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0% Confidence of Acceptance


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Congrats to everyone that got in. You worked hard and deserve all the success you get.

As to the rest of us, I'm in the same boat as people saying they don't want to have to show their faces at their old university for shame if they get in nowhere. I am avoiding my old English department like the plague. I thought I needed a distraction so I signed up for a German class to get back into it and, guess what, it's not only in the same building, but on the same hallway as all of my old professor's offices and the MA/PhD study room. Christ! Luckily it's late on a Monday and I've managed to avoid seeing anyone I know so far...

And as for plans for the future, why do the responsible thing? Go to Europe if you'd rather. As long as you don't go into debt, I say why not take a few years to do that rather than going to a country just because they pay you more? You'll always wonder what it would have been like to live in Portugal or Spain or Turkey. At least something like that will be a reward if, worst case scenario, you don't get in anywhere.

My plan B? I'm going to move back to California and look for a teaching job in a private school there or in a nearby state--I miss the mild winters and being near my family (I'd add friends but the bad thing about living in different places is that I have friends all over the place--good for visits but hard. I wish I could move a few of my east coast friends and a few of my English friends to California with me) and the food. It is not ideal as I'd rather research and teach at a higher level, but I think I can take the hit. What I'm worried about is that even high school teaching jobs in English are hard to come by...Ugh.

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Maybe this offer is a little defeatist and premature, but I literally just finished three years in the Peace Corps as a TEFL and if anyone finds themselves shut out at the end of this and finds their thoughts turning that way (or if you're just curious at the moment, perhaps feeling anxious), please feel free to drop me a line. I like talking about it (well, typing about it anyway) and I will give you every dirty detail I've got.

Anyway, hurray for acceptances!

(Edited to add that there's also this: http://www.jetprogramme.org/ which I haven't done but friends of mine have. And JET, unlike Peace Corps, is paid and not - to my knowledge, anyway - limited to US citizens.)

I'm in the JET program right now and am really enjoying it. If anyone has questions, let me know.

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I'm coming into this very late, but man, it is exciting to see people getting in. My first thought is always "that school? Awesome!" *cyber‒fives everywhere* Then, however, I am unsure of why I am so inadequate, and I hang my head in resignation.

I nearly did not apply this year because I knew last semester that it would be an insane push. And it was, I wish I had waited. Now instead of focusing on what's really important (honors thesis, 2 1/2‒year‒old, relationship), I'm just here all the time, being neurotic about admissions despite my having been made into an automaton and my 0% confidence. There truly is something deeply masochistic about graduate applicants in the humanities.

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There truly is something deeply masochistic about graduate applicants in the humanities.

Amen to that. Fulfilling in a way that nothing else quite is, too. Also , even if I don't get it anywhere (starting to look around for serious Plan Bs already) I know I would have always regretted it if I had never tried.

So here's for trying to make our far-fetched dreams a reality!

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I'm in the JET program right now and am really enjoying it. If anyone has questions, let me know.

I applied and made the cut for first round of interviews. I'm going to the Embassy in Houston in two weeks for my interview. So nervous!!! JET is my fall back plan if I don't get accepted to any doctorate programs.

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Way to go, Timshel, bdon, and the other recent admits!! Fingers crossed that this trend continues and this week/month brings good news to all of us.

How are my other limbo applicants coping right now? I'm off to a conference today, hoping that nerding out on pop culture and scifi stuff will take my mind off of this torturous process. I'll be trying not to check the boards too much while I'm there, but my "smart" phone may lead to some dumb obsessive results stalking. ; )

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My predicted progression of emoticon usage over the next two months.

(Ending with stealth emigration.)

:D:):unsure::mellow::wacko::(:angry:

:ph34r:

Yesss. I also say: :huh:, which seems like my "I'm ready to crawl back into bed and be annoyed and not talk to people anymore or do anything productive today" face. Happy Wednesday!

(Also huge congrats to the acceptances!)

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This thread is sending me into a downward spiraling vortex of despair. I've applied to six schools (which I thought was a lot until I started looking around on here) and have not heard back from a single one. Everyone keeps telling me they're sure I'll get in--which is apparently a guarantee that I won't--and I'm sick to my stomach every time I imagine having to tell them I've been rejected from every school I've applied to. Also, very little hope of getting in based on the fact that my BA--yes I only have a BA and not an MA--well, BA's to be exact, are in Anthropology and Philosophy and I somehow convinced myself that I had a shot of getting into a PhD program in an entirely different field. What was I thinking?!?!

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This thread is sending me into a downward spiraling vortex of despair.... my BA--yes I only have a BA and not an MA--well, BA's to be exact, are in Anthropology and Philosophy and I somehow convinced myself that I had a shot of getting into a PhD program in an entirely different field. What was I thinking?!?!

I think it's too soon to give up hope, Silent_G! Many folks still haven't heard from their programs. Keep the faith. Also, if you're worried, you can still apply to a handful of MA programs. And you might still even make their funding deadlines, if you hurry. I don't think you should give up on this year's PhD apps, but I think you might be able to refocus some of your anxiety into some kind of positive movement toward graduate school w/ MA apps.

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I think it's too soon to give up hope, Silent_G! Many folks still haven't heard from their programs. Keep the faith. Also, if you're worried, you can still apply to a handful of MA programs. And you might still even make their funding deadlines, if you hurry. I don't think you should give up on this year's PhD apps, but I think you might be able to refocus some of your anxiety into some kind of positive movement toward graduate school w/ MA apps.

You are right, of course. Thank you! I definitely need some positive thinking right now!

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This thread is sending me into a downward spiraling vortex of despair. I've applied to six schools (which I thought was a lot until I started looking around on here) and have not heard back from a single one. Everyone keeps telling me they're sure I'll get in--which is apparently a guarantee that I won't--and I'm sick to my stomach every time I imagine having to tell them I've been rejected from every school I've applied to. Also, very little hope of getting in based on the fact that my BA--yes I only have a BA and not an MA--well, BA's to be exact, are in Anthropology and Philosophy and I somehow convinced myself that I had a shot of getting into a PhD program in an entirely different field. What was I thinking?!?!

Well, you're not alone. I think everyone here - regardless of application strategy and subsequent success or lack thereof - has had at least a single moment of "what was I thinking." Many of us have them daily. Or hourly...

Don't despair! Trust yourself! Even if the acceptances don't come, that doesn't necessarily say anything about your applications, only about your applications for these particular programs at this particular time for these particular admissions committees. At least, this is what I say when I look in the mirror.

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On and around this day last year, three of the schools I applied to (Davis, CUNY, and Amherst) reported acceptances, and now that weird Tufts email is making me even more apprehensive. I thought I would stop constantly checking this site and worrying once I got an acceptance, but that's definitely not the case. I crave more external validation!!

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My friend, who is in the big, crimson program, applied and didn't get in. Then applied and was the first on the wait-list-- and none of the admits turned their offers down, so he didn't get in. And almost gave up. But the third time, boom.

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My friend, who is in the big, crimson program, applied and didn't get in. Then applied and was the first on the wait-list-- and none of the admits turned their offers down, so he didn't get in. And almost gave up. But the third time, boom.

By big crimson program, you mean the University of Phoenix, yes?

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