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The First Rejection...


GirlattheHelm

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every time I see this post I get that song stuck in my head...

I always get two lines of Coldplay in my head when it comes to grad school rejections: "Nobody said it was easy/no one ever said it would be this hard..."
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I always get two lines of Coldplay in my head when it comes to grad school rejections: "Nobody said it was easy/no one ever said it would be this hard..."

I KNOW, HUH!!

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So I was rejected today...from a school I interviewed at. You know what the worst part was? It had nothing to do with me and my application--it was all financial. They took in 7 students out of the 20 they flew out for an interview. My email read that I did great in my interviews and my academic record was fantastic. But they had to give preference students going into smaller labs...ouch. It just plain hurts, and if at least could kick myself about something, like "you should have done better in your interviews" or "you don't have enough research experience", I would feel better. I would have something to improve upon. But this kind of rejection is just a low-blow. Overall, this just isn't a good year to apply to grad school: NSF may be getting a nice, big stimulus, but many schools are not doing well financially and haven't seen any of that money yet. Good luck to you all, and don't immediately blame yourself when rejection happens...

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So I was rejected today...from a school I interviewed at. You know what the worst part was? It had nothing to do with me and my application--it was all financial. They took in 7 students out of the 20 they flew out for an interview. My email read that I did great in my interviews and my academic record was fantastic. But they had to give preference students going into smaller labs...ouch. It just plain hurts, and if at least could kick myself about something, like "you should have done better in your interviews" or "you don't have enough research experience", I would feel better. I would have something to improve upon. But this kind of rejection is just a low-blow. Overall, this just isn't a good year to apply to grad school: NSF may be getting a nice, big stimulus, but many schools are not doing well financially and haven't seen any of that money yet. Good luck to you all, and don't immediately blame yourself when rejection happens...

Buck up l'autodidacte...consider it a compliment. The economy sucks so badly that it was the only reason for you not getting in...for some of us there were more legitimate reasons for our rejection. You can apply again next year...spend this year building your resume!

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Hi GirlattheHem,

this is my first post on this forum, though I've been lurking a while. I just wanted to say that your situation sounds almost exactly like mine, though we're in totally different fields (I'm in physics). I got my first rejection today, and am feeling pretty depressed. Worse, it's got to be all from my GRE scores. I BOMBED the physics GRE and for some reason, did badly on the QGRE (which is bad for anyone in physics) - it was just a fluke, but that fluke is keeping me out. It is very sad. Who'd have thought a single test could do so much damage?

Anyway, I just wanted you to know, you're not alone, and we'll get into grad school somehow.

I hope you're right. =( I'm getting a little nervous. Got my first rejection yesterday, and a second one today. Ow.

(Sorry to hear about the physics GRE; I've been through that before. I think I just responded to another post of yours on another thread and was whining about how kicking my PGRE score up several notches did not seem to help me so much...)

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Hi GirlattheHem,

this is my first post on this forum, though I've been lurking a while. I just wanted to say that your situation sounds almost exactly like mine, though we're in totally different fields (I'm in physics). I got my first rejection today, and am feeling pretty depressed. Worse, it's got to be all from my GRE scores. I BOMBED the physics GRE and for some reason, did badly on the QGRE (which is bad for anyone in physics) - it was just a fluke, but that fluke is keeping me out. It is very sad. Who'd have thought a single test could do so much damage?

Anyway, I just wanted you to know, you're not alone, and we'll get into grad school somehow.

Much thanks, GravityGirl. This whole thing is awful and I'm worried that my GRE's mean I won't get into a graduate program. I tried to take them twice and couldn't make the test due to 1.) A medical emergency then 2.) Continuation of medical emergency (surgery).

Upon my actual taking of the GRE I was overworked, psyched out, and in a bad place. But I had to get the scores to apply. It was awful. Five months of studying flushed down the toilet alongside thousands of dollars, a 3.9GPA in my major, a 3.73 overall, fabulous research work, field school, great LOR, awesome SOP, and work experience. Watching all that whirl down the crapper for a score under 1000 ... What?! Where did the Kaplan course do me wrong? I couldn't finish the verbal section and I was doing okay in the quantitative? Holy mother of god... I did better on math than on verbal!?! (And, boys and girls, I TANKED on my verbal - then got a 5 on the AW).

