Sh*t people say when you are applying to grad school

[stephanie.ms.antunes]

"Even if you don't get in, it's not the end of the world..."

(Yeah, it's only my future...)

[WalterBenjamin]

"OF COURSE you'll get in. I can't imagine there will be that many people applying to this program anyway"

[PhDreams]

"You should go to Seattle instead of Raleigh. We'd rather visit you in Washington." -- my parents

LA is too far. I hope you don't get in. - my parents

[cokohlik]

LA is too far. I hope you don't get in. - my parents

Hahha! Oh my gosh!!

[trina]

Or this gem, from my Mom: "Honey, you HAVE a degree. Just settle down, have some kids, and be happy with it."

i get the same from my mom too! So infuriating.

and from everyone else.. "oh, you'll get in. no big deal, right?" err.. yes it is. and no, i don't think i'll get in anywhere!

Edited February 4, 2012 by trina

[stephanie.ms.antunes]

I love it when people ask me how I'm going to pay for it... I tell them I am so in demand that the grad schools actually PAY me to attend If nothing else it makes them stop prying into my personal finances and then they quickly become interested in what I am studying

Good Idea! I can't stand that question.

[hitomimay]

From my mother yesterday after my first acceptance: "Great! Now we can find you a nice husband!"

Thank you mother? As if getting my PhD was really the more socially acceptable cover-up for getting my MRS degree?

[Emma Maroon]

two gems from my grandma:

"There's no point in you going to graduate school. We're in the end times. Jesus will be back before you're done applying!"

and

"Well, you don't know how God will provide. Maybe he'll send you a nice rich husband so you don't have to work!"

When I suggested, ever so gently, that I really was excited about getting a job in my field, and wouldn't be happy with a dude that made me stay home, she clarifiied: "No, he wouldn't *make* you stay home. You just wouldn't *have* to work."

I love my grandma dearly. It's just funny talking to another generation about what a woman should want out of life. :-)

oh! Also! As I was getting my philosophy undergrad, (with intention to study religion/Christianity in grad school) my grandma quoted some pretty hefty Scripture at me: "have nothing to do with hollow and deceptive philosophies!" No, Grandma, just because I'm studying Philosophy doesn't put me in the same category... Yes, Grandma, I'm still a Christian... Yes, Christians study Philosophy... heard

much about that Aquinas dude?

[Emma Maroon]

Ahaha! I didn't see this when i posted mine! all our relatives are out Man Hunting for us! :-)

From my mother yesterday after my first acceptance: "Great! Now we can find you a nice husband!"

Thank you mother? As if getting my PhD was really the more socially acceptable cover-up for getting my MRS degree?

[hitomimay]

Ahaha! I didn't see this when i posted mine! all our relatives are out Man Hunting for us! :-)

Lol! Clearly this is our duty and only purpose in life.

[oseirus]

"Scared of getting a real job, huh?"

Why ... yes I am :-)

[lovenhaight]

"Why are you applying to [graduate program] instead of [something that still has your undergrad major in the title]?"

My (least) favorite from my aunt: "Do you really need a graduate education?" followed by one news article link every week regarding the uselessness of grad school, etc.

Ugh. My father likes to send me little quips from "friends who have a PhD" about how useless it was, or how they hated their field after getting the PhD. Of course, he never seems to know what field these people came from or exactly why they hated it. I think he assumes that people just get a generic PhD and they are all essentially the same thing. It becomes all the more frustrating knowing that he has a Bachelor's, so he's not uneducated...oh, and then there's the fact that I'm nearly 30 and entirely capable of making my own decisions.

Ah, parents.

[lovenhaight]

"You should go to Seattle instead of Raleigh. We'd rather visit you in Washington." -- my parents

"If you end up on the west coast, I will assume that I'll never see you again because I refuse to travel to Seattle or Oregon. It RAINS there." (This from my 72 year old father who lives in a hurricane-prone area and has previously traveled extensively in Washington and Oregon)

Edited February 4, 2012 by lovenhaight

[LinguisticMystic]

"If you end up on the west coast, I will assume that I'll never see you again because I refuse to travel to Seattle or Oregon. It RAINS there." (This from my 72 year old father who lives in a hurricane-prone area and has previously traveled extensively in Washington and Oregon)

Yeah, my dad then said "Oh but I could never actually live in Seattle. I can't handle rain & gloom." My parents really have no idea what I'm doing with my life. My mom just offered to buy me some "nerdy, grad school glasses" upon my hypothetical acceptance. Hah! Thanks, Mom.

