Things to Do While You Wait for Decisions

[biyutefulphlower]

Got another one to add:

-Start a new position within the same ole' company, but still check Grad Cafe too much during the day.

I've been offered a new role at my job, and though I know I may only be in it for about 6 months, I'm going to go for it.  The pay's a bit better and I'll get to use my writing chops more, which are pluses.  (Though I worry about bad blood with my current boss...)

[Abyss21]

9 hours ago, ChloeCriss said:

I am beginning to regret taking a gap year after graduating. I thought it would give me more time/focus on applications, and eliminate the burnt out feeling, (it did and it has), but now I'm going crazy with academic disuse. I work as a tutor and in retail, and I'm still feeling time crawl, empty and endless. Ugh. Any of y'all feeling this? 

I can't wait until I get one positive response, so that I can start obsessing over something productive.

No joke this is literally my life right now. Also taking a gap year, also working as as tutor + a bunch of odd jobs, and also dying internally from anxiety and boredom throughout this entire process. Thank god there are others out there who feel the same. It sucks so much, but if it's any consolation, we're in this together. 

[CaffeineCardigan]

-Manufacture a 3 day weekend and go on a trip to a snow festival. Tell yourself you won't check your email at the festival even though you know that's a lie. 

Also @ThePomoHipster and @ChloeCriss, I totally understand. I took two years off, and while it was definitely the right choice for me it's also bringing a whole different set of anxieties into the process. We can't give up! 

[Pezpoet]

14 hours ago, ThePomoHipster said:

No joke this is literally my life right now. Also taking a gap year, also working as as tutor + a bunch of odd jobs, and also dying internally from anxiety and boredom throughout this entire process. Thank god there are others out there who feel the same. It sucks so much, but if it's any consolation, we're in this together. 

Same over here. I work from home and am developing a habit of refreshing email, checking GC, doing just a tiny amount of work, then starting the loop over again. You're not alone!

[VirginiaWoolf]

--Finally make an account on this site after *ahem* intensely lurking for the past few weeks.

Waiting to hear from UCLA, NYU, Stanford, Brown, and CUNY...I'm strugglin' to bide my time! I don't even care if I'm rejected at this point. I just wanna know and get on with my life!

Congratulations to everyone who has been accepted so far!!!!!

[Avalanched]

-- Make your own version of "Maybe This Time" from Cabaret. 

[stereopticons]

38 minutes ago, Avalanched said:

-- Make your own version of "Maybe This Time" from Cabaret. 

"Maybe this time/I'll get lucky/maybe this time/they'll pay"?

[Avalanched]

6 minutes ago, stereopticons said:

"Maybe this time/I'll get lucky/maybe this time/they'll pay"?

Yes!! Mine includes: "All the odds are/ in my favor/ someday I'm bound/ to get in!" 

[rheya19]

9 hours ago, Avalanched said:

Yes!! Mine includes: "All the odds are/ in my favor/ someday I'm bound/ to get in!" 

Everybody loves Summa Cum Laude, so nobody loved meeeee

[Caien]

NYUuuuuuu.... Where art thouuuuuu.......

[positivitize]

19 hours ago, Avalanched said:

-- Make your own version of "Maybe This Time" from Cabaret. 

Hah! It's funny that you suggest this. I've been singing "God I hope I get it" from A Chorus Line lately, but before that, for about a year or so, I've been belting out "Heart" from Damn Yankees. "Heart" is weirdly appropriate for me because it features a band of loveable losers and the joke is that they think they are gonna go somewhere. Lines from that which are especially perfect regarding my situation are

" When the odds are sayin' you'll never win
That's when the grin should start
You've gotta have hope
Mustn't sit around and mope
Nothin's half as bad as it may appear
Wait'll next year and hope" --- Applicable for the general process of grad applications, especially if, like me, you didn't get an offer last year
 

" Oh, it's fine to be a genius of course
But keep that old horse
Before the cart
First you've gotta have heart"  --- Applicable to me because I'm a talented student with bad grades
 

and

"'Cause we know our ship will come in
So it's ten years overdue" ---- Applicable to me because I dropped out and am going to my MA program when I'm 31

Anyways. Showtunes got me through it. I'm still gonna sing that Damn Yankee's song though. You gotta have heart!
 

[Warelin]

Go through all English results and report all conversations not reporting an actual result. I think it resulted in 500 results of spam disappearing. :/

[Yanaka]

13 hours ago, Warelin said:

Go through all English results and report all conversations not reporting an actual result. I think it resulted in 500 results of spam disappearing. :/

I did some of that too but for all programs LOL I'm an old, mean lady. But I did only a few. 

