The Waiting Room

[ma7eb4i]

A. What are you blowing off or unable to do because your concentration is shot from freaking/panicking/being a neurotic maniac about waiting for decisions?

B. What strange alternative hobbies or activities have you taken up to funnel the burning nervous energy into?

Edited December 16, 2009 by ma7eb4i

[JohnBom]

I am blowing off the applications in favor of dating. That's my new hobby. I spent the past three months completely obsessed with the apps and then I met someone I care about. I am ending up turning in the documents I worked so long on the day of the deadline. But I am not stressed. Mostly, I am just happy.

(I will follow up in march and let you know if it was a good strategy.)

[Ziz]

I am procrastinating sleeping. Not because I don't love it (I do). Not because I am too busy with applications to sleep (I'm not). Just because no matter how tired I am, when I lie down, my brain switches into neurotic mode. "What if I don't get in anywhere?" "was there a typo in my SOP?" "is that LOR ever going to get his letter in?".

[cheesethunder]

i am studying for finals

ive never appreciated just focusing on schoolwork before

its amazing.....haha.

[socialcomm]

I'm not really blowing anything off, but I just signed up for a half marathon in February and am considering signing up for a marathon in June. So I'm going to try to funnel nervous energy into running.

[jacib]

I'm not really blowing anything off, but I just signed up for a half marathon in February and am considering signing up for a marathon in June. So I'm going to try to funnel nervous energy into running.

I'm going to work on making sure I speak Turkish as well as I made it seem like I do in my SoP....

Edited December 16, 2009 by jacib

[melusine]

I'm going to work on making sure I speak Turkish as well as I made it seem like I do in my SoP....

lol!

jacib- i hear ya! same for me except with Latin, German and post-classical western philosophy!

[ScreamingHairyArmadillo]

I have definitely blown off this semester while working on my apps - even after they were done, too! My mind is just so out of it that I've found it hard to focus ever since (I've been done with apps since Thanksgiving).

Right now I'm working on one last lab report, and this semester from hell will be finally over.

Otherwise, I'm going to get back to reading to get my mind off things. I got a load of books about the theory of ecology (oh you know, light reading), but I'd like to make up for what my school lacks as far as a biological education goes (it's very medically oriented).

Or maybe I'll just watch Lost seasons 1-5 again.

[swisnieski]

Possibly I'm just a lazy beta-male Gen Y slacker but I'm not actually worried/nervous about grad school admissions at all, at least not yet.

Really the only thing that worries me is that I'm not as worried as most of the people on this forum. Makes me think I maybe didn't put enough effort into my SOPs and such, which I'll regret later.

Oh well.

[shai]

Possibly I'm just a lazy beta-male Gen Y slacker but I'm not actually worried/nervous about grad school admissions at all, at least not yet.

Really the only thing that worries me is that I'm not as worried as most of the people on this forum. Makes me think I maybe didn't put enough effort into my SOPs and such, which I'll regret later.

Oh well.

Dude, I'm with you. I'm stressed, but not the anxious-oh-my-god-what-does-it-say-about-me-if-i-dno't-get-in-to-harvard-like-i-have-dreamt-of-since-i-was-five-years-old you see a lot around the forums. It's just another life thing, I suppose.

[JerryLandis]

I've been sleeping a lot. This morning I hit the snooze for two hours, and now I am on this website because it's too cold to get out of bed and I don't want to do my morning workout (although it's not actually morning anymore).

[gremot]

For me the xmas parties have begun

[melusine]

oh and, (you can add this to my studious list of latin/german reviews), I've just finished (re)watching the complete 3 seasons of Love Hina!

All the brain cells dedicated to GRE vocab lists have now been refilled with japanese anime-speak. BAKA!!!

good to see things are back to normal.

[NeuroNerd86]

I devoured 5 complete seasons of the Wire.

[hamster09]

i got an experiment to work! after 48 years of trying! lol

[Serric]

Dude, I'm with you. I'm stressed, but not the anxious-oh-my-god-what-does-it-say-about-me-if-i-dno't-get-in-to-harvard-like-i-have-dreamt-of-since-i-was-five-years-old you see a lot around the forums. It's just another life thing, I suppose.

