Venting Thread

[shoestofollow]

My anxiety level is through the roof!!! I don't deal well with uncertainty at all, and so now that I have gotten into UW-Madison, I really want to know if I am going to be moving to Wisconsin or not.

[brontebitch]

56 minutes ago, JessicaLange said:

On a side note, I'm super jealous of the user name @VirginiaWoolf. Yeah, it's just awkward because all of my friends and family know that I've applied and they keep asking if I've heard anything and ehck. I got accepted to an MA program, so that's good. But there's almost no funding so I really don't want to end up there.

EXACTLY. I feel so humiliated when people (friends, family, professors) ask me if I have gotten in anywhere yet and I have to tell them I've been rejected by not one, not two, but THREE programs. I am especially embarrassed because they are schools my letter writers/advisors went to for their PhDs (all three lol). Obviously, this is silly because they are supportive and sympathetic and know that it isn't anything personal when people are rejected, but it's still really hard. Good luck and hang in there!!!

[LouPlease]

Welp, I checked my portal and had a USC rejection.

I gotta say, 6 rejections feels so much worse than 5. I have a 99% verbal score, high Master's gpa, i had my sample and statements peer reviewed so many times and i puts hours and hours into tailoring them to the department and POIs. I'm starting to feel like my research area is not desirable or even worse, that my LORs aren't very good even though they all were enthusiastic to write them. 

It's 1:13pm... does that it's 5pm somewhere rule work if I'm extrapolating to Europe? Because I need a drink.

[yanicus]

4 minutes ago, LouisePlease said:

Welp, I checked my portal and had a USC rejection.

I gotta say, 6 rejections feels so much worse than 5. I have a 99% verbal score, high Master's gpa, i had my sample and statements peer reviewed so many times and i puts hours and hours into tailoring them to the department and POIs. I'm starting to feel like my research area is not desirable or even worse, that my LORs aren't very good even though they all were enthusiastic to write them. 

It's 1:13pm... does that it's 5pm somewhere rule work if I'm extrapolating to Europe? Because I need a drink.

I'm so sorry @LouisePlease - Please keep your head up best as you can. I know it's difficult, but I went through this with my best friend a few years ago when he was accepted to only one of nine programs despite having spectacular undergrad and MA records both from very prestigious institutions, along with certainly very strong letters. He ended up very happy in his current PhD program which is an excellent fit for him. I'm sure there will be good news soon.

[shoestofollow]

@LouisePlease can I ask why you're listing Columbia as an implied rejection? I haven't seen any news about them on the board.

[LouPlease]

7 minutes ago, shoestofollow said:

@LouisePlease can I ask why you're listing Columbia as an implied rejection? I haven't seen any news about them on the board.

There was an interview posted about 10 days ago. If you don't get an interview it's not likely you'll get an acceptance. 

[Yanaka]

Hey @LouisePlease, you're definitely entitled to a drink by my standards--since it's past 10pm here, it's long overdue. 

I'm sorry you feel like all of that work and effort were to no avail. I'm sure there's a good reason this is happening to you and us "undesirables", we just don't know what it is yet. #lowlevelpsychology

[phoebusrising]

Found out yesterday that two of my recommenders didn't submit their letters for one of my applications (but did for all the other ones which is how I missed it) and I spent half the day literally sobbing. I did all that work and paid the ridiculous amount that the application and transcripts and test scores cost just for my application to be thrown in the garbage.

And then got my first official rejection today.  It's goin' great.

[Yanaka]

3 minutes ago, phoebusrising said:

Found out yesterday that two of my recommenders didn't submit their letters for one of my applications (but did for all the other ones which is how I missed it) and I spent half the day literally sobbing. I did all that work and paid the ridiculous amount that the application and transcripts and test scores cost just for my application to be thrown in the garbage.

And then got my first official rejection today.  It's goin' great.

That's really awful... are you sure you can't still add those documents? I mean if they haven't rejected you yet, you might still have a chance. Hang in there, i know this whole thing sucks... you'll be okay.

[anxiousphd]

3 minutes ago, phoebusrising said:

Found out yesterday that two of my recommenders didn't submit their letters for one of my applications (but did for all the other ones which is how I missed it) and I spent half the day literally sobbing. I did all that work and paid the ridiculous amount that the application and transcripts and test scores cost just for my application to be thrown in the garbage.

And then got my first official rejection today.  It's goin' great.

That's awful! I'm so sorry. It's astounding to me that professors agree to write letters and then fail to submit them on time or at all. 

 

May I ask about your background? There are some MA programs still accepting applications, if you don't already have an MA. And if you don't have an MA, you could still be under consideration for the MA at BC!

[CrunchyMamademic]

11 minutes ago, phoebusrising said:

Found out yesterday that two of my recommenders didn't submit their letters for one of my applications (but did for all the other ones which is how I missed it) and I spent half the day literally sobbing. I did all that work and paid the ridiculous amount that the application and transcripts and test scores cost just for my application to be thrown in the garbage.

And then got my first official rejection today.  It's goin' great.

I'm so sorry! One of my letters of recommendation was late, and I still got in-- he wasn't *super* late, so maybe that makes a difference. I wonder if you can ask them to try to submit the letters, and perhaps reach out to the school?

[phoebusrising]

13 minutes ago, Yanaka said:

That's really awful... are you sure you can't still add those documents? I mean if they haven't rejected you yet, you might still have a chance. Hang in there, i know this whole thing sucks... you'll be okay.

 

3 minutes ago, CrunchyMamademic said:

I'm so sorry! One of my letters of recommendation was late, and I still got in-- he wasn't *super* late, so maybe that makes a difference. I wonder if you can ask them to try to submit the letters, and perhaps reach out to the school?