Edited February 17, 2017 by Yanaka

[crugs]

This might already be on the list.....but I've started researching "Plan B"s just in case the 3 schools I have left to hear from don't pan out either...because staying where I am doing what I'm doing isn't an option I'm willing to entertain

Anyone else dangerously close to a strikeout trying to figure out what to do next? 

[anxiousphd]

11 minutes ago, crugs said:

This might already be on the list.....but I've started researching "Plan B"s just in case the 3 schools I have left to hear from don't pan out either...because staying where I am doing what I'm doing isn't an option I'm willing to entertain

Anyone else dangerously close to a strikeout trying to figure out what to do next? 

Yeah, my first backup is Teach For America (I know the organization has been a bit controversial, but I can see a lot of value in it for me and for my potential students).

I've applied to adjunct where I did my undergrad, but so far I haven't heard anything from them. They tend to prefer people with a bit more teaching experience, but maybe I have a shot.

If I have no luck with those two options, I would probably try to adjunct at a couple local community colleges and work a 9-5 of some sort.

[Yanaka]

24 minutes ago, crugs said:

This might already be on the list.....but I've started researching "Plan B"s just in case the 3 schools I have left to hear from don't pan out either...because staying where I am doing what I'm doing isn't an option I'm willing to entertain

Anyone else dangerously close to a strikeout trying to figure out what to do next? 

Yes. Very clearly preparing for that scenario. And it's making me crazy!

[loganondorf]

14 hours ago, crugs said:

This might already be on the list.....but I've started researching "Plan B"s just in case the 3 schools I have left to hear from don't pan out either...because staying where I am doing what I'm doing isn't an option I'm willing to entertain

Anyone else dangerously close to a strikeout trying to figure out what to do next? 

Last year I applied to eight schools and struck out completely. It was definitely a major setback, but I have to say, the extra year it afforded me was an incredible year for developing my scholarship and shaping & reshaping my research interests. I wouldn't be where I am today without that year, and (while I was fortunate enough to have a teaching job I could continue for another year), I used the year to read dozens of new academic texts and isolate new, competitive, and interesting (to me) areas of research. All of this is to say that when I got shut out, my way forward was to find and read six books of theories I didn't yet understand. It's painful, but a great way to continue forward as a scholar and build on how great I'm sure you already are.

[rheya19]

15 hours ago, crugs said:

This might already be on the list.....but I've started researching "Plan B"s just in case the 3 schools I have left to hear from don't pan out either...because staying where I am doing what I'm doing isn't an option I'm willing to entertain

Anyone else dangerously close to a strikeout trying to figure out what to do next? 

Teach ESL abroad? Take a job not related to your field and have a chance to rest your brain from it and look at the world in a different light? 

[Glasperlenspieler]

12 hours ago, rheya19 said:

Teach ESL abroad? Take a job not related to your field and have a chance to rest your brain from it and look at the world in a different light? 

 

13 hours ago, loganondorf said:

Last year I applied to eight schools and struck out completely. It was definitely a major setback, but I have to say, the extra year it afforded me was an incredible year for developing my scholarship and shaping & reshaping my research interests. I wouldn't be where I am today without that year, and (while I was fortunate enough to have a teaching job I could continue for another year), I used the year to read dozens of new academic texts and isolate new, competitive, and interesting (to me) areas of research. All of this is to say that when I got shut out, my way forward was to find and read six books of theories I didn't yet understand. It's painful, but a great way to continue forward as a scholar and build on how great I'm sure you already are.

From personal experience both of these pieces of advice are spot on.

 

[Captain Cabinets]

These seem quite apt for any moments of unwelcome existential precarity (including decision-waiting).

[loganondorf]

Finally getting to play all those video games I let get dusty in the corner! Especially because come August, I'll be going on a five-year-long hiatus from serious gaming.  (but for a really good reason, so  ).

[2017applicant]

On 2/21/2017 at 3:51 PM, Captain Cabinets said:

These seem quite apt for any moments of unwelcome existential precarity (including decision-waiting).

I actually laughed out loud in my cubicle reading this! Thank you for posting haha!

[ProfessionalNerd]

On 1/13/2017 at 0:47 AM, ProfessionalNerd said:

 

 

59. Sleep for a proper 8 hours (if my body even knows how to do that anymore). 

I discovered that my body can no longer do this.