My reality check

[MarketingPhD2012]

With each rejection letter that I receive, it all is starting to sink in! As one poster said before, if I haven't heard anything from my remaining schools; perhaps, it is not good news for me. I know, by now, interviews have been extended to "star applicants". I don't know why schools are holding rejection letters on their desks. Just let me know that I have been rejected so that I can move on and figure out what my next step is. Hopefully, I will hear something more positive from the three remaining schools, but I am not holding my breath. Congrats to all of those that have received acceptances to your schools of choice. Guess it is not in the cards for me. One thing I know for sure, I will be quitting my current job one way or another!!!!

[Frostfire]

With each rejection letter that I receive, it all is starting to sink in! As one poster said before, if I haven't heard anything from my remaining schools; perhaps, it is not good news for me. I know, by now, interviews have been extended to "star applicants". I don't know why schools are holding rejection letters on their desks. Just let me know that I have been rejected so that I can move on and figure out what my next step is. Hopefully, I will hear something more positive from the three remaining schools, but I am not holding my breath. Congrats to all of those that have received acceptances to your schools of choice. Guess it is not in the cards for me. One thing I know for sure, I will be quitting my current job one way or another!!!!

I feel your pain. Hopefully you'll find your way off the waitlist though. That's a glimmer of hope, at least.

[shaxmaty1848]

Hey now, let's not be too hard on ourselves. You applied to all really competitive schools, in a huge field. PLENTY of people haven't heard back from schools yet! Myself included. I'm not giving up. Youre right that it's no good to be hopelessly optimistic, but there will be a dept out there for you. Life is a huge series of "reality checks". Highschool and undergrad both had plenty of those for me. Your skills and your competition will change every year... don't give up yet. My favorite professor got her PhD when she was 55, and now she is a star faculty member. It's not hopeless!

[rmgerdes]

I really don't think anyone should give up until the end of the March.

Good luck hanging in there!

[okayandgo]

There is still some slender hope. One of my friends who had survived the PhD process said that he found no correlation really between time and acceptance. I do know that Universities extend their star acceptances early, but I think they also sort of "waitlist" people as well. My friend got an acceptance from UPenn in late March/April after he thought his application had been lost down a black hole.

[Theasaurus]

I understand completely. I have 6 schools to hear from still, but I'm positive I've been rejected from 2 of those 6. Acceptance emails and calls have already been sent out, so either my email is stuck and phone isn't working or I've made the rejection list. It doesn't help hanging out on the SLP message boards because everyone on there seems to have gotten at least one acceptance. It's pretty discouraging. I still have 6 left (more like 4), so I'll see what happens, but my chances are looking pretty slim. Like you, I'm quitting my job either way and going back for more undergrad classes which is one beacon of hope that's keeping me going. I plan to truck on and try my luck next year or find something equally as fulfilling. The most annoying aspect of all of this is the amount of money I've lost in transcript requests, application fees, and GRE submissions. It was under $1000, but not by much.

Good luck to you during the rest of this process and congrats to everyone and their acceptances. Stay strong my friend!

[MarketingPhD2012]

Thanks guys and gals! You all are right...I should remain positive and keep a good attitude! Not over yet!

[Frostfire]

I understand completely. I have 6 schools to hear from still, but I'm positive I've been rejected from 2 of those 6. Acceptance emails and calls have already been sent out, so either my email is stuck and phone isn't working or I've made the rejection list. It doesn't help hanging out on the SLP message boards because everyone on there seems to have gotten at least one acceptance. It's pretty discouraging. I still have 6 left (more like 4), so I'll see what happens, but my chances are looking pretty slim. Like you, I'm quitting my job either way and going back for more undergrad classes which is one beacon of hope that's keeping me going. I plan to truck on and try my luck next year or find something equally as fulfilling. The most annoying aspect of all of this is the amount of money I've lost in transcript requests, application fees, and GRE submissions. It was under $1000, but not by much.

Good luck to you during the rest of this process and congrats to everyone and their acceptances. Stay strong my friend!

I feel your pain on the wasted money sensation. With 6 schools to get transcripts from for each application, just applying to 6 programs topped out at nearly a thousand. It's deeply, deeply painful. And highly annoying. I don't know if I can stomach doing this again next season ... might have to take a full year away before getting back to this, if it doesn't work out this year. But maybe I'm just being pessimistic.

[MarketingPhD2012]

I understand completely. I have 6 schools to hear from still, but I'm positive I've been rejected from 2 of those 6. Acceptance emails and calls have already been sent out, so either my email is stuck and phone isn't working or I've made the rejection list. It doesn't help hanging out on the SLP message boards because everyone on there seems to have gotten at least one acceptance. It's pretty discouraging. I still have 6 left (more like 4), so I'll see what happens, but my chances are looking pretty slim. Like you, I'm quitting my job either way and going back for more undergrad classes which is one beacon of hope that's keeping me going. I plan to truck on and try my luck next year or find something equally as fulfilling. The most annoying aspect of all of this is the amount of money I've lost in transcript requests, application fees, and GRE submissions. It was under $1000, but not by much.

Good luck to you during the rest of this process and congrats to everyone and their acceptances. Stay strong my friend!

I understand you completely. The whole process for me was $993. That included taking the GMAT ($250), five extra GMAT Score Reports ($140), and application fees ($583). Luckily for me, my school gives you unlimited transcripts for free. That saved me some money!

Edited March 7, 2012 by MarketingPhD2012

[Spytgale1]

I know what you mean. I went through my "reality check" when I was applying. It was pretty tough. But now I have a plan b set in place if I get rejected from all the schools I applied to, so even if I don't get into any programs, I don't think I will feel as bad as last year. But I have my fingers crossed for all of you (myself included), and I hope everyone gets into a program somewhere

[TropicalCharlie]

Don't give up! The reality is that acceptance notifications are continuously sent out through April.

It's not over yet. Fight on my friends!

[rowlf]

This topic came at the right moment for me. After hearing nothing for months, the silence was broken with two surprise rejections from the two program that I thought I had the best chances at acceptance. I have another implied rejection, one psuedo-waitlist that is not looking good, and the other is really competitive and does not provide anyone funding. After these rejections, realizing that my chances are whittling down, I straight-up broke down. I quit my horrible-for-my-mental-health job while applying to graduate school hoping for a brighter future, leaving me with what feels like no other alternatives. It took me a long time to find that job in the first place and I am so sick of unemployment.

I came from an unlikely-to-succeed background (e.g., low-income household, single parent, community where few people graduate college let alone a good one). When I managed to do well at a top undergraduate school, I felt like I had made it: the American Dream. Now, between my apparent inability to get an appropriate job or get accepted to graduate school, I feel like it was all for nothing.

There have been times that I have questioned if this forum can make this process more aggravating, but I am sure that this would be so much worse without it. There are so many people in their second or third cycle; it is amazing. Just knowing that there are people who are in the same position as I am who do not give up makes me feel like I can do it too.

Now if I can figure out what to do for the next year...