Bearcat1 Posted January 4, 2013 Posted January 4, 2013 And, I told one of my LOR writers that I would be applying again next year if I didn't get in anywhere. He replied, "You will certainly get admitted to multiple programs with full fellowships, and the only decision will be which one to choose." I am still about 10% convinced that I will get in anywhere. Why can't he be on the adcomm?! I think 10% is good. I vacillate between about 20 and 0%, so a steady 10% is great! And although I know it adds tremendous pressure, how great to have someone (who knows about such things) so confident in your prospects.
amlobo Posted January 4, 2013 Posted January 4, 2013 I think 10% is good. I vacillate between about 20 and 0%, so a steady 10% is great! And although I know it adds tremendous pressure, how great to have someone (who knows about such things) so confident in your prospects. Well, since I'm applying to 15 programs, I did some elaborate inference work in my delusional brain and have decided odds are that I should get into at least one. My LOR writers are confident in my chances, but they are also from different disciplines than the programs to which I'm applying (my undergrad major was a different field). Lol.
PhDreams Posted January 4, 2013 Posted January 4, 2013 And, I told one of my LOR writers that I would be applying again next year if I didn't get in anywhere. He replied, "You will certainly get admitted to multiple programs with full fellowships, and the only decision will be which one to choose." I am still about 10% convinced that I will get in anywhere. Why can't he be on the adcomm?! My writers told me the EXACT same thing! I don't believe them....
viggosloof28 Posted January 4, 2013 Posted January 4, 2013 I made a spreadsheet with the notification dates of all the programs I applied to. And even though the earliest from last year is Jan. 19th via email, I've been checking my apps at least three times a day. I made a spreadsheet, too! The earliest I've seen for mine is January 21st, so I feel almost justified checking now that it's January. Heh! Bearcat1 1
PhDreams Posted January 4, 2013 Posted January 4, 2013 I have a chart and I took a pic of it so that I can carry it around on my phone... lol I'm also starting to get nervous because I've heard stories of POIs reaching out to students via phone and email before decisions get formally announced. So if decisions are announced the last week of Jan and first two weeks of Feb..calls may very well come in a few wks!!!!!!!! I say that if we make it through the next week alive, we may make it to hear the decisions.... maybe. If I dont hear anthing by Valentines day, I'll start sobbing uncontrollably.
Bearcat1 Posted January 4, 2013 Posted January 4, 2013 I have a chart and I took a pic of it so that I can carry it around on my phone... lol ME TOO!!!! And all my friends think I'm insane. Pshaw! If other people are doing it, it's not insane, right? RubyBright 1
Sijae Posted January 4, 2013 Posted January 4, 2013 My writers told me the EXACT same thing! I don't believe them.... Yep, mine say the same thing. I think they say it to everyone.
PhDreams Posted January 4, 2013 Posted January 4, 2013 Yep, mine say the same thing. I think they say it to everyone. Awwwww... I guess that wouldn't tell us that we suck, right? lol But my profs are the ones that basically suggested programs to me.... I hope they were right about at least one. All I need is one. amlobo 1
amlobo Posted January 4, 2013 Posted January 4, 2013 Yep, mine say the same thing. I think they say it to everyone. Yeah, I kind of figure if a prof agrees to write a rec for you, they must not think you're hopeless to begin with. Ok, well, that was my limit for optimism for the day...
viggosloof28 Posted January 4, 2013 Posted January 4, 2013 I have a chart and I took a pic of it so that I can carry it around on my phone... lol Ha ha! I have a copy of my enormous Excel spreadsheet saved in my email, so I can look it up on campus in case I don't have my laptop on hand. You're not alone! I'm ridiculously happy other people are as neurotic (and by that I mean super duper well-prepared for any situation!) as I am. But my profs are the ones that basically suggested programs to me.... I hope they were right about at least one. All I need is one. Seriously! This entire process (all the time, money, and anxiety) will have been worth it if I can just get into one program.
PhDreams Posted January 5, 2013 Posted January 5, 2013 Ha ha! I have a copy of my enormous Excel spreadsheet saved in my email, so I can look it up on campus in case I don't have my laptop on hand. You're not alone! I'm ridiculously happy other people are as neurotic (and by that I mean super duper well-prepared for any situation!) as I am. Seriously! This entire process (all the time, money, and anxiety) will have been worth it if I can just get into one program. LOL!!!!! Yes, I'm not even married to any school in particular. I promise I'd make it work!!!!! Pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeee..... 1/7 is not crazy, right? I also applied to two UCs.
ion_exchanger Posted January 5, 2013 Posted January 5, 2013 I love the spreadsheets! I didn't make one, but i did study the results page over the break and marked trends of decisions on my calendar.
