*I is stressed* venting thread for Fall 2020 Applicants

[Aghhhhh]

Just got my first rejection! Guess I can cross that one off!

[2ndTimeHopeful]

3 minutes ago, Aghhhhh said:

Just got my first rejection! Guess I can cross that one off!

Which school & was it email or in the portal? 

[Modulus]

4 hours ago, emdreaming said:

This is a really stressful time. Be kind to yourself and do something nice for yourself just because. This is my third application cycle, and I can say that I have watched so many amazing, qualified, wonderful candidates get rejected, and some candidates with a seriously unique/ atypical background get accepted. It is such a gamble that is often sprinkled with some combo of knowing the "right people", luck, hard work, being the right applicant at the right time, funding, and a million other variables that we aren't even aware of. You were probably confident because you are qualified. But being qualified doesn't always equal getting the spot. It is not about you and your self-worth, even though it is easy AF to feel that way. Look how many people are on here freaking out. And that's just the people who are on here and posting. Think about the thousands of applicants who are in your shoes. This does NOT define you. YOU define YOU. Keep your head up, keep busy, and keep going. Rejection is NOT the worst thing in the world, and sometimes, in a crazy way, it helps put you on the right path. 

YES. Rejections put me on my right path for sure.

52 minutes ago, whitmanic said:

27 with work experience, near perfect GRE scores, top 5-ranked undergrad institution, finishing a research psych master's, and just got 4 rejections in a row. I don't know what they want. Need to find a plan B for life...

PM me if you want. I'm a similar applicant who went through 3 bad rounds of applications before this one! I'm pulling for you this round of course, but I'm also happy to be an ear.

[Chekashi_69]

I bought a journal a few days ago titled "I'm So Freaking Freaked Out" which perfectly describes myself during this process. Helps to be able to write my worst fears down, but still doesn't prevent me from checking my email 20x a day!!! 

What's worse is anticipating a school to reach out to applicants for interviews on a specific day based on data from previous years and.... silence. 

Nonetheless, wishing everyone a great, stress-free weekend!

[Aghhhhh]

38 minutes ago, 2ndTimeHopeful said:

Which school & was it email or in the portal? 

UMSL, seemed like a mass email!

[JoePianist]

1 hour ago, whitmanic said:

27 with work experience, near perfect GRE scores, top 5-ranked undergrad institution, finishing a research psych master's, and just got 4 rejections in a row. I don't know what they want. Need to find a plan B for life...

Damn, that’s brutal :0 I’m 27 with mediocre GRE scores and went to an average state university for undergrad and got into a PhD Clinical Psychology program with guaranteed funding for five years...

Edited January 10, 2020 by JoePianist

[brainsRus]

I currently have heard from 2/10 schools and both were positive, resulting in interviews. Still very nervous if those don't go well since I haven't heard anything from the other 8. Just trying to remind myself that no word is probably a better sign than a rejection.

Supporting everyone from afar!!

[Psychtime]

I official rejection (no letter, but PI emailed me, as they knew me from before and wanted to give me a head's up). Pretty bummed. 

[Psychtime]

Question: Two of my schools, and only two, have sent me info to fill out FAFSA and scholarship applications. I have not heard from either of these schools yet regarding interviews/rejections. Do schools send the fin aid stuff to everyone? Or could it possibly be a good sign? Am I just grasping at straws here lol?

[MiddleOfSomeCalibrations]

22 hours ago, Su08 said:

Are there any international students here?

Does anybody knows if they review international students separately or maybe  like after they review domestic students?  I have no idea what is happening and I keep checking my emails like a hundred thousand times a day. I have applied to 11 phd programs in total. Recently, I sent them an email to inquire about my status and they told me that all applications are under evaluation but I know that for some program they have sent out their invites as i have seen in Gradcafe forums. I have no ideas if they are going to send more later or that was it.  Just feeling extremely stressed at this point. 

 

If I recall correctly, I remember reading that at least one Canadian school (forgot which one) reviews international applicants separate from Canadian applicants. 

Edited to add: @Su08, I took a look at your profile and I think you may have posted in the wrong forum/thread? This thread/forum is for Psychology applicants.

Edited January 11, 2020 by MiddleOfSomeCalibrations

[webbz_world93]

Hey everyone!

I hope everyone is having a good week (even with all the stresses of this application waiting game lol). I wanted to get an opinion on something. One of my programs of interest (Washington University in St. Louis) looks like they’ve been doing preliminary interviews with students; however, all of the posts on the Results section so far has shown rejections (I don’t recall seeing any invites to the in-person interview yet). I have not heard from the program at all yet. Does that mean there’s still hope? I want to think “no news is good news”, but I also am not quite sure if that applies to this.

Thanks for your feedback in advance! Meanwhile, going to play Animal Crossing where life is simple and I only have to water my plants ? 

[Vanilla Bean]

On 1/11/2020 at 10:29 AM, webbz_world93 said:

Hey everyone!

I hope everyone is having a good week (even with all the stresses of this application waiting game lol). I wanted to get an opinion on something. One of my programs of interest (Washington University in St. Louis) looks like they’ve been doing preliminary interviews with students; however, all of the posts on the Results section so far has shown rejections (I don’t recall seeing any invites to the in-person interview yet). I have not heard from the program at all yet. Does that mean there’s still hope? I want to think “no news is good news”, but I also am not quite sure if that applies to this.

Thanks for your feedback in advance! Meanwhile, going to play Animal Crossing where life is simple and I only have to water my plants ? 

Do you know when WashU's on-campus interview is? If it's very soon (in January) then I would just assume you are no longer in the running. However, if it's sometime in February, there may be still hope! It seems like at some institutions, faculty send out interview invites in batches rather than all at once. Also, if the interview weekend is not very soon, it is likely that your POI has not reviewed applications yet (especially since some schools are still on winter break and start classes back up this Monday). 

