Going crazy... Help

[cquin]

So multiple acceptances and rejections have been posted for Duke and CUNY, both of which I applied to (and, in a cruel twist of fate, are my two top choices). I have not received anything from either school and it's driving me nutty. I'm starting to worry that I incorrectly typed my e-mail, which is absurd because I received messages from both schools confirming that my application materials were received. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? I actually just called CUNY and was told (somewhat dismissively) that decisions are still being made and I could receive either e-mail or snail mail. Since I live in NYC, I'm wondering if maybe they're going to snail mail their decision? I don't know, I'm grasping at straws here. I'm trying to distract myself with reading, watching movies, etc. but every ten minutes I'm opening my gmail hoping for... something. Anything.

I guess I'm just looking to commiserate with fellow applicants, since my boyfriend, friends, and mom--while sympathetic--don't quite grasp why I'm freaking out so much.

[lyonessrampant]

I odn't think I can help you feel any better, but I'm in the same place (though with Duke and U Chicago). We're all going crazy together. I work from home, so every time my phone vibrates or I get an email, which I have constantly open and continually refresh, I jump out of my skin. Anyway, know lots of us commiserate! Best of luck to you!

[USTgrad]

This forum serves a dual function. One the one hand, we are put at ease within the community of anxiety-ridden applicants who have no where else to turn because no one is going to understand why we are refreshing our emails/checking out snail mail box/clutching our phones, etc. as though our futures depend on it (it does!) better than each other. One the other hand, our anxiety level shoots through the roof whenever we check the results page and someone was accepted to a U we have applied to, and yet we haven't heard anything!

On that note, my mac may be accompanying me to work so I can check my email on my 10-minute breaks for something, anything, from the U of Chicago (full funding and the opportunity to work with Leela Gandhi & perchance Dipesh Chakrabarty? I'll finish this post after I check my email...).

So don't fret cquin, we are all playing this lottery together.

[ahlacruz]

I definitely didn't expect two of my tops (Chicago and CUNY) to start sending out acceptances on the same day. That's just too much

[Bukharan]

There are many many of us who are in the same position, i.e. NO E-MAILS.

Don't worry! We will all get our e-mails eventually. And have glorious careers. And lives.

[BrandNewName]

One good thing about Chicago is that there seem to be many people on these boards who applied to the English program there and, as it stands now, there is only one acceptance to speak of. I think that means there are still more emails to come -- perhaps they are coming from individual professors and have to be sent by the end of the day? Who knows... although I'm anxious, I've not given up on hearing from Chicago yet. We gotta keep the faith!

As for being utterly unproductive, I've now had a pile of student papers sitting on my desk for three weeks and they have to be marked by Thursday. I am going to do the unthinkable now, shut down my computer and only allow myself to turn it back on once I have marked 9 papers. The thought is terrifying...

Edited February 8, 2011 by outofredink

[diehtc0ke]

So multiple acceptances and rejections have been posted for Duke and CUNY, both of which I applied to (and, in a cruel twist of fate, are my two top choices). I have not received anything from either school and it's driving me nutty. I'm starting to worry that I incorrectly typed my e-mail, which is absurd because I received messages from both schools confirming that my application materials were received. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? I actually just called CUNY and was told (somewhat dismissively) that decisions are still being made and I could receive either e-mail or snail mail. Since I live in NYC, I'm wondering if maybe they're going to snail mail their decision? I don't know, I'm grasping at straws here. I'm trying to distract myself with reading, watching movies, etc. but every ten minutes I'm opening my gmail hoping for... something. Anything.

I guess I'm just looking to commiserate with fellow applicants, since my boyfriend, friends, and mom--while sympathetic--don't quite grasp why I'm freaking out so much.

In CUNY's defense, decisions are still probably being made. I remember freaking out last year when a bunch of acceptances and rejections had come up and I hadn't received anything. I then received an acceptance a few days (maybe even a week) later. Of course, that acceptance came without funding but I can't tell you for sure that that had anything to do with the tardiness in the decision. Until you have firmly received a rejection, don't count yourself out.

