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If I don't get accepted anywhere, I think I'll...


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Posted

is this anybody else's second time going through this ?

 

Yes. I applied to 5 PhD programs last year and got rejected from every single one of them. But hey, you either go big or you go home....needless to say, I ended up going home. Lol.

Posted

Maybe go hide in a mountain and live alone for a while and then when the time comes try again :)

I might consider applying for some master degree programs

 

funny how only after I was rejected I realized how much I wanted to go down the road and b a scholar...

Posted (edited)

I won't be applying again. I decided if I didnt get in anywhere, that meant this wasn't really my path. I could only find out by applying. Right now I don't foresee acceptances in my future. Plan B is to continue obtain more credentials in my field of project management and try to get more from the masters degree I currently have.

Edited by socioholic
Posted

I have a few thoughts. I applied to 10 schools- this is my second time around. First time I applied to 6 and only got into 1, where I am completing my MA. If I don't get in, I will wait to see if my fiancée does. If she does, I will look for work either at a local community college or maybe a private school. If neither of us get in, we've talked about exploring options in Europe. She has family there and we have both always wanted to travel but can't afford to. We'll blow what we have on plane tickets and will have hopefully come up with plans for moving forward.

I spent over $1000 applying this time around. Same with the first time. I'm not emotionally or financially equipped to try again, although I might if we end up in Europe. If programs still don't want me after getting an MA from a school ranking in the 40s and after I've really grown as a scholar, I'm not going to be more appealing in a year.

Posted

First I would cry a lot =( Then, I would study for the GRE again and retake it.  The only "low-ish" score is my quantitative score, though.  Then, I would find out what conferences I could attend in the meantime.  Finally, I'd look for some kind of job in my field.

Posted

I will go to all the inexpensive festivals I have always wanted to go to. It will be awesome.

 

It will be like a condolence present from myself to myself.

 

Oooh I forgot about the condolence present method!!  That is a wonderful idea!!

Posted

Spiral into total depression for a few weeks, hopefully get a better job. Start studying to retake the GRE all over again...

Posted

That's a really good question. One I've been both insistently asking myself and ignoring... I'm not sure what's the medial age around here, but I feel a bit old. I'll be 31 in a few months and if I won't be accepted this year, I'm not sure I would want to try again next year. Although in my field (Anthropology) it is quite acceptable to start (and finish) later in life, It's still quite scary to start this journey at the age of 32 with the possible prospect of finishing it around 37-39 and only THEN start looking for a job...

 

If it makes you feel any better, I'm 33 and this is my first round...

 

If I don't get in, I'm seriously considering packing up and moving somewhere new anyway. I've lived in the same town all my life and if nothing else it would be good to experience living in a different area. I'm terrified that I will chicken out and stay here in the same terrible job, though.

Posted

If it makes you feel any better, I'm 33 and this is my first round...

 

If I don't get in, I'm seriously considering packing up and moving somewhere new anyway. I've lived in the same town all my life and if nothing else it would be good to experience living in a different area. I'm terrified that I will chicken out and stay here in the same terrible job, though.

 

Do it!!! Pack up, get out, and live.

 

I'm also in my 30s, I have no attachments, and if I don't get in I am sooooo packing my car and leaving to start over someplace else. If I don't get accepted, my disappointment will gone by the time my last suitcase hits the trunk. B)

Posted

I'll cry and cry! I'll also try to improve myself for next year's admissions, and I'd work and save as much as I can.

Posted

So, my immediate plan pending my seemingly inevitable rejection (or at this point, the timelock where it'd be impossible to relocate in time occurs)...

 

A) Find new job.

B) Possibly move, maybe with or because of new job.

C) Write new book, profit.

D) Seriously, move and find a new job.

Posted

It's my second time applying, but the first time was four years ago, when I was fresh out of college and with no job experience (and I was completely devastated). Now I have job experience, but in a somewhat unrelated field (teaching high school in my subject area, but that doesn't mean actually getting to make your own things) that some days drives me crazy (because my high schoolers are lazy), so I'm reapplying with a different medium (last time ceramics, this time printmaking), and hopefully to a happier outcome.

 

(This time I at least have an appointment for an interview. Even if I don't get in anywhere, I'm still doing better than last time!)