 

I tried but the neither professor was able to, when they tried it said 'Recommendation Portal closed.' And when I called the grad office because both insisted they had uploaded the documents months ago, and I said like 'alright well I'm gonna try and figure this out' or something, the woman on the phone literally said 'yeah don't bother' which basically crushed my soul.

 

 

12 minutes ago, anxiousgrad said:

That's awful! I'm so sorry. It's astounding to me that professors agree to write letters and then fail to submit them on time or at all. 

 

May I ask about your background? There are some MA programs still accepting applications, if you don't already have an MA. And if you don't have an MA, you could still be under consideration for the MA at BC!

They both say that they did and they've never let me down before so I don't know. It just majorly sucks. And no I don't have an MA, and while I would love to get my MA at BC I don't think they offer funding to MA students? and I can't afford to go to grad school without funding.

[CrunchyMamademic]

2 minutes ago, phoebusrising said:

the woman on the phone literally said 'yeah don't bother' which basically crushed my soul.

Ouch. I'm so sorry. Hang in there.

[Yanaka]

Wow, that was douchey...  

[JessicaLange]

38 minutes ago, phoebusrising said:

They both say that they did and they've never let me down before so I don't know. It just majorly sucks

I'm so sorry! This is awful, but yeah some application portals are really messed up. One of my recommenders submitted four times to a program and I finally asked her to just email it to the program. So, I'm sure it's not their fault, I wouldn't take it out on them.

[biyutefulphlower]

@phoebusrising I am so, so sorry this happened to you!  That's just stress you don't need...Here's hoping that you hear back from another program with good news soon.

[Yanaka]

Yo guys, I went climbing today with a friend of mine and I embrace the soreness! It felt so good. I have no technique, all of my muscles are already in pain, but climbing walls, letting yourself fall down and climbing back up was the best metaphorical workout I've done in ages.

[anxiousphd]

55 minutes ago, phoebusrising said:

They both say that they did and they've never let me down before so I don't know. It just majorly sucks. And no I don't have an MA, and while I would love to get my MA at BC I don't think they offer funding to MA students? and I can't afford to go to grad school without funding.

They don't guarantee funding, but some MA students are funded. My best friend received partial funding when she went there,  and a number of her friends in the MA program had full funding. So, there's still hope!

U Mass Boston is still accepting MA applications-- it might be worth applying! 

[Caien]

1 hour ago, phoebusrising said:

 

 

I tried but the neither professor was able to, when they tried it said 'Recommendation Portal closed.' And when I called the grad office because both insisted they had uploaded the documents months ago, and I said like 'alright well I'm gonna try and figure this out' or something, the woman on the phone literally said 'yeah don't bother' which basically crushed my soul.

 

 

They both say that they did and they've never let me down before so I don't know. It just majorly sucks. And no I don't have an MA, and while I would love to get my MA at BC I don't think they offer funding to MA students? and I can't afford to go to grad school without funding.

They do in fact offer funding on a competitive basis!

[Caien]

On 13/2/2017 at 9:22 PM, LouisePlease said:

There was an interview posted about 10 days ago. If you don't get an interview it's not likely you'll get an acceptance. 

So you reckon we're all out without an interview? The interviews were posted weeks apart and subfield specific so I was sort of thinking it might only be certain subfields interviewing. Its probably just wishful thinking on my part, but Columbia seems to be a bit inconsistent with their interview policy.

[shoestofollow]

6 minutes ago, Caien said:

So you reckon we're all out without an interview? The interviews were posted weeks apart and subfield specific so I was sort of thinking it might only be certain subfields interviewing. Its probably just wishful thinking on my part, but Columbia seems to be a bit inconsistent with their interview policy.

I was told not every field has done interviews, although they are recommended by the Dean... When I asked, they were unable to tell me whether my field is doing interviews or not... So I'm not giving up yet on Columbia!

[eadwacer]

 

14 minutes ago, Caien said:

So you reckon we're all out without an interview? The interviews were posted weeks apart and subfield specific so I was sort of thinking it might only be certain subfields interviewing. Its probably just wishful thinking on my part, but Columbia seems to be a bit inconsistent with their interview policy.

8 minutes ago, shoestofollow said:

I was told not every field has done interviews, although they are recommended by the Dean... When I asked, they were unable to tell me whether my field is doing interviews or not... So I'm not giving up yet on Columbia!

Does anyone remember which subfields we saw interviewing? I know I saw one for Early Modern but I don't remember seeing any medieval and I probably would have remembered that.

[Caien]

Thanks a mil for that @shoestofollow, the waiting will continue. What subfield are you out of curiosity?

There were three interviews on the boards but the only poster who specified their subfield was the early modern person @eadwacer, and it doesn't look like the other two are on the forums!

[LouPlease]

@Cain and @shoestofollow I assumed the rejection primarily based on other schools processes. I thought it was weird to see Columbia interviewing this year but just figured it was getting more competitive. 

I've been operating under the "give up all hope ye who enter here" mantra. 

[shoestofollow]

22 minutes ago, Caien said:

Thanks a mil for that @shoestofollow, the waiting will continue. What subfield are you out of curiosity?

There were three interviews on the boards but the only poster who specified their subfield was the early modern person @eadwacer, and it doesn't look like the other two are on the forums!

My subfield is postcolonial! Yours?

13 minutes ago, LouisePlease said:

@Cain and @shoestofollow I assumed the rejection primarily based on other schools processes. I thought it was weird to see Columbia interviewing this year but just figured it was getting more competitive. 

I've been operating under the "give up all hope ye who enter here" mantra. 

Honestly that might be a better approach. That way an acceptance will be a pleasant surprise and a rejection will just be anticipated (but still not fun)