[webbz_world93]

On 1/11/2020 at 1:44 PM, lolhelp said:

Do you know when WashU's on-campus interview is? If it's very soon (in January) then I would just assume you are no longer in the running. However, if it's sometime in February, there may be still hope! It seems like at some institutions, faculty send out interview invites in batches rather than all at once. Also, if the interview weekend is not very soon, it is likely that your POI has not reviewed applications yet (especially since some schools are still on winter break and start classes back up this Monday). 

Thank you for your reply! I’m not sure when their in-person interview is. The only posts I’ve seen so far have been rejections, and I couldn’t find the date on WashU’s website. 

I didn’t even think about that! This is very true. I assumed all classes resumed last Monday, yet I forgot that usually isn’t the case (clear sign I’ve been out of school too long ?). 
 

I’ll keep my fingers crossed! Best of luck to you!  

[PsyZei]

17 hours ago, Psychtime said:

Question: Two of my schools, and only two, have sent me info to fill out FAFSA and scholarship applications. I have not heard from either of these schools yet regarding interviews/rejections. Do schools send the fin aid stuff to everyone? Or could it possibly be a good sign? Am I just grasping at straws here lol?

Unfortunately, I think this may just be something that some schools systems are set up to do for all applicants. I've had some of these, including one that was a week after I finished the application and before the application deadline was met (so before it was likely to have been reviewed). I might be wrong, though.

[SocDevMum]

20 hours ago, Psychtime said:

Question: Two of my schools, and only two, have sent me info to fill out FAFSA and scholarship applications. I have not heard from either of these schools yet regarding interviews/rejections. Do schools send the fin aid stuff to everyone? Or could it possibly be a good sign? Am I just grasping at straws here lol?

Might be a good sign if they sent you the request for info after the time they would have reviewed apps.  I had 2 programs that required me to upload a copy of my FAFSA to the application portal before it could be submitted, and the rest haven't asked for anything, so I imagine it just depends on the program. 

[Haybay0204]

I've been finding a lot of my stress is coming from comparing myself to other candidates, especially on this site (even though I just found it yesterday morning - oops).

One thing I'm trying to work on is reminding myself that we are all from different backgrounds and lives and it isn't even possible to accurately compare any of us. 

I'm also applying straight out of undergrad and I am quickly realizing that most people don't seem to take that route and I need to be easier on myself overall. 

[Justice4All]

Just received a rejection from University of Houston ?. I had already begun bookmarking apartments there ?.

 

In the words of Jay Z: on to the next one.

[Vanilla Bean]

9 minutes ago, Justice4All said:

Just received a rejection from University of Houston ?. I had already begun bookmarking apartments there ?.

 

In the words of Jay Z: on to the next one.

They are sending out official rejections!? Who emailed you? I also applied there, but have heard nothing! 

[Justice4All]

2 minutes ago, lolhelp said:

They are sending out official rejections!? Who emailed you? I also applied there, but have heard nothing! 

It's a sad situation lol. My best friend is actually in the lab I applied to so I found out via her. The committee met Wednesday and I believe invites have all been sent but I'll double check.

[psychologygeek]

the "unofficial rejections" are what's killing me. I DID hear from a program I really liked yesterday with an interview invite which was some MUCH needed confidence-boost, but seeing the results page knowing all of the invites have been sent out for some of my other schools is its own form of torture 

[Vanilla Bean]

1 minute ago, Justice4All said:

It's a sad situation lol. My best friend is actually in the lab I applied to so I found out via her. The committee met Wednesday and I believe invites have all been sent but I'll double check.

Also, I applied to the Social program and have only been seeing news from people that applied to the Clinical program for the most part, so I'm super confused with what's going on with the Social program lol. That would be nice to know if I'm already out of the running or not! 

[Justice4All]

Just now, lolhelp said:

Also, I applied to the Social program and have only been seeing news from people that applied to the Clinical program for the most part, so I'm super confused with what's going on with the Social program lol. That would be nice to know if I'm already out of the running or not! 

Ah yes, sorry don't know anything about the social program! I was applying clinical. Best of luck, I hope you get it!!

[Chugwater2020]

On 1/9/2020 at 6:42 PM, CatastrophizingNerd said:

I just got my plane tickets!

To Greece... where I'll be bartending until the next application cycle.

This wins the internet.  

Thank you for the laugh!

[PsyZei]

4 hours ago, psychologygeek said:

the "unofficial rejections" are what's killing me. I DID hear from a program I really liked yesterday with an interview invite which was some MUCH needed confidence-boost, but seeing the results page knowing all of the invites have been sent out for some of my other schools is its own form of torture 

I hear you! I don't actually have any idea when to expect invites to be going out for my programs because GradCafe doesn't have a Human Ecology forum (so I'm literally just floating back and forth between Psychology and Sociology) and without an actual place for the conversation, there hasn't been anything much posted about the programs interview dates and whatnot. So I'm just over hear like....

I know I should really just be happy with the invites I have, but one of my top choices is still in limbo.

[justacigar]

I took a much needed break from this forum over the weekend and y'all let me tell you, it was life changing! If you are finding yourself feeling extra stressed and anxious scrolling through everyone else's good news, especially if you have yet to hear back/have only heard about rejections so far, I suggest you do the same. Life isn't stopping for us just because we are waiting on potentially course-altering news. Be sure to live while you are waiting! 

I'm still nervous about the remaining schools I have yet to hear back from, but I'm much more at peace - whatever happens, happens. Remember this process has nothing to do with your self-worth or, in many cases, even your competence and fit for a PhD program. ❤️