A couple rejections and nothing else?

[yayspace]

On 2/23/2016 at 4:50 PM, Peanut said:

Still waiting on 8 programs!

Hang in there! 

[NikeGolfer]

We will all make it through!  I'm still waiting on a few.

[magicsana]

On 2/19/2016 at 1:29 PM, Peanut said:

Yeah, I've been logging into my online accounts every day. Nothing.

 

I had a dream last night that I didn't get in anywhere! This is damaging to my self-esteem!

I'm going through the same thing! 

[charlemagne88]

Same story here. Nothing but rejections yet... gosh, why can't getting into graduate school be more like Undergrad? so stressed! 

[yayspace]

On 2/19/2016 at 2:42 PM, Peanut said:

I know. I feel like I'm gonna vomit.

@Peanut Have you heard anything? I'm still waiting on four schools.. 

[Ilikekitties]

37 minutes ago, PattiJeane said:

@Peanut Have you heard anything? I'm still waiting on four

Nope, still waiting on 8

[yayspace]

9 minutes ago, Peanut said:

Nope, still waiting on 8

Good vibes, good vibes...

[Ilikekitties]

Got another rejection!

[Ilikekitties]

Another rejection!

[yayspace]

49 minutes ago, Peanut said:

Another rejection!

Uuuugggghhhh 

[Ilikekitties]

At this point, I'm asking myself "what the heck am I doing with my life?!"

[katpillow]

I know the feel, peanut. I think I'm something like 0/14 since MSU, now.

[ChrisTOEFert]

5 hours ago, Peanut said:

At this point, I'm asking myself "what the heck am I doing with my life?!"

You're applying to grad school.  It's a horrible experience and while some people get in everywhere, some get into a school right away, others, sadly (like myself and many more on this board) get shut out.  It's a fact of the experience.  Nobody can predict what the department adcoms are specifically looking for in a certain year because they have no idea how deep the talent pool is until they have the candidates laid out in front of them.  A prof can be all gung-ho about you because you seem interested in a topic and are giving a novel approach a shot...but when push comes to shove, if there are 10 "better" applicants in the pool, you're not going to make the cut.  I use the term "better" here because there is no real better as it is specific to the year you're applying.

What I suggest for all of you who may get shut out this year is a couple of things, if you are interested in re-applying next year:

1) Re-take the GRE (if you're applying to U.S. schools).  Study, and study well for this thing.  I got in with pretty low scores but I am definitely the exception, not the rule.  You should always find ways to make your application better, and the easiest way to do that is to re-take the GRE!  Just study your ass off for 6-7 months and blow the thing out of the water.  You'll probably have the word list memorized and be able to bang out a 4.5+ essay in your sleep by the time you're ready to go on test day.

2) Narrow the focus of your research.  The year I got shut out I had 2 people look over my SOP and both commented saying it was fine for a Master's project.  It didn't mean diddly-squat.  A good PhD SOP shows a specific research problem, why it needs to be solved, how you think you know how to solve it (i.e. using sources as evidence), and why the school you're applying to is the only school in the world where you will be successful in completing it.  Use action words and strong language that still shows you are not a know-it-all headache waiting to happen and are eager to be taught the tools of the trade by the department.  Your previous research experience, volunteer work, thesis(theses), grades, conference attendances, and publications are all a testament to your capability of completing the suggested research.  If you have a weak SOP that lacks direction, supporting evidence/research, project methodology, and less than stellar grades/research background it just tells the adcom you're not ready to undertake the ground breaking discovery they are paying you to do for 5+ years.

 

I can go on further but these are the big 2 that are the most important.

[burcet]

damn, as of today 6 rejections. still waiting on two phd and just submitted 2 masters program applications in the uk. but for the last rejection i was interviewed and during the interview more than 1 faculty member mentioned the department did not get my personal statement from the office of admissions even though i had uploaded it with the online application. so im being super optimistic here and think it may have been in error. sent an email about that. 

[kseeful]

15 hours ago, Peanut said:

At this point, I'm asking myself "what the heck am I doing with my life?!"

I'm really happy to be in solidarity with someone at least... all those green signature lines are killing me softly. Now... should I move to Mexico and learn Spanish next year or move to the Alaskan bush and learn to hunt? (These are places I can hide/escape my shame)

[Ilikekitties]

lol YES!!! I'm ashamed of myself. All of my friends who applied to grad programs have gotten into AT LEAST one place w/funding. I feel like a failure. I actually applied to a teaching position in China, so we'll see if anything happens with that.

[ChrisTOEFert]

47 minutes ago, kseeful said:

I'm really happy to be in solidarity with someone at least... all those green signature lines are killing me softly. Now... should I move to Mexico and learn Spanish next year or move to the Alaskan bush and learn to hunt? (These are places I can hide/escape my shame)

 

34 minutes ago, Peanut said:

lol YES!!! I'm ashamed of myself. All of my friends who applied to grad programs have gotten into AT LEAST one place w/funding. I feel like a failure. I actually applied to a teaching position in China, so we'll see if anything happens with that.