[crazygirl2012]

"There's no point in you going to graduate school. We're in the end times. Jesus will be back before you're done applying!"

That might be my favorite.

[sleepycat]

"May be you can be a research librarian. You don't need to get the ph.d. because I don't see you being an academic." - my mom

[oseirus]

two gems from my grandma:

"There's no point in you going to graduate school. We're in the end times. Jesus will be back before you're done applying!"

and

I think I love your granny .... I'm stealing this as my go to excuse now!

[jrah822]

From my mother yesterday after my first acceptance: "Great! Now we can find you a nice husband!"

Thank you mother? As if getting my PhD was really the more socially acceptable cover-up for getting my MRS degree?

two gems from my grandma:

"There's no point in you going to graduate school. We're in the end times. Jesus will be back before you're done applying!"

and

"Well, you don't know how God will provide. Maybe he'll send you a nice rich husband so you don't have to work!"

Glad I'm not the only one whose relatives is seeing the whole PhD thing as a chance to marry me off.

Also, I go to a Catholic college right now, and we always have people roaming around our campus trying to convince us that we should give up on our undergraduate degrees while we still can in order to "go find Jesus and be saved." It's quite disheartening.

[GreenePony]

Also, I go to a Catholic college right now, and we always have people roaming around our campus trying to convince us that we should give up on our undergraduate degrees while we still can in order to "go find Jesus and be saved." It's quite disheartening.

I don't know how we don't have those. My freshman year we had a guy yelling at us to repent whenever we left chapel* (he was from one of the more... offbeat churches in the area). It would seem right up his -or someone from that church's- alley.

Not sure how finding Jesus requires you to drop out. Last I checked most protestant pastors have an undergrad degree as well as an MDiv or DDiv.

* Baptist university so are required to attend two semesters of chapel. But no statement of faith needed so that's who he was screeching at, I guess.

Edited February 5, 2012 by GreenePony

[Vanilla Tea]

'What's plan B"

'You must keep your options open'

'March-April? You hear from schools that late?'

[jspring86]

"Getting a PhD in mathematics? You plan on adding numbers for a living or something?"

Yeah, or something.

[Fleur]

People's comments when you are waiting for the admission results are just as unbearable as someone asking "How are you today?" every morning when you are down with a flu. I am coping the best I can and waiting for it to pass, for God's sake!

[sansao]

People's comments when you are waiting for the admission results are just as unbearable as someone asking "How are you today?" every morning when you are down with a flu. I am coping the best I can and waiting for it to pass, for God's sake!

I've been kinda lucky with people I suppose. Obviously I got the, "you'll get in somewhere," (mostly from current grad student friends, strangely). My favorites were from my partner, "So do you know where we're moving yet?" (committment is so fantastic), and from a friend of mine who's generally got no idea about the process whatsoever: "Come on, you know you'll have to decide between all four. The only one that could possibly be up in the air is (insert top program at top school here), and that's just because they're snobs." My parent's have been mercifully silent, just asking occasionally if I've heard anything, and promising not to call me with news of snail mail unless it's a big envelope. They apparently know I want to go cry in private if I get a rejection. I still printed the pamphlet from the other thread for them, though.

[bellefast]

Me: I won't hear back from my schools until later this month and early march

Boyfriend's Mom: That late, Hang in there!

Me: yeah, ok...

Boyfriend's Mom: you know, he got into....

Me: yeah i know, I live with him...ya know this conversation is no longer productive, GOODBYE

Boyfriend's mom: well...

Me: "phone clicks"

[alexi3]

"Just stop thinking about it"

"Well have you gotten anything published? No? Hrmm, what's your backup plan?"

They mean well, truly they do.

Edited February 5, 2012 by alexi3