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

[whitegummy]

At least once a day: "Did you get in yet?"

[Elanti]

"Why don't you just get a job?"

UGH. I don't know, maybe it's because a B.S. in Psychology isn't like a degree in Engineering? What "job" should I get in my field with just a B.S.?

I think the most annoying thing is one of the things that remain unsaid. A lot of my friends on FB and the like haven't applied to grad school and have no intention to (for a large number of reasons). Ever since I started working in a research lab I was inundated with "Why are you bothering? Why don't you work somewhere that pays you?". When I began participating in other non-lab extracurriculars to help my applications, I was again met with "You should get a job so you have spending money!". Yeah, let me just set aside 20 hours a week to get a job on top of the labs and classes I'm involved in. People that don't want to apply to graduate school honestly don't get it. That's why I spend so much time on Gradcafe. You guys understand and aren't urging me to get a job. It really sucks to not be able to commiserate with my close friends. 

[NerwenAldarion]

THEML: "have you heard anything yet?"

 

Me: No the deadline to apply is in JANUARY!!! (It was November)

 

 

I got that a LOT this year.

 

 

THEM: you'll get in a lot of places."

 

ME: You do realize they only accept like 7 students

 

THEM: Well how many apply?"

 

ME: About 100"

 

THEM: O.O

 

 

That face was always priceless

 

 

GRANDMA: Have you hear anything yet

 

ME: No Grandma, not yet

 

GRANDMA: You shouldn't have waited a year after college, it might hurt you

 

ME: Grandma, that won't make a difference. Besides I had to wait, I had no money to get into grad school.

 

GRANDMA: I know what I'm talking about

 

ME: (thinking to myself) You didn't even GO to college.

[Canadianna]

I got this doozy from my friends the other day (context, I've done a funded master's and will be starting my phd in the fall).

 

While we were discussing the struggles of moving out and living independently.

 

Friend: What you did doesn't really count. I mean, it's not like you had a full time job, you're still a student.

 

[My head nearly exploded and after a lengthy argument I left]

[PsycD]

I got this doozy from my friends the other day (context, I've done a funded master's and will be starting my phd in the fall).

While we were discussing the struggles of moving out and living independently.

Friend: What you did doesn't really count. I mean, it's not like you had a full time job, you're still a student.

[My head nearly exploded and after a lengthy argument I left]

For the sake of my own sanity, which is almost nonexistent after enduring this app season, I have simply ceased discussing anything about graduate school with people who haven't been through this. They just don't get it.

[thedig13]

"So what are you going to do with that degree?"

"Well, hopefully, I'll become a professor at a university somewhere."

"So you want to teach?"

 

The ones who don't know that being a professor also means doing research and/or think that research is something you do using Google.

 

Especially the ones who went to college and somehow don't know that.

[Voulez-Vous]

My father told me yesterday that I should just get an online PhD somewhere because it's the same thing. When I told him that I wanted to understand my field better, he said it sounded like I just wanted to be a student and that I could learn on my own.

 

Sigh.

[Macavity]

"Does your husband know about this?"

 

(After making a "moving across the country for grad school" status on FB).

[starofdawn]

"Does your husband know about this?"

 

(After making a "moving across the country for grad school" status on FB).

That sounds like a polite way of saying, "I can't believe your husband is letting you do this."

 

Not to be unfairly cynical towards your Facebook friends....

[Macavity]

That sounds like a polite way of saying, "I can't believe your husband is letting you do this."

 

Not to be unfairly cynical towards your Facebook friends....

 

Commenter is a conservative christian, so your cynicism is probably appropriate.

[PhDerp]

The ones who don't know that being a professor also means doing research and/or think that research is something you do using Google.

 

Especially the ones who went to college and somehow don't know that.

 

I only learned that professor =/= teacher like a year and a half ago. :x

Edited April 9, 2014 by PhDerp

[PhDerp]

"Oooh I'm coming to visit you in Montreal!!!"

Ummm...when I lived 30 miles from you, I never saw you, but now you're gonna make the effort to see me when I'm living in another country because you want a cheap vacation???

I'm actually hoping for that. I live in a boring (but pretty) little town in the middle of nowhere right now. Still, I live near enough to a lot of friends that they can visit me whenever. But they never do!