But I still have hope! Futile or not, it is there - willing to make me feel like shit if this rubs me raw. And, if not, Plan B will attempt to keep me from utterly crumbling.

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I didn't do so hot on the GRE either and that has me worried now. I only took the test once, but I spent a few months beforehand preparing pretty intensely (on my own). I think, even if I don't get in this time around, taking the test again would be fairly pointless. I'm simply not a good test-taker and I'm certainly not raring to hand more money over to the incredibly incompetent ETS.

I remember reading in one of those many books on how to get into college that the SAT scores matter more than colleges are willing to admit, but less than applicants fear they do. I bet that's probably true here as well.

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I got my first rejection today. It's not too awful, because I've at least been accepted somewhere, but it's still a bit of a bummer because it was really one of my top choices, and I'm disappointed not to have the option. *sigh* Now I have to get in touch with my friend whom I was going to move in with if I went there and tell her our wonderful plans are out the window. (I wonder if starting my SoP out with a quote from a fantastic but kind of ridiculous and obscene novel relating to the program's location and focus was a bad idea. Not that the quote was obscene, and it was totally relevant, but you know, maybe someone on the committee HATES that novel. It was a risk. I figured if someone on the committee loves that novel as much as I do, I'd be a shoo-in.)

Now I'm debating calling the last school I'm really eager to hear back from next week...it has a similar program to the one I got rejected from, so I just want to get the bad news over with.

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I got my first rejection today as well, but the day also came with my first acceptance. So the depression of being rejected was kind of offset by the acceptance. I wanted to go to the rejection than the acceptance.... but oh well it's Ok I suppose.

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So I have a bit of rivalry with my step sister (though we are in very different fields). Though it wasn't my safety, my first rejection hurt more than normal because it was at her HYP school. I had had dreams of getting accepted there, sleeping on her floor, and then turning the school down just for victory (stupid...imature...but that is siblings...and to play the "she did it first game" she insulted my undergrad a number of times to my face even though she went to State U and I went to a well respected SLAC and would never insult State U she went to because it is a good school). It stung a lot less when my acceptance arrived from the only school that turned her down in a far better application cycle arrived. Lesson learned: Victory comes even after rejection letters. And on the off shot it doesn't work out this year, I've noticed a lot of stories of people on this board who reapplied with their knowledge from the first go and got into GREAT programs. This all is a learning process and so much of it we can improve upon by going through once.

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So I have a bit of rivalry with my step sister (though we are in very different fields). Though it wasn't my safety, my first rejection hurt more than normal because it was at her HYP school. I had had dreams of getting accepted there, sleeping on her floor, and then turning the school down just for victory (stupid...imature...but that is siblings...and to play the "she did it first game" she insulted my undergrad a number of times to my face even though she went to State U and I went to a well respected SLAC and would never insult State U she went to because it is a good school). It stung a lot less when my acceptance arrived from the only school that turned her down in a far better application cycle arrived. Lesson learned: Victory comes even after rejection letters. And on the off shot it doesn't work out this year, I've noticed a lot of stories of people on this board who reapplied with their knowledge from the first go and got into GREAT programs. This all is a learning process and so much of it we can improve upon by going through once.

Ouch!

The competitive nature of siblings can be cruel. Competitive families can be cruel sometimes anyway (my own family has never appreciated my poor university, and I am constantly getting chided for not shooting higher for my MA program...thankfully they're being a little more polite about my current situation.).

Here's hoping you get into some place awesome--if not this round, then next year. In fact...I'd place money on you getting in to someplace better than she got into next year :wink:

If all else fails, head over to the Waiting board and join us at GradCafe U. Our stipend is meager (only $180 grand a year) but we do give bonuses of border collies and shortbread cookies...and we offer great classes like Brewing Mead and Controlled Arson. You're automatically accepted! Bet that's something your step-sister can't say!!

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