receive dozens of such emails every day.

I just don't understand why they don't send the rejections to the people that have no chance quicker. Schools usually have under 15% of acceptance rate, I imagine that they read at least half of the applicants and be like "hell no", so why keep them waiting until late March, early April?

[Ternwild]

9 minutes ago, TheHoff said:

Yeah, I imagine that is the case, they probably receive dozens of such emails every day.

I just don't understand why they don't send the rejections to the people that have no chance quicker. Schools usually have under 15% of acceptance rate, I imagine that they read at least half of the applicants and be like "hell no", so why keep them waiting until late March, early April?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[brighteyes]

Big mood.