2016 Rejection/Plan B Thread

[Siegfried42]

2 hours ago, bechkafish said:

0a/0w/3r [7]... I really need to start thinking of a Plan B. Or maybe just revert to full blown alcoholism, idk.

Hang in there! You still have more than half of your applications open and you seem to have a really impressive application... The unpredictability of this process makes it really cruel - but it also means the first responses you get are in no way predictive or representative of the others. Don't lose hope!

[samori]

Standard rejection from Rice just came through. I would have died in the Texas heat anyway...

[bechkafish]

39 minutes ago, Siegfried42 said:

Hang in there! You still have more than half of your applications open and you seem to have a really impressive application... The unpredictability of this process makes it really cruel - but it also means the first responses you get are in no way predictive or representative of the others. Don't lose hope!

First of all, let's get married.

Second of all, I don't know, man. I'm losing all faith in the strength of my application; combine that with mediocre GRE scores and an embarrassingly unknown undergrad, I'm not sure where that leaves me. The departments I have left to hear from aren't giving me much hope: Columbia is the longest long shot in the history of long shots (and it looks like Lydia Goehr, the one person who maybe could have pulled for me, is on leave this semester); The New School's funding seems pretty hopeless; Boston College is/was the lowest option on my list; Boston University is great, but honestly, I was hoping to leave there and move on to bigger and better things (I'm finishing my masters there). Georgetown and Brown were really my golden tickets, you know?

Ugh. I don't know. I don't think I have the mental health / confidence to try again next year if I get shut out. For now, I'm just going to curl up with this beer on my sofa and pretend everything's a-okay.

[psm1580b]

8 minutes ago, bechkafish said:

First of all, let's get married.

Second of all, I don't know, man. I'm losing all faith in the strength of my application; combine that with mediocre GRE scores and an embarrassingly unknown undergrad, I'm not sure where that leaves me. The departments I have left to hear from aren't giving me much hope: Columbia is the longest long shot in the history of long shots (and it looks like Lydia Goehr, the one person who maybe could have pulled for me, is on leave this semester); The New School's funding seems pretty hopeless; Boston College is/was the lowest option on my list; Boston University is great, but honestly, I was hoping to leave there and move on to bigger and better things (I'm finishing my masters there). Georgetown and Brown were really my golden tickets, you know?

Ugh. I don't know. I don't think I have the mental health / confidence to try again next year if I get shut out. For now, I'm just going to curl up with this beer on my sofa and pretend everything's a-okay.

The second year is honestly a lot easier than the first year. First of all, you have all of your material from the prior year so making small changes and improvements is much easier than writing entirely new statements and whatnot. As well, you can review your writing sample (mine sucked) and make changes or even use a completely different one. Or multiple: This year, I used two different writing samples and I'm interested in tracking the results based on which places I get accepted or WL'd (relative to which writing sample I submitted). Hang in there--it gets better.

[manchesterano]

Is anyone else yet to hear anything from Brown? I've not had an email and there's no decision letter on the website.

[Siegfried42]

4 minutes ago, bechkafish said:First of all, let's get married.

Second of all, I don't know, man. I'm losing all faith in the strength of my application; combine that with mediocre GRE scores and an embarrassingly unknown undergrad, I'm not sure where that leaves me. The departments I have left to hear from aren't giving me much hope: Columbia is the longest long shot in the history of long shots (and it looks like Lydia Goehr, the one person who maybe could have pulled for me, is on leave this semester); The New School's funding seems pretty hopeless; Boston College is/was the lowest option on my list; Boston University is great, but honestly, I was hoping to leave there and move on to bigger and better things (I'm finishing my masters there). Georgetown and Brown were really my golden tickets, you know?

Ugh. I don't know. I don't think I have the mental health / confidence to try again next year if I get shut out. For now, I'm just going to curl up with this beer on my sofa and pretend everything's a-okay.

