Waiting doubt...

[Silent_Bobina]

I have been rejected from half the programs I applied to and have one acceptance from a school that is expensive but a perfect fit. I have recieved a good-sized scholarship offer from this school but am waiting to hear from another... However, while waiting I am panicked that the only acceptance I've recieved is a fluke (especially with the scholarship). While I'm excited the waiting is killing me. If you only get into one program does this mean you are not grad school material? Even my safety school rejected me so is it worth it to wait for my last letter?

[wtncffts]

I have been rejected from half the programs I applied to and have one acceptance from a school that is expensive but a perfect fit. I have recieved a good-sized scholarship offer from this school but am waiting to hear from another... However, while waiting I am panicked that the only acceptance I've recieved is a fluke (especially with the scholarship). While I'm excited the waiting is killing me. If you only get into one program does this mean you are not grad school material? Even my safety school rejected me so is it worth it to wait for my last letter?

Of course it doesn't mean you're not 'grad school material', whatever that means. You've been accepted to a graduate program; that says explicitly that you are grad school material. More than one acceptance won't make you more grad school material, and no acceptances doesn't mean you're not grad school material. Please, have confidence in yourself. Rejections, including from 'safety schools', come for all sorts of reasons, research fit being the most obvious.

[Silent_Bobina]

I know that this does come across as having little confidence. I guess it is silly to think that the number makes a difference. It's just the waiting... after getting rejected from multiple schools I felt confident about in match, interest and faculty it makes me wonder if it's worth waiting for another letter if this one acceptance is all I will get. As I said before it is funded and I don't mean to sound ungrateful as I'm glad to have even one acceptance and from a program I'm excited about still it feels wrong to give up now.

[LJK]

You don't get to go to a school extra by saying yes well before April 15th. There is absolutely no harm in waiting to hear from your other school - if April 15th rolls around and you haven't heard from the other school, you can accept the one you have an offer to. If April 13th comes around and you have already said yes to the school you are currently admitted to, should the other school send you a late acceptance, then you can't do anything about it without potentially burning bridges. Sitting on an offer that you have a real possibility of taking is a smart thing to do in your situation! Waiting sucks, but don't make a commitment just to make one.

[wtncffts]

I know that this does come across as having little confidence. I guess it is silly to think that the number makes a difference. It's just the waiting... after getting rejected from multiple schools I felt confident about in match, interest and faculty it makes me wonder if it's worth waiting for another letter if this one acceptance is all I will get. As I said before it is funded and I don't mean to sound ungrateful as I'm glad to have even one acceptance and from a program I'm excited about still it feels wrong to give up now.

Oh, I agree with LJK that there's nothing wrong with waiting, and it's the smart thing to do; you don't have to 'give up'. But if you do only end up with that one acceptance, as I said, make the best of it. You're in; now it's up to you to do the work that proves you're 'grad school material'.

I only got one acceptance as well, and though it'd have been nice to at least have options, I'm still absolutely confident in my abilities and potential, and am very excited to get going (granted, I do have an MA, so that bolsters my confidence). Once you're in, you're a grad student, same like the rest. Noone will care if you got one or twenty acceptances (it probably won't even ever come up).

[GI1]

I agree, it really doesn't matter how many acceptances you've got, no one cares, the important thing is that you've got at least one acceptance and remember that there was something very special and "graduate" in you that you've got a scholarship.

Edited March 18, 2011 by GI1