There is nothing to be ashamed about.  Never, ever, ever tie your self worth to whether or not you got accepted into a grad program or not.  Focus your mental energy into something actually worthwhile like completing the schooling you are currently finishing, being the best employee at your job etc.  You may think I'm being a jerk now but this may have some more resonance to you later on when you have a clearer head....not everyone is cut out for grad school.  I don't mean that your grades suck or your project is a steaming pile of crap, I mean the mental fortitude aspect.  All of my friends and office mates are neurotic shells of who they were 1.5 years ago when I met them.  I'll say it again, grad school is really frigging hard and not everyone has the capacity to deal with it.  

You are constantly under pressure to meet deadlines for research, keep up a full courseload that has at least 25 pages of reading per class per week as well as assignments, you have to keep up with TA duties, balance the ground work for your research/actual research, remember to call your mom and SO, eat, pay rent, write that grant proposal, oh yeah, write it again because you just read this paper that just proved your entire methods section is wrong, did you remember to send that email to your collaborator in the UK you've never met who's breathing down your neck about something trivial (i.e. why the colour of the graph is red instead of green like they suggested to you in that e-mail you swear you never got 2 weeks ago and they also want you to change all the "that" to "which" and vice versa),  oh wait! re-write that grant proposal because now a second paper is coming out saying the first paper is wrong and lists re-trials that seem that much more convincing and it seems to have the support of those two big wigs who you love, did you buy groceries this week????, etc. etc. etc.

It is a nightmare! It's also a lot of fun, but the more you go on, the less fun it is and the more you want to just leave.  Good luck, but remember, there could be a better option that is much less stressful that leads to getting just as good a job if not better in less amount of time.  College professors are a dime a dozen right now, the reason it is a joke that PhD's work at Starbucks to make ends meet is because in a lot of cases it is true.  DO NOT TAKE A PhD POSITION JUST FOR THE SAKE OF TAKING ONE.  Make sure the program is going to net you something.  An advisor has always rammed this down my throat and it is the reason, I like to believe, why I still haven't run away screaming because everything is purposeful....I have an attainable end goal.   

[Ilikekitties]

I didn't apply to PhD programs for no reason, though. I have a research question that I want to explore. I have independent ethnographic research under my belt in three countries, and I know a couple of foreign languages. I have teaching experience and I've written funded proposals. My professors have told me that I am "well-qualified." My institution is known for producing many anthro PhDs.

I honestly think that I could handle the workload because I've talked to a couple of alumni from my school who recently got their PhDs in anthropology at Princeton. They said that their workload there was LESS than what it was when they were undergrads, mostly because they took many courses with a particular professor who's trying to make a "mini Chicago" out of our school. I've taken a couple of courses with this professor and they have been my favorite courses.

I don't doubt that it will be a LOT of hard work, but it's the kind of stuff that I like doing. I'm used to a heavy reading load and I like doing it.

At least 25 pages of reading per class per week? It's better than a book per class per week.

Edited March 4, 2016 by Peanut

[ChrisTOEFert]

1 hour ago, Peanut said:

I didn't apply to PhD programs for no reason, though. I have a research question that I want to explore. I have independent ethnographic research under my belt in three countries, and I know a couple of foreign languages. I have teaching experience and I've written funded proposals. My professors have told me that I am "well-qualified." My institution is known for producing many anthro PhDs.

I honestly think that I could handle the workload because I've talked to a couple of alumni from my school who recently got their PhDs in anthropology at Princeton. They said that their workload there was LESS than what it was when they were undergrads, mostly because they took many courses with a particular professor who's trying to make a "mini Chicago" out of our school. I've taken a couple of courses with this professor and they have been my favorite courses.

I don't doubt that it will be a LOT of hard work, but it's the kind of stuff that I like doing. I'm used to a heavy reading load and I like doing it.

At least 25 pages of reading per class per week? It's better than a book per class per week.

best of luck then!

[yayspace]

3 hours ago, Peanut said:

lol YES!!! I'm ashamed of myself. All of my friends who applied to grad programs have gotten into AT LEAST one place w/funding. I feel like a failure. I actually applied to a teaching position in China, so we'll see if anything happens with that.

I feel ya. I have a hard time keeping secrets, so of course I told everyone and their brother about applying to schools... now I fear that I'll have to tell everyone I got rejected from SEVEN programs. PhDs in Creative Writing are super competitive and the whole application process is totally a shot in the dark (well not totally, but you know what I mean), but not everyone knows this. They'll just know I was rejected. Ugh. 