First of all, thanks for the smile . I could use it: when I just got a call from Notre Dame's area code and, excitedly answering it, was greeted by a telemarketer, I realllly wanted to violently defenestrate my phone. And probably some classmates as well. Honestly, I still might. 

Second of all, do not allow the protracted suffering of this process to make you lose faith in the strength of your abilities. I haven't read it yet (hint) but your writing sample looks fascinating - and so does your MA thesis, for that matter. And don't be embarrassed about your undergrad - lol, mine employs a total of one professional philosophers. When I fly into the US and tell customs where I'm studying they respond that that school doesn't exist (this has seriously happened twice, I had to show them the website). I know we philosophers excel at talking ourselves down, but take a page out of Wagner/Schopenhauer's (considerably large)  books and have some self-confidence. 

I'm rooting for you to get into Columbia. Also, I just started The World as Will and Representation: I paused in the second preface to respond to you but loved his suggestion to those who, disliking all his demands, don't want to read his book, to review it instead :D. 

[pecado]

2 hours ago, manchesterano said:

Is anyone else yet to hear anything from Brown? I've not had an email and there's no decision letter on the website.

Maybe they are putting you in the waiting list. It is good to have not listened yet, when you see that the others are being rejected.

[manchesterano]

54 minutes ago, pecado said:

Maybe they are putting you in the waiting list. It is good to have not listened yet, when you see that the others are being rejected.

That would be pleasant news indeed.

[bechkafish]

3 hours ago, psm1580b said:

The second year is honestly a lot easier than the first year. First of all, you have all of your material from the prior year so making small changes and improvements is much easier than writing entirely new statements and whatnot. As well, you can review your writing sample (mine sucked) and make changes or even use a completely different one. Or multiple: This year, I used two different writing samples and I'm interested in tracking the results based on which places I get accepted or WL'd (relative to which writing sample I submitted). Hang in there--it gets better.

Thanks, @psm1580b, I really appreciate that. It's so firmly planted in my mind (probably in a lot of people's minds) that if I get shut out this year, that's it, I'm finished. It's comforting to know that people not only apply a second time, but actually feel much more positive / well-prepared in the process!

 

2 hours ago, Siegfried42 said:

First of all, thanks for the smile . I could use it: when I just got a call from Notre Dame's area code and, excitedly answering it, was greeted by a telemarketer, I realllly wanted to violently defenestrate my phone. And probably some classmates as well. Honestly, I still might. 

Second of all, do not allow the protracted suffering of this process to make you lose faith in the strength of your abilities. I haven't read it yet (hint) but your writing sample looks fascinating - and so does your MA thesis, for that matter. And don't be embarrassed about your undergrad - lol, mine employs a total of one professional philosophers. When I fly into the US and tell customs where I'm studying they respond that that school doesn't exist (this has seriously happened twice, I had to show them the website). I know we philosophers excel at talking ourselves down, but take a page out of Wagner/Schopenhauer's (considerably large)  books and have some self-confidence. 

I'm rooting for you to get into Columbia. Also, I just started The World as Will and Representation: I paused in the second preface to respond to you but loved his suggestion to those who, disliking all his demands, don't want to read his book, to review it instead :D. 

@Siegfried42, I mean, I think it would be totally acceptable for you to defenstate phones and/or fellow human given the circumstances. We'll all come to court to act as character witnesses for your defense, and testify to the temporary insanity engendered by this whole awful process. And thanks again for being so encouraging, it really does mean a lot to me. And I'm sure it means a lot to our friend Arti that you're reading WWR - you're in for an adventure my friend.  I'm just going to PM you my paper, because I hate myself and I don't want to log onto my Academia.edu page to upload it lol

 

[AnotherKantFan]

3 hours ago, manchesterano said:

Is anyone else yet to hear anything from Brown? I've not had an email and there's no decision letter on the website.

Yep, still no news from Brown. Funny!

[MentalEngineer]

3 hours ago, bechkafish said:

Thanks, @psm1580b, I really appreciate that. It's so firmly planted in my mind (probably in a lot of people's minds) that if I get shut out this year, that's it, I'm finished. It's comforting to know that people not only apply a second time, but actually feel much more positive / well-prepared in the process!

