Enzian Posted February 5, 2012 Posted February 5, 2012 Ugh, am I the only one who has not heard back anything from anyone and feels like a complete masochist to have even started this process? I applied to 13 programs and I've gotten a response from only one so far. Good things come to those who (have no choice but to) wait, right? and...and...and... and Two Espressos 2
Jbarks Posted February 5, 2012 Posted February 5, 2012 I applied to 13 programs and I've gotten a response from only one so far. Good things come to those who (have no choice but to) wait, right? I hope you're right. 13 programs and 0 responses. Sigh...
bdon19 Posted February 5, 2012 Posted February 5, 2012 I hope you're right. 13 programs and 0 responses. Sigh... Same. 11 schools, nothing so far. It's excruciating.
Enzian Posted February 5, 2012 Posted February 5, 2012 What's sad is that it's barely February and we feel like this. I don't know about you all, but several of my programs historically haven't notified until the first week of March or even later. Which means another whole month of magic eight ball responses... Two Espressos and wreckofthehope 2
wintergirl Posted February 5, 2012 Posted February 5, 2012 Ugh, am I the only one who has not heard back anything from anyone and feels like a complete masochist to have even started this process? Not at all. This is EXACTLY how I'm feeling, completely disheartened and struggling to get my thesis done when it all feels pointless now. And none of my programs (according to the results board) have started giving responses yet so I have no idea how I'll get through another six weeks of this! TripWillis 1
TripWillis Posted February 5, 2012 Author Posted February 5, 2012 Not at all. This is EXACTLY how I'm feeling, completely disheartened and struggling to get my thesis done when it all feels pointless now. And none of my programs (according to the results board) have started giving responses yet so I have no idea how I'll get through another six weeks of this! YES to that thesis thing; I feel like there's no point unless I get into a PhD program. It's weird.
Germaine123 Posted February 5, 2012 Posted February 5, 2012 YES x 2. It is TOUGH doing an MA thesis at a time like this. Especially if you've thought to use the MA as a springboard to the PhD. Even though I'm excited about my project, it's tough to feel motivated while in limbo. Deadlines are the only thing that keep me going. Barely.
wintergirl Posted February 5, 2012 Posted February 5, 2012 YES to that thesis thing; I feel like there's no point unless I get into a PhD program. It's weird. YES x 2. It is TOUGH doing an MA thesis at a time like this. Especially if you've thought to use the MA as a springboard to the PhD. Even though I'm excited about my project, it's tough to feel motivated while in limbo. Deadlines are the only thing that keep me going. Barely. Wow -- I'm so relieved to hear I'm not alone in this. Deadlines aren't even working for me right now, which is of course feeding into the despair. Fun times! So how can we psych ourselves up again?? Clearly we all had reason to chose our thesis topics, right? So there should still be some love of the scholarship there that should exist apart from a desire for a PhD? Even if I'm not feeling it at all right now.
Germaine123 Posted February 5, 2012 Posted February 5, 2012 In my experience, love of scholarship is contingent on many things, and naturally, fluctuates from time to time. Yes, I love literature and history. Yes, I love writing. I love discussion, teaching, and intellectual epiphany. But I would also love some affirmation that all the time I've put into this love will lead me to an actual career. I would love validation of some kind. I don't need someone patting my back the whole way through, I just need to get into a PhD program so that I can continue to do my thing! I've been thinking about this a lot lately: I don't want my curiosity of life, literature, and scholarship to be led by "getting into a PhD program." But, we do live in the real world. How many years (how much money) can you throw at the system before it concedes to begin paying you back? The above might hinge on the cynical, but, the truth is that my thesis is driven (and will continue to be driven) by the love and investment I have for (in) it. It's just hard to find that sometimes, especially right now. Just gotta hold on to those moments when the excitement hits, and try not to check GradCafe for as long as you can, haha.
veniente Posted February 5, 2012 Posted February 5, 2012 And again: I say YES to the impossibility of completing (or finding motivation to complete) an MA thesis while caught inside the gradcafe-email-alcohol cycle. So much time, effort, and money expended for such an unlikely (that is, statistically speaking) chance of 'payoff'. Hell is not other people. This Kafkaesque limbo is hell.