There are some acceptances on the board from one of the schools I applied to... I've heard nothing. Assuming the worst. 

[charlemagne88]

2 hours ago, PattiJeane said:

I feel ya. I have a hard time keeping secrets, so of course I told everyone and their brother about applying to schools... now I fear that I'll have to tell everyone I got rejected from SEVEN programs. PhDs in Creative Writing are super competitive and the whole application process is totally a shot in the dark (well not totally, but you know what I mean), but not everyone knows this. They'll just know I was rejected. Ugh. 

There are some acceptances on the board from one of the schools I applied to... I've heard nothing. Assuming the worst. 

I'm in the same boat there Patti. Now all my family members keep calling and asking if i've heard anything yet. I'm feeling pretty ashamed everytime they call and I have a new rejection to tell them about. I get why getting into grad school is so hard/competitive, but sometimes I just wish they admitted everybody. 

 

BTW, not to be a D**k or anything, but that Chris guy can't really know what it's like for us peons that only have rejections and no acceptance letters yet. -I mean, our entire futures are riding on the whim of several committee members whom we've never even met. The stress is immense and people like Chris who already have 7 yeses sitting on their high horse saying grad school isn't as great as it's cut out to be make me sick. I know you're just trying to make us feel better, but it doesn't really help. Just makes me realize that there are people out there who are already lucky enough to have heard back from their programs, which makes me sweat that much more. 

[rising_star]

6 hours ago, kseeful said:

I'm really happy to be in solidarity with someone at least... all those green signature lines are killing me softly. Now... should I move to Mexico and learn Spanish next year or move to the Alaskan bush and learn to hunt? (These are places I can hide/escape my shame)

Where in Mexico? Depending on where you were thinking of going the Alaskan bush might be safer, which isn't something to take lightly... Oaxaca is nice though. You could also consider Nicaragua or Panama to learn Spanish if you really want to. Or, teach English in China/Japan/South Korea and make the big bucks!

[yayspace]

34 minutes ago, charlemagne88 said:

I'm in the same boat there Patti. Now all my family members keep calling and asking if i've heard anything yet. I'm feeling pretty ashamed everytime they call and I have a new rejection to tell them about. I get why getting into grad school is so hard/competitive, but sometimes I just wish they admitted everybody. 

 

BTW, not to be a D**k or anything, but that Chris guy can't really know what it's like for us peons that only have rejections and no acceptance letters yet. -I mean, our entire futures are riding on the whim of several committee members whom we've never even met. The stress is immense and people like Chris who already have 7 yeses sitting on their high horse saying grad school isn't as great as it's cut out to be make me sick. I know you're just trying to make us feel better, but it doesn't really help. Just makes me realize that there are people out there who are already lucky enough to have heard back from their programs, which makes me sweat that much more. 

Yes yes and yes. I also don't understand where this idea came from that we all know nothing about grad school and that we think it's a walk in the park. Or that we don't understand that rejections aren't reflective of our worth - of course we know this to be true, but it doesn't make it any easier. Or that we applied because getting a PhD sounds cool. 

I especially hate it when people in my life are like "so when you leave for your PhD...." and I have to say, "I've not been accepted anywhere yet!" and they're like "Oh but it will happen!" and I'm like.... dude it might not. And they just think I'm being humble or something. 

[katpillow]

I managed a solid 1.2 rejections/day this week. Still have another 9-10 to hear from, so maybe we'll amp it up closer to 2 next week!

[kseeful]

17 hours ago, rising_star said:

Where in Mexico? Depending on where you were thinking of going the Alaskan bush might be safer, which isn't something to take lightly... Oaxaca is nice though. You could also consider Nicaragua or Panama to learn Spanish if you really want to.

Not sure, but I've got some travelling musical friends based out of San Miguel de Allende that I would likely follow around
AK would be somewhere I've lived before. If I get rejected (or maybe even if I accepted??), I'm leaning toward the new experience.

17 hours ago, charlemagne88 said:

I know you're just trying to make us feel better, but it doesn't really help.

Agreeeeeed. Life as a PhD candidate might be challenging, but I'd rather be challenged than aimless (and harshly reminded of my own overestimation of my abilities/potential) any day.

17 hours ago, PattiJeane said:

I especially hate it when people in my life are like "so when you leave for your PhD...." and I have to say, "I've not been accepted anywhere yet!" and they're like "Oh but it will happen!" and I'm like.... dude it might not. And they just think I'm being humble or something.

Dude. I hate "you'll get in". So. Much. .....great, so now all my friends and family think I'm just being humble but they might be about to realize that I actually am underqualified, over-reaching and not as smart as they think I am. (Oh my god, sorry. That was a lot of anxiety in one sentence. I need to go find a puppy to pet.)

 

Maybe I should sign off the Grad Cafe for the next 15 days or so?! Stop willfully riddling myself with anxiety??