So what's your backup plan?

[MDLee]

Yeah. I'm aware of that. They had 1 spot open for their MA students and I was not the best fit (hence why it was a backup plan). I'm not really into incest anyway. It does still feel like getting dumped though.

Dumped...or getting pushed out into the cold, cruel world of academia without a coat. And you're like "Hold on! I just devoted X number of years to this place!" and their answer is something to the effect of "Don't let the door hit you on the way out...and make sure you pay all of your fees in advance of your departure!" hehe

[miratrix]

Whoa, that's a pretty harsh assumption for them to make.

Yeah...not going into details, I would see why they might think that, but it would be a great fit anyway. It just makes me nervous about how to evaluate my options if I'm accepted at multiple places...is the opinion of a random sampling of people with PhDs in anthro something I should be paying attention to?

[Tonights]

Yeah...not going into details, I would see why they might think that, but it would be a great fit anyway. It just makes me nervous about how to evaluate my options if I'm accepted at multiple places...is the opinion of a random sampling of people with PhDs in anthro something I should be paying attention to?

Well... I decided not to apply to a program I was going to apply to on the basis of some comments from a professor I interviewed with (at a different school). It would have been a good fit for me, but I was kind of on the fence about it anyway and when she asked me what other schools I was looking at and I mentioned it, she was basically appalled and like "Oh, dear me, no." Now, normally I don't give a crap what other people think, but that just made me so nervous about job placement once I eventually graduated that I decided not to spend the application fee. But if your person just thought your school was a backup as opposed to this professor, who thought the school in question was apparently some sort of pit of despair, I think you're pretty much okay. But I also think it's good for us to evaluate options based partially on our eventual likelihood of being on tenure track!

I don't know, I'm rambling. This process is so confusing and the more you ponder it, the more confusing it becomes. :?:

[Dinali]

Very well put. I'm in the same boat. I might try to get a research job or teach undergraduate courses somewhere. But I think I'll be a bit jaded for a couple of months if I wipe out with all my apps. I dont see myself saying C'est la vie and carrying on immediately.

The bad part is that I know exactly where I screwed up. I found out a lot of things recently that I wish I had learned prior to December 15. That means that next year I'll have the ability to put together an awesome application, but I don't know if I'll have the motivational or financial resources to do it again. This year's applications cost me roughly 12% of my annual net income. Sigh

[Victory]

Back up plan? Pulling a Thelma & Louise. Well...I'm a guy, so some sort of equivalent.

[miratrix]

It was more along the lines of "oh, yes, a backup" than "OH NO DON'T GO THERE!" which would be such a red flag! It is an MA program, and I am not definitively planning on being an academic, so I'm not worried about tenure...but I'd probably end up reapplying to most of the exact same PhD programs I'm applying to now if I went there, so in that sense I guess it literally would be a backup for most people with my list of schools.

[Jakrabite]

but I don't know if I'll have the motivational or financial resources to do it again. This year's applications cost me roughly 12% of my annual net income. Sigh

Ditto! Although I may say it now, I don't know if I'll actually go through the whole process again. Getting recommendations, scraping together money etc etc. 12% is pretty harsh! I might apply to fewer schools, if round 2 turns out be necessary and, more importantly, possible in terms of cash and motivation(perhaps not that in order).

[poiuyt]

Backup plan? Ha. Won't the universe simply cease to exist for me? :wink:

[jay]

My backup plan is to stay at my current job, that I love. I'll continue doing research, crank out a few more publications and reapply next year. I'll probably apply to a few more schools next year.

[revrocksteady]

A month ago, I would have said my backup plan was be to stay at my job, try adjunct teaching, and work on re-applying. . . I have my MBA and am applying to PhD

[Abiogenic Gas]

My backup plan is to either:

1. Start working at a job I'm not real stoked about

2. Retake some key undergrad classes which I did poorly in and then re-apply next year or the year after

3. Stay at my current university for a PhD (which I'm currently attending for my masters)

4. Or some combination of the three

I'd really like to buy a new car though.

[Giant Bees]

Well I have been working my butt off to save money for a move if I were to get accepted anywhere, so if I don't, I am taking that money and going to Europe to drown my sorrows in cheap wine and awesome.