Pynchonette Posted February 6, 2012 Posted February 6, 2012 Well, at least we're not alone. The irony of course being that if we *were* alone, we would have less competition and therefor not been in this dismal situaiton to begin with. Also, I think that gradcafe should have a limit where you can only visit the site once every 36 hours. I am relentlessly obsessive about checking the results!
0000000000AAA Posted February 6, 2012 Posted February 6, 2012 So, will today be an eventful day or a day of painful suspension?
Germaine123 Posted February 6, 2012 Posted February 6, 2012 I'm just going to go ahead and assume the latter!
and...and...and... Posted February 6, 2012 Posted February 6, 2012 I've applied to twelve, and I have heard nothing. The *only* consoling bit about that is no one else has heard anything from my schools either. Honestly, this in-between time when my future is hovering beyond my reach is really affecting the rest of my life... I feel like I can never make decisions these days.
pel Posted February 6, 2012 Posted February 6, 2012 I've applied to twelve, and I have heard nothing. The *only* consoling bit about that is no one else has heard anything from my schools either. Honestly, this in-between time when my future is hovering beyond my reach is really affecting the rest of my life... I feel like I can never make decisions these days. Did you apply to comp lit or english programs?
Germaine123 Posted February 6, 2012 Posted February 6, 2012 Started the day with some kind of suspicious hope and now watching it slowly dissipate into anxiety and aimlessness. Sounds like a typical February day to me.
Grunty DaGnome Posted February 6, 2012 Posted February 6, 2012 Started the day with some kind of suspicious hope and now watching it slowly dissipate into anxiety and aimlessness. Sounds like a typical February day to me. I have become SO obsessive that I looked at the calendar for 2011 to try and figure out which day of the week notifications went out last year for the schools where I've applied. That's what happens when good research skills are not being channel toward a constructive purpose. Germaine123 1
pel Posted February 6, 2012 Posted February 6, 2012 I have become SO obsessive that I looked at the calendar for 2011 to try and figure out which day of the week notifications went out last year for the schools where I've applied. That's what happens when good research skills are not being channel toward a constructive purpose. been there, done that.
obrera Posted February 6, 2012 Posted February 6, 2012 Same. 11 schools, nothing so far. It's excruciating. I only applied to three schools. So not only have I not heard anything (and probably won't until April), but I am kind of wondering if I ruined my chances of getting in by not applying to enough schools.
Jbarks Posted February 6, 2012 Posted February 6, 2012 I've given this a lot of thought. I would be completely fine if my very first response was an acceptance (with an awesome funding package) and the other twelve were rejections. Of course, now that I've put that out in the universe, it will be the complete opposite, or I'll just go 0 for 13.
ribeth Posted February 6, 2012 Posted February 6, 2012 I only applied to three schools. So not only have I not heard anything (and probably won't until April), but I am kind of wondering if I ruined my chances of getting in by not applying to enough schools. Yes, I also only applied to 3 schools...at the time it seemed like a good idea. Not so much now. In other news, I've been lurking in this forum forever. It feels good to finally post something. Hello, fellow sufferers/applicants. =)
Galoup11 Posted February 6, 2012 Posted February 6, 2012 Rejected by Delaware, one of the 3 of 4 schools (of 13) that I felt I had the best chance of getting into. Pretty big blow to my hopes but I'm trying to stay positive with a dozen more chances. Hard to imagine getting into e.g. Rutgers or Vanderbilt with that start, though.
Timshel Posted February 7, 2012 Posted February 7, 2012 Rejected by Delaware, one of the 3 of 4 schools (of 13) that I felt I had the best chance of getting into. Pretty big blow to my hopes but I'm trying to stay positive with a dozen more chances. Hard to imagine getting into e.g. Rutgers or Vanderbilt with that start, though. That's exactly how I feel after being rejected from Kansas.
bdon19 Posted February 7, 2012 Posted February 7, 2012 I'm here right now. Apparently Duke is done with their acceptances and waitlist notifications, they just haven't sent out rejections yet. I can feel that glimmer of hope slowly fading away.
TripWillis Posted February 7, 2012 Author Posted February 7, 2012 I created this thread, but I can no longer be in it. I really hope everyone in here gets in! rainy_day, andsoitgoes161, Enzian and 5 others 8
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