The ding of a new email

[cookd2]

My favorite so far has been one university I applied to sent me an email that said, "Congratulations! You will be pleased to know . . ." I almost stopped reading at that point as my body washed over with emotions, I paused, and then continued to read, "that your application. . ." double gulp! "has been forwarded to the department for review."

Really!

Yes, really.

Not as bad as this, but I woke up to an email today and checked it on my phone (which only shows the first word or two of the subject line). It was from some name I had never heard of and all I saw on the subject line was "Interview with..."

Turns out it was spam from Monster.com for an interview with..... Aflac.

Edited February 7, 2011 by cookd2

[EricaMarie]

I'm not sure if it's better or worse for my sanity that my email gets pushed to my iPhone. Better because I'll know one way or the other no matter where I am, and it cuts down on the waiting (I think). Worse because if I do get a rejection via email and I'm in public, that wouldn't be good. Also, it means that my heart goes pitter-pat everytime the email notification goes off...

[Moxie42]

This is the first time in my entire life I wait for mondays...

I was thinking the same thing. Yay! It's Monday!!

[Zouzax]

well got my first rejection today. funny how it was the one time i received a *ding* and didn't really care because I'm feeling very sickly and tired. Of course, I shouldve realized this was a bad omen. To tell you the truth, I'm not that upset. I figured I wasn't getting accepted as they never contacted me for an interview. Trashed the email. First one out of the way!

EDIT: I did, however, order Burger King delivery. Perfect post-rejection food.

Edited February 7, 2011 by Zouzax

[skeedy]

So the gmail filter CAN work against you FYI... I woke up to see (3)! in my special grad school inbox and guess what was there...

An email from a fellow employee named George (filter: George Washington University)

A Groupon deal for snowboarding deal in Berkeley (filter: UC Berkeley - yes, I should have known as I live in Oakland)

- and -

An email from my sister mentioning how the Packers are from Wisconsin? (filter: University of Wisconsin-Madison... Come on sis, that's just mean!)

D'oh!

[joops]

My dad just send out a picture to me and a bunch of my relatives of my family wearing funny hats. Whenever someone replied, they would reply to all. I filtered those messages faster than you can say "I HATE FALSE ALARMS!"

[OnceAndFutureGrad]

So the gmail filter CAN work against you FYI...

Oof! That's exactly why I didn't make a filter. I go mad enough when I get a new email, I don't need to do a cartwheel if I see something in a folder. Will you keep your filters up?

I filtered those messages faster than you can say "I HATE FALSE ALARMS!"

I had to cross the campus after lunch today and then move some books around, so I was away from my Gmail for (gasp) almost two hours. I had six new messages, none of which were from grad schools, and thought, "well there's six adrenalin surges avoided"...

[murkyama]

Not as bad as this, but I woke up to an email today and checked it on my phone (which only shows the first word or two of the subject line). It was from some name I had never heard of and all I saw on the subject line was "Interview with..."

Turns out it was spam from Monster.com for an interview with..... Aflac.

LMAO! This is great! I just spit wine on my keyboard.

[newms]

So the gmail filter CAN work against you FYI... I woke up to see (3)! in my special grad school inbox and guess what was there...

An email from a fellow employee named George (filter: George Washington University)

A Groupon deal for snowboarding deal in Berkeley (filter: UC Berkeley - yes, I should have known as I live in Oakland)

- and -

An email from my sister mentioning how the Packers are from Wisconsin? (filter: University of Wisconsin-Madison... Come on sis, that's just mean!)

D'oh!

You can also filter it so that you only get messages sent from your school - so you could use a filter for all emails from *rutgers.edu for example. Of course, if you subscribe to an academic list and someone from the schools sends a message to the list, you'll get a false positive and messages from a prof's personal (gmail/hotmail/yahoo) email account won't get filtered.

[psi456]

I am quite thankful that the people here are merely applying to graduate school and not in an occupation that requires a modicum of self-discipline and impulse control, like I dunno, working for Blackwater.

Ha.

