Not seeing the good things

[LateAntique]

I am typically my harshest critic. The grad school application process has only made this worse. I was bummed about my mediocre GRE scores and I was certain this was a nail in the coffin of my hopes to get into my top choice. I went back through the email correspondence I had with the DGS at my top choice and they said, "Your GRE looks great. We're really more concerned with your letters of recommendation and your statement of purpose." How did I not remember this? I've seriously thought, "I have no chance of getting in" when it seems all is not lost. Is there anything that you may have missed in your stress-induced delirium?

[JustChill]

I'm also concerned with my GRE, and I think that is by far the weakest component of my application. Specifically, I'm worried that my quantitative score is too low even for History programs. Of course, I'm probably just overthinking all this because of the whole waiting process.

[johndiligent]

I'm getting to the point where I'm worried about everything. The good part is I'm sure I'll be convinced of my rejection by the time results come around so I'll either be fully prepared for it or very pleasantly surprised.

[LateAntique]

I'm getting to the point where I'm worried about everything. The good part is I'm sure I'll be convinced of my rejection by the time results come around so I'll either be fully prepared for it or very pleasantly surprised.

You can't be disappointed with no or low expectations.

[modernity]

I was doing well during the whole SOP writing-LOR/GRE/Transcript gathering process. Now that I am getting down to the wire and actually turning them in...I keep hesitating to press the submit button, reading over my CV/SOP/etc. and thinking "Ugh. Is this going to be good enough? What if I'm 20 points below the GRE cut off (assuming there is one)? What if my SOP is not witty enough? What if they think my topic is obscure and strange, rather than unique and interesting? What if I don't have enough relevant experience? What if they just don't have enough spots and they start tossing coins?" Then I try to remind myself that I have improved greatly from last year, I have more experience then probably quite a few people, and my GRE may not be stellar but it's vastly improved from last years and that has to count for something.

[JerryLandis]

I often assume expectations to be higher than they actually are. Whenever I submit coursework that I think could be a lot better, it usually turns out to be a surprisingly high grade. I guess these days the things I naturally would expect the average person to be able to do - waking up before noon (admittedly something I struggle with), showing up to class on time, submitting papers on time, knowing the key names and dates for a history course (e.g. knowing who Charlemagne was if you're taking medieval history), writing emails to tutors in English instead of internet/text language, etc. - no longer seem to be requirements for getting a degree or being considered a competent person. So I guess because of my comparatively high expectations, I think I've been lulled into a false sense of security in recent years, in that I expect to be continually surprised by my success in behaving with what I consider to be basic decency. Essentially, I have no idea how I compare to other applicants in my field. Not sure if I would like to know that information though - until February and March roll around I will have yet to be rejected!

[Sparky]

*sigh* I'd really like to just know. The month of January has been tortorous.

All, you know, seven days of it?

Not that I disagree, by the way.

[piccgeek]

Last year, February was the longest month ever. My fiance got five acceptance letters, and I heard nothing. Waiting sucks. I'm having the same issue I think many of us are--now that the application is out of my hands and completely beyond my control, I keep thinking of things I could have/would have done, and now I think it's laughable that I presumed to apply to this program, whereas in October and November when I was working on the app and submitting it, I was pretty confidant. *sigh* Ah, the emotional russian roulette of grad school apps...