My stress wasn't so much about 'what does it say about me if I don't get into X school' (or any school, which was the real worry); but more along the lines of "not wanting to put my life on hold for another year, after five and a half years of undergrad".

Now that I've got one interview invite, so I'll know that the entire process wasn't ENTIRELY in vain, I'm back to 'normal' levels of stress.

[coyabean]

I'm looking for somewhere else to direct this energy. So far, nothing. I can't do my normal stuff - look for apartments, obsessively plan for my move, go shopping, redecorate -- because it all depends on where I am moving for school which brings me back to obsessing over getting accepted.

I need something though. I cannot afford a drinking habit -- in more ways than one.

[graddamn]

I got the flu. Never thought that was a good waiting strategy, but I was so sick, I couldn't think about my grad apps for two days. It was heaven....

[J.s.]

i am studying for finals

ive never appreciated just focusing on schoolwork before

its amazing.....haha.

Same feeling here. I'm a CS student, but I haven't studied CS for such this half year, because I was busy with application-related problems.

Now it's done, and everything go backs to the original state. But it's interesting that I cannot get used to the peaceful life again easily.

Today I start to read some interesting CS books again. The feeling is really really amazing!

[jlee306]

I'm not really blowing anything off, but I just signed up for a half marathon in February and am considering signing up for a marathon in June. So I'm going to try to funnel nervous energy into running.

I LOVE running!!! I'm a long distance girl myself! I now have more time to focus on my running since finals are over, pretty much have my grad schoo apps completed, and have no more long commutes for a whole month! Asics...here I come!

I'm going to work on making sure I speak Turkish as well as I made it seem like I do in my SoP....

LOL! Too funny...I need to work on my Spanish as well!

I'm looking for somewhere else to direct this energy. So far, nothing. I can't do my normal stuff - look for apartments, obsessively plan for my move, go shopping, redecorate -- because it all depends on where I am moving for school which brings me back to obsessing over getting accepted.

I need something though. I cannot afford a drinking habit -- in more ways than one.

Consider reading for pleasure. I have been dreaming of reading for pleasure since the summer. If you find an awesome book that is not school relate whatsoever, you will get lost in it and not think about getting accepted. By the way...the cannot afford a drinking habit comment totally cracked me up!

[melusine]

Consider reading for pleasure. I have been dreaming of reading for pleasure since the summer. If you find an awesome book that is not school relate whatsoever, you will get lost in it and not think about getting accepted. By the way...the cannot afford a drinking habit comment totally cracked me up!

I've actually been having the hardest time trying to "read for pleasure"!

My boyfriend gave me Isabel Allende's Ines of my Soul for my birthday and I thought I could finally enjoy it over Xmas break but as soon as I start reading, my brain tries to pick it apart and a little frustrated voice inside my head screams "but where's the symbolism? where's the intertextuality? how can you just re-hash the same magical realism? who spends four paragraphs describing a "steamy sex scene" in renaissance spain, in the same narrative voice as the sex columnists' in last months cosmo?? what was the purpose of that sex scene, anyway??? where's the philosophical idea you're trying to convey?????"

After a couple of days, I gave up and moved into my reading list for next term's classes.

Am now back to prodding along through Joyce, and getting myself tangled up in Woolf. bliss.

[middleamerica]

Counting how many weeks are left until "mid March", entering this number into a spreadsheet, marking various projects to work on during each week, organizing...

THE GRAD SCHOOL APPLICATION PROCESS DESTROYED MY MIND :lol:

[middleamerica]

Seriously, though, after being so neurotic for so long (6 months?) how can we possibly sit still and wait for replies?

I'm thinking about getting up an hour earlier and walking, trying to impress my job supervisor again (it's been awhile since I had that idea), yoga, updating my wardrobe, cooking, and other bodily pursuits that I will have no time for in grad school.

Joining a marathon is an excellent idea!!