I'm glad that we're all like this though. Makes me feel a modicum more sane.

[communications13]

EDIT: I did, however, order Burger King delivery. Perfect post-rejection food.

...I didn't know that even existed....

[UFGator]

EDIT: I did, however, order Burger King delivery. Perfect post-rejection food.

[wannaknow]

OK so I made a filter for my email after reading this, I have AOL so its a tad different, but now I am ultra paranoid that I have done something wrong and that my emails will now be lost into the oblivion of web space!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There is no rest for the weary.

[Zouzax]

...I didn't know that even existed....

Welcome to Turkey! Where Burger King and McDonalds deliver .... See, there IS an advantage to living here ...

[UFGator]

I have decided to move to Turkey!

[gradgirlwannabe]

My emails are sent to my phone, so EVERY time it makes ANY little noise, my heart stops. This can't be healthy!

[GNC]

Every damn emai gets me anxious... and when it turns out to be junk mail i want to bash my head into the wall

[Sky Pilot]

I've been hounding my email inbox like a dog with a bone, but I just got a call from a number I didn't recognize... and answered it.... and just got a verbal acceptance to one of my programs, with the official details in the mail! So much for email!

[GNC]

I've been hounding my email inbox like a dog with a bone, but I just got a call from a number I didn't recognize... and answered it.... and just got a verbal acceptance to one of my programs, with the official details in the mail! So much for email!

Congratulations!

[Sky Pilot]

Congratulations!

Thanks!! Just thought I'd share a light at the end of the tunnel..... So answer those unrecognized numbers! You never know who is on the other end of the line...

[KRC]

Thanks!! Just thought I'd share a light at the end of the tunnel..... So answer those unrecognized numbers! You never know who is on the other end of the line...

After reading this thread, I decided to call back the random number (from one of my potential schools' area codes) that called me Sunday night. No answer. So I... ahem... paid the 99 cents for reverse phone lookup info online! This is what this time of year does to people! I wouldn't have ever dreamed of doing such a thing previously...

Anyway it was money poorly spent--it was a marketing company, presumably calling for some survey. Why on Earth would I only NOW start to get spam phone calls after 3 years with this number? And from that particular city no less!

SERENITY NOW!!!

[Sky Pilot]

After reading this thread, I decided to call back the random number (from one of my potential schools' area codes) that called me Sunday night. No answer. So I... ahem... paid the 99 cents for reverse phone lookup info online! This is what this time of year does to people! I wouldn't have ever dreamed of doing such a thing previously...

Anyway it was money poorly spent--it was a marketing company, presumably calling for some survey. Why on Earth would I only NOW start to get spam phone calls after 3 years with this number? And from that particular city no less!

SERENITY NOW!!!

Oh, that's depressing. I'm so sorry. UGH. So maybe it's worth picking up the phone for unknown numbers (and yelling at telemarketers "YOU'RE NOT HARVARD!"), but maybe not a reverse lookup. Sighhhh.

Good god, what have we turned into?

[anxiousbd]

Question within all this waiting stuff- what do y'all think about emailing the admissions people at the schools I have applied to about when I might hear back? Is that incredibly annoying/an admission faux paus, or is that reasonable?

[micromajor2011]

Question within all this waiting stuff- what do y'all think about emailing the admissions people at the schools I have applied to about when I might hear back? Is that incredibly annoying/an admission faux paus, or is that reasonable?

I did just that and ...

Here is what the email reply stated: We have reviewed your application, and right now we have you in the Interview Wait List. We are waiting to see how many applicants we can invite in for interviews, which are required for admission. I hope to be able to tell you something definitive by March 1. There is still a chance that you will be invited in, but right now it is hard to say what that chance is, as we have many more applications to review.

So I guess its not so bad.

[railsplitter]

I am doing the same. Started answering unknown numbers instead of letting them go to voicemail. Checking the mail as soon as it is delivered. Every time my phone makes that sound I jump. I even do it in my sleep. I mean seriously. I don't think the schools are going to email me at 3 AM, but my body seems to be programmed to that noise.