Silver Lining

[stella]

I'm one of those poor souls who had only received rejections thus far. This morning, UVA became my 4th, and I took it exceptionally hard. I literally ugly cried for two hours, thinking "this is all I've ever wanted. what the hell am I going to do if I'm not good enough for it?"

I self-medicated with Swedish-fish, Dots, Twizzlers, AND Mike and Ikes...in a sugar shock I decided to handle my depression by making a list of errands and then forcing myself to complete it just to keep busy. (so, are you convinced, yet, I was pretty not okay )

I ended up in my department around 3, and I checked my email at the secretary's desk to find an ACCEPTANCE from U of Oklahoma complete with a teaching assistantship! The letter even said that the committee had voted UNANIMOUSLY to accept me. I nearly died. It was the best timing ever because my thesis director was there, my best friend was working in the building next door, etc.

I am JUST SO GLAD to be in somewhere. I have 11 schools left to hear from, but I'm pretty sure, for me anyway, taking more rejections will be tempered greatly by this one acceptance.

So, the moral of the story, boys and girls? Don't give up hope. It's not over until you have every single rejection in. I think we construct these scenarios and set ourselves up for melodrama and heartbreak because we're all so passionate about what we do (I mean, why else would we subject ourselves to this, right?)

With this in mind, I thought I'd ask if anyone else had any uplifiting, turned out okay, it's-not-as-bad-as-it-seems stories...or wants to share how they ACTUALLY celebrated (I know we have a poll floating around about what we thought we'd do..)

I went to Target and spent $85 I don't have on stuff I don't need

[hornedfrogmeg]

Congrats on your acceptance to OU. That's very exciting to get that first acceptance!

(Now I am can move onto being jealous haha)

[synthla]

I don't have any specific celebration ideas that don't involve spending more money you don't have, but still wanted to say congratulations! After such a tough morning, that acceptance was exactly what you deserved.

[dragynally]

It's just nice to hear about your success! Congrats..your story make me warm and fuzzy...and trust me I NEED it.

[Yellow#5]

Yes, good for you.

This process is hard, don't let it get to you like that.

Things did work out for you in the end.

[psycholinguist]

Congrats!

[dherres]

That's awesome that the the department was unanimous in their decision! Congratulations. I know after I got my first notice -- rejection -- I returned to panic mode (where I spent most of last year). Hearing one bit of good news is such a relief and a comfort.

To be honest, I haven't really done anything special to celebrate anything yet.....

[DEClarke85]

I'm in a similar situation, except I have yet to get an acceptance. However, hearing your good news made me so happy. I always love stories with a great ending.

I've got three more to hear back from, and hope is all I've got...

[Sonic]

As someone who has yet to hear a single word from 10 programs and leaves in a constant state of freak-out, I am so happy to hear this! Congrats!

[pregasauraus]

Congratulations to you! This really was a welcome post. I think there are several of us who only get rejections at the beginning and need to be reminded that there really is still hope for an acceptance. Thank you for sharing, and enjoy the great feeling that I've only dreamed of so far.