 

If I don't get in this year, I'm going to apply for paid residencies and/or apprenticeships somewhere new I've never lived before, probably abroad (still). (I've got a few applications for places in Turkey and Japan bookmarked already for the day I should need them.) Build my skills and my portfolio. And try, try again. Plus I'll start writing more, maybe a blog about different galleries and exhibits and things so I can get better at writing critiques. If I don't get into grad school, I actually am mostly fine with it. I like my Plan B, too.

 

(Now, if Plan B doesn't work out, I don't know what will come after that... The dog adoption thing sounds lovely.)

Posted (edited)

If I don't get accepted I will....

Look into teacher certification classes, possibly in Nashville, and give that a go while working on my own personal projects. Namely making a legitimate crafting business (Which I'm going to do regardless) and blogging.

 

And then I'll just apply all over again in a while.

Edited by LexHex
Posted

Do it!!! Pack up, get out, and live.

 

I'm also in my 30s, I have no attachments, and if I don't get in I am sooooo packing my car and leaving to start over someplace else. If I don't get accepted, my disappointment will gone by the time my last suitcase hits the trunk. B)

LOL, im in the same boat. Ive already started looking for jobs in our new city. We are DEFINITELY moving this year. No more waiting...

  • 1 month later...
Posted

My plan, if I didn't get in anywhere, was to regroup and apply to law school. Thank god it didn't come to that.

Posted

If I'm not getting in anywhere that will also provide enough funding to keep me out of crippling dept...

 

I will live off my savings and volunteer for the freaking professor I want to work with so that in a year, he/she will be sufficiently convinced to give me an offer with full funding. And an office.

 

OR get a new job and try again if I'm up for it. Guess that's legitimate, too.

Guest Gnome Chomsky
Posted

Move to Los Angeles... Who's in??

I feel you. Everyone is so set on school. Even if they don't get in they'll still work in a lab or volunteer for their professor. Me, I only applied to one school in Seattle and if I don't get in I was gonna move to Seattle anyway. I found a few nice bars there. But I don't know. Los Angeles sounds a little more tempting.

Posted

Hopefully most of you are receiving interview invitations and acceptances, but for those of you in my boat (no word yet from any program), maybe having an exciting contingency plan could make the sting of potential rejection a little easier. 

 

If I don't get accepted anywhere, I think I'll spend the next few months learning Italian and take a trip to Italy.  Then I suppose I'll start looking for a new job.  Not exactly a long-term solution, but at least it will give me a little something to look forward to :unsure:  What about you?

 

I appreciate your post. :)

Admittedly, I used to try to avoid thinking about it, so as everyone around me .

 

Because I am working as a research assistant in the same area that I intend to study, my plan B is just stay the same.

I will make more research publications for a nice conferences, and improving my scores in GRE and Toefl.   

 

Still, " easier said than done"  I hope that this torturous season will be fished within this round,  

and I hope you will be accepted by your first choice grad school, too. 

    

Best wish  :)  

Posted

have been accepted, but if I don't get funding, it will make it that much more difficult to go as I really would rather not go into any more debt than I already have…if I don't get in, I have some options that I will try and pursue.

Posted

I feel you. Everyone is so set on school. Even if they don't get in they'll still work in a lab or volunteer for their professor. Me, I only applied to one school in Seattle and if I don't get in I was gonna move to Seattle anyway. I found a few nice bars there. But I don't know. Los Angeles sounds a little more tempting.

 

 

Hm... rain and coffee... or sun and mary jane...

 

 

tough call.

Posted

I kind of love this question, definitely one I've been thinking about since I first started the app process.  Right now I'm just starting the long-haul wait for an admission decision which won't come until MAY (WHYYYYYY GOOOOOODDDDDD).  Normally it's easy to fall into the trap of worrying over this "BUT WHAT IF?!" question, but I like that a lot of these responses are looking at it from a more excited perspective of "What possibilities are available to me?"

 

If I don't get into any of my programs, I'm going to quit my job anyway and WWOOF around for a few months.  I've never done any traveling, and it seems like a great and inexpensive way to do that.  I love that there's still a learning component and that there are probably ways I could finagle the experience into something that would serve me on my second round of applications to social work programs, so I look at it as a fun, exciting new way to continue improving on myself.

 

But like, also I would cry really hard for a long time before I made any of these plans.

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