Reality check

[wintergirl]

Two separate (contradictory?) reality checks on my mind today:

I searched through department websites and the results board to compile a list of admission statistics for my programs. Turns out that, statistically, I have a better chance of being admitted to Yale's American Studies program than to CU-Boulder for English based on last year's admit numbers ... and I think I have less than a snowball's chance of getting a Yale acceptance. Yet I keep obsessively checking the board when I know that English and AmStud results won't even start trickling in for another 3-4 weeks.

So now I'm worrying about how I'm going to handle it when I DO see an acceptance for one of my programs. Have y'all thought about this as well? Thank goodness for that big bottle of Maker's Mark in my pantry! : )

[Safferz]

I hear you. I also wasn't nervous at all about waiting this month until I saw everyone here freaking out (and I mean us humanities students, not the science kids who actually have interviews and results coming out), so now I'm starting to freak out too. I'm trying to be rational and get back into my original mindset, because there really is no use in even thinking about applications until February.

[Jbarks]

Two separate (contradictory?) reality checks on my mind today:

I searched through department websites and the results board to compile a list of admission statistics for my programs. Turns out that, statistically, I have a better chance of being admitted to Yale's American Studies program than to CU-Boulder for English based on last year's admit numbers ... and I think I have less than a snowball's chance of getting a Yale acceptance. Yet I keep obsessively checking the board when I know that English and AmStud results won't even start trickling in for another 3-4 weeks.

I know! I applied to CU-Boulder as well. I think funding is always an issue there (or so I've heard). It was either in 2009 or 2010 that they received 102 applicants and only accepted 4. Who knows? Maybe this year things will be different.

[wreckofthehope]

Two separate (contradictory?) reality checks on my mind today:

I searched through department websites and the results board to compile a list of admission statistics for my programs. Turns out that, statistically, I have a better chance of being admitted to Yale's American Studies program than to CU-Boulder for English based on last year's admit numbers ... and I think I have less than a snowball's chance of getting a Yale acceptance. Yet I keep obsessively checking the board when I know that English and AmStud results won't even start trickling in for another 3-4 weeks.

So now I'm worrying about how I'm going to handle it when I DO see an acceptance for one of my programs. Have y'all thought about this as well? Thank goodness for that big bottle of Maker's Mark in my pantry! : )

You'll make yourself crazy thinking like this! You can't take much away statistically from the results board - they're partial numbers at best. I've just looked up last year's results for the program I am in and they paint a much more positive picture than the actual numbers would give you: 15 applications, 2 acceptances and 13 rejections. Those numbers suggest an acceptance rate of 13% when I know the actual acceptance rate was around 5% ( was in that 5% and yet rejected from schools who accept 20%...). Departments' own statistic are, of course, more reliable but they don't really mean anything as a way of measuring your own chances -- your acceptances and rejections rest so much more on things that cannot be measured (i.e. the quality of your SOP in comparison to those of this year's application cohort) that it is almost pointless trying to predict your results.

All this is much easier said than done, of course... but yeah... just try your hardest not to think about it

Edited January 13, 2012 by wreckofthehope

[0000000000AAA]

Also, I don't think the people who gravitate towards The Grad Cafe are necessarily representative of the entire applicant pool. Let's be honest, we tend to be the more obsessive and, perhaps, neurotic applicants. We come here to vent, to share, and to, probably, validate ourselves. Everyone is nervous; some people deal with it by posting about it in an online community, others do other things. Most of the people in my current grad program that I've spoken to have never heard of the grad cafe (top 60 english program).

So trying to predict results from a self-selected subset of applicants (from ANOTHER year) is sort of like trying to fly a kite blindfolded. There's no reason why you can't, but it'll be harder than it looks.

[lolopixie]

So now I'm worrying about how I'm going to handle it when I DO see an acceptance for one of my programs. Have y'all thought about this as well? Thank goodness for that big bottle of Maker's Mark in my pantry! : )

So when you see X school's name get posted as an admit on the board somewhere you will then immediately pull out your phone, check vmail, email, and then go to school website. If there is nothing there, you will pray to the academia gods that you just haven't been called yet. There is no way to handle this. I didn't even cry much last year until it was over. I kept holding on to hope.

May we all be accepted by the first school that reports back to us so we will at least know that we are in somewhere!

[Timshel]

We are so close......I'm starting to get terrified at the REAL reality that I could not get in somewhere.....

[wintergirl]

You'll make yourself crazy thinking like this! You can't take much away statistically from the results board - they're partial numbers at best. I've just looked up last year's results for the program I am in and they paint a much more positive picture than the actual numbers would give you: 15 applications, 2 acceptances and 13 rejections. Those numbers suggest an acceptance rate of 13% when I know the actual acceptance rate was around 5% ( was in that 5% and yet rejected from schools who accept 20%...). Departments' own statistic are, of course, more reliable but they don't really mean anything as a way of measuring your own chances -- your acceptances and rejections rest so much more on things that cannot be measured (i.e. the quality of your SOP in comparison to those of this year's application cohort) that it is almost pointless trying to predict your results.

All this is much easier said than done, of course... but yeah... just try your hardest not to think about it

Trying my hardest not to think about it = installed LeechBlock through Firefox so I can only access the boards for 10min a day and the forums themselves for only a brief period of time in the evening. We'll see how that goes! : )

But to clarify: I got my numbers from the dept websites themselves or on postings on the results boards that specified news like "10 admits out of 350 applicants" or something. I would definitely not try to go through and count the responses on the board. I'm obsessed but also math-challenged lazy!

So when you see X school's name get posted as an admit on the board somewhere you will then immediately pull out your phone, check vmail, email, and then go to school website. If there is nothing there, you will pray to the academia gods that you just haven't been called yet. There is no way to handle this. I didn't even cry much last year until it was over. I kept holding on to hope.

May we all be accepted by the first school that reports back to us so we will at least know that we are in somewhere!

ETA: Thank you for sharing that with us, lolo. I'm hoping for good news for all of us too--especially those of you going through this insane process again! I feel like I did as a kid at Disneyland on the original Pirates of the Caribbean ride, moments before plunging over the waterfall not knowing whether good or bad surprises waited at the bottom...

Edited January 14, 2012 by bespeckled

[Grunty DaGnome]

Timshel,

You have application fatigue. I see you have one outstanding. I felt the same way once I sent out 6 and had that last push to send in the final 2. I had a hopeless feeling that just seemed to keep me from crossing the finish line with my last app. Have a friend read your writing sample with you, explain it to them, etc. It will get you moving again and you can finally finish.

[Two Espressos]

Also, I don't think the people who gravitate towards The Grad Cafe are necessarily representative of the entire applicant pool. Let's be honest, we tend to be the more obsessive and, perhaps, neurotic applicants. We come here to vent, to share, and to, probably, validate ourselves. Everyone is nervous; some people deal with it by posting about it in an online community, others do other things. Most of the people in my current grad program that I've spoken to have never heard of the grad cafe (top 60 english program).

So trying to predict results from a self-selected subset of applicants (from ANOTHER year) is sort of like trying to fly a kite blindfolded. There's no reason why you can't, but it'll be harder than it looks.

Yes, I've been trying to convince myself that the grad cafe populace is la crème de la crème of grad school applicants. I have no statistical evidence to confirm that, of course. But you all seem very motivated, and students on these boards have gotten admissions to top-tier and Ivy-league programs, so perhaps you all will do much better in the application season than you anticipate. Here's to a successful application season!