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That awkward moment when...


melissaam

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Hi, are we the SAME EXACT PERSON? ugh.

 

Ahhh...someone who can relate!

 

I've never had so many "WTH was I thinking???" thoughts in my life until I started this whole process.

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... when I get really excited by the idea of attending a grad school program with wonderful faculty, research areas that line up perfectly with mine, and is well-ranked ... 

 

... only to find that it has been closed within the last year *sigh*

 

 

ALSO

... when I re-read my writing sample (thesis) to find minor grammatical errors/typos after four sets of eyes have read the whole thing.  Just goes to show that no one is perfect and that no piece of writing is ever complete!

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That moment when you call the department to check on the status of your application and you're told you applied for the wrong semester. Whoops.

I checked the damn application a million times to make sure my uploads were correct, reference letters were up, etc etc. sigh.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I realized that I incorrectly worded the title of a journal I was published in. I caught the error before submitting to all the schools, but for some, it was too late. We will see where it gets me. 

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When the resume you sent to someone for an interview mentioned wanting to get an MS instead of a PhD in the objectives section.

 

Thankfully it was an interview with a current PhD student and after a moment of awkwardness we got it clarified, but still. :)

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You assign a date to an ancient document yourself after intense study, and are super-proud because this document hasn't been dated before, and you have evidence to back up your dating.

So you proudly send that as a writing sample and then realize that you gave the wrong date in your bibliography.

 

Oh well. I dated it myself. I guess I'm the only authority? Do they read the bibliographies THAT closely????

 

 

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You realize that you put the name of another school in you SOP.

I came SO close to doing this! I save all my documents in Dropbox and when I went back to check, I couldn't find the SOP with the correct school name. Nearly had a panic attack because I had already submitted the application. Checked the application online and nearly collapsed in relief to discover that I had indeed changed it. Thank goodness...

I hope that doesn't affect your chances too much! Maybe you could get the SOP back and re-submit it?

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...you go to interview at a school, you pull your hand out of your pocket to shake with an interviewer and it's covered in blood (because the air is so dry and your skin cracked and bled)!

 

I know this feeling. I was 10 minutes late to an interview recently because I got a bloody nose. It was so embarrassing :(

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...when you see someone with lower scores and less research experience get into your top choice program on the results page, then get your hopes up only to be rejected later that week. x_x It's awkward because I didn't think I stood a chance at all until I saw that reported result! That'll teach me to ever have hope. Lol :P

To be fair, people way more qualified than me also got rejected! Fit matters.

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... when you, a linguist!, have a typo in the first sentence of 3/7 SOPs (and no acceptances from those programs so far...)

 

But! It's a missing function word at a line break, so pretty understandable. And there's a reasonable chance that those reading it didn't notice... Meh.

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You find out that the professor you contacted and mentioned in your SoP started working at another university across the river sometime between last year and this year, with his lab still in the same location. 

You think they would update the website information! No wonder he never emailed me back...

-hyperventilating- :blink:

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...you phrase something along the lines of "although I'm not fascinated by your line of research..." thereby effectively isolating and offending your third POI. Yes, this happened to me. It probably affected my admissions chance, too, because they were quite interested in me before that point. Live and learn, right?  ^_^

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You're at an interview for your top choice, dream program and have to leave early to go to the hospital for a kidney infection >.<

Oh my goodness, please tell me they were understanding and didn't fault you for your kidney's terrible timing!!

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...you phrase something along the lines of "although I'm not fascinated by your line of research..." thereby effectively isolating and offending your third POI. Yes, this happened to me. It probably affected my admissions chance, too, because they were quite interested in me before that point. Live and learn, right?  ^_^

 

Haha was this a typo or were you really not interested? If so, then maybe you dodged a bullet not having that POI...?

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Haha was this a typo or were you really not interested? If so, then maybe you dodged a bullet not having that POI...?

No, all three POIs who I listed on my SoP interviewed me (at the same time). My third POI was more of someone who does research in the area that I am interested in, but not particularly a topic that I am interested in. I conveyed that inappropriately in the interview. I could tell they didn't like that. :)

Edited by GradApplicant201420
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...you call the university for some information regarding the potential date of results and they tell you that they have received 600 applications, out of which only 10 damn ones will be selected for scholarships. All optimism is gone!!  :(

Edited by Sarah Bee
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Vicstory, that is such a heartwarming story!! It sounds like you got interviewed for a great program that really takes care of its students. :-)it may have been a horrific interview process, but it's cool to see that they really have your back, even before an official offer of acceptance!!

Also, awkward moment just now: I almost squeed when I saw "sociology" in the subject line of an email in my updates folder, but it was just an update for an upcoming conference. What makes it awkward is that I'm in the ER waiting to hear about my gran. A squee of delight in the ER is generally frowned upon...

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That keeps happening to me with emails about conferences. I also got an email with "You are invited..." in the subject line, but it was for my alma mater's alumni weekend. Way to fake me out!

 

(hope all is well with your grandma) 

Oh, I know what you mean!! And as for the emails from other schools, I think ETS gave my email away when registering for the GRE, cause I get ads for so many grad schools for programs that are in no way related to my field!  So my heart leaps whenever I see "university" only to see it's a program for biomedical engineering.  Not that that is a bad field, but I am in no way educated for such a program!

 

Thank you very much for your well-wishes.  She is doing ok!  She has recurring back problems and it was flaring up again! We had to take her to the ER instead of the doctor's office because of appointment and transportation issues, but she is resting comfortably now =)

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...you address an admissions director as "Mr." in an email after doing some diligent googling of [what turns out to be] her gender-ambiguous, non-Anglo/European first name, only to later call the graduate department after receiving no response and be asked by the receptionist if you want to leave "her" a message. Doh. Seriously though - every single person on the Internet with her first name is a man! Multiple Wikipedia entries. Countless LinkedIn profiles. How was I supposed to know?!

 

Also, that being CC'd story is incredible!

Up until the middle of January I kept referring to the admissions officer of one of the programs I am applying to as Brian.  I was very politely reminded that her name was actually Brynn, to which I replied  Oh, yeah.  That makes sense.  :P

Edited by Crucial BBQ
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You find out that the professor you contacted and mentioned in your SoP started working at another university across the river sometime between last year and this year, with his lab still in the same location. 

You think they would update the website information! No wonder he never emailed me back...

-hyperventilating- :blink:

Also happened, sort of.  The POI I contacted said I was a great fit and would support my application, but....she was soon leaving to take a position at another school.  At least she told me to get in touch with her in a few years (after she has secured funding) if need be and she would take me in.  I did mention this in that SoP as I figured she was still technically the head of the lab in the mean time...

Edited by Crucial BBQ
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... you go to look into POI's research for the first time after submitting your application and find out that they are no longer at the institution. (or at least listed on the program's website) I also specifically mentioned how interested and excited I am by their work in my Personal Statement. OOPS!

 

Anyone else have something?

 

That's nothing. In one of my applications I apparently wrote about professors in my SOP that are in a different department. A DIFFERENT DEPARTMENT!

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