Graduate application is like...

[2011fall]

For me, the whole process of the application is like a relationship.

There are hundreds of reasons why people decided to apply for graduate schools. It can be for better job,passion abt one area;chage a life style; change a city to live....some of us have school or area in mind while others not(&&there are hundreds of reasons u want a new relationship: u unfortunately had a bad one; want to start a new life style; want to have a different one...some have idea who the significant other would be, or look like in mind while others do not.&&)

you then roll up your sleeves and start to prepare for your application. U try to get better QPA, fight to deadth for GRE, ask for big name professors or professors who know u well to write recemmondation for you, think of research topic and plan, Writing sample, oh! And personal statement! (&&you start to make yourself ready in all aspects. You go to gym and exercise to have better figures, you ask friends or whoever to tell him/her that you are the best; you tell her you want to travle around the world with him/her, you sometimes are required to tell or show him/her what did you do to the ex; oh! And you are good at cooking and is passionate about gardening)

you then have to compete with a lot of other applicants, who might have similar scores or experience. And they are better or worse than u in this or that. (&&the more popular he/she is, the more competetive it would be. Your arrivals might be taller than you, but not as humerous as you.)

schools starts the decision. They sort of have their criteria, mmmm...but sometimes not always the case. They ask for "fit". (yea,from his/ her ex, I know that he/she like fit peolle with brown eyes. He/she also said they like caring and sweet people. But there are always exceptional. They look for the one suit them perfectly.)

admission decision is made. You are accepted! (hooray!!if my top choose say yes to me, I will be happy forever!)

admission decision is made. You are rejected and you want to know why and who are accepted.(grrrr... He/she chose another guy!!who the hell is him/her??!!why he is Breyer than me!!!! Tell me why!!!!)

admission decision is made. You are rejected and u move on--try again or forget about it (what the heck??!! Fine! I wait for a while and try again, or....screw him/her!!)

Yay!!! I spent another 30 minutes while I was waiting!! O.o

good luck everyone!!

[aquellita]

I speak for myself, but this whole application process is for masochists

or like having a baby, and as a mother I know how that is like

seriously, after all this is said and done, I will feel like I just delivered a baby, very exhausted physically and mentally, joyful (if accepted), depressed (if not accepted)

but in the worst of cases, I will be here, next year, with all this suffering again wondering why I am doing this?

at this point I just want to know! yes or no!!!

[Red Bull]

Applying to grad school is like... paying to be punched in the stomach and told your not good enough. So yes, I believe masochistic is a nice description.

[leopolds]

Applying to graduate school is like willingly throwing yourself out on a tight rope line which also has hundreds of other people standing on it while you're all vying to get from one building to the other, all the while trying to stay balanced in the midst of utter panic and anxiousness!

But if you get admitted it's like gently floating back down to ground level

Edited March 3, 2011 by leopolds

[newtinyton]

Applying to grad school is like... paying to be punched in the stomach and told your not good enough. So yes, I believe masochistic is a nice description.

totally agree..........

[katemiddleton]

applying to grad school, as my professor once told me, is a way of "weeding out the weak ones from the herd." basically, the process is as difficult as it is because the vast majority of people can't jump through the hoops necessary to even complete the application process, and so it self-selects strong, committed, intelligent applicants. To be frank with you all, we are the best of the best in the world-regardless of whether we get in or not-because we completed this grueling process and came out on the other side strong, happy, and smart!

[skeedy]

I don't have a top choice in terms of my schools/programs, so I'm not sure how to process acceptances & rejections. Needless to say, this experience is bringing back some conflicting emotions from my youth:

I'm five years old and grocery shopping with my mom. It's been a long and agonizing process of watching her debate over store brand vs. name brand, and I just HAVE to have a cookie. Mother dear says that I can only choose ONE kind. What?! One cookie? But there are so many amazing options - chocolate, snickerdoodle, white chocolate with macadamia nuts... What if I choose the wrong one?! All of the sudden a customer comes up and buys the last snickerdoodle. I watch him walk away, and start to salivate... And all of the sudden, I want that freakin' snickerdoodle. SO what about the fact that I was truly undecided before? Sure I have my pick of the others, but I'm only five years old and I freakin' want that cookie that I can't have.

How did it end? I threw a tantrum on the floor of that Vons supermarket. Am I too old to do this now??

[TMP]

As a distance runner myself, it's been much more of a marathon. You trained long and hard because you're committed to getting that acceptance into a PhD program. You can't just run a marathon from nothing. You need a good foundation to finish that marathon, especially endurance, both mental and physical. That means you had to spend a lot of time in the lab/archives doing the research, or go through the GRE vocab for the upteenth time. On the course, Your fluid stations on the course are your friends, professors, family, and colleagues who feed you "feel-good" drinks to help you think positive when things get tough. The hills on the course? Those are your difficult moments (like... rejections), and long stretches are just the waiting parts. Right now, I'm just running straight ahead, not quite sure where the finish line is, or the next turn is. Either you finish or you don't finish, depending how well prepared you are and whether the course was gracious to you.

Anyhow, when I ran the New York City marathon last November, I actually debated whether or not I'd rather run this or work on my applications. I decided the former was better, and then I really enjoyed the marathon! Of course, then afterward I had to face a couple of interviews with professors... and I began wondering if I should run the marathon again...

[cokohlik]

YES. I feel exactly the same way. In fact, if my dream school rejects me, I already have an evening planned of PJs, chocolate ice cream, and angry breakup music. Seriously. It would suck.

[Red Bull]

If my dream school rejects me I will be very upset. I will retreat into my cave with an eighteen pack of cheap beer, watch cartoons, and think evil thoughts for about 48 hours. Then I will be over it and start working on a plan that utilizes the best of the opportunities that I do have. I am so grateful and blessed that I have two acceptances with full funding. Some people don't even get that.