PhDreams Posted January 5, 2013 Posted January 5, 2013 adcomms will probably begin meeting on Monday - yeesh! As if I wasn't feeling nervous enough... :-S My stomach is in knots!!!!!! ME TOO!!!! And all my friends think I'm insane. Pshaw! If other people are doing it, it's not insane, right? Absolutely not! We're practical!
RubyBright Posted January 5, 2013 Posted January 5, 2013 Too bad I can't send the adcoms cookies. That would be bribery, you say? I don't know what you're talking about... firstsight 1
viggosloof28 Posted January 5, 2013 Posted January 5, 2013 Yes, I'm not even married to any school in particular. I promise I'd make it work!!!!! Pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeee..... 1/7 is not crazy, right? I also applied to two UCs. Heck, I'm hoping for even 1/10! If I'm not crazy (and I swear I'm not!), then you're not either. As long as you applied only to programs where you could make it work, I think you're good to go! ME TOO!!!! And all my friends think I'm insane. Pshaw! If other people are doing it, it's not insane, right? My thoughts, exactly, Bearcat! Too bad I can't send the adcoms cookies. That would be bribery, you say? I don't know what you're talking about... Man, what an idea! I have a never-fails recipe for Norwegian apple cake. Wish I could send a sample of that around to the adcomms...and it wouldn't be bribery at all! Surely sending baked goods would just demonstrate how very creative and well-rounded we are as people/potential grads?
nohika Posted January 5, 2013 Posted January 5, 2013 I guess I can use this for a thread where people have said good things...had a nice hour-ish long talk with one of the profs I'm TAing for this semester (there's two) and we outlined my responsibilities, etc, and she liked some of my ideas for assignments and whatnot and we talked about grad school and anxiety, etcetcetc. It was lovely and I'm so happy to have her on my side! She's not my mentor but one of my letter writers and has been so nice to me the past couple months (well, she has the entire time I've known her, but). It's so awesome to have someone who gets the anxiety and she even gave me some tips to look in to (meditation? dance?) to try to help calm it a bit while I wait. Mentor told me we're going to wait on the application for the back-up school until I hear from the two schools that are supposed to notify around this month. comp12 1
PhDreams Posted January 5, 2013 Posted January 5, 2013 Yep... I love every school I've applied to soooooo.....please?????? Just one.
saphixation Posted January 5, 2013 Posted January 5, 2013 I guess I can use this for a thread where people have said good things. True! Two years ago, I had a term where I did really, really poorly in school due to various mental health issues. I only passed one class, and that was with the lowest possible passing grade. That class was in my major, so I thought for sure I'd messed everything up. I talked to the professor about why my grades were so poor and he was very understanding, but it was the first class I ever had with him so I wouldn't blame him if he wound up thinking I was a horrible student or just didn't care. Flash forward to last semester, I went to go ask him to write me a recommendation for grad school. I'd taken two more classes with him and he was the advisor for my senior project so he'd seen how much better I was doing (hence why I felt justified asking for the rec), but I was still nervous that my poor grade in my first class with him would be a deal breaker. I would totally understand if he saw that little episode as evidence that I wasn't cut out for the rigors of grad school. Also, note that at the time, I was planning on only going for a masters. That one bad semester had killed my confidence so I was convinced that a PhD was way out of my league, and even a masters would be a miracle. Anyway, instead of saying no to my recommendation, he started asking me all sorts of questions about why I wanted to go to grad school. He didn't understand why I wasn't going for a PhD, though. He agreed to write me a recommendation, but he refused to speak to me any further until I could adequately defend my reasons for getting a masters only. He went on to say that he thought I sounded extremely passionate about research and that I would make a stronger PhD candidate than a masters candidate. Having a professor whose class I nearly failed show so much confidence in my chances at getting a PhD was... amazing. I've had a lot of support from friends and family - whether it's the well-intentioned but misguided "you'll get in everywhere, you're smart!" or the more honest "you did the best you could, now all you can do is wait and see" - but that one professor's encouragement has been my main motivation in this application season. RubyBright and Queen of Kale 2
