Venting Thread- Vent about anything.

[dr. t]

French library catalogs. French library websites. The French.

[-hermes-]

My Macbook Pro completely died last week. Apparently there's a known issue with the graphics card just up and dying in the early 2011 models. 

 

It'll cost tons to repair it and I need a laptop for work and school and apps, so I just got a new laptop shipped to me -- and the delivery got messed up and now it's apparently either lost, wrongly delivered, or stolen. 

 

I hate having so many things completely outside of my control. I'm stuck at work feeling anxious about the laptop, about my phd applications, my future in general, and it sucks that I can't do more to guarantee a positive outcome for any of this.

[Quantum Buckyball]

This bxxch told me all his findings can be published in Nature or Science and I was like, "bxxch please  <_<"  

Edited December 19, 2014 by Quantum Buckyball

[shadowclaw]

Huh. My professor gave me an A instead of an A- for my official grade. I actually did e-mail him because I noticed an error in the grade summary after angrily staring at for a while, but that just brought my grade up to a 92.9 (but still an A-). Guess he decided to round up, or perhaps someone else complained about those stupid quizzes.

So I guess my venting was for nothing.

[GCool]

Huh. My professor gave me an A instead of an A- for my official grade. I actually did e-mail him because I noticed an error in the grade summary after angrily staring at for a while, but that just brought my grade up to a 92.9 (but still an A-). Guess he decided to round up, or perhaps someone else complained about those stupid quizzes.

So I guess my venting was for nothing.

 

Or maybe he's on the forum!

[shadowclaw]

Or maybe he's on the forum!

That would be awkward.

[Quantum Buckyball]

so my PI  got all suspicious after I went from  0% success rate for gene cloning to 100% overnight and been held at 100% rate for 7 months 

Edited December 22, 2014 by Quantum Buckyball

[dr. t]

Is the Chronicle of Higher Ed specifically designed to make my blood pressure go up and to want to throw my laptop across the room? Because it seems like that's exactly what it's for.

[12345678900987654321]

For the love of all things holy, READ THE DIRECTIONS. 

 

When I get emails like this: 

 

Dear GradSecretary,

Should I mail my transcripts to you?

Please respond soonest.

Applicant

 

Here's how I want to respond:

 

Applicant,

You have received emails about this very topic. In addition, that information is on the department's website AND on the university's website. If you can't follow these simple instructions what makes you think you can hack it in grad school?

 

Also, I respond as soon as I can. If you ask me to respond "soonest" though, my sense of urgency drops. Also, if you continue to be incompetent during the application process I WILL tell the committee. They want to know if they're considering admitting an idiot who takes an inordinate amount of hand-holding.

 

GradSecretary

[Between Fields]

I regret offering extra-credit wholeheartedly because I'm giving A's to people who didn't do A work. 

 

Also, I missed two students' extra-credit which has meant grade change forms which has meant, on the plus side, the department chair saw me at work on December 23, but on the downside the department chair knows I'm scatter-brained.

[mseph]

Just found a minor grammatical error in my sop I already submitted. The application isn't due until next week, but I submitted it a couple days ago, thinking that there won't be anything to change. Now I want to go back in time and smack myself at the head before hitting the submit button. I don't know if I should freak out or just console myself by saying, "I didn't want to live in that state anyway..." LOL

[dr. t]

Pro tip: do not look at app materials after you have submitted them, ever.

[educdoc]

That's the reason why I always submit close to the deadline. I always find things to change, even after proofreading carefully. I always change my mind here and there, so after a few mishaps like yours, I decided that's better to submit it very close to the deadline. Better for me anyway.

[eeee1923]

Pro tip: do not look at app materials after you have submitted them, ever.

 

I definitely do this - found out I had a grammatical error in one of my SOPs after I got an invitation to interview with the program so it must not have been that big of an issue.

[samiam]

Don't stress. I found a typo in the first line of my writing sample for one of my schools, and I got accepted.

[Lyzl]

I just finished my first semester of my second bachelor's. I know philosophy is what I want to do now and therefore choose to take a second degree in it and get into a master's/phd.

I did fantastic this semester scoring essentially the highest mark in four of my classes and greatly impressing two profs. I felt at home in the discipline.

My fifth course screwed me though. The prof is the most famous philosophy prof at my school and I admire his work. A letter from him is like gold. Hes in the exact specialty I want. And I got a B in his course.

I have no idea what happened, I worked hard, tried writing ambitiously and writing safe, studied with the strongest students, and had all my papers edited by friends taking his grad courses. I got a B or B+ in everything in that course, and it was always well justified in his comments.

I have never felt so blindsided by a course before, and while the course wasn't in my exact specialty, the prof was, to lose him as a reccomendation is a huge blow.

[1Q84]

Don't stress. I found a typo in the first line of my writing sample for one of my schools, and I got accepted.

 

NB: this does not apply to all fields. 

[GCool]

I just finished my first semester of my second bachelor's. I know philosophy is what I want to do now and therefore choose to take a second degree in it and get into a master's/phd.

I did fantastic this semester scoring essentially the highest mark in four of my classes and greatly impressing two profs. I felt at home in the discipline.

My fifth course screwed me though. The prof is the most famous philosophy prof at my school and I admire his work. A letter from him is like gold. Hes in the exact specialty I want. And I got a B in his course.