[purplepepper]

My backup plan is to go to air traffic control school. I've even got an acceptance, but I'm still considering it! Training is a year and a bit and air traffic controllers make loads of money, on average over 100k, more than you would ever as an academic. Seriously. I love airplanes.

[whateverneveram3n]

I'm getting my Hail-Mary Master's application together. I am also strongly considering trying to pick up a teaching certificate.

I was optimistic and applied to one back-up PhD program (which given how horrific the application process has been with them I'm no longer sure that's a good place to go) and was planning a different back-up Master's (which I decided, in a fit of optimistic laziness, not to complete).

I thought about staying at Undergrad for an additional year and trying to double major, but I am tired of starving. I love my field, but I've accepted that I can live and be happy and still be smart even without the PhD. My goal is to be living above poverty level in the next three years.

With that said- I am currently lighting incense to the great and magnificent Univ. of Vermont!

Word. I spent a year there (year at the school, longer in Burlington), and guarantee you will love it there. Especially if you're the incense sort. =) Burlington is gorgeous. (Ok, I really miss it there... can you tell?)

[whateverneveram3n]

My top choice is my undergraduate alma mater (I dont' have an MS), because there is a lot of research going on in my area of interest, and I found a professor who is willing to take me on. He said he'd talk to the admissions committee (he's the chair of the graduate program) but I haven't heard back from him since we met in person, so now I'm sweating bullets O_o;

I was told it was a bad idea to go back to the same school for my Ph.D, but I figure since I attended the School of Engineering and I would now be a part of the Comp. Sci. department the "academic incest" factor is mitigated at least a little.

I really really really need this; I can't imagine what I'll do if I don't get into grad school. I'm not sure I can survive at my company for another year... :?

I hear you on the job survival bit...I'm already starting to send out applications for other jobs in case the grad school apps fall through...no way in hell am I sticking at this job for another year. (I do software development of sorts...)

best of luck!

[milara]

I applied to no safeties this year. I know that my application is much weaker this year than it will be next year. I didn't want to settle for a safety school when I know that I stand a better chance next year. So I applied to my top three choices.

This year, if I'm rejected by all of the above, my interim game plan is:

- see if there are any research positions that will take me with just my masters

- apply to jobs in my field, preferably places that are exploring interesting forms of online journalism

- apply to paying internships, if need be

- start working on some website ideas I have that may end up earning me some money while beefing up my portfolio (and living with the parental units to save money)

In the meantime, I'll work on getting myself more key portfolio items, beefing up my technical skills, publishing some of the papers I've written as a masters student, and networking with potential research advisors at schools that interest me. Unless I find a job I'd like to stay in for a few years, I'll start working on kick ass applications for both my top choices and some safety schools. And I'll seek advice based on this year's applications from the schools that rejected me, to find out if I need to revise my expectations about what sorts of schools are top choices for me, and which are safeties.

I'm scared -- I've been unemployed in a bad economy before and it isn't pretty. But I'm also in a much better place now. I keep on telling myself that I need to believe in myself. That it will be okay. But that doesn't stop the fears.

One of the programs I applied to is supposed to mail acceptances March 8, but one person listed an acceptance via phone today. The other two mail responses on March 31, but one of them (my top choice) does interviews for all applicants, and one person has already listed receiving an interview request on February 6. It doesn't look good for me. But I can still hope, right?

[sonnyday]

I didn't apply to any back-up schools. I had planned to initially, but then I realized, "Would I really want to go there if they accepted me?" and I figured it didn't make sense to waaste the extra money on sending transcripts, GRE score reports, and app fees. So I only applied to schools I absolutely wanted to go to (some better than others).

But I am also applying for research positions. I took a year off after getting my BA and am applying to Ph.D for the fall. So I do have a job right now in a great field that is related to what I would like to research (I love it there actually). But I am on a temporary contract, so...

At the very least, if the contract ends, or I can't find a job, and I somehow can't go to graduate school (I do have offers but my husband and I applied as a "two-body package"), all of which I strongly doubt, I guess we will be moving back in the parents.