Funnily enough, I was mightily convinced that if I struck out my first year, I'd take it as a signal to walk away and do something else - and that I'd be totally satisfied with that. I still think the attitude of being able to walk away is a mighty productive one to cultivate, actually. Not to mention that it's a wonderful example of practical Stoicism, and so if you can do it you should feel more confident in your identity as a philosopher!

But then I stopped having a compelling personal reason to leave Milwaukee as soon as I finished. And so I was sitting around here in the summer and thinking to myself "You know what I wish I was doing instead of playing Diablo? Philosophy. No, seriously!" So I ended up completely ignoring the signal that six months earlier I had been so strongly committed to following, but purely because I wanted to and not because I felt I had to. I don't know about others, but that's when I actually do work worth reading.

[MentalEngineer]

On the topic of this thread, UIC's 20-some-point, bolded, "APPLICATION DENIED" on the website might be the most demoralizing rejection I've ever seen, appearance-wise.

[MickeyRay]

I wish I knew why I am not getting in anywhere... 

[bechkafish]

2 minutes ago, MickeyRay said:

I wish I knew why I am not getting in anywhere... 

Amen, sister.

[jjb919]

31 minutes ago, MickeyRay said:

I wish I knew why I am not getting in anywhere... 

Hear hear.

[MickeyRay]

39 minutes ago, bechkafish said:

Amen, sister.

 

3 minutes ago, jjb919 said:

Hear hear.

I'd accept you guys if I had a phd program. Get ready to read a lot of Freud and Irigaray though...

[SamStone]

50 minutes ago, MickeyRay said:

I wish I knew why I am not getting in anywhere... 

SAME. This definitely seems like one of the worst parts of not getting in...if you want to re-apply, what are you supposed to focus on changing if you don't know what factors weren't strong/interesting/etc.

[bechkafish]

Rejected by BC.  I have given up all hope and am now simply an agglomeration of self-hatred and anxiety scanning monster.com for shitty office jobs.

[andaval]

Just now, bechkafish said:

Rejected by BC.  I have given up all hope and am now simply an agglomeration of self-hatred and anxiety scanning monster.com for shitty office jobs.

Have you heard from them, or are you presuming a rejection?

[bechkafish]

1 minute ago, andaval said:

Have you heard from them, or are you presuming a rejection?

Solicited response - emailed Gurtler to ask when we might expect application responses, and he kindly broke the news for me than and there.

[andaval]

2 minutes ago, bechkafish said:

Solicited response - emailed Gurtler to ask when we might expect application responses, and he kindly broke the news for me than and there.

So I guess all the finalists have already been notified, including the waitlist, so i can presume a rejection as well. 

Edited February 25, 2016 by andaval

[bechkafish]

Just now, andaval said:

So I guess all the finalist have already been notified, including the waitlist, so i can presume a rejection as well. 

I honestly don't know. He was very vague in his email - he didn't straight-up confirm that all offers have been made (there seems to be some serious lag with the mail notifications?)... I would say keep a modicum of hope for the waitlist until you hear otherwise. They don't seem to be very organized.

[psm1580b]

1 hour ago, MickeyRay said:

I wish I knew why I am not getting in anywhere... 

these words are real right now

[Schwarzwald]

49 minutes ago, bechkafish said:

I honestly don't know. He was very vague in his email - he didn't straight-up confirm that all offers have been made (there seems to be some serious lag with the mail notifications?)... I would say keep a modicum of hope for the waitlist until you hear otherwise. They don't seem to be very organized.

Boston Collegeeee, nooooo, yudodis.

[Siegfried42]

Just got the official rejection from Harvard. Also presumably rejected from Cornell, Notre Dame & Yale. Inevitable but no less disappointing... Had especially held out a little hope for ND since a POI told me my sample was "excellent" and that I should apply with confidence.