I have no idea what happened, I worked hard, tried writing ambitiously and writing safe, studied with the strongest students, and had all my papers edited by friends taking his grad courses. I got a B or B+ in everything in that course, and it was always well justified in his comments.

I have never felt so blindsided by a course before, and while the course wasn't in my exact specialty, the prof was, to lose him as a reccomendation is a huge blow.

 

Well, it's your first semester. Don't you have time to take something else with him?

[Monochrome Spring]

I've been spending my winter break at my mom's house. Worst. Break. Ever.

 

We had no celebration for Christmas. No gifts. No meal. Power went out. On top of that, the fridge broke, so we have no good food. And I'm not allowed to leave the house because heaven forbid I borrow the car and see any friends I've been missing. I have literally sat inside without interacting with anyone other than my mom for the entire break. We didn't even go see family because she didn't book the plane tickets in time.

 

And I've been playing a lot of video games over break to relax after a stressful semester. But all my mom does is bitch at me and with her friends whenever I play. I'm sorry I'm relaxing and enjoying my hobby? Whenever I go out to the living room with her, she is on her computer or watching some show I don't care about. Maybe if we were going to do something together, I'd be cool with taking a break from playing and go hang out with her. But I don't feel obligated to just sit around and do nothing, waiting for her to engage in conversation. I can't wait to go back to school, simply because I don't have to see her.

 

On a similar note, if I have nothing new to report every single fricking week, she gets pissed off at me. I'm sorry that when she asks what are you up to and I say "reading and thinking" that it's true. My life is consistent. Get over it. GAHHH! I hate people and I want to be a hermit. Let me enjoy my hobbies, and I will come out to tell you when something important happens.

[beccamayworth]

I've been spending my winter break at my mom's house. Worst. Break. Ever.

 

We had no celebration for Christmas. No gifts. No meal. Power went out. On top of that, the fridge broke, so we have no good food. And I'm not allowed to leave the house because heaven forbid I borrow the car and see any friends I've been missing. I have literally sat inside without interacting with anyone other than my mom for the entire break. We didn't even go see family because she didn't book the plane tickets in time.

 

And I've been playing a lot of video games over break to relax after a stressful semester. But all my mom does is bitch at me and with her friends whenever I play. I'm sorry I'm relaxing and enjoying my hobby? Whenever I go out to the living room with her, she is on her computer or watching some show I don't care about. Maybe if we were going to do something together, I'd be cool with taking a break from playing and go hang out with her. But I don't feel obligated to just sit around and do nothing, waiting for her to engage in conversation. I can't wait to go back to school, simply because I don't have to see her.

 

On a similar note, if I have nothing new to report every single fricking week, she gets pissed off at me. I'm sorry that when she asks what are you up to and I say "reading and thinking" that it's true. My life is consistent. Get over it. GAHHH! I hate people and I want to be a hermit. Let me enjoy my hobbies, and I will come out to tell you when something important happens.

 

 

I relate. Way too much.

 

I've been learning (slooooooowly) that it's okay to think of myself first. Sometimes I need to go see my friends. Sometimes I need to do things for myself, even if it is locking myself in my room to watch netflix for eight hours straight. 

Do it. 

Edited December 26, 2014 by beccamayworth

[Lyzl]

Well, it's your first semester. Don't you have time to take something else with him?

[Lyzl]

I do, two semesters left until application time though. Getting a bad impression, especially one I don't really know how to recover from, really shocked my system though.

[VulpesZerda]

I do, two semesters left until application time though. Getting a bad impression, especially one I don't really know how to recover from, really shocked my system though.

I dunno, from reading what you said it seems that this professor is particularly tough. There probably aren't a lot of students who get As and it sounds like you tried really hard. If that is true, the professor probably noticed. You should schedule a meeting to talk about grad school. If you do this once in a while and take other courses with them you'll form a nice relationship which is what's really important for letters, not straight As.

[GCool]

I dunno, from reading what you said it seems that this professor is particularly tough. There probably aren't a lot of students who get As and it sounds like you tried really hard. If that is true, the professor probably noticed. You should schedule a meeting to talk about grad school. If you do this once in a while and take other courses with them you'll form a nice relationship which is what's really important for letters, not straight As.

 

That was my thinking. It's not like you squeaked by with a C-; you legitimately put a ton of effort into that class. A professor will learn more about your character if you continued to take his classes and challenged yourself even if you didn't get the A!

 

 

While I'm here in the venting thread: Honestly, I feel like "character" should be given more weight when it comes to graduate studies. Too many good people who can still learn / be taught are snubbed while socially inept robots run rampant in higher-paying jobs. I mean, I get it, but for Christ's sake, why is every person I know coming back from grad school blurting out answers to questions-in-conversation like their lives depended on it?

[Monochrome Spring]

I relate. Way too much.

 

I've been learning (slooooooowly) that it's okay to think of myself first. Sometimes I need to go see my friends. Sometimes I need to do things for myself, even if it is locking myself in my room to watch netflix for eight hours straight. 

Do it. 

 

I bought a ticket home early because I want some me time. I'm going to live my life and if other people don't like it, too bad. I'm really tired of everyone making judgement calls on other people's lives when it's really none of their business. 

 

Edit: Just got yelled at because I asked my mom would share the stuffing she was making (which is 4 servings worth). How dare I ask to eat with my mother!