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


Clou12

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"Why are you freaking out? It's just school.  I'm trying to find a JOB.  That's really competitive."

 

 

...apply for grad school, bub.  Let's see if you're able to keep singing that same tune of yours.  Grad school?  Not competitive?  Riiiiiiight.

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"Why are you freaking out? It's just school.  I'm trying to find a JOB.  That's really competitive."     ...apply for grad school, bub.  Let's see if you're able to keep singing that same tune of yours.  Grad school?  Not competitive?  Riiiiiiight.
So misguided and misinformed!
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The over-confidence of other people is also really aggravating. I was SO excited when I got my first interview invite the other day, and all my family could say about it was along the lines of "we're not even surprised, why were you so worried?"  A little enthusiasm would be nice!

 

THIS!!!!!! I probably jumped about ten feet in the air when I received my first interview invite, and the only thing I kept hearing was "told you so". Um, OK.

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I feel like no one in my family gets this... Which makes sense as my parents never went to college. Today my grandma was visiting and I got a call from School X, which I had to take to talk to them about travel plans for their interview weekend. As I'm thanking them and saying bye my grandma says, "Was that School Y??"... NO GRANDMA IT WAS SCHOOL X, KEEP YOUR VOICE DOWN. :rolleyes:

 

Hahaha I'm willing to be open with my schools about the other places I'm applying, but I'm hoping the lady didn't hear, as it seems rather rude. But what can I do? My grandma is in her 70s and everyone's main concern is that I'm going to move too far away.

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From my uncle in all of the last four conversations I have had with him: When are you going to finish? You know, when I was your age we didn't go to college and look where I am, and you have all this schooling and...(trails off but I still hear the implied "and look where you are you big loser").

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I am probably one of the few nutjobs who has a website.  That's right... a website!  So now I follow [obsessively] my website analytics to figure out where the hits come from and how long they are spending there.  I can report that Princeton and Yale have started looking at applications.

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This thread make me glad I have only mentioned to a handful of people that I'm applying to grad school. 

 

It's not how many people you tell, it's who you tell. Overall, I received more commiseration and empathy when I wrote on Facebook that I was in the middle of grad madness than when I told my family. The advantages of being friends with academics? Maybe I should have just broke it to my family when/if I was accepted somewhere...

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I love it when people who have never attended college tell me what my motivations are for applying to a specific program. Yes you're right, it's clearly for the weather, certainly not the near perfect research fit or genuine academic interest. I'm sure you applied for your position based on the landscaping outside your office? Ugh.

Edited by sansao
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"Why are you freaking out? It's just school.  I'm trying to find a JOB.  That's really competitive."
Right. Because no one who's applying to grad school has ever had a job. Ever. Ever.
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My family's main interest appears to be whether or not I heard anything from the one Ivy that I applied to.

 

When people ask where I've applied, I generally don't tell them about the two Ivies on my list except for my parents and a couple of close friends.  Seemed like a good idea at one point and I just stuck with it.

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When people ask where I've applied, I generally don't tell them about the two Ivies on my list except for my parents and a couple of close friends.  Seemed like a good idea at one point and I just stuck with it.

 

I did this at first, but I was tired of people going 'huh, that's... neat' in a really patronizing tone. That or, 'but aren't you applying to any good schools?' or going 'but where else' when I finished my Ivy-free list... So now I just say the Ivies all in a rush at the end and follow it with 'but I'm not really holding out for them obviously'. 

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Isn't that better? My mother thinks that I can have children DURING my PhD program.

 

I have quite a few friends that have had children during their doc program. It can be done! Promise.

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Isn't that better? My mother thinks that I can have children DURING my PhD program.

 

Oh, I didn't explain the context. My country is pretty traditional when it comes to marriage and kids, so basically, if you don't have a husband and kids, it must mean something's wrong with you.

Ergo, any woman who has a family, has it because that's what she wanted, and any woman who pursues a career, does it because she can't get a husband. Not to mention that here, bad marriage > no mariage. Because all couples have problems, and that's life. Which I don't know anything about. Because I'm not married. :)

 

Therefore, every conversation I have about a PhD with someone who's my mom's age ends up with: "When you're old and alone, you'll see that studying isn't everything." Coincidentially, everyone seems to know someone (most likely imaginary) who regretted not having children when they were younger, because now they're all old, alone, and unhappy.

 

It isn't like this with the younger generations, but the older ones can annoy you just as well. ;)

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