Acceptance Anxiety!

[paridiso]

I've been accepted to two grad schools I want to attend and have pretty much decided on the one school but I'm still anxious about making the final move and going for it! Will someone just accept it for me lol!  Anyone else feel like this when making their decision?

[phalanges]

I've been wrestling between two schools for over a week. Every time I pick one I'm struck with so much anxiety that I can't get anything done until I have proven to myself that it is te right choice (which invariably fails, resulting in a change of choice). I've asked a few mentors for advice and in the end their opinion is, "you can't go wrong," which is unhelpful in making a decision.

After all is said and done, I've spent a week feeling like I want to go to one of them, but I should go to the other. I resolved to go to the latter yesterday and I've felt less anxious about it than ever before, which makes me think I've arrived at my conclusion... but I still haven't accepted just in case I change my mind (again).

[tarrman]

Just do it! I struggled with the same thing and finally pushed myself to click 'Submit'. I felt bad for about 10 minutes and then felt really excited! Still feeling pretty excited.

[lacanadiense]

I've been wrestling between two schools for over a week. Every time I pick one I'm struck with so much anxiety that I can't get anything done until I have proven to myself that it is te right choice (which invariably fails, resulting in a change of choice). I've asked a few mentors for advice and in the end their opinion is, "you can't go wrong," which is unhelpful in making a decision.

After all is said and done, I've spent a week feeling like I want to go to one of them, but I should go to the other. I resolved to go to the latter yesterday and I've felt less anxious about it than ever before, which makes me think I've arrived at my conclusion... but I still haven't accepted just in case I change my mind (again).

 

This describes my mental state perfectly!  For the first quarter century of my life I've had a pretty even-keel disposition, but right now I feel like a crazy person.

[sansao]

I can relate, I have three really strong offers to choose from. I'm having trouble eliminating even one (I still have three decisions to receive too, though I've already ruled one of them out). It's a lot easier when they don't offer you funding or something. Do you think it's a good idea to compare two, eliminate one, and then put the next offer against the "winner"? I totally did not expect to be in this position, so I've got the whole this-is-really-happening disbelief syndrome making it even more challenging.

[zabius]

I can relate, I have three really strong offers to choose from. I'm having trouble eliminating even one (I still have three decisions to receive too, though I've already ruled one of them out). It's a lot easier when they don't offer you funding or something. Do you think it's a good idea to compare two, eliminate one, and then put the next offer against the "winner"? I totally did not expect to be in this position, so I've got the whole this-is-really-happening disbelief syndrome making it even more challenging.

 

Try coming up with a scoring system! List of all of the criteria that matter to you (research fit, amount of funding, location, etc… there are a lot of factors) and assign a point value to each one, based on the relative importance of each. Perhaps you think that research fit is really important, so you make it worth, say… 5 points. But then you think that something like location is less important, so you make it worth only 2 points. It all depends on what matters most to you!

Then, once the list is complete, "score" each school in every category. Maybe School #1 is an excellent fit in a bad location, so it gets 5 out of 5 points for research fit and 0 out of 2 points for location. School #2 may be a decent fit (3 points) in a good location (2 points), while School #3 may be a good fit (4 points) in an okay location (1 point). These are just hypothetical examples of course, and the way that you assign points will inevitably be pretty subjective. But go through all of your criteria (even if you have 20 of them!) and score each school. Then calculate each school's total by adding up all of the points it got.

This could potentially help you identify which school is the "weakest" out of your three options. Then you can compare the stronger two using more than just arbitrary numbers, and in the end hopefully settle on the one that you really, truly think is the best.

I didn't do this myself, but I know someone who did. She had an impressive spreadsheet containing all of her "scores." She also applied to a ridiculously large number of programs and got many offers, though, so making a decision without her spreadsheet probably would have been absolutely daunting.

[rinit]

I gave myself today as a deadline and I just picked one. It's done. Everyone's been notified, I've declined the programs I decided against, and now I just need to fill in my intent to register form.

 

But that was all about two hours ago, and I felt good about it then. Now I'm freaking out. "Oh-god-oh-god-I-take-it-back. I was just kidding. I wasn't ready."

 

It's freaky.

[Cookie]

I've been wrestling between two schools for over a week. Every time I pick one I'm struck with so much anxiety that I can't get anything done until I have proven to myself that it is te right choice (which invariably fails, resulting in a change of choice). I've asked a few mentors for advice and in the end their opinion is, "you can't go wrong," which is unhelpful in making a decision.

 

I can relate to this.  I made up my mind mid March, and one night I just opened that accept/decline web page and stared at it for an hour

Finally, I did it the next morning!

We all worked really hard to get to this point when we have to pick out just one offer.  Just think long and hard, and follow your heart

 

Then dont look back, and just make it work