[osodulce]

Ohhhhh, I'm going super extra crazy. Two people posted email acceptances to UMass this afternoon, and I didn't get anything. Not that UMass is the perfect, perfect program for me, but it's close to home, and I thought I had a shot. (Also, the more anxious I get the more my vocabulary seems to shrink, which is a bit of additional humiliation.) Just got home from work. The gin from last night is on the table--but there's only a quarter inch left in the bottle. I was planning on switching to bourbon tonight anyway.

Sure, definitely going to get it somewhere--calculated that I will get into 2.65 programs--but will probably get in somewhere far away, endure a year or so of trying long distance relationship before my partner ends up leaving me during which my grades will suffer so much that I will end up teaching Sarah Palin's grandchildren at Juneau Community College, during which time Alaska will become a breakaway republic which will initiate a brief period of a once in a lifetime opportunity to study the rhetoric of nationhood in its infancy before I am cannibalized by starving hoards of rednecks alla The Road.

Where'd I put that bourbon?

[cquin]

Ohhhhh, I'm going super extra crazy. Two people posted email acceptances to UMass this afternoon, and I didn't get anything. Not that UMass is the perfect, perfect program for me, but it's close to home, and I thought I had a shot. (Also, the more anxious I get the more my vocabulary seems to shrink, which is a bit of additional humiliation.) Just got home from work. The gin from last night is on the table--but there's only a quarter inch left in the bottle. I was planning on switching to bourbon tonight anyway.

Sure, definitely going to get it somewhere--calculated that I will get into 2.65 programs--but will probably get in somewhere far away, endure a year or so of trying long distance relationship before my partner ends up leaving me during which my grades will suffer so much that I will end up teaching Sarah Palin's grandchildren at Juneau Community College, during which time Alaska will become a breakaway republic which will initiate a brief period of a once in a lifetime opportunity to study the rhetoric of nationhood in its infancy before I am cannibalized by starving hoards of rednecks alla The Road.

Where'd I put that bourbon?

YEP, nothing from UMass either. I think I need to add the Results page to my list of blocked websites.

Bourbon sounds like an excellent idea, don't know why I didn't think of that one myself...

[BrandNewName]

during which time Alaska will become a breakaway republic which will initiate a brief period of a once in a lifetime opportunity to study the rhetoric of nationhood in its infancy before I am cannibalized by starving hoards of rednecks alla The Road.

Well, at the very least, you'll have the chance to be memorialized in stunning prose that is praised by the masses and Oprah alike, no? See, always a bright side.

[HappyCat]

In CUNY's defense, decisions are still probably being made. I remember freaking out last year when a bunch of acceptances and rejections had come up and I hadn't received anything. I then received an acceptance a few days (maybe even a week) later. Of course, that acceptance came without funding but I can't tell you for sure that that had anything to do with the tardiness in the decision. Until you have firmly received a rejection, don't count yourself out.

Just heard more decisions will be made through the month. So as diehtc0ke suggests, hang tight (this includes myself! )

Also applied to UMass, so I'm a bit panicked about that one too

[the once and future grad]

I doubt that this will make anyone feel better (it hasn't really helped me), but in 2008 I was accepted to my MA program on like April 26. It was an unfunded offer, of course, and I only had three weeks to accept or decline since it was after April 15, but I've been trying to focus on that.

[TheOtherJake]

I'm still waiting too. Relax, have a cup of tea, breathe...

I can't wait to hear if I'm accepted to the MASTER'S program at Jedi Academy

Haha

[osodulce]

Well, at the very least, you'll have the chance to be memorialized in stunning prose that is praised by the masses and Oprah alike, no? See, always a bright side.

Ah, yes. I will remember this when the cannibals are sucking the marrow from my bones. And it will be worth it.

[ahlacruz]

Seems like a nice way to get away from the craziness... I could use a long walk:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/08/a-pilgrimage-walk-to-sant_n_820079.html

[limelight]

Just heard more decisions will be made through the month. So as diehtc0ke suggests, hang tight (this includes myself! )

Also applied to UMass, so I'm a bit panicked about that one too

I'm freaking out about cuny! It's in my top three. Can you tell us where you heard that decisions are still being made? Thanks for the info nonetheless.

