How will you mourn?

[wanderlust07]

Viking. Funeral.

[nhyn]

I'd probably get angry for about a week. And make plans to bomb the places that rejected me...

...and then, maybe try something new. I've always been doing psych. Every summer - internship. Every semester - research. I feel like there's so much more out there I don't know about yet. Maybe I can try waiting tables (and quit after 6 months? ha.) I don't know, I think I'd need at least 2 years or so to recuperate and maybe find out for real if psych is the only thing I like and can commit to (I'm sure, right now, that I like it enough to stick with it for years. But, you know, it's like getting married - you don't know if there's anything better out there.)

And like a poster above said, we're young, so there's really no harm in trying

[ViridianMambo]

Well, my first rejection was last night, so I ordered greasy takeout, watched some old man TV about volcanoes, and went to bed too late. This morning, I worked out hardcore, and I feel better. Hope I can minimize the takeout and maximize the workouts once the rest of the rejections (ha!) come rolling in!

There's something oddly comforting about learning that pyroclastic flows make your brains boil and explode. Makes a grad rejection seem not quite as bad...

[MicrobeGirlie13]

Cry. Probably a lot of crying actually. Probably followed by a good chunk of time spent moping around. Then a whole lot of soul-searching. Then I'll clean myself up, and look for a better paying job (all this research experience has got to count for something!!) and think about applying next year.

And if I can't find a better job...apply to culinary school.

[neshmi]

I'm thinking positively. No rejections will come!!! (I keep telling myself this).

[OR_Dan]

I'm thinking positively. No rejections will come!!! (I keep telling myself this).

Yeah!!!! that's the spirit!! No use thinking about how bad it will be. We should all go over to the "How will you celebrate" thread instead.

[woolfie]

Yeah!!!! that's the spirit!! No use thinking about how bad it will be. We should all go over to the "How will you celebrate" thread instead.

Nah, see, if I get all excited about how I'm going to get in, when the rejection letters come, I will be let down. But if I assume I won't get in anywhere, and I do, it will be a happy surprise. I like setting my expectations very low, so that I am always pleasantly surprised.

[Zouzax]

"IF" (positive thinking here) I get all rejections, I would wait until the final day, when the last rejection comes in. Then, I would slowly walk to the nearby liquor store, buy the most expensive bottle of champagne I can afford, go home, and start drinking (regardless of time). When Im decidedly drunk enough, Ill call my family and friends and cry over my lost youth and general unworthiness.

After I get over the hangover and embarrassment, Ill realize that it means I have another 6 months to finish my thesis, and another whole year to attend and present at conferences without pesky classes being in the way. Ill claim to everyone that it's for the best. Ill take up yoga to fit my new, positive lifestyle. This will last approximately 6 months.

Then, come October, Ill start obsessively stalking school webpages again. Ill fill out and send the applications way too early because I can't TAKE having unfinished business. Ill be back, lurking on Grad Cafe and making the 'top poster' list every month. Ill stop taking yoga (no time, must stalk email), and will develop a bulge in my neck that I can't get rid of (it's really starting to worry me. Cant really look left at this point).

And the cycle will repeat, on and on, until finally, one day, I receive an acceptance.....

[space-cat]

Nah, see, if I get all excited about how I'm going to get in, when the rejection letters come, I will be let down. But if I assume I won't get in anywhere, and I do, it will be a happy surprise. I like setting my expectations very low, so that I am always pleasantly surprised.

My husband likes to say "low expectations are the key to happiness."

I'm a second timer. Last year, my application season concluded with a "consolation prize" (i.e. acceptance to the unfunded and crazy expensive MA program instead of the PhD) in mid-April. Cruel, really. At that point, I was so drained that I couldn't even muster the energy to be angry. I think I left work early, downed three glass of scotch (I'm classy that way), and then went to bed for about a week. Good times.

This year, I'm trying to be more...mature? sporting? zen?...about the whole process. As soon as I submitted my last application, I started formulating a detailed "plan B," in case history repeated itself. Doing that, instead of compulsively researching the places I might move to for grad school, has really helped me keep things in perspective. When I do receive a rejection (I applied to 8 schools, so I'm gonna get at least one), I intend to keep the ranting to a minimum and just treat it like a really expensive lottery. It sucks to lose, but I know damn well what the odds are and I played anyway. *shrug*

[mscongeniality1]

For every rejection letter I receive, I plan to treat myself to one drink and one Red Mango treat. If I get waitlisted, I get two drinks and two fro-yos (since I weirdly am dreading waitlists more than rejections).

[Tiglath-Pileser III]

Also, nothing worse than being a Ph.D. and not being able to get a job in academia or in industry. Your overqualified to most employers.

Overqualified, I wish!

Actually, what really happens is that an employer sees your qualifications, thinks those qualifications are typical, adds some additional qualifications on top of what you already have (because this is a really cool place that everyone wants to work at), writes the job posting, and then the pointy-hair manager tells you that you don't meet the minimum requirements for the job of stocking shelves at the supermarket. I get job postings like this from head-hunters all the time. Some of the postings I receive, no mere mortal human could possibly fill, i.e., must have 30 years of web 2.0 coding experience. And when you are hired, the manager treats you like he has condescended to letting you (a less-than-qualified grunt) work at such a wonderful place, so you should reward his trust by giving 200% on a 110-hour work week for a nickel above minimum wage. Just last week I received a job posting that required a graduate degree, certification in every conceivable technology, expert level knowledge in 10 different specializations, and a security clearance for a job that only ten years ago required no more than a BA and a little hands on experience.

Congratulations, you're contributing to your own qualification inflation!

[Tiglath-Pileser III]

If I wanted a job stocking shelves again I'd just leave out the fact I was a Ph.D. on my resume (provided I had a Ph.D.).

They won't give you that option... if you wanted to stock shelves again. Qualification inflation is fact of corporate life, you might as well just get used to it. Since I left the corporate world, I have received two graduate degrees and will have earned a third by June. The actual job duties have not changed significantly but the qualifications certainly have. I now get job postings that have really crazy requirements. The problem is if you do not fill those requirements, someone else will. Industry has learned that all it has to do is wait, and sooner or later someone will either rise to fill the position or lie their way into the position. Lying is another factor that has significantly aggravated the problem. When I was doing technical interviews, most of my job was validating that the job candidate really did what they claimed on their resume. A lot of people lie about having degrees on their resume. Sometimes they get caught, but often they don't. The net effect is that their lies devalue your earned degrees. The reason is because unqualified people are in degreed positions artificially increasing the supply of the "educated" same way counterfeit money devalue real currency. I had a boss who purchased all his degrees from degree mills, and this was at one of the leading high-tech companies whose name everyone would recognize. He used to brag that he never attended a single college class--it used to boil my blood to hear him say it. But while I slaved my way through my bachelor's degree, he slithered his way up the corporate ladder with fake credentials.

Most career jobs now require a minimum bachelors degree; however, less than 10% of those jobs requires any skills that are taught by such a degree. Many management jobs require a master's degree. Why? Because it narrows the pool to supposedly intelligent candidates.

So, if you want that job stocking shelves, you'd better dust off that Ph.D.

[abolitionista]

I will mourn by forgetting that I ever thought I was smart, become a socialite, and prance around LA looking for paparazzi! All this while dying inside...

[Sevi]

Drown my sorrows in frozen yogurt.

Then destroy the three ring binder full of papers, gre score print outs, SOPs, school info, and housing options that I worked on the past year.

Ditto