I hope people use my apartment as a home base for visiting Hollywood and Disneyland. I'm counting on it. I'm asking them to! XD

[PsycD]

I'm actually hoping for that. I live in a boring (but pretty) little town in the middle of nowhere right now. Still, I live near enough to a lot of friends that they can visit me whenever. But they never do!

I hope people use my apartment as a home base for visiting Hollywood and Disneyland. I'm counting on it. I'm asking them to! XD

I wouldn't mind if they were real friends. If they really cared about seeing me they'd have done it while I was here, so no thanks.

[kittythrones]

My friends are all in either medical school, law school, or getting a masters in engineering...so I am sort of glad that they will be using my flat as a homebase in the UK. ****I am in NYC and most of my friends are all over the world currently****** The ones that are out in the "real world", I talk to them every day on fb so it isn't as bad. 

I'm actually hoping for that. I live in a boring (but pretty) little town in the middle of nowhere right now. Still, I live near enough to a lot of friends that they can visit me whenever. But they never do!

I hope people use my apartment as a home base for visiting Hollywood and Disneyland. I'm counting on it. I'm asking them to! XD

 

 

Goddamn PsychD, you can not catch a break.

[PsycD]

Goddamn PsychD, you can not catch a break.

Hahaha! It's all good.

[restill]

Some context, my dad and I don't have a great relationship. Found out that my stepmother hadn't told him that I was accepted to a school with funding and a teaching position (I told her WEEKS before, so I was a little frustrated by that), so the conversation went like this (after trying to start the conversation by congratulating him on a promotion at work):

 

"So, did you hear my good news?"

"...huh?"

"Did you hear about my good news? Did Christie tell you?"

"No, I don't think so."

"She didn't tell you?! I mean, it's kind of a huge deal, but okay...I've been accepted to earn a PhD at KSU with a full tuition waiver, teaching stipend making way more than I do now. So no matter what, I'm earning my PhD starting this fall!"

"I thought you were going to MSU."

"Well no, I've been waitlisted there. I haven't heard from them yet..."

"Oh. That's too bad."

 

As opposed to, "that's great news" or "congratulations" or "good job", I get "I thought you were going somewhere else". The whole thing frustrates me to pieces. /grumble grumble rant off

[sqxz]

"Well, I hope you like being out in the cold in the middle of nowhere..."

 

My current research advisor, when I told him I was going to Illinois. He was kidding, of course, but I found this comment amusing considering we are hundreds of miles to the north of Champaign-Urbana, and it definitely gets colder here than it does there.

[IR LeLaH]

"I'm going to American University."

"Oh. So which university in America?"

 

I'm from another country, so I can't really blame my friends and family when they say this to me... Still, it is frustrating and I hate to explain it for so many times. Maybe I should make a public announcement about it.

[Rolling Circles]

"Why don't you take a year off?"

[nightfarmer]

3x a day:

 

them: "so what schools are you applying to?"

[you rattle off the two thousand schools against your will because it's the path of least resistance]

them: "which one's your top choice?"

you: "i don't really have one. it will depend on what offers i get and where my personal life is when it comes time to make the decision"

them: ... [clearly unsatisfied with your answer] "yeahhhh... but if you got into all of them right now, where would you go?"

you: "that's not going to happen. no point in hypothesizing about that eventuality"

them: "where do you want to go?"

you: "i only applied places i wanted to go." [why would i apply anywhere i wouldn't want to go?]

 

and both parties leave slightly annoyed.

[Vene]

I liked telling people I was going to go to the one that paid me the most money. At the least it got them to shut up.

[firewisp11]

"Why are you going to grad school straight from undergrad? Don't you want to explore the world while you still can??"

^ soo frustrating

[museum_geek]

"Oh you have an interview today?  That's weird.  When I got into grad school 40 years ago I didn't have to interview so I'm not sure why you need to do an interview now.  What kind of program is this anyway?"

 

-My well meaning yet slightly out of touch co-worker's reaction when I informed her I was doing a grad school interview over the phone this afternoon

[MidwesternAloha]

"When are you going to get a real job?"

"You can't stay in academia forever."

[MidwesternAloha]

OH, and my favorite (because I'm married):

 

"So, how can you start a family?  You'll be in your thirties!"