[Tybalt]

I'm freaking out about cuny! It's in my top three. Can you tell us where you heard that decisions are still being made? Thanks for the info nonetheless.

I hope you get into CUNY! My office-mate was wait-listed at UB, and the two of you have practically identical sub-fields. I'm guessing that if you turn UB down, my office-mate gets good news (and both of you will be happy).

[limelight]

I hope you get into CUNY! My office-mate was wait-listed at UB, and the two of you have practically identical sub-fields. I'm guessing that if you turn UB down, my office-mate gets good news (and both of you will be happy).

Thank you, Tybalt! Best of luck to you and your pal as well.

[mayakeys]

If there have been both rejections and acceptances and you still haven't heard anything, there's a chance that you're on a waitlist. What sucks about this process is that when people are on waitlists, they often never know. I find that very cruel, because people tend to assume that they were at the bottom of the barrel, when in reality they could be in the final round!

A friend of mine is a professor who is currently doing admissions and she says that people are frequently waitlisted without being told -- they are only told if the spot opens up. If the spot never opens up, they never know that they were in the final round.

Even if we are going to be rejected, those of us who were waitlisted should at least know THAT. It is a lot more encouraging for people who are thinking whether or not they want to give it another shot next year.

[ahlacruz]

That was a rough day with several schools sending out emails. I'm glad that one is over.

[BelleOfKilronen]

I know how you guys feel. Last year, I applied to 6 PhDs, got four rejections in a row, and was resigned to it being an unsuccessful application round. (I even got so frantic after receiving one notification email that I accidentally clicked on the wrong embedded link and was led to some generic "welcome to grad school" site that, for half a minute of euphoric delusion, I thought meant I had been accepted. File this under "Top Ten Ways to Start Your Morning Crying a Little.")

Then, on the last day of February, I got The Happy Call from one of my remaining schools. A week later, I got a call from my second school, and suddenly everything changed. I went from feeling hopeless and helpless to the enviable dilemma of having a choice in the matter, all after I had pretty much given up.

Bottom line, it's still really early in the admissions game, even though it doesn't feel that way when you're the one waiting. There are lots more acceptances to be given out before the Admittance Fairy flies away 'til next year, and we're all rooting for you

Edited February 9, 2011 by BelleOfKilronen

[fall-11]

I know how you guys feel. Last year, I applied to 6 PhDs, got four rejections in a row, and was resigned to it being an unsuccessful application round. (I even got so frantic after receiving one notification email that I accidentally clicked on the wrong embedded link and was led to some generic "welcome to grad school" site that, for half a minute of euphoric delusion, I thought meant I had been accepted. File this under "Top Ten Ways to Start Your Morning Crying a Little.")

Then, on the last day of February, I got The Happy Call from one of my remaining schools. A week later, I got a call from my second school, and suddenly everything changed. I went from feeling hopeless and helpless to the enviable dilemma of having a choice in the matter, all after I had pretty much given up.

Bottom line, it's still really early in the admissions game, even though it doesn't feel that way when you're the one waiting. There are lots more acceptances to be given out before the Admittance Fairy flies away 'til next year, and we're all rooting for you

Thanks for the kind words, Belle!

[cquin]

If there have been both rejections and acceptances and you still haven't heard anything, there's a chance that you're on a waitlist. What sucks about this process is that when people are on waitlists, they often never know. I find that very cruel, because people tend to assume that they were at the bottom of the barrel, when in reality they could be in the final round!

A friend of mine is a professor who is currently doing admissions and she says that people are frequently waitlisted without being told -- they are only told if the spot opens up. If the spot never opens up, they never know that they were in the final round.

Even if we are going to be rejected, those of us who were waitlisted should at least know THAT. It is a lot more encouraging for people who are thinking whether or not they want to give it another shot next year.

This gives me a little bit of hope. Thanks!

[lyonessrampant]

I would like the echo the thanks. This just momentarily eased the pounding in my head