nohika Posted January 5, 2013 Posted January 5, 2013 True! Two years ago, I had a term where I did really, really poorly in school due to various mental health issues. I only passed one class, and that was with the lowest possible passing grade. That class was in my major, so I thought for sure I'd messed everything up. I talked to the professor about why my grades were so poor and he was very understanding, but it was the first class I ever had with him so I wouldn't blame him if he wound up thinking I was a horrible student or just didn't care. Flash forward to last semester, I went to go ask him to write me a recommendation for grad school. I'd taken two more classes with him and he was the advisor for my senior project so he'd seen how much better I was doing (hence why I felt justified asking for the rec), but I was still nervous that my poor grade in my first class with him would be a deal breaker. I would totally understand if he saw that little episode as evidence that I wasn't cut out for the rigors of grad school. Also, note that at the time, I was planning on only going for a masters. That one bad semester had killed my confidence so I was convinced that a PhD was way out of my league, and even a masters would be a miracle. Anyway, instead of saying no to my recommendation, he started asking me all sorts of questions about why I wanted to go to grad school. He didn't understand why I wasn't going for a PhD, though. He agreed to write me a recommendation, but he refused to speak to me any further until I could adequately defend my reasons for getting a masters only. He went on to say that he thought I sounded extremely passionate about research and that I would make a stronger PhD candidate than a masters candidate. Having a professor whose class I nearly failed show so much confidence in my chances at getting a PhD was... amazing. I've had a lot of support from friends and family - whether it's the well-intentioned but misguided "you'll get in everywhere, you're smart!" or the more honest "you did the best you could, now all you can do is wait and see" - but that one professor's encouragement has been my main motivation in this application season. I totally understand. I was put on academic probation my first semester working with my to-be mentor. She (and my department) has seen me go from a bumbling 20-year-old who knew nothing about research to someone one of my letter writers phrased as "extremely smart, street-savvy, and far above a bachelor's level scholar." I'm gaining graduate-level TA responsibilities under this professor because of her view of me. I don't get to talk much with my third writer (she's the interim head for one department and heads my current department), but she's best friends with my mentor and I'm sure she knows what's going on. I was abused for years as a child and have a severely damaged self-esteem and always wonder what others think of me, because I'm quite sure I'm incompetent in a variety of ways. To have her talk about me like I'm heads above the rest, like I can truly make it...just about had me in tears. I am so thankful for the professors I've had. One of them came up to me and said "So I hear you had an interview, huh?" She's teased me (playfully) and supported me since I started in the department. She's not an LOR writer (she's just got a masters, and mentor wanted tenured faculty to write for me), but she's an amazingly nice person and I've had her for three semesters now. It does squick me out a bit that they obviously talk about me, though. Because she had to hear of the mini-interview I had with the faculty that contacted me from my mentor, because she was the only one I talked to about it. saphixation 1
firstsight Posted January 5, 2013 Posted January 5, 2013 Too bad I can't send the adcoms cookies. That would be bribery, you say? I don't know what you're talking about...I just want to say that we could totally collaborate on sending UNC cookies. I make a killer triple-chocolate mint fudge chip. >.> Oh, wait, bribery. Right. Damn the man. RubyBright 1
RubyBright Posted January 5, 2013 Posted January 5, 2013 I just want to say that we could totally collaborate on sending UNC cookies. I make a killer triple-chocolate mint fudge chip. >.> Oh, wait, bribery. Right. Damn the man. Or even chocolate chip banana bread. Mine has been called a narcotic, though as a psych major, I had to disabuse them of the idea. It's really just that I double the chocolate chips that are called for. Maybe we could pass them off as holiday gifts?
firstsight Posted January 5, 2013 Posted January 5, 2013 Oh man, banana bread. I'm more a pistachio-chocolate chip-cranberry zucchini bread person (I don't like smushing bananas - it weirds me out somehow), but... now I'm hungry. XDAnd sure! We could.. uh.. say we're really inspired by MLK. I'm sure we could figure out what the honorable Dr. King's fav cookie was. Totes plausible.
RubyBright Posted January 5, 2013 Posted January 5, 2013 We're well-rounded students who appreciate cultural heritage and culinary skills. firstsight 1
amlobo Posted January 5, 2013 Posted January 5, 2013 I made a spreadsheet with the notification dates of all the programs I applied to. And even though the earliest from last year is Jan. 19th via email, I've been checking my apps at least three times a day. You have inspired me to add a "notification date" column to my already multi-page spreadsheet on all of my programs, lol. Earliest from last year is January 20.... so naturally, still continuing to check apps religiously...
TED1213 Posted January 5, 2013 Posted January 5, 2013 We're well-rounded students who appreciate cultural heritage and culinary skills. You all have me cracking up from these last three pages about baked goods. Glad to know I'm in good company Highly neurotic this time of year and willing